2011-2020

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A bored-to-death Dutch teenage girl from the sticks seems to be waiting for an adolescent-age Godot in Supernova, the second feature as a director of Dutch actress Tamar van den Dop, who here co-stars as the girl’s mother.

Resolutely arthouse in its approach, this adaptation of a novel by Flemish author Bo Van Ranst won’t exactly set the box-office alight anywhere but offers more proof of the directorial talents of van den Dop and the serious range and sheer star power of Gaite Jansen (The Cost of Sugar, Tricked) who essentially has to shoulder the burden of making teenage boredom look interesting. The film had its world premiere in the Generation sidebar at the recent Berlin Film Festival and should be appreciated at other festivals as well. It opened commercially in the Netherlands April 17.Read More »

Synopsis:

Takeshi finds several notebooks by his late aunt Taki Nunomiya, who never married. Through the notebooks Takeshi learns of his aunt’s life.
Prior to World War II, in a little house with a red triangular roof in Tokyo, Taki works as a housemaid. The family that lives in the little house consists of 3 members: the husband who works at a toy company, his beautiful wife Tokiko and their five year old son Kyoichi. Taki longs for her employer Tokiko. The husband then hires a young art school graduate named Shoji Itakura. Tokiko and Taki are both excited by the man’s artistic talents. Meanwhile, the war situation deteriorates as well as the relationships in the little house.Read More »

In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce. Only rabbis can legitimate a marriage or its dissolution. But this dissolution is only possible with full consent from the husband, who in the end has more power than the judges. Viviane Amsalem has been applying for divorce for three years. But her husband Elisha will not agree. His cold intransigence, Viviane’s determination to fight for her freedom, and the ambiguous role of the judges shape a procedure in which tragedy vies with absurdity, and everything is brought out for judgment, apart from the initial request. (Cannes, Directors’ Fortnight)Read More »

Synopsis: Brandy Burre had a recurring role on HBO’s The Wire when she gave up her career to start a family. When she decides to reclaim her life as an actor, the domestic world she’s carefully created crumbles around her. Using elements of melodrama and cinema verité, ACTRESS is both a present tense portrait of a dying relationship and an exploration of a complicated woman, performing the role of herself, in a complex-yet-familiar story.Read More »

Synopsis: Italy, September 1955. A Formula One driver crashes his car during a race, leaving him stuck in a small village but good surprises will come his way.

This was written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola and while this is presented by Prada, it’s not an advertisement. Castello Cavalcante is just a short film, starring Jason Schwartzman, with all of the visual flourishes you might expect from Anderson.
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A documentary shot at the end of pornographer Joe Sarnos’s life, which reveals his attempt to make one last film, as well as his relationship with his wife, Peggy.Read More »

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The Weight, portrays the life of Jung(Cho Jae-Huyn) who grew up as an orphan and was adopted into a family of only a mother and a son. Jung is now a hunchback man due to scoliosis and is a live-in mortician taking care of corpses in the most eerie manner. His brother wants to become a woman and their mother, who now hates both of her sons, will not accept her real son’s female identity. Jung lives a secluded life trying to deal with his family’s problems along with his own.Read More »

A story about love deception, the return of the past, a tragedy, or even the violence contained in an everyday detail, appear themselves to push them towards the abyss, into the undeniable pleasure of losing control.

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The first ten minutes of Argentina’s Wild Tales, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, perfectly set you up for the experience you are about to have. A woman boards an airplane, then strikes up a conversation with the man across the aisle from her. It turns out he knows her ex-boyfriend. So does the woman seated in front of him. So does everyone else on the plane. It’s too much to be a coincidence, and it’s not. The guy they all know is the pilot; his passengers are people who have done him wrong. The scene ends with a stunning Twilight Zone-esque twist, then segues into an opening credits sequence set against photos of wild, often predatory animals. Writer/director Damian Szifron grabs you by the throat from the get-go, then proceeds to deliver a dazzling ride.Read More »

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A smoky duet between double-bass and piano at the start of Christian Petzold’s Phoenix promises a dose of film noir. That promise is complicated, if not exactly broken, by what follows. But then, this is a movie all about disguises, reinventions and deceptive appearances.
It begins with a monstrously tantalising scenario. In mid-1940s Germany, a vehicle is halted at night by US soldiers. A figure is whimpering in the passenger seat, their face concealed by blood-soaked bandages. Perhaps we are in for some Eyes Without a Face-style horror, then, rather than noir? Half-wrong again.Read More »