Film-Forward

Top Picks

Narco Cultura

Directed by Shaul Schwarz Produced by Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen & Todd Hagopian Released by Cinedigm English & Spanish, with English subtitles. USA. 102 min. Rated R Welcome to the surreal, macho, and denial filled world of narcocorridos. This popular and controversial musical style is inspired by the drama of narco-traffickers and their violent […]

Blue Is the Warmest Color

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche Written by Kechiche & Ghalya Lacroix, adapted from Le Bleu Est une Couleur Chaude by Julie Maroh Produced by Alcatraz Films, Olivier Thery Lapiney & Laurence Clerc Released by Sundance Selects. French with English subtitles France. 179 min. Rated NC-17 With Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Mona Walravens, Jérémie Laheurte […]

Medora

Directed by Andrew Cohn & Davy Rothbart Produced by Andrew Cohn, Davy Rothbart & Rachel Dengiz USA. 82 min. Not rated High school basketball occupies a kingly place in Indiana; the film Hoosiers quickly comes to mind. No matter the size of the school or town, people are devoted to their local team. This documentary […]

Nebraska

Directed by Alexander Payne Produced by Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa Written by Bob Nelson Released by Paramount Vantage USA  115 min. Rated R With Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk & Stacy Keach Alexander Payne has built a unique career exploring life’s comedy and tragedy through indelible three-dimensional everymen and women. Following […]

It’s Me, It’s Me

Written & Directed by Satoshi Miki Produced by Taro Nagamatsuya, Yuko Shiomaki & Yusuke Wakabayashi Released by Pictures Dept. Japan. 119 min. Not rated With Kazuya Kamenashi, Yuki Uchida & Ryo Kase Viewers may be in for a bumpy ride with this intriguing but enigmatic film. As it begins, it seems solidly in the realm […]

Dallas Buyers Club

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée Produced by Robbie Brenner & Rachel Winter Written by Craig Barton & Melissa Wallack Released by Focus Features USA. 115 min. Rated R With Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Denis O’Hare, Griffin Dunne, Dallas Roberts & Steve Zahn Ironically enough, Ron Woodroof is a bit like a more inspirational version […]

These Birds Walk

Directed by Omar Mullick & Bassam Tariq Produced by Mullick, Tariq, Valentina Canavesio & Sonejuhi Sinha Released by Oscilloscope Laboratories Pakistan/USA. 72 min. Not rated Any documentary that takes a look at an impoverished Third World nation runs the risk of inducing guilt or appearing like a grim “Save the Children” ad, but These Birds […]

I Am Divine

Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz Produced by Mr. Schwarz, Lotti Pharriss Knowles, Lance Robertson & Jon Glover Released by Automat Pictures. USA. 90 min. Not rated At Paramount, Josef von Sternberg turned Marlene Dietrich into a screen goddess. Forty years later, shoestring Baltimore filmmaker John Waters did the same, helping to mold a screen icon of […]

The Square

Directed by Jehane Noujaim Produced by Karim Amer Released by Noujaim Films Inc English & Arabic with English subtitles Egypt/USA. 104 min. Not rated The Square zooms into the large waves of demonstrations and counterattacks in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square that first erupted in the 2011 Arab Spring. Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim vividly finds and […]