Film-Forward

Foreign

New York Film Festival 2014

  Without a doubt, the 52nd New York film festival largely fulfills its mission (as stated on its website) to “introduce audiences to the most exciting, innovative and accomplished works of world cinema.” This holds true thanks to an impressive collection of films in its lineup, many of which caught programmers’ attention at Cannes and […]

Pride

Directed by Matthew Warchus Written by Stephen Beresford Produced by David Livingstone Released by CBS Films UK. 120 min. Rated R With Bill Nighy, Imelda Stanton, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, George MacKay, Joseph Gilgun, Andrew Scott, Ben Schnetzer, Faye Marsay, Liz White, Menna Trussler, Lisa Palfrey, Freddie Fox, and Jessica Gunning With each passing year, […]

Wetlands

Directed by David Wnendt Written by Claus Falkenberg and Wnendt, based on the novel by Charlotte Roche Produced by Peter Rommel Released by Strand Releasing German with English subtitles German. 109 min. Not rated With Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Meret Becker, and Axel Milberg The shock value of Wetlands far surpasses anything I’ve seen in […]

My Old Lady

Written and Directed by Israel Horovitz, based on his play Produced by Rachael Horovitz and Gary Foster Released by Cohen Media Group USA/France. 104 min. Rated PG-13 With Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Dominique Pinon, Noémie Lvovsky and Stéphane De Groodt My Old Lady puts a sophisticated Parisian spin on the movie genre […]

The Notebook (Le Grand Cahier)

Directed by Janos Szasz Produced by Sandor Soth and Pal Sandor Written by Andras Szeker, Szasz and Agota Kristof, based on the book Le Grand Cahier by Kristof Released by Sony Pictures Classics Hungarian with English subtitles Hungary/Germany/Austria/France. 112 min. Rated R With Laszlo Gyemant, Andras Gyemant, Piroska Molnar, Ulrich Thomsen, Ulrich Matthes, Gyongyver Bognar […]

Clouds of Sils Maria | Cannes

My last screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the 34th in eight days, was a rewarding way to wind down, ending the festival on a rich, resonating note. Director and writer Olivier Assayas smoothly makes his first (mostly) English language foray, buoyed by the strong performance of Juliette Binoche. While Assayas’s new film has […]

Moebius

Written, Directed and Edited by Kim Ki-duk Produced by Kim Soon-mo Released by Ram Releasing Korean with English subtitle South Korea. 91 min. Not rated With Cho Jae-hyun, Seo Young-ju and Lee Eun-woo “What is family? What are desires? What are genitals?” These are the opening statements of director Kim Ki-duk in the press notes […]

The Empty Hours

Written, Produced and Directed by Aarón Fernández Released by Strand Releasing Spanish with English subtitles Spain/France/Mexico. 100 min. Not rated With Kristyan Ferrer and Adriana Paz From Y Tu Mama También to the more recent It Felt Like Love, the beach has been fertile ground for tales of sexual discovery and youthful awakenings. Although Mexican […]

Frank

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson Produced by Ed Guiney, David Barron and Stevie Lee Written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan, based on a newspaper article by Ronson Released by Magnolia Pictures UK/Ireland. 98 min. Rated R With Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Scoot McNairy, Michael Fassbender, Carla Azar and François Civil A common lack of awareness […]