Latest – Page 600
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Reviews
The Sugar Curtain (El Telon De Azucar)
Dir/scr: Camila Guzman Urzua. Fr-Sp. 2006. 80mins.A classic portrait of a dream gone wrong, Camila Guzman Urzua's personaland intimate Cuba documentary The SugarCurtain is as fierce an indictment of the Castro regime as any academicanalysis of it.The daughter of expatriateChilean film-maker Patricio Guzman, whosedocumentaries on Pinochet's military coup are textbookmaterial ...
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Reviews
The Sugar Curtain (El Telon De Azucar)
Dir/scr: Camila Guzman Urzua. Fr-Sp. 2006. 80mins.A classic portrait of a dream gone wrong, Camila Guzman Urzua's personaland intimate Cuba documentary The SugarCurtain is as fierce an indictment of the Castro regime as any academicanalysis of it.The daughter of expatriateChilean film-maker Patricio Guzman, whosedocumentaries on Pinochet's military coup are textbookmaterial ...
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Reviews
The Post Modern Life Of My Aunt (Yi Ma De Hou Xian Dai Sheng Huo)
Dir: Ann Hui. Chi. 2006. 113mins.A slapstick comedy opening leads to a melancholy and melodramaticending in Ann Hui's The Post Modern Life Of My Aunt, which is tailoredto please home audiences and Chinese communities abroad but will hold limitedinterest beyond that. Conceived as an episode piece that shifts from a ...
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Reviews
Flags Of Our Fathers
Dir: Clint Eastwood. US.2006. 131mins.Rarely do words as stark as "heroism" get parsed infilm-making - but that's just what Clint Eastwood's World War II feature Flags Of OurFathers does. A diffuse and demanding picture that, as with most Eastwoodfilms, takes a while to find its stride, it should nevertheless see ...
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Reviews
The History Boys
Dir: Nicholas Hytner. UK.2006. 112mins.It is hard to begrudge a film as wellwritten and acted as The History Boys.Nicholas Hytner's screen adaptation of Alan Bennett'sacclaimed play is buoyed by some tremendous performances, one or two of whichlook very likely to be nominated for major awards. The writing is superb. Nonetheless,in ...
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Reviews
Man Of The Year
Dir/scr: Barry Levinson. US. 2006. 114minsWith Man Of The Year, Barry Levinson returns to the Americanpolitical scene that he satirised so ably in Wag The Dog, this time forgoing unregenerate cynicism for satireslathered between layers of disarming sweetness and optimism.But despite boasting RobinWilliam's most restrained and winning performance for some ...
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Reviews
All About Lola (Lo Que Se De Lola)
Dir: Juan Rebollo. Sp-Fr. 2006. 112mins.After a long and successful career in short films,Juan Rebollo's much awaited feature debut All About Lola turnsout to be the kind of film one would rather talk about than watch.Intentionally hermetic, enormously self-indulgent and ignoring reality any timethat the real world disturbs its metaphor, ...
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Reviews
Forever
Dir: Heddy Honigmann. Neth. 2006. 95mins.An intellectual mood piece about life and art,observed through the perspective of death, Heddy Honigmann's documentary about renowned Parisian cemetery Pere Lachaise is surprisinglyaffecting and perceptive, despite its conventional structure.Taking a camera through oneof the most celebrated resting places in the world, and pointing it ...
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Reviews
I Am The Other Woman (Ich Bin Die Andere)
Dir: Margarethe Von Trotta. Ger. 2006. 104mins.A faint scent of nostalgia for the past rules over Margarethe Von Trotta's handsomeproduction I Am TheOther Woman, which looks like a psycho-romantic melodrama from the 1950s. Justimagine Three Faces OfEve meets Belle De Jour on theRhine valley, with all the modern paraphernalia that ...
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Reviews
The White Planet (La Planete Blanche)
Dir: Thierry Piantanida,Thierry Ragobert, Jean Lemire.Can-Fr. 2006. 86mins.The White Planet triesits best to repeat the magic of March Of The Penguins, which became a surprise worldwide hitdespite being a documentary about penguins. Unfortunately, it doesn't quitemake the grade. Though a handful of powerful images rise up occasionally toreclaim the audience's ...
