Perhaps the two main stories that emerged from this year’s Cannes Film Festival were the jewelry heists (who knew Brian De Palma’s Femme Fatale was so prescient?) and the praise and immediate backlash heaped on the Palm d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color, namely Elaine Sciolino’s piece in the New York Times in which […]
Some of Tribeca Film Festival’s lesser-known documentaries and fiction films were the strongest I’d seen in the program. There were certainly standouts, films that had what seemed like impossible footage of an event—Alias Ruby Blade shares secrets firsthand from within the heart of a country’s rebellion—or feature films that explore familiar territory with nuance and […]
Directed & Written by Gaël Morel Produced by Paulo Branco Released by Breaking Glass Pictures French with English subtitles France. 97 min. Not rated With Stéphane Rideau, Dimitri Durdaine & Béatrice Dalle Blond and doe-eyed, Angelo (Dimitri Durdaine) is a teen prostitute whom other prostitutes pay to see naked. But being a pretty sex worker […]
Blue skies ruled the week in Park City this year, where an unfathomable crowd once again flocked to the little resort town in search of distribution deals, corporate swag, networking opportunities, and as many exciting movie experiences as they could find. Those in search of deals were reportedly not disappointed. This was a banner year […]
Directed by Travis Fine Produced by Fine, Kristine Hostetter Fine, Chip Hourihan & Liam Finn Written by Fine & George Arthur Bloom Released by Music Box Films. USA. 97 min. Rated R With Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Isaac Leyva, Frances Fisher, Jamie Anne Allman, Kelli Williams, Gregg Henry & Chris Mulkey It’s 1979, and being […]
Written & Directed by Patrick Wang Produced by Andrew van den Houten, Robert Tonino & Wang Released by In the Family LLC USA. 169 min. Not rated With Trevor St. John, Patrick Wang, Sebastian Brodziak, Brian Murray, Park Overall, Peter Hermann, Susan Kellermann, Elaine Bromka & Kelly McAndrew At close to three hours long, In […]
Directed by David France Written by France, T. Woody Richman & Tyler H. Walk Produced by Howard Gertler & France Released by Sundance Selects USA. 110 min. Not rated This powerful and highly charged documentary takes us through the pivotal years in the history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, better known as Act […]
Written & Directed by Tom Tykwer Produced by Stefan Arndt Released by Strand Releasing German with English subtitles Germany. 119 min. Not rated Starring: Sophie Rois, Sebastian Schipper & Devid Striesow It’s hard to put a fresh spin on infidelity dramas nowadays. Yet they are still effective, maybe one of the most shocking and gripping […]
Written & Directed by Dee Rees Produced by Nekisa Cooper Released by Focus Features USA. 86 min. Rated R With Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Aasha Davis, Charles Parnell, Sahra Mellesse, Kim Wayans & Shamika Cotton Every year another indie could be the last one ever shot on film. But 35mm keeps hanging on, and beautifully […]