Latest – Page 691
-
Reviews
Far From Heaven
Dir: Todd Haynes. US. 2002. 107 mins.In painstakingly recreating the style and mood of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven attempts to show that prejudice is as rampant in the complacent America of the new millenium as it was behind the twitching net curtains of Sirk's affluent ...
-
Reviews
Frida
Dir: Julie Taymor. USA. 2002. 121mins.First the bad news: Julie Taymor's cinematic life of painter Frida Kahlo, which US-based