Tag: Foreign Films
Nairobi Half Life | AFI Fest 2012 Review
Carpe Dealer: Gitonga’s Debut Lands Distinction of Kenya’s First Oscar Submission
Director David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, mentee of Tom Tykwer, (whose One Fine Day Film workshop...
The Last Step | AFI Fest 2012 Review
Stepping It Up: Mossafa Returns With a Murky Puzzle
Director Ali Mosaffa returns with his sophomore feature, The Last Step (his last directorial effort was 2005’s...
Blood of My Blood | AFI Fest 2012 Review
Bloodletting: Canijo’s Latest a Masterwork of Familial Upheaval
Portuguese director Joao Canijo returns with his eighth feature, Blood of My Blood, (his first fictional outing...
Clip | AFI Fest 2012 Review
She Shame: Milos’ Debut a Frank Dichotomy of Sexual Exploration/Degradation
Another notable entry in a quickly growing slew of controversial titles coming out of Serbia...
Kid | AFI Fest 2012 Review
Hard Knock Life: Troch Returns With Another Exquisite Examination on Anguish
Actress turned director Fien Troch returns with her third feature film, Kid, another beautifully...
Everybody In Our Family | AFI Fest 2012 Review
Out of the Bedroom & Into the Streets: Jude’s Latest a Bitter Drama of Cyclical Misery
Now at the end of a decade in existence,...
Take This Waltz | Blu-ray Review
Despite a reasonably active acting career, Sarah Polley has put together quite an elegant little list of writing/directing credits for her already lengthy resume....
This Must Be the Place | Review
But I Guess I’m Already There: Why is Sorrentino’s Strange, Offbeat English Language Debut…?
The promising combination of Italian master Paolo Sorrentino’s English language debut...
Sleep Tight | Review
The Bed Bugs Bite: Balaguero’s Latest a Creepy Premise with Dubious Motives
Sleep Tight Jaume Balageuro, leaving behind the REC franchise (which his co-director, Paco...
The Other Son | Review
Changelings: Israel Vs. Palestine Gets Nature Vs. Nurture Fable in Levy’s Latest
The age old Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets a dramatic facelift in French writer/director Lorraine...
Citadel | Review
Urban Fortress: Foy’s Debut Aggravated Mix of Thrills and Awkward Social Commentary
Creepy kids are in again, it seems, a motif making the rounds in...
All Together | Review
Friends With Money: Aging Europeans a Case Study in Robelin’s Sophomore Feature
Inevitably, Stephane Robelin’s latest feature, All Together (a mutated English translation of the...
Exorcism and Female Vampire | Blu-ray Review
This month, Redemption films brings us two remastered Blu-Ray HD transfers of cult sexploitation director, Jess Franco, both starring his wife, and umm, f*ck...
Holy Motors | Review
The kind of film the Cannes Film Festival, and cinema itself, was meant for, Leos Carax's Holy Motors is a deranged, exhilarating miracle of...
War of the Buttons | Review
Life During Wartime: Barratier Schmaltifies Nazi Occupied France
France has made a considerable move to reclaim her literature, as not one but two French productions...
Wuthering Heights | Review
Such Great Heights: Andrea Arnold’s Provocative Adaptation Revitalizes Classic Tale
While she’s stated herself that she dislikes the idea of adapting a novel to film,...
Wake In Fright | Review
Down & Outback: Lost Australian Classic a Moody Nightmare
Long considered a lost classic, spurring a decade long search for the film’s negative (which ended...
Monsieur Lazhar | DVD Review
Writer and director Philippe Falardeau's most recent film (in many books the Best Foreign picture runner-up), Monsieur Lazhar is a surprisingly tender reconnaissance of...
Chico & Rita | Blu-ray Review
There always seems to be a shortage of animated features created with an adult audience in mind. Only once or twice a year there...
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Review
Lars Von Trier Would Weep: Scafaria’s Roadtrip Romance Facelifts Apocalypse
Old Hollywood studios had it good. Between two World Wars and countless other miseries (like...
The Woman In The Fifth | Review
May try Your Patience to the Nth: Pawlikowski's Comeback Thriller Travels in Familiar Territory
Highly esteemed director Pawel Pawlikowski’s first feature since 2004’s excellent My...
Extraterrestrial | Review
Perhaps not as extra as it thinks it is: Vigalondo's Sci-Fi Romance Mash-up is Forgettable
The problem with Nacho Vigalondo’s sophomore feature, Extraterrestrial, is that it’s...
Americano | Review
We fell in love, but not in court: Demy References Parent's Filmography
Americano, the directorial debut of actor Mathieu Demy, (son of two legendary cinematic...
Bel Ami | Review
My Best Ami-o: De Maupassant Gets a Jackie Collins Dress
In the right hands, the works of literary figure Guy De Maupassant are fodder for...
