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.

    Lula, Son of Brazil

    Directed by Fábio Barreto
    Produced by Luiz Carlos Barreto & Paula Barreto
    Written by Daniel Tendler, Denise Paraná & Fernando Bonassi, based on the book by Paraná Released by New Yorker Films
    Portuguese with English subtitles
    Brazil. 128 min. Not rated
    With Rui Ricardo Diaz, Felipe Falanga, Guilherme Tortolio, Glória Pires, Cléo Pires, Juliana Baroni, Milhem Cortaz & Sóstenes Vidal
    Even […]

    By |January 13th, 2012|Biopic, DVD/Streaming/On Demand, Foreign|0 Comments

      Norwegian Wood

      Written & Directed by Tran Anh Hung, based on the novel by Haruki Murakami
      Produced by Shinji Ogawa
      Released by Soda Pictures/Red Flag Releasing
      Japanese, with English subtitles.
      Japan. 133 min. Not rated
      With Kenichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara, Reika Kirishima, Kengo Kora, Eriko Hatsune & Tetsuji Tamayama (Nagasawa)
      Eighteen years ago, Tran Anh Hung became the first—and so far only—Vietnamese […]

      By |January 6th, 2012|Asian, Drama, DVD/Streaming/On Demand, Foreign|0 Comments

        The Best of 2011

        Go for broke—that could be the motto for many of this year’s noteworthy films. Terrence Malick created the world out of the Big Bang, all set to a pseudo-Wagnerian score, in The Tree of Life. Even Werner Herzog ventured back thousands of years to ponder life during the Ice Age—and in 3D, a format that […]

        By |December 23rd, 2011|DVD/Streaming/On Demand, Top Picks|0 Comments

          Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

          Directed by Tomas Alfredson
          Written by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan, based on the novel by John Le Carré
          Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner & Robyn Slovo
          Released by Focus Features.
          UK/France/Germany. 128 min. Rated R
          With Gary Oldman, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Svetlana Khodchenkova, […]

          By |December 9th, 2011|Espionage, Top Picks|0 Comments

            Shame

            Directed by Steve McQueen
            Produced by Iain Canning & Emile Sherman
            Written by Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan
            Released by Fox Searchlight
            UK. 99 min. Rated NC-17
            With Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale & Nicole Beharie

            Earnestly somber, Shame arrives with a lot of baggage, namely an envelope-pushing amount of sex and nudity. (The NC-17-rated film arouses the type of […]

            By |December 2nd, 2011|Drama, New York Film Festival|0 Comments

              The Artist

              Written & Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
              Produced by Thomas Langmann
              Released by the Weinstein Company
              France/USA. 100 min. Rated PG-13
              With Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Beth Grant & John Goodman

              Studded with easy-to-spot film references, the black-and-white silent film The Artist is the type of film that movie buffs wished they had […]

                King of Devil’s Island

                Directed by Marius Holst
                Produced by Karin Julsrud, Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Ewa Puszczynska, Mathilde Dedye & Johannes Ahlund
                Written by Dennis Magnusson
                Released by Film Movement
                Norwegian with English subtitles
                Norway/France/Sweden/Poland. 115 min. Not rated
                With Stellan Skarsgard, Benjamin Helstad, Kirstoffer Joner, Trond Nilssen, Ellen Dorrit Petersen & Magnus Langlete

                There is no way that the filmmakers of this Norwegian escape drama […]

                By |November 17th, 2011|Crime, Foreign, Recommended, Top Picks|0 Comments

                  Dzi Croquettes

                  Directed by Tatiana Issa & Raphael Alvarez
                  Produced by Tria Productions & Canal Brasil
                  English & Portuguese with English subtitles
                  Brazil. 110 min. Not rated

                  “Gays don’t die. They turn into glitter.” These words of wisdom were told to co-director Tatiana Issa when she was a girl by her father, a technician for the Brazilian gender-bending cabaret act Dzi […]

                  By |November 17th, 2011|Documentary, GLBT, Pop Culture|0 Comments

                    Garbo: The Spy

                    Produced & Directed by Edmon Roch
                    Written by Roch, Isaki Lacuesta & María Hervera
                    Released by First Run Features
                    English, Spanish, Catalan & German with English subtitles
                    Spain. 87 min. Not rated

                    Greta Garbo, Leslie Howard, George C. Scott, and George Sanders: this thriller-cum-documentary offers the biggest cast of stars this year. The liberal excerpts from Mata Hari, The Longest […]

                    By |November 17th, 2011|Documentary, Espionage, Recommended, Top Picks|0 Comments