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| Ayan Mukherjee's Wake Up Sid (India, 2009) *** 1/2 |
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| Prakash Jha's Raajneeti (India, 2010) **** |
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| Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani (India, 2010) *** |
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| Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar (India, 2011) *** |
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| Anurag Basu's Barfi (India, 2012) *** 1/2 |
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| Ayan Mukherjee's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (India, 2013) **** |
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| Katrin Gebbe's Nothing Bad Can Happen (Germany, 2013) - 2013CANucr - RATING: 3.5 - Young Tore belongs to the Jesus FreakS, a Christian punk movement rebelling against established religion whilst at the same time following Jesus' precepts of love. One day, in what appears to be a miracle, Tore manages to repair a car which has broken down and gets to know the driver, Benno. Before long, Tore moves into a tent in Benno’s garden and gradually becomes part of his family. But Benno can’t resist playing a cruel game, designed to test Tore’s faith. As the violence become more and more extreme, Tore’s capacity for love is pushed to its limits. |
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| Valeria Golino's Miele (Italy, 2013) - 2013CANucr - RT:100 - RATING: 3 - Jasmine Trinca of The Best Of Youth fame, gives another outstanding performance as administer of mercy killing in Valeria Golino's fine directorial debut. As the time progress, her character starts to questioning her stance on the right to die issue and this is where the film successfully argue that there is no clear black or white line in this issue. |
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| Leonardo Di Costanzo's The Interval (Italy, 2012) - 2012TOR, 2012VENh, 2013NDNF - RT:90 - RATING: 2.5 - NOTES: A young man work for the mafia befriend his captor, a young woman barely his junior, after both of them spend the whole day locked in abandoned building. - A boy and a girl are locked in an enormous abandoned building in a rundown area. She is a prisoner and the local clan leader has forced him to be her warder. Despite their youth, both of them have grown up too fast. Veronica acts like a mature and open-minded woman whilst Salvatore is like a man who wants to hold on to his job and lead a quiet life. Thus, when faced with the violence of this incarceration, the two young people have different reactions: Veronica is restless and rebellious; Salvatore is more remissive and accommodating, either out of fear or realism. They are both victims but it is almost as though each blames the other for their reclusion. However, as the hours go by, their mutual hostility is transformed into an inevitable intimacy, consisting of reciprocal discoveries and confessions. Between the walls of that isolated and frightening place, Veronica and Salvatore find a way to rekindle those adolescent dreams and ideas put aside too soon. Thus the two of them enjoy a break from their prematurely adult lives and in the end are tempted to transform their imaginary escape into a real one before the gang presents Veronica with its verdict. |
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| Les Blanks' Garlic Is Good as Ten Mothers (US, 1979) - 1979TEL - RATING: 3 - Les Blank's documentary explores how garlic is use in different culture throughout the world |
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| Marcela Said's The Summer of Flying Fish (Chile, 2013) - 2013CANdf - RATING: 3 - Using flare tension between white land owners and Mapuche tribes in Chile as a backdrop of coming of age story, The Summer of Flying Fish become the first scripted drama from Chilean docu filmmaker Marcela Said. - In “The Summer of Flying Fish,” Chilean docu director Marcela Said makes a subtle shift into scripted drama, shaping scenes of tension between white landowners and the local Mapuche natives so as to seem unrehearsed. Said’s technique blends flashes of melodrama with such naturalistic choices as shooting on location and working mostly with non-actors, resulting in a challenging fiction/nonfiction hybrid that’s stylistically neither fish nor fowl. From a festival programmer’s perspective, “Summer” is a dream offering: a refined, politically conscious film by a female director that reveals a seldom-seen social dynamic. In commercial spheres, however, it should be a much harder sell. |
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| Antonin Peretjatko's The Rendezvous of Deja Vu (France, 2013) - 2013CANdf - RATING: 2 - A road movie meet sex farce genre in a not so funny French comedy that critique harshly on French culture and establishment.- Hector meets Truquette on Bastille Day and becomes obsessed with seducing her. The plan is to get her to the seaside pronto. Pator is not complaining, especially if her friend Charlotte comes along for the ride. So off they go, down the country roads of a broke and broken France. Times are hard ! Suddenly the government cancels a month of summer. Everyone back to work ! A wad of cash and two gun shots later, the group splits in two like France itself. But careering away from work in no way daunts the remaining trio, dead set on relocating the Bastille Girl and reveling in an endless summer. |
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| Gilles Bourdos' Renoir (France, 2012) - 2012CANucr, 2013PALM - RATING: 3 - Biographical story about August Renoir, the painter, relationship with his offsprings especially the filmmaker Jean Renoir in early nineteenth century France. - The bright Summer sunlight of the Cote d’Azur cast a golden glow over Renoir, greatly enhancing the appeal of an impeccably crafted, tenderly felt traditional period piece. Dramatising a defining moment in the lives of Pierre-August Renoir and his young son Jean, the film offers a tasteful, sensitively handled production that should readily appeal to an older demographic and to the arthouse audience who have supported similar works down the years from Camille Claudel to Seraphine. |
