Directed by Bruce Ramsay Canada. 87 min. Not rated Hamlet, Shakespeare’s longest play, runs more than four hours when left uncut. One would therefore expect that in a 90-minute adaptation there wouldn’t be a minute to spare. However, Bruce Ramsay, the star and director, has managed to find plenty of time to waste. To begin […]
Directed by Felix van Groeningen Produced by Dirk Impens Written by Carl Joos & van Groeningen, based on the play by Johan Heldenbergh & Mieke Dobbels Released by Tribeca Film Flemish with English subtitles Belgium/Netherlands. 110 min. Not rated With Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh & Nell Cattrysse Taking place at different moments in the shared […]
By July, it was clear that there were already more than a half-dozen films that could securely claim a spot on a 10 best list. Overall, it was very good year, offering almost something for everyone, and with plenty of notable films hovering below the cut (the austere Paradise trilogy, the awards favorite 12 Years […]
Written & Directed by Asghar Farhadi Produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy Released by Sony Pictures Classics. French & Persian with English subtitles. France/Italy. 130 min. Rated PG-13 With Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet, Elyes Aguis, Jeanne Jestin, Sabrina Ouazani, Babak Karmi & Valeria Cavalli The family portrayed in The Past certainly embodies Tolstoy’s […]
Written & Directed by Clio Barnard, inspired by the short story by Oscar Wilde Produced by Tracy O’Riordan Released by Sundance Selects UK. 93 min. Not rated With Connor Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder & Siobhan Finneran British director Clio Barnard’s career began as an artist/filmmaker, and her work in video was seen in galleries […]
Produced & Directed by Ulrich Seidl Written by Veronika Franz & Ulrich Seidl Released by Strand Releasing German with English subtitles Austria/Germany/France, 92 min. Not rated With Melanie Lenz, Joseph Lorenz & Verena Lehbauer Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise Trilogy was originally conceived as a single film of interwoven stories that follows three female family members on […]
Written & Directed by Alexandre de la Patellière & Matthieu Delaporte, based on their play Produced by Dimitri Rassam & Jérôme Seydoux Released by Under the Milky Way, now available on iTunes French with English subtitles French. 109 min. Not rated With Patrick Bruel, Valérie Benguigui, Charles Berling, Judith El Zein, Guillaume de Tonquédec & […]
Written, Directed, & Produced by Atsushi Funahashi Produced by Yoshiko Funahashi & Hashimoto. Released by First Run Features Release Japanese with English subtitles Japan. 96 min. Not rated Films that focus on the aftermath of a catastrophic disaster, be it natural, man-made or otherwise, tend to follow similar structures in their narratives. Blame is widely […]
Directed by Jonathan Gurfinkel Produced by Udi Yerushalmy Written by Rona Segal Released by Tribeca Film Hebrew with English subtitles Israel. 96 min. Not rated With Sivan Levy, Eviatar Mor, Roy Nik, Niv Zilberberg , Tal Grushka, Eran Ivanir & Ronit Yudkevich Some might argue that high school is the worst period in life—the raging […]