Latest – Page 616
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Reviews
The Feast Of The Goat (La Fiesta Del Chivo)
Dir. Luis Llosa. Spain/UK. 2006. 135mins.In The Feast Of The Goat, action specialist Luis Llosa(Sniper, Anaconda) moves decisively from his Hollywood assignments to somethingmore personal and troubling. Adapting from the novel by his cousin Mario VargasLlosa, it results in a wrenching and awkward study aboutthe monstrous political reign of Dominican ...
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Reviews
16 Blocks
Dir: Richard Donner. US. 2006. 113mins.A grizzled Bruce Willis and a wisecracking Mos Def play the odd couple at the centre of 16 Blocks, a not very convincing yetstill quite likeable cop thriller from LethalWeapon franchise director Richard Donner.Though there are echoes of Donner's late-1980s buddy cop classics in the ...
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Reviews
Milarepa
Dir. Neten Chokling. Bhutan, 2005. 96mins.Milarepa is a glossy,lovely movie from Bhutan that details the life of Tibetan Buddhism's most reveredsaint, who was born as Thopaga in the eleventh century.Whilesomewhat slow-moving at times - although would one want a life-transforming awakeningaccompanied by MTV-style editing'- its stateliness, deep spirituality, gorgeous mountainscenery ...
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Reviews
Bye Bye Berlusconi
Dir: Jan Henrik Stahlberg. Ger. 2006. 88mins.It's easy to see why the Berlinaleprogrammed this tricksy political satire in itsPanorama sidebar: dealing as it does with the controversial figure of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi,it comes with guaranteed news cachet. But although it has some hilariousmoments, the German-produced, Italian-language Bye Bye ...
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Reviews
Hotel Harabati (De Particulier A Particulier)
Dir: Brice Cauvin. Fr. 2005. 94mins."Sublimely enigmatic" is one way to describe Hotel Harabati;for many viewers, "maddeningly inscrutable" will becloser to the mark. Either way, Brice Cauvin'steasing debut will keep audiences arguing long after its unexpectedly beatificending.Personably spikylead performances, a willfully fractured narrative and a defiantly provocativeattitude to viewer expectations ...
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Reviews
Absolute Wilson
Dir/scr: Katharina Otto-Bernstein. US-Ger. 2006.105mins.Absolute Wilsonmight not be not be quite 'absolute' in the sense of 'definitive', but Katharina Otto-Bernstein's documentary is certainly anexhaustive introduction to the life and work of Robert Wilson, American theatrevisionary extraordinaire.The Texan-borninnovator has worked at a frenzied pace since his arrival on the avant-gardetheatre scene ...
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Reviews
Invisible Waves
Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Thai-Neth-SKor-HK-Chi. 2005. 115mins.InvisibleWaves is a feature whose admirers will find it hard to pinpoint why theylike it. Its numerous detractors, on the other hand, will find it easy tosubstantiate their dislikes.Ostensibly about murder,guilt and redemption and told in a manner reminiscent of Jean Pierre Melville, Thaidirector Pen-ek ...
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Reviews
The Kick (Der Kick)
Dir: Andres Veiel. Ger.2006. 82mins.A severely minimalist exercise situated onthe interface between cinema and theatre, TheKick is a rigorously executed, highly disturbing combination of performanceand documentary reportage. Two performers - a woman and a man - act outstatements from a range of people involved in a real-life murder case, sheddingunforgiving ...
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Reviews
Dead Run (Shisso)
Dir: Sabu.Jap. 2005. 124mins.Aptly named, Dead Run is a morbid crawl, a tediouslyover-extended wallow in good, evil and teenage angst that manages at once to beluridly over-heated and grindingly turgid.A first literary adaptation from Sabu(Postman Blues, Unlucky Monkey), it proves a rambling and confused melodrama thatrelies largely on the spurious ...
