Directed by Roger Ross Williams Written by Williams, Richard Hankin & Benjamin Gray Produced by Julie Goldman & Williams USA. 90 min. Not rated For viewers who know about the Christian Right’s proselytizing in Africa, this film may be too basic. But for those who are unaware, it’s a real eye-opener. The idea that American missionaries […]
Directed by Michael Mayer Produced by Lihu Roter & Mayer Written by Mayer & Yael Shafrir Released by Breaking Glass Pictures Hebrew & Arabic with English subtitles Israel/Palestine/USA. 96 min. Not rated With Nicholas Jacob, Michael Aloni, Alon Pdut, Jameel Khouri & Loai Noufi Out in the Dark takes an intensely intimate look beyond the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]