Film-Forward

About Kent Turner

Kent Turner, the editor of Film-Forward, learned the ropes of the festival circuit at the San Francisco International Film Festival and has worked in film production and acquisition in Los Angeles. He is currently the director of programming at the Monmouth Film Festival.

    Monsieur Lazhar

    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: […]

    By |April 14th, 2012|DVD/Streaming/On Demand, Foreign, Top Picks|0 Comments

      We Have a Pope

      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 […]

      By |April 6th, 2012|Comedy, Foreign|0 Comments

        New Directors/New Films 2012

         

        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, […]

        By |March 23rd, 2012|Festivals|Comments Off on New Directors/New Films 2012

          The Kid With a Bike

          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. […]

          By |March 16th, 2012|Drama, French|0 Comments

            Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2012

            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 […]

            By |March 7th, 2012|Festivals, French|0 Comments

              Santa Barbara International Film Festival

               

              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 […]

              By |February 22nd, 2012|Festivals|0 Comments

                Declaration of War

                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 […]

                By |January 29th, 2012|Drama, French|2 Comments

                  Miss Bala

                  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; […]

                  By |January 20th, 2012|Crime, Top Picks|0 Comments

                    The Iron Lady

                    Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
                    Produced by Damian Jones
                    Written by Abi Morgan
                    Released by the Weinstein Company
                    UK/France. 105 min. Rated PG-13
                    With Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Roger Allam, Iain Glen, Richard E. Grant & Anthony Head
                    In a recent New York Times interview, Meryl Streep admitted she couldn’t resist playing Margaret Thatcher, the first […]

                    By |January 13th, 2012|Biopic|0 Comments