Wallander: The Revenge | Review
Pulp Drivel: Brandstrom’s TV Series a Swedish Snooze
There’s something stupendously affirming about Charlotte Brandstrom’s Wallander: The Revenge, a 90 minute episode of a Swedish...
We Need To Talk About Kevin | Blu-ray Review
Lynne Ramsay likes to trudge through the dark depths of the human spirit, and after a nine year period without a film in the...
Interview: Joachim Trier (Oslo, 31. august)
A stylistic departure from his breakout, international debut Reprise, Joachim Trier's Oslo, August 31st is a mature, sophomore effort that is knee deep in...
Cannes 2012: Reality | Review
Garrone Explores Religious Devotion via Society's Addiction to Reality Television
Gloriously produced and appropriately unhinged, Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone returns for his second trip to...
Inside Cannes 2012 Day 3: Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways
Having played earlier in the day to standing ovation, the scene was set for further applause at the night screening as the Un Certain...
Cannes 2012: Paradise: Love | Review
Seidl Pads out his Humanist/Colonialist Fairytale a bit too Thinly
Right off the bat, the first of Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy - this first one...
Hysteria | Review
Your Mind’s in Disturbia: Tanya Wexler Gives Us a Lobotomized History of the Vibrator
Another example of boring, banal people ruining potentially great ideas has...
Criterion Collection: La Haine | Blu-ray Review
In 1995, Mathieu Kassovitz's exceptional debut, La Haine, was a shocking realization of the unjust ghettoizing of immigrants taking place in France, and the...
Polisse | Review
Maiwenn’s Docudrama Packs an Emotional Wallop
French actress, model, and director Maiwenn’s latest film, Polisse opens with a disclaimer that the film is based on...
Cannes 2012: Romanian Short Waves
Since 2004, Short Film Corner which takes up the bottom lobby portion of the Cannes Film Festival market has granted producers and directors the...
Where Do We Go Now? | Review
Nadine Labaki Gives Peace a Chance
Caramel director Nadine Labaki returns with her sophomore effort, the much hailed Where Do We Go Now?, a trite...
I Wish | Review
Why Did Those Days Ever Have To Go?: Wishmaster Koreeda’s Closely Watched Train
Master filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda returns once again to child protagonists for his...
Tonight, You’re Mine | Review
Mackenzie’s Music Concert DocuRomCom Has All the Chemistry of an Arranged Marriage.
David Mackenzie’s second title from 2011, Tonight, You’re Mine opens only several weeks...
Criterion Collection: David Lean Directs Noel Coward | Blu-ray Review
Before directing some of the greatest epic films ever made, David Lean’s directorial career began in the 1940’s, when he collaborated with playwright Noel...
Celine and Julie Go Boating | Review
Jacques Rivette’s 1974 Phantasma Frees Cinema from its Cage
One afternoon in a sleepy Paris park, fanciful librarian Julie traces an occult symbol in the...
A David Lynch-like World for Xavier Dolan; Helmer Adapting “Tom a la ferme”
"Homosexuals learn to lie before they learn to love," is a line of spoken dialogue that may find its way into Xavier Dolan's next...
Pearce and Pattinson in Pursuit of David Michod’s “The Rover”
Looks as if we're in a 48 hour Robert Pattinson news cycle. After the trades mentioned the actor was attached to Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's Mission:...
Cannes Critics’ Week Closes with Works from Tsai Ming-Liang and Joao Pedro Rodrigues
While the entire Cannes Film Festival offers orgasmic oeuvre for the true cinephile, the Critics' Week will close their 51st edition with a great...
Garden of “Eden”; Mia Hansen-Love Caught in French House Explosion
Currently on the U.K press tour stint for Goodbye First Love (read our review), The Observer (via ThePlaylist) have got more details on the...
Headhunters | Review
Fatal Recruitment: Tyldum makes a killer action flick.
With his third feature film, Norwegian director Morten Tyldum has created a surprisingly refreshing entry in the...
Criterion Collection: Late Spring | Blu-Ray Review
Societal customs and early forms of feminism collide in Late Spring, a masterfully delicate family drama from director Yasujirô Ozu. Produced in 1949, this...
Criterion Collection: Vanya on 42nd Street | Blu-ray Review
Perhaps one of the most intriguing and experimental film adaptations of Anton Chekov’s work happens to be the last film of a legendary filmmaker,...
Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills Leads Romanian Presence at the 2012 Cannes Film Fest
Ever since Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) landed in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, the tricolour...
The Raid: Redemption | Review
Slaughterhouse Orchestra: Gareth Evans Offers Full Course Action Meal
There’s nothing innately wrong with a one trick pony, and kudos to the film that knows...
The Deep Blue Sea | Review
Terence Davies’ post-war love affair just lies there
Writer-director Terence Davies yearns to orchestrate a swelling reverie of doomed love in the post-war British romance...
Blancanieves | Review
Blanca Y Negro: Berger’s Sensational Snow White Adaptation May Be One of the Greatest Ever
Don’t close the casket of Snow White’s coffin just yet,...
