Could the higher quality in this year’s world narrative competition be the result of administration changes administration, namely the appointment of Frédéric Boyer, formerly of the Cannes Film Festival, as artistic director of the Tribeca Film Festival? Whatever the reason, there has been a step up in this section, which has in years past been […]
Written & Directed by Philippe Falardeau, based on the stage play by Evelyne de la Chenelière
Produced by Luc Déry & Kim McCraw
Released by Music Box Films
French with English subtitles.
Canada. 94 min. Rated PG-13
With Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx & Brigitte Poupart
Director Philippe Falardeau certainly sets his sights high, meeting a challenge head-on: […]
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Produced by Moretti & Domenico Procacci
Written by Moretti, Francesco Piccolo & Federica Pontremoli
Released by Sundance Selects
Italian with English subtitles.
Italy/France. 104 min. Not rated
With Michel Piccoli, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa, Franco Graziosi, Camillo Milli, Roberto Nobile, Ulrich von Dobschütz, Gianluca Gobbi & Margherita Buy
What if the 180-member College of Cardinals held a papal […]
This year, New Directors/New Films shakes up its usual art house lineup a little bit. The 41st edition jumps on the animated 3D bandwagon with The Rabbi’s Cat and steps into the grindhouse with a kill-a-thon from Indonesia, The Raid: Redemption. In what is another first, a surprise selection closes the series on April 1, […]
Written & Directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Produced by the Dardennes & Denis Frey
Released by Sundance Selects
French with English subtitles
Belgium/France/Italy. 87 min. Rated PG-13
With Cécile de France, Thomas Doret, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione & Egon Di Mateo
In an act of grand thievery, debut child actor Thomas Doret makes off with The Kid With a Bike. […]
You can talk all you want about the director as the film’s main auteur, but casting remains paramount to a film’s success in most of the entries in New York’s annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance. A film series like this offers a glimpse into a […]
For those outside of Southern California, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a well-kept secret. Sorry to blow it. Though popular on the weekends (it’s an easy daytrip from Los Angeles), there was plenty of ticket availability during the week. An added screening of the Oscar-nominated Bullhead was held in the cavernous 1931 movie […]
Directed by Valérie Donzelli
Produced by Edouard Weil
Written by Donzelli & Jérémie Elkaïm
Released by Sundance Selects.
French with English subtitles.
France. 100 min. Not rated
With Valérie Donzelli, Jérémie Elkaïm, César Desseix, Brigitte Sy, Elina Lowensohn, Michèle Moretti & Philippe Laudenbach
Whatever direction Valérie Donzelli takes in her second feature film, she goes all out. That all of her narrative […]
Edited & Directed by Gerardo Naranjo
Written by Naranjo & Mauricio Katz
Produced by Pablo Cruz
Released by Fox International Productions
Spanish, with English subtitles
Mexico. 113 min. Rated R
With Stephanie Sigman, Noe Hernández & Lakshmi Picazo
Is nothing sacred? In Gerardo Naranjo’s Mexico of Miss Bala, the answer is a blunt no. Drug trafficking has infiltrated all spheres of society; […]
