Lisbon & Estoril 2014 Review: Abel Ferrara's PASOLINI Hits Some, Misses Some
Abel Ferrara's take on Pier Paolo Pasolini's life (more than his career as a filmmaker, poet or philosopher) is the breed of biopic that seems modest and straightforward enough to make up for its obvious shortcomings. Its modesty comes from...
Lisbon & Estoril 2013 Review: PELO MALO Goes For Sweet And Harsh And Succeeds
The main attraction at this year's San Sebastián, where it took home the top award, Mariana Rondón's Pelo Malo smartly draws from Italian neorealism to create an intimate, sparely successful depiction of hardship during childhood and sexual identity. Its first...
Lisbon & Estoril 2013 Review: VIOLA Is A Strange, Audacious Little Film From Argentina
The always interesting and exciting Argentinean cinema has been known for its very gritty realism and tight grip on the country's social and economic issues. Filmmakers like Fabián Bielinsky, Juan José Campanella and Lucía Puenzo lead with polished, socially invested...
Lisbon & Estoril 2013 Review: STOP THE POUNDING HEART Digs Deep Into Religious Fanatism Through Beauty
The third and final chapter of a trilogy by US-based Italian director Roberto Minervini entirely dedicated to the study of rural Texas, Stop the Pounding Heart tenuously walks the line between documentary and fiction. It follows the day-to-day life of...
Lisbon & Estoril 2013 Review: Polanski's VENUS IN FUR Does Brilliantly With Very Little
One could easily make the case that Roman Polanski is one of the very few living filmmakers with enough credentials to make a film based on a play based on a 19th century novel that would be the basis for...
MOTELx 2013 Interview: Nakata Hideo Talks THE COMPLEX, Horror, And Cinematic Influences
In its seventh edition, the modest yet increasingly interesting MOTELx festival continues to reserve a very special spot in its genre-savvy program for Japanese cinema. This year, an entire section is dedicated to the man who, in a way, launched...
MOTELx 2013 Review: SHOOTING BIGFOOT Pulls Off Funny And Scary In Doc Form
Appropriately grouped in MOTELx's "Doc Terror" section with Room 237 - an exploration of The Shining's semi-mythical hidden meanings and theories - and Despite the Gods - a telling of Jennifer Lynch's Bollywood adventure - Shooting Bigfoot cleverly blends horror and investigative...
A SEPARATION review
Iranian cinema, probably one of the most artistically rich of today, has gone, in the last few years, hand in hand with the country's social and political situation. Often distinguished in European and North-American festivals, most Iranian films (those that...
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