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| Steven Soderbergh's Behind The Candelabra (US, 2013) - 2013CANic - RATING: 3.5 - Surprisingly touching and honest look at gay love as it evolve through out the years. Michael Douglas and Matt Damon give an outstanding performances as the true life couple.- Beneath the flamboyant furs, twinkling rhinestones and bitchy asides, Behind The Candelabra emerges as a touching gay love story from an age when nobody in American showbusiness would have dared to venture out of the closet. Director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Richard LaGravenese tread lightly on the social significance of events, focusing largely on the personal heartache in the bittersweet relationship between entertainer Liberace and his lover Scott Thorson. |
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| Todd Philips' The Hangover Part 3 (US, 2013) - RATING: 3 - It is not the epic conclusion that Warner Bros hoping for the very profitable series, BUT it is quiet entertaining in many levels. - As much a thriller as a comedy, The Hangover Part III brings Todd Phillips’ R-rated guys-night-out trilogy to an oddly subdued, sometimes downright dark conclusion. Loyal fans of the series, and of outrageous comedy in general, will probably still buy in, if only for a sense of closure. But even with a couple of new additions to its returning core cast Part III could be a tricky sell to casual moviegoers looking simply for good-time action and broad laughs. |
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| Yury Bykov's The Major (Russia, 2013) -2013CANcw - RATING: 3 - A morally complex B Movie set in Russia about accidental death which lead to cover up and more murder. This crime and punishment tale will make Dostoyevsky proud. On a cold winter’s day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he’s driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk, who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience and calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and when Sobolev finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, it’s already too late… |
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| Steph Green's Run and Jump (Ireland, 2013) - After a stroke leaves her husband disabled and fundamentally changed, a spirited Irish wife struggles to keep her family members together. All the while they are under the microscope of an American researcher documenting their recovery process. From Academy Award®-nominated director and TFF alumna Steph Green comes an emotional journey of family and recovery featuring Saturday Night Live star Will Forte in an impressive dramatic debut. 2013TRI. RATING: 3 |
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| Onur Unlu's Thou Gild'st The Even (Turkey, 2013) - 2013ISTic Best Film, Screenplay, Editing and FIPRESCI Prize winner. In a small Anatolian town life goes on; Cemal is an assistant referee in football matches, Yasemin works in an egg factory, Defne is a street vendor who sells books, Doctor Irfan is occupied with his patients... In this town with two suns and three full moons in the sky, Cemal -who can see through the walls- has no expectation out of life and looks for a way out with Yasemin -who can move objects with her fingers- as he was trying to deal with the distress that fell on his. However, Defne, who can freeze time will muddle things up; Yasemin’s immortal boss’ actions will contradict the invisible elementary school teacher’s advices who is trying to eliminate the worries of Cemal. Thou Gild’st the Even is a black and white movie about the ordinary sorrows, worries and troubles of the townsmen with extraordinary abilities. 2013ISTic. RATING: 3. |
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| Tom Shoval's Youth (Israel, 2013) - The conflicted emotional world of two brothers determined to save their family from financial ruin. Their attempt to be good sons results in them becoming violent kidnappers. A film that balances realism with a nail-biting hostage drama. 2013BERp. RATING:3 |
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| Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion (US, 2013) - Visually unimpeachable but only modestly successful otherwise, Oblivion further cements the impression that Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski knows how to craft a world — as for interesting humans to populate that world, well, that still proves to be a bit of a stumbling block for him. And yet, the boldness of his vision is enough to mostly compensate for story beats that won’t seem that surprising or original for sci-fi fans who may feel like they’ve seen much of this before, albeit rarely put together this stunningly. Nevertheless, an empathetic central performance from Tom Cruise as a man protecting a post-apocalyptic Earth lends a little soul to a sombre, tense thriller that needs all the heart it can scavenge. RATING: 3. |
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| Terrence Malick's To The Wonder (US, 2012) - After visiting Mont Saint-Michel — once known in France as the Wonder — at the height of their love, Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Neil (Ben Affleck) come to Oklahoma, where problems soon arise. Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Javier Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane (Rachel McAdams). An exploration of love in its many forms. 2012TOR, 2012VENic. RATING: 2.5. |
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| GREAT MOVIES: Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park 3D (US, 2013) - Jurassic Park" will at least disabuse anyone of the idea that it would be fun to share the planet with dinosaurs. Steven Spielberg's scary and horrific thriller may be one-dimensional and even clunky in story and characterization, but it definitely delivers where it counts, in excitement, suspense and the stupendous realization of giant prehistoric reptiles. Having finally found another set of "Jaws" worthy of the name, Spielberg and Universal have a monster hit on their hands. 1993HIT, 1994AA, 1000DT, 1001M, E500. RATING: 4. |
