Latest reviews – Page 465
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Reviews
Nina's Tragedies: A Very Sad Comedy (Ha'assonoth shel Nina)
Dir: Savi Gabizon. Israel, 2003. 106mins.Film-maker Savi Gabizon's gently nonsensical humour has been much appreciated in the past by both Israeli critics and audiences. His new coming-of-age comedy, which looks at a gallery of eccentric, obsessive characters engineering themselves into impossible corners, should do reasonably well at home, especially after ...
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Reviews
Kiss Of Life
Dir: Emily Young. UK-Fr. 2003. 86minsA slender but soulful feature debut from award-winning shorts director Emily Young, Kiss Of Life attempts to grapple with the big issues of life, death, love and family. An overly cerebral approach to what could have been quite emotionally-charged material means that the film feels ...
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Reviews
For She's A Jolly Good Fellow (Elle Est Des Notres)
Dir: Siegrid Alnoy. France. 2003. 100minsA portrait of a woman ' indeed, a society ' on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Siegrid Alnoy's debut feature is ostensibly a variation on a familiar topic, but quickly establishes its vision with steely confidence. Coolly inventive and rigorous, Alnoy's debut is likely ...
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Reviews
A Love Movie (Filme De Amor)
Dir: Julio Bressane. Brazil. 2003. 90minsThere is precious little love, even less sensuality and no passion at all in this experimental picture which marks Julio Bressane's return to the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes after more than 30 years. A little film on a vast subject, to quote the director himself, ...
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Reviews
Seabiscuit
Dir: Gary Ross. US 2003. 140 minutesA good film that could have been a great one, Seabiscuit offers a welcome alternative to this summer's bloated action sequels. Based on the best-selling non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, the film recounts the true, Depression-era story of an unprepossessing, knobby-kneed horse who not ...
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Reviews
Struggle
Dir: Ruth Mader. Austria. 2003. 74minsThis is one of those strange films that leaves you scratching your head and wondering 'now what the heck was that all about'' What initially seems like a glum exercise in sub-Dardennes brothers-style neo-realism eventually becomes closer in spirit to Ulrich Seidl's Dog Days (Hundstage, ...
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Reviews
No Rest For The Brave (Pas De Repos Pour Les Braves)
Dir: Alain Guiraudie. France-Austria. 2003. 105mins.Self-taught director Alain Guiraudie's first film to break the 60-minute barrier is the live-action, rural French answer to Waking Life, Richard Linklater's animated, urban American dream spiel. In both films we are plunged straight into the metaphysical dilemmas of a group of predominantly male alter ...
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Reviews
Old, New, Borrowed And Blue (Se Til Venstre, Der Er En Svensker)
Dir. Natasha Arthy. Denmark. 2003. 90mins.This new romantic comedy is the best proof that a Dogme tag does not necessarily indicate a film is a meaningful or even a challenging experience. Old, New, Borrowed And Blue's sitcom-type humour and occasional melodramatic touches will probably provide a safe niche on international ...
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Reviews
How To Deal
Dir: Clare Kilner. US. 2003. 101mins.The first of three films due this year from 19-year-old US singer-actress Mandy Moore, How To Deal touches on some of the thornier issues of adolescence and family life but eventually resolves itself into a disappointingly insipid teen romance. To match the $41m grossed in ...
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Reviews
Red And Blue (Rot Und Blau)
Dir. Rudolf Thome. Germany. 2003. 112mins.Veteran German director Rudolf Thome is back with another one of his meticulously over-scripted, exceedingly polite and talkative dramas. Like much of his previous work, such as Venus Talking and Paradiso: Seven Days With Seven Women (which won the Silver Bear at Berlin in 2000), ...
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Reviews
Playing 'In The Company Of Men' (En Jouant 'Dans La Compagnie Des Hommes')
Dir: Arnaud Desplechin. France. 2003. 118minsOne of France's more cerebral directors, Arnaud Desplechin has a reputation for risk-taking, as shown by his period drama Esther Kahn, which faced a prickly critical reception at Cannes in 2000. With his latest film, which played in Un Certain Regard, he has hardly gone ...
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Reviews
Tiresia
Dir: Bertrand Bonello. France-Canada. 2003. 118minsAfter his initial outing in Critics' Week, where he was much applauded two years ago for his debut, Le Pornographe, Bertrand Bonello might have done better with his second picture had it not been kicked upstairs from its original Un Certain Regard position to a ...
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Reviews
Veronica Guerin
Dir: Joel Schumacher. US. 2003. 98 minsSeemingly content to seesaw between vapid commercial fare and grittier personal projects, director Joel Schumacher follows the spy game misfire Bad Company with a heartfelt salute to a true-life heroine. The story of a fearless Irish journalist's crusade against the evils of ...
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Reviews
Bad Boys 2
Dir: Michael Bay. US. 2003. 147 mins. Finally reuniting stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence with director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the big budget sequel to unassuming 1995 action comedy Bad Boys is the kind of juggernaut we've come to expect from Bruckheimer and Bay since they first ...
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Reviews
Northfork
Dir: Michael Polish. USA. 2003. 103mins.Despite its all-star cast, Northfork, actor-writer-director Michael Polish's dreamlike fable about the flooding of a small community will be a hard sell for Paramount Classics when it opens in the US on July 11. Nevertheless, it should prove a welcome guest at festivals looking for ...
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Reviews
The Silence Of The Forest (Le Silence De La Foret)
Didier Ouenangare and Bassek Ba Kobhio's slight tale has been billed as the first ever Central African film, says Lee MarshallDirs: Didier Ouenangare, Bassek Ba Kobhio. Central African Republic-Cameroon-Gabon. 2003. 91minsMore a consciousness-raising gesture than a piece of cinema, pure and simple, The Silence Of The Forest is a slight, ...
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Reviews
La Meglio Gioventu
Dir: Marco Tullio Giordana. Italy. 2003. 366mins.Marco Tullio Giordana's new film, which follows two Italian brothers between 1966 and 2002, is remarkable for three reasons. Firstly, it is just over six hours long. Secondly, it does not drag and is a compelling weave of micro and macro history. And thirdly, ...
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Reviews
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Dir: Stephen Norrington. US. 2003. 110minsThis extraordinary misfire from Blade director Stephen Norrington is like Coca-Cola without the fizz. All the elements are in place but nothing - not the cast, the production design, the effects, the one-liners, the fight scenes, the camp - can bring it to life and ...
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Reviews
Buddy
Dir. Morten Tyldum. Norway. 2003. 104minsA feel-good, eminently likeable romp about three young Norwegians in their early 20s struggling through the rites of passage from adolescence to maturity, this feature debut by a director with a solid reputation in commercials should be a welcome addition to the youth-oriented film repertoire ...
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Reviews
A Long Weekend in Buda And Pest (Het Pesten Et Budan Egy)
Dir. Karoly Makk. Hungary. 2003. 90mins.While it is by no means a sequel to his celebrated feature Love of 32 years ago, Karoly Makk's new film not only employs the same two leading actors, Mari Torocsik and Ivan Dardas, but also makes extensive use of footage from his earlier picture ...