Film-Forward

Documentary

A River Changes Course

Director of Photography/Directed by Kalyanee Mam Produced by Mam & Ratanak Leng Released by Migrant Films Cambodia/USA. 83 min. Not rated Filmmaker Kalyanee Mam (director of photography for the Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job) returns to her native Cambodia for a story of globalization and its impact on people and nature. She introduces viewers to three […]

The Summit

Produced & Directed by Nick Ryan Written by Mark Monroe Released by Sundance Selects Ireland/UK/USA/Switzerland. 99 min. Rated R In early August 2008, 11 of the 18 mountain climbers who reached the top of K2, the world’s second highest peak, died during the descent, which is regarded as the deadliest 48 hours on the Pakistani […]

Toronto International Film Festival

Programming a vast array of some 288 features films, the Toronto International Film Festival offers a varied and overwhelming selection. One course of action is to see films by known directors or that have played at other festivals, with some allowance for happenstance, taking a chance on a movie based on the very brief synopsis […]

Interior. Leather Bar

Directed by James Franco & Travis Mathews Produced by James Franco, Vince Jolivette, Travis Mathews, Iris Torres & Keith Wilson. Written by Mathews USA.  60 min. Not rated With Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews, Christian Patrick, Brenden Gregory, Brad Roberge, Colin Chavez, A.J. Goodrich, Michael Lannan Filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews collaborate to […]

Harry Dean Stanton

Directed by Sophie Huber Produced by Christian Davi, Chiemi Karasawa, Christof Neracher, Thomas Thümena Released by Adopt Films Switzerland. 77 min. Not rated With Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Deborah Harry, Win Wenders, Sam Shepard & Kris Kristofferson Roger Ebert once noted that no film with character actor Harry Dean Stanton could be all that […]

My Father and the Man in Black

Written & Directed by Jonathan Holiff Produced by Holiff, Tanya Lyn Nazarec & Jennifer Phillips Released by New Chapter Productions Canada. 88 min. Not Rated My Father and the Man in Black settles two scores. One is the personal odyssey of a son, debut documentary director Jonathan Holiff, finally reconciling with the memory of his […]

Cutie and the Boxer

Directed by Zachary Heinzerling Produced by Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Patrick Burns & Sierra Pettengill Released by Radius/TWC USA. 82 min. Rated R Just show up. That sound and practical advice applies for actors who schlep from one discouraging audition to another or when you really don’t want to go near a gym. Off and […]

When Comedy Went to School

Directed by Ron Frank & Mevlut Akkaya Produced by Lawrence Richards, Frank & Akkaya Written by Richards Released by International Film Circuit USA. 76 min. Not Rated When Comedy Went to School sometimes rises above schmaltzy nostalgia to become an informative and entertaining history of the stand-up comic. What makes it worth watching are the […]

Smash & Grab

Directed by Havana Marking Produced by Mike Lerner Released by Doppelgänger Releasing UK. 90 min. Not rated Wow. Talk about free publicity. The July 28th robbery of an estimated $137 million worth of jewelry on the French Riviera (at the Carlton International hotel, coincidentally a location in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief) occurred just days […]