As I took my seat to watch Brooklyn at the New York Film Festival, the middle-aged man to my left flashed me a dirty look. Clearly the gentleman did not want company next to him, and so he made sure to throw me the kind of pitch-black shade that lets you know you’ve invaded a […]
Extraordinary Tales is the perfect little bon mot to kick off the Halloween season. It is a slight, charming, and charmingly macabre animated adaptation of five Edgar Allen Poe short stories, all illustrated, directed, and adapted by Raul Garcia. There is also a mediocre framing device that sets up Poe as a raven chatting with […]
Steve Jobs, the movie, is more admirable as a meticulously constructed piece of theater that uses real-life figures like billiard balls than for its emotional catharsis or insight into the evolution of a man many perceived as a larger-than-life genius. At the New York Film Festival press conference, scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin insisted he did not […]
There are very few actors with the charisma and sex appeal of Idris Elba, as witnessed five years ago at the Tribeca Film Festival. He made an appearance there to support his starring role in a British indie, Legacy. At the box office, filmgoers, most of them women, bought a ticket for a film whose […]
Even if you’ve read Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room or already heard about this film adaptation, there is little chance that too much foreknowledge will lessen the story’s complexity. At the recent Toronto International Film Festival, it was perhaps the most talked about selection; I couldn’t cover my ears in time before I found out […]
“This is not about polar bears,” so says Naomi Klein in this gripping documentary overview, based on her 2014 best seller. It’s to her credit that she faces head-on the notion that viewers may suffer from climate fatigue and that the film refreshingly eschews alarmism. Neither does the film scold; Klein is uninterested in debating […]
In the English-speaking world, Ruth Rendell hasn’t exactly made her mark on the big screen. In the Francophone world, however, the late mystery and thriller author’s effect continues to be felt. At fewer than 15 pages, Rendell’s Edgar Award–winning short story “The New Girlfriend” seems an odd choice for a feature film. But director François […]
Of all the films in the official Cannes Film Festival competition this year, Carol should have been awarded the Most Valuable Player. It ticks off nearly all the boxes: strong acting all around; a rich, muted, Edward Hopper–esque palette; impeccable period details, namely the prim and proper costuming; and, most importantly, the straightforward direction by […]
Directed by Roger Allers, Gaetan Brizzi & Paul Brizzi, Joan Gratz, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Joann Sfar, and Michal Socha Produced by Salma Hayek-Pinault Written by Allers, based on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Released by Gkids USA/France/Lebanon/Qatar. 84 min. Rated PG With the voices of Hayek, Liam Neeson, Quvenzhane […]