The decision to keep things as simple as possible has paid off in spades. At only 64 minutes, the film is a short but sweet introduction to the work of Portugese auteur de Oliveira, and that it has a wonderfully droll sting in its tale is the icing on the cake.
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Continue reading Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl
Rappoport does a fine job of her rather thankless role, given she is allowed barely an ounce of natural appeal and her character arc goes from obnoxious to insane. She rarely waivers, hitting each mark for her director, and given this is a character study and the focus must remain on her from beginning to end, she really does perform well.
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Continue reading Yuri’s Day
Although it waivers in its midsection, Flame & Citron achieves its aim of alerting the world to the remarkable work of the Danish resistance during German occupation in the second World War. An entertaining and enjoyable film, it can be comfortably recommended.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Flame & Citron
Why anyone would think filming a scene of vigorous dancing lit only by firelight with a camera seemingly held by another dancer is a good idea is unfathomable, and to let that scene last as long as it does borders on criminal abuse of the vestibular systems of the audience.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Katalin Varga
Inge is determined and yet fragile, placid and yet spinning a million miles an hour beneath the surface, and her journey – both around Germany and her past – could only be carried off by a performance of immense skill. A worthy nominee for an acting award indeed.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading November Child
The film is shot beautifully, with the French landscape vividly brought to life and the small town lifestyle under the shadow of two World Wars and the Great Depression evocatively demonstrated. Costume design and art direction allow the sense of reality to pervade this biopic and do justice to Provost’s vision.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Séraphine
The internal conflict evident behind his eyes is a hard acting task to successfully pull off, and yet Dupontel succeeds. Perhaps it is recollections of past performances that subconsciously encourage a degree of sympathy with his character, because, as written in the screenplay, he is intolerable.
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Continue reading Love Me No More
Several long shots add to the sense of immersion in a real classroom rather than spectating a staged scene, and director Laurent Cantet seems to know just when they’ve reached their natural end. This is particularly evident also in the introductory sequence in which the teachers are meeting one another at the start of the new school year.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Class
Slumdog Millionaire is an utterly magical film, transporting the audience to a place of abject poverty and human degradation, and yet somehow becoming a life-affirming and profoundly moving love story. It could only be a hard heart that isn’t in some way affected by Jamal’s story.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Slumdog Millionaire
It is after the entrance of Leonid Bronevoy as Zhuravlyov, however, that the film gains momentum. Much of the strength of the film lies in the relationship between the two men and their reactions to the needs of the other.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Simple Things