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| Brian Helgeland's 42 (US, 2013) - An icon in both sport and the civil rights movement, Jackie Robinson is an important figure in post-World War II US history. Maybe that’s why writer-director Brian Helgeland’s 42 feels almost over-respectful in its solid but rarely inspiring recounting - with relative unknown Chadwick Boseman in the central role - of how Robinson broke baseball’s ‘colour barrier’ in the late 1940s and opened a door of opportunity for generations of black athletes. RATING: 3. |
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| GREAT MOVIES: Henry Alex Rubin's Disconnect (US, 2012) - A conventional, multilinear ‘Big Emotional Journey’ is lifted by a finely-honed script and some solid performances in the first dramatic feature by Henry-Alex Rubin, director of the well-received 2005 documentary Murderball. Riffing on the theme of loneliness and the difficulties of interpersonal communication in an increasingly connected world, Rubin’s film traces a brace of stories from contemporary America’s wired society, from online sex chatrooms to Facebook pranks, in order to bring out what in the end is a pretty clichéd point about the real human connections that get lost in cyberspace, and the way being permanently online can turn people offline emotionally. 2012TOR, 2012VENoc. RATING: 4. |
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| Justin Zackham's The Big Wedding (US, 2013) - Though nothing like as uproarious as it wants to be, The Big Wedding gets some fairly amusing (and relatively raunchy) comedy as well as some mildly affecting drama out of its familiar dysfunctional-family-gathering scenario. And it does so with the help of a strong dual-generational cast - led by Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl and Diane Keaton - that should help this Americanisation of 2006 French-Swiss release Mon frère se marie connect with the increasingly active baby boomer audience. RATING:2 |
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| Michael Bay's Pain and Gain (US, 2013) - As an avowed, no-nonsense peddler of cinematic excess, director Michael Bay would in some respects seem to be the ideal candidate to bring to the big screen the deliciously weird and over-the-top true crime story at the center of Pain & Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Unfortunately this down-and-dirty air-quote character piece, a florid and casually misogynistic action dramedy that marks Bay’s least expensive production since his debut film, comes unglued early on, and then spends two hours-plus thrashing about wildly, to only middling effect. RATING: 2.5. |
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| John Appel's Wrong Time Wrong Place (Norway, 2013) - A look at the role of chance in our apparently manipulatable existence. The devastation wrought in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik changed the lives of many forever. Some of these survivors discuss their personal experiences during the attack and the random events that preceded it. How did they get to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Interspersed with long, atmospheric shots of the now deserted Utøya, the protagonists tell their emotional tales. Harald, a Norwegian civil servant, had just gotten to work when the car bomb went off in the center of Oslo, tearing through his building and leaving him injured but alive. Ugandan refugee Ritah was pregnant and broke, but decided to travel to Utøya at the last minute anyway. A bad weather forecast almost kept Hakon from going to Utøya; he ended up on the same ferry as Breivik and barely escaped the deadly rain of bullets. The parents of the Georgian Tamta believe that the fate of their dead daughter was already sealed in old religious writings, but her friend Natia knows that she would have survived if they had stayed together. Wrong Time Wrong Place is a film about the bargain with fate. Because however much one tries to influence fate, in the end coincidence calls the shots. 2013IDFA. RATING: 6 |
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| Dylan Mohan Gray's Fire in The Blood (US, 2013) - In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Western governments and pharmaceutical companies blocked low-cost antiretroviral drugs from reaching AIDS-stricken Africa, causing 10 million or more unnecessary deaths. An improbable group of people decided to fight back. North American Premiere / While “How to Survive a Plague” and “We Were Here” have commendably essayed the U.S. end of the AIDS crisis, the devastation the disease has wrought in the developing world is a topic that has long merited a documentary of equivalent substance. Enter “Fire in the Blood,” a basically constructed but rivetingly researched examination of the global fight for affordable antiretroviral therapy against Western pharamaceutical companies, whose restrictive patent laws amount to a death sentence for millions of Third World HIV/AIDS patients. Impassioned, persuasive film won’t have trouble spreading its essential message across the fest circuit and beyond. 2013SUN. RATING: 3. |
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| Shane Black's Iron Man 3 (US, 2013) - The third time is neither a particular charm nor the kiss of death for Marvel Studios’ robust “Iron Man” series, which has changed studios (from Paramount to Disney) and directors (Shane Black subbing for Jon Favreau) but otherwise toyed little with the formula that has so far generated more than $1.2 billion in global ticket sales. The inevitable franchise fatigue ― plus a markedly unmemorable villain ― may account for the feeling that “Iron Man 3” is more perfunctory and workmanlike than its two predecessors, but this solid production still delivers more than enough of what fans expect to earn its weight in box office metal. RATING: 3. |
