Latest – Page 608
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Reviews
Brand Upon The Brain
Dir: Guy Maddin. US-Can. 2006. 97mins.Arguably the first true silent movie produced ineight decades, Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain premiered in Toronto with a liveorchestra, in-house sound effects artists, a singer and narrator providing apure cinematic full monty. And though there areobvious challenges in recreating such a singular event, ...
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Reviews
Borat
Dir: Larry Charles. US.2006. 82mins.A hand grenade lobbed towards the American heartland,mockumentary Borat explodes with intermittently uproarious results. Fansof Sacha Baron Cohen's enthusiastic Kazakhstanreporter and his television escapades will not be disappointed by a featuredebut filled with caustic encounters and razor-sharp observations. Others mightwonder what all the fuss is about; ...
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Reviews
Stranger Than Fiction
Dir: Marc Forster. US. 2006.118mins.A highly original script by newcomerZach Helm, some superlative performances and the deft guiding hand of directorMarc Forster, trying his hand at comedy for the first time, make Stranger Than Fiction the season's must-seefilm for discerning audiences. Financed and co-produced by Mandate Pictures,the film is having ...
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Reviews
The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen
Dirs/scr:Zacharis Kunuk, NormanCohn. Can-Den. 2006. 112mins.The combination of an opening night slotin Toronto and the pressure of following up on their justly heralded debut Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - which won Cannes'Camera d'Or in 2001 - provide film-makers Zacharis Kunuk and Norman Cohenwith a searing spotlight for their new feature ...
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Reviews
Fido
Dir: Andrew Currie. Can. 2006. 91mins.A boy's best friend is his zombie in Fido, areasonably inventive comic film that plays out like a fusion of Shaun Of The Deadand Pleasantville. Andrew Currie'sfeature has enough charm and smart moves to sustain what is essentially aone-joke premise, but its hybrid nature could ...
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Reviews
The Magic Flute (La Flute Enchantee)
Dir: Kenneth Branagh. UK.2006. 137mins.Can filmed opera attract a multiplex audience'Probably not, but Kenneth Branagh's sumptuous newversion of The Magic Flute comes asclose to crossover as a meeting of these two great light-and-sound artforms ever will. Any exercise in this hybrid genre hasto deal with the question of how to ...
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Reviews
Euphoria (Ejforija)
Dir: Ivan Vyrypaev. Russia.2006. 73mins.A brief, spare but intense love story, Euphoria is a ferocious and downbeatwork from debut Russian film-maker Ivan Vyrypaev, whomay have over-reached himself with its poetical effusions, but who displaysenough promise to watch for the future.Gloriously shot, withjudicious and often surprisingly effective choice of camera angles, ...
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Reviews
Alatriste
Dir. Agustin Diaz Yanes. Sp-US-Fr 2006. 145mins.At first glance, big budget Hispanic feature Alatriste wouldseem destined for something of a critical fall, directed as it is by alittle-tested film-maker (at least in the way of epics) from several novels andfeaturing an English-language star speaking Spanish. But Agustin Diaz Yanes's $30.8m ...
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Reviews
Dry Season (Daratt)
Dir/scr: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. Fr-Bel-Chad-Aust. 2006. 95mins.The third feature from Mahamat-SalehHaroun, the director of Bye Bye Africa (at Venice in 1999) and Abouna (which wasat Cannes in 2002), is a pared-back revenge tale with a twist, set against thebackground of the long trail of civil and ethnic strife in Haroun'snative Chad.One ...
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Reviews
Exiled (Fangzhu)
Dir: Johnnie To. HK. 2006.100mins.Less concerned than ever to tell an actual story, and more interested in exploring the possibilities ofcinematic language, Johnnie To's latest gang war epicis probably his most eccentric foray yet into the genre. Paying tribute toWesterns of every kind, particularly the spaghetti variety, Exiled sees To ...
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Reviews
Inland Empire
Dir/scr: David Lynch. US-Fr-Pol. 2006. 189mins.Around 10 minutes into INLAND EMPIRE, David Lynch's baffling new cinematic mindgame,a guy with the head of a rabbit drones: "I do not think it will be much longernow". Wrong, bunny: it will be another two hours and 50 minutes of improvisedplotting, rumbling sound effects ...
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Reviews
Still Life (Sanxia Haoren)
Dir: Jia Zhankg-Ke. Chi. 2006. 107mins.The decision of the Mostradel Cinema to screen Jia Zhankg-Ke'sStill Life in the prestigioussurprise competition film slot at Venice - and then slap its two press andindustry screenings on at 11pm and midnight respectively - is not going to dothe director nor his film many ...
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Reviews
THE INLAND EMPIRE
Dir/scr: David Lynch. US-Fr-Pol. 2006. 189mins.Around 10 minutes into INLAND EMPIRE, David Lynch's baffling new cinematic mindgame,a guy with the head of a rabbit drones: "I do not think it will be much longernow". Wrong, bunny: it will be another two hours and 50 minutes of improvisedplotting, rumbling sound effects ...
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Reviews
Still Life (Sanxia Haoren)
Dir: Jia Zhankg-Ke. Chi. 2006. 107mins.The decision of the Mostradel Cinema to screen Jia Zhankg-Ke'sStill Life in the prestigioussurprise competition film slot at Venice - and then slap its two press andindustry screenings on at 11pm and midnight respectively - is not going to dothe director nor his film many ...
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Reviews
Bobby
Dir/scr: Emilio Estevez. US.2006. 119mins.Actor-director Emilio Estevez makes a convincing return to featuredirection with Bobby, an all-starchoral drama set in Los Angeles' Hotel Ambassador on the day Democraticcandidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated there. True, it is not one of those auteurist multi- strand films like Magnolia that provokes and challenges ...
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Reviews
Falling
Dir/scr: Barbara Albert.Austria. 2006. 85mins.An ensemble piece exploring the existential crisises of five thirtysomething women,Barbara Albert's Falling plays like acoded conversation between its writer/director and her female cast to which therest of us are not privy. A secretive film-maker who likes her audiences to digaround and supply the details suggested ...
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Reviews
Paprika
Dir: Satoshi Kon. Japan2006. 90mins.Satoshi Kon proves againwith the teen- and adult-oriented feature Paprikajust why he is one of the most interesting anime Japanese directors right now.On the evidence here it's easy to see why his work, rather than the more conventionalTales Of Earthsea - directed by HiyakiMiyazaki's son Goro ...
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Reviews
The Hottest State
Dir/scr: Ethan Hawke. US. 2006. 116mins.Films about first love are a bit like films aboutdrugs: they risk being more interesting for those involved than for theaudience. But The Hottest State -which screened in Horizons at Venice - has the grace and resilience to charm audiences,grounding its potentially self-indulgent tale into ...
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Reviews
The Untouchable (L'Intouchable)
Dir/scr: Benoit Jacquot. Fr. 2006. 82mins.Resembling a vehicle for upcoming young French star Isild Le Besco, The Untouchable, the latest feature fromveteran writer/director Benoit Jacquot, follows anactress who leaves Paris for India to locate her lower caste biological father.A modest production in everyrespect that would have been better suited to ...
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Reviews
Venus
Dir: Roger Michell. UK. 2006. 95mins. The team behind TheMother - director Roger Michell, writer Hanif Kureishi and producer KevinLoader - reunites for Venus, anotherportrait of an old character being revitalised by love for a younger. In thiscase, the relationship - between a septuagenarian and a teenager - is even ...