The Dominican Republic’s Oscar submission for best foreign language film is an intriguing and somber look at life on the island. Set against the beautiful Caribbean backdrop, Sand Dollars explores love and money and sex tourism, while juxtaposing those who choose to take holidays on these sandy shores and those who call the island home, […]
Described as “the father of African cinema,” Ousmane Sembène receives a mostly conventional biodocumentary in Sembene!, but it is enlivened by biographer Samba Gadjigo’s personal perspectives and an impressive array of contextual footage, personal photographs, rare archival footage, interviews with intimates, and clips of Sembène’s films that are only now being preserved. Sembène had much […]
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 […]