Film-Forward

Crime

Violet & Daisy

Written & Directed by Geoffrey Fletcher Produced by Fletcher & Bonnie Timmerman Released by Cinedigm USA. 88 min. Rated R With Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel & James Gandolfini The idea behind Violet & Daisy is intriguing. Two young women, who love ordinary things like pretty dresses and bubblegum pop stars, happen to be deadly assassins […]

Graceland

Written & Directed by Ron Morales Produced by Rebecca Lundgren Released by Alamo Drafthouse Films Tagalog with English subtitles Philippines. 84 min. Not rated With Arnold Reyes, Menggie Corabarrubias, Dido de la Paz, Leon Miguel, Ella Guevara, Marife Necesito & Patricia Ona Gayond Marlon Villar (Arnold Reyes) is caught between the many responsibilities he has […]

Trance

Directed by Danny Boyle Produced by Christian Colson; Written by Joe Ahearne & John Hodge Released by Fox Searchlight Pictures UK. 101 min. Rated R With James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, Rosario Dawson, Danny Sapani, Matt Cross & Wahab Sheikh Since he broke through with the black comedy Shallow Grave (1994) and with his follow up […]

Herman’s House

Written & Directed by Angad Bhalla Produced by Lisa Valencia-Svensson & Bhalla Released by First Run Features USA/Canada/UK. 81 min. Not rated The feature documentary Herman’s House brings together two disparate worlds: that of 35-year-old New York City artist Jackie Sumell and 69-year-old Herman Wallace, serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary—40 of […]

The Place Beyond the Pines

Directed by Derek Cianfrance Written by Cianfrance, Ben Coccio & Darius Marder, based on a story by Cianfrance & Coccio Produced by Jamie Patricof, Alex Orlovsky, Sidney Kimmel & Lynette Howell Released by Focus Features Release, USA. 140 min. Rated R With Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne, Emory Cohen, Dane […]

Welcome to the Punch

Written & Directed by Eran Creevy Produced by Rory Aitken & Ben Pugh Released by IFC Films UK. 99 min. Not rated With James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, Jason Flemyng & Ruth Sheen Welcome to the Punch is British director Eran Creevy’s follow up to his award-winning debut Shifty (2008), about […]

My Brother the Devil

Directed by Sally El Hosaini Produced by Gayle Griffiths, Julia Godzinskaya & Michael Sackler Written by El Hosaini & Aymen Hamdouchi Released by Paladin UK. 111 min. Not Rated With James Floyd, Fady Elsayed & Saïd Taghmaoui At the 2012 BFI London Film Festival,  My Brother the Devil scooped Best British Newcomer Award for Welsh-Egyptian […]

Eden

Directed by Megan Griffiths Produced by Colin Harper Plank and Jacob Mosler Written by Richard B. Phillips & Griffiths, story by Phillips & Chong Kim Released by Phase 4 Films USA. 98 min. Rated R With Jamie Chung, Beau Bridges, Matt O’Leary, Tantoo Cardinal, Jeanine Monterroza & Scott Mechlowicz Hyun Jae (Jamie Chung) is just […]

The Girl

Written & Directed by David Riker Produced by Paul Mezey Released by Brainstorm Media USA.  94 min. Not rated With Abbie Cornish, Will Patton & Maritza Santiago Hernández Reminiscent of 2008’s Frozen River, another film about a financially floundering single mother taking up human trafficking, The Girl examines issues of illegal immigration and economic class […]