Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Josh Homme and Andreas Neumann’s ‘American Valhalla’
“There is a sense of bearing witness to history-in-the-making and of the unlikely melding of soulmates.”
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Nick Broomfield’s ‘Whitney: Can I Be Me’
“‘Whitney: Can I Be Me’ plays out like a tragedy of the most cinematic kind.”
Oak Cliff Film Festival Review: Dustin Guy Defa’s ‘Person to Person’
“‘Person to Person’ posits a world where forgiveness, kindness and neighborliness are actualized by a recognition of the innate goodness of humanity.”
Oak Cliff Film Festival Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Golden Exits’
“In ‘Golden Exits,’ the miserable find company in the spaces they inhabit. Nothing is shared; nothing is collective.”
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2017 – Andrea De Sica’s ‘Children of the Night’
“De Sica has mentioned ‘The Shining’ and ‘Dead Poets Society’ as influences, and ‘Children of the Night’ is at its best when it favors the former.”
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2017 – Roberto Andò’s ‘The Confessions’
“Sleek visuals and cryptic dialogue aren’t enough to save a film that’s essentially a truncated season of ‘House of Cards.'”
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2017 – Edoardo De Angelis’ ‘Indivisible’
“‘Indivisible’ is a fantastically imaginative coming-of-age tale, an opera of sweeping creativity and a universal human love story.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Jeremy Carr on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Mamma Roma’
“The compassion Magnani and Pasolini elicit from this affectionate portrait is manifestly sympathetic — she just tries so hard.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Wind River’
“‘Wind River’ is a well crafted, but straightforward, thriller with an interesting setting and social context.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Roman Polanski’s ‘Based on a True Story’
“The title is, of course, a knowing joke. ‘Based on a True Story’ couldn’t be further from reality.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Sergei Loznitsa’s ‘A Gentle Creature’
“Sergei Loznitsa goes for absurdist satire, but, unfortunately, the joke’s on him.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Ben and Joshua Safdie’s ‘Good Time’
“‘Good Time’ plays like little more than a direct-to-video thriller.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Noah Baumbach’s ‘The Meyerowitz Stories’
“Like a classic stand-up comedian, Baumbach is far more interested in observation than hot button provocation.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Beguiled’
“‘The Beguiled’ plays out exactly as one might expect and never really stretches beyond its contained premise.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: John Cameron Mitchell’s ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’
“‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ is spirited but doesn’t have anything new to say.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Laurent Cantet’s ‘The Workshop’
“Like ‘Visages, villages’ and ‘Claire’s Camera,’ ‘The Workshop’ continues a Cannes 2017 trend for the unmatched power of creation and artistic expression, and this film reaches to darker depths than those tales.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s ‘Before We Vanish’
“More than a stage play, the high concept and tonal spasms make ‘Before We Vanish’ feel like an adaptation of a cult manga.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Kaouther Ben Hania’s ‘Beauty and the Dogs’
“The technical achievement here is considerable, though there is nothing that can match the surprise, and resultant thrill, of watching the opening scene play out.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Agnès Varda and JR’s ‘Visages, villages’
“Between the enlightened creators, the immensely intimate artwork and the fabulous people they meet, there is never a dull moment in this beautiful piece of cinema.”
Cannes Film Festival Review: Vanessa Redgrave’s ‘Sea Sorrow’
“While ‘Sea Sorrow’ is cinematically stunted, it is clearly made with great passion and belief.”