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Reviews
It's Winter (Zemestan)
Dir: Rafi Pitts. Iran 2005.86mins.Rafi Pitts' remarkable It's Winter is one of those films that forces you to rethink your preconceptions about Iraniancinema. Although recognisably in a taut, austereIranian mould, the film feels new in several ways. Its central figure is notjust an anti-hero but is abrasively unsympathetic; its narrative ...
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Reviews
Isabella
Dir: Pang Ho-cheung. HK-Chi. 2006. 109mins.Although it deals with corruption and features asuspended cop as its hero, Pang Ho-cheung's Isabella is no gritty action drama. Noris it a political piece, despite being set on the eve of Macau's return toChinese hands after 400 years of Portuguese rule. And while it ...
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Reviews
Son Of Man
Dir: Mark Dornford-May. S Afr. 2006. 86minsThe second collaboration between Mark Dornford-May and Cape Town theatre collective Dimpho Di Kopane- their first was Berlinale Golden Bear winner U-Carmen eKhayelitsha- Son Of Man is a stirring fusion ofthe New Testament with African folklore, dance and choral numbers that resultsin a politically ...
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Reviews
Vitus
Dir: Fredi M Murer. Switz. 2006. 120mins.From an opening that suggests a feelgoodchildren's fantasy, Vitusturns into a much odder confection - an intelligent, spiky, sometimes movingcomedy-drama with a satirical eye turned on the Swiss bourgeoisie.Directed by Helvetic veteran Fredi M. Murer, best known for his 1985 Alpine Fire, Vitusis an ...
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Reviews
Puccini For Beginners
Dir/scr: Maria Maggenti. US. 2006. 82mins.Woody Allen famously observed that the greatadvantage of being bisexual was that it doubled your chance of a date on aSaturday night. Maria Maggenti's second feature, thesexual screwball farce Puccini For Beginners, appends the template of Allen's romanticcomedy landmark, Annie Hall, to thefluid, destabilising sexual ...
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Reviews
The Free Will (Der Freie Wille)
Dir: Matthias Glasner. Ger.2006. 163mins.Even audiences inured to the rigors of snail-pacedEuropean introspection face a grueling ride in Matthias Glasner'sdrama about a rapist in search of redemption.Digitallyphotographed by the director himself in murky shades, The Free Will mostly eschews incident for sombrecontemplativeness. But, in the odd moments when Glasnercranks up ...
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Reviews
Requiem
Dir: Hans-Christian Schmid.Ger. 2005. 92mins.The thinking man's The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Requiem offers a deliberatelyunderstated take on the real-life events which inspired that commerciallysuccessful courtroom horror yarn.Director Schmidand scriptwriter Lange are only marginally interested in the hoary theme of Emily Rose - the tussle between religiousfaith and scientific reason. ...
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Reviews
Find Me Guilty
Dir/scr: Sidney Lumet. US. 2006. 123mins.Now in his eighties, veteran director Sidney Lumet shows no signs of slowing down - and mob courtroomdrama Find Me Guilty proves that hehas lost none of his ability to turn out a slick, well- crafted product.But it's a product that,like many of the director's ...
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Reviews
Subject Two
Dir/scr Philip Chidel. US. 2006.92mins.Philip Chidel's secondfeature Subject Two begins with ataut, suggestive title sequence of two men battling for possession of a gun; asmart, sharp opening that provides a chilling introduction to the highly assuredand impressively staged low-budget horror film that follows.It conforms enough to thedemands of the form, ...
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Reviews
1:1
Dir: Annette K Olesen. Den. 2005. 90mins.1:1is nothing if not timely, addressing the ethnic and religious tensions inDenmark highlighted by the recent furore over anewspaper cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.Annette K Olesen's follow-up to InYour Hands comes across as a passionate, socially concerned cri de coeur, albeit one executedin a ...
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Reviews
Final Destination 3
Dir: James Wong. US. 2005.92mins.With its original writers and director back at thecontrols, the Final Destinationfranchise cruises efficiently but not very excitingly through its third outing,a cartoonishly gory horror romp with an all-new castof little known young actors. The franchise has proved surprisingly profitablefor New Line: the first film grossed ...