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A Gay Girl in Damascus

Written and Directed by Sophie Deraspe Produced by Isabelle Couture and Nathalie Cloutier Released by SundanceNow Doc Club English, French, and Arabic with English subtitle Canada. 84 min. Not rated Abduction can be a tool of terror, employed by political regimes to silence opposing viewpoints and conceal the truth. It is ironic that in the […]

Phoenix

Directed by Christian Petzold Produced by Florian Koerner, Von Gustorf, and Michael Weber Written by Petzold and Harun Farocki, based on Return from the Ashes by Hubert Monteilhet Released by Sundance Selects German with English subtitles Germany. 98 min. Rated PG-13 With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, and Imogen Kogge With Phoenix, New Wave […]

Mr. Holmes

Directed by Bill Condon Produced by Anne Carey, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman Written by Jeffrey Hatcher Released by Roadside Attractions/Miramax UK/USA. 104 min. Rated PG With Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, and Nicholas Rowe Sherlock Holmes has been adapted countless times on stage and screen since his […]

A Hard Day

Written and Directed by Kim Seong-hun Produced by Cha Ji-hyun and Billy Acumen Released by Kino Lorber Korean with English subtitles South Korea 110 min. Not rated With Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Jin-woong, Jeong Man-sik, Shin Jung-keun, Jang In-sub To say that homicide detective Gun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun) isn’t having a great day would be an understatement. […]

The Look of Silence

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer Produced by Signe Byrge Sorensen Released by Drafthouse Films/Participant Media Indonesian and Javanese, with English subtitles 103 min. Rated PG-13 If you happened to have seen The Act of Killing when it was released two years ago (and subsequently earned an Oscar nomination, which it should’ve won) or on Netflix, you […]

A Poem Is a Naked Person

Directed by Les Blank Produced by Denny Cordell, Leon Russell, and Blank Released by Janus Films USA. 90 min. Not rated With Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Eric Andersen, Johnny Gimble, and Willis Alan Ramsey Les Blank’s A Poem Is a Naked Person is a beautifully restored 1974 rock ‘n’ roll time […]

Boulevard

Directed by Dito Montiel Produced by Monica Aguirre Diez Barroso, and Mia Chang Written by Douglas Soesbe Released by Starz Digital USA. 88 min. Rated R With Robin Williams, Kathy Baker, Roberto Aguire, Giles Matthey, Eléonore Hendricks and Bob Odenkirk Robin Williams’s last role, in the bleak yet engrossing Boulevard, is unlike any other dramatic […]

Stray Dog

Directed by Debra Granik Produced by Anne Rosellini Released by Still Rolling Productions English and Spanish with English subtitles USA. 98 min. Not rated Stray Dog is a surprisingly touching road trip through the heart of America on a Harley-Davidson, where people in double-wides help each other as they struggle to get through posttraumatic stress […]

Amy | Cannes 2015

Among the nearly three dozen films I saw at Cannes, the one that had the strongest emotional hook was, without question, Asif Kapadia’s in-depth biodoc of the late singer Amy Winehouse. Granted, the tender and trenchant Amy has an added resonance for fans and also for the melancholic question (one of many) that lingers afterward: […]