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Reviews
I Am The Other Woman (Ich Bin Die Andere)
Dir: Margarethe Von Trotta. Ger. 2006. 104mins.A faint scent of nostalgia for the past rules over Margarethe Von Trotta's handsomeproduction I Am TheOther Woman, which looks like a psycho-romantic melodrama from the 1950s. Justimagine Three Faces OfEve meets Belle De Jour on theRhine valley, with all the modern paraphernalia that ...
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Reviews
Forever
Dir: Heddy Honigmann. Neth. 2006. 95mins.An intellectual mood piece about life and art,observed through the perspective of death, Heddy Honigmann's documentary about renowned Parisian cemetery Pere Lachaise is surprisinglyaffecting and perceptive, despite its conventional structure.Taking a camera through oneof the most celebrated resting places in the world, and pointing it ...
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Reviews
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait Of Diane Arbus
Dir: Steven Shainberg. US. 2006. 122mins.A surprising and seductive curio from Secretary directorSteven Shainberg, Furis one of the season's most unusual films. On the one hand, its high-calibrecast led by Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jrscreams of prestige awards contender, while on the other its unconventionalpacing, largely fictional story about ...
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Reviews
Everything's Gone Green
Dir: Paul Fox. Canada. 2006. 92mins.A generally wellcrafted, breezy yarn, Everything's Gone Green has a lot of bright, nascenttalent but falls short of an artistic or commercial bull's-eye. It'sintelligently observed when it ought to be hilarious and lacks the requisitebite and tartness that would set it apart from the ceaseless ...
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Reviews
A Stone's Throw
Dir: Camelia Frieberg. Canada. 2006. 98mins.The directingdebut of producer Camelia Frieberg, AStone's Throw is a family drama underscored with hot button social issues.Adroitly crafted and well observed, the film shows a nascent talent behind thelens. However, the familiarity of the yarn and the absence of marqueeperformers present an uphill struggle ...
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Reviews
Trapped Ashes
Dirs: Joe Dante, Monte Hellman, Ken Russell, SeanCunningham, John Gaeta. US/Canada/Japan. 2006. 105mins.Monte Hellman's superlative,evocative and genuinely moving Stanley'sGirlfriend is the standout contribution of Trapped Ashes, the horror anthology of four macabre vignettes alsodirected by Ken Russell, Sean Cunningham and John Gaeta.Financed by Japanesebroadcast concerns and shot in Vancouver, Los ...
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Reviews
The Fall
Dir: Tarsem. 2006. India/UK/US. 117mins.Surely the most visuallyawe-inspiring film at the Toronto film festival this year, music video directorTarsem's The Fall will divide mostaudiences. Patient viewers, however, will be richly rewarded by a visual andaural extravanganza that is virtually sui generis. Think the brilliant andexciting images of Julie Taymor in ...
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Reviews
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
Dir: Jonathan Liebesman.USA. 2006. 89 minutes.A lot of modern horrorhas become more synonymous with horrifying rather than terrifying - thechief difference being the latter is something that grips you on a base,visceral level certainly, but also provokes significant feelings ofpsychological unease. The gulf between these two approaches is roundly apparentin ...
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Reviews
Un Crime
Dir: Manuel Pradal. France. 2006. 110mins.Manuel Pradal,whose 1997 debut film Marie Baie DesAnges won universal plaudits, has unwisely decided to attempt a full-scalefilm noir for his third film. Set in NewYork City, Un Crime stars thenormally superb Emmanuelle Beart and Harvey Keitel, but there's littleconvincing chemistry between them, and even ...
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Reviews
Un Crime
Dir: Manuel Pradal. France. 2006. 110mins.Manuel Pradal,whose 1997 debut film Marie Baie DesAnges won universal plaudits, has unwisely decided to attempt a full-scalefilm noir for his third film. Set in NewYork City, Un Crime stars thenormally superb Emmanuelle Beart and Harvey Keitel, but there's littleconvincing chemistry between them, and even ...