Film-Forward

Crime

Heli

Directed by Amat Escalante Written by Escalante and Gabriel Reyes Produced by Jaime Romandia, Matarraya and Tres Tunas Released by Outsider Pictures. Spanish with English subtitles Mexico/Netherlands/Germany/France. 105 min. Not rated With Armando Espitia, Andrea Vergara, Linda González, Juan Eduardo Palacios and Rámon Álvarez Despite its narrative shortcomings, Heli, the latest feature from Mexican director […]

Best First Films | Cannes 2014

One of the top films at Cannes this year—and one of the most shocking and brutal—was The Tribe, from the Ukraine. It was also the most ambitious, dangerous, and accomplished by a debut filmmaker. No subtitles were necessary. It has no spoken dialogue and no translation of any kind; it’s all told through sign language. […]

Vic + Flo Saw a Bear

Written and Directed by Denis Côté Produced by Sylvain Corbeil Released by KimStim French with English subtitles Canada. 95 min. Not rated With Pierrette Robitaille, Romane Bohringer, Marc-André Grondin,  Marie Brassard, and Georges Molnar The reimagined feminist fairy tale is widespread in Hollywood, evident this past month by the success of Maleficent. Vic + Flo […]

God’s Pocket

Written by Slattery and Alex Metcalf, based on the novel by Pete Dexter Produced by Sam Bisbee, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Lance Acord, Slattery, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Emily Ziff Released by IFC Films USA. 88 min. Rated R With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Caleb Landry Jones, Domenick Lombardozzi, Joyce Van […]

Whitewash

Directed by Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais Written by Hoss-Desmarais and Marc Tulin Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories Canada. 86 min Not rated With Thomas Haden Church, Marc Labreche, Anie Pascale and Vincent Hoss-Desmarais There are some great movies where man takes on the wilderness and alternately himself. (Into the Wild and Rescue Dawn come to mind). Whitewash is […]

Blue Ruin

Written & Directed by Jeremy Saulnier Produced by Anish Savjani, Richard Peete and Vincent Savino Released by Radius/TWC USA. 92 min. Rated R With Macon Blair, Devin Ratray, Amy Hargreaves, Kevin Kolack and Eve Plumb Cinematographer-turned-writer-director Jeremy Saulnier follows his first feature, the comic horror Murder Party (2007), with Blue Ruin, an original parody of […]

New Directors/New Films 2014

The New Directors/New Films series at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art is a terrific New York City showcase for creative cinema. Not all the best in the 43rd edition of this international feast have yet been picked up for commercial distribution, but nevertheless they deserve to be seen […]

The Galapagos Affair

Directed by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller Produced by Geller, Goldfine and Celeste Schaefer Snyder Released by Zeitgeist Films USA. 120 min. Not rated With the voices of Cate Blanchett, Sebastian Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Diane Kruger, Connie Neilsen and Josh Radnor It’s rare that filmmakers stumbles onto a true story with all the elements of […]

Dom Hemingway

Written and Directed by Richard Shepard Produced by Jeremy Thomas Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. UK. 93 min. Rated R With Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, Emilia Clarke and Kerry Condon Not quite as smart as it needs to be, yet smarter than it may seem, Dom Hemingway is a timely film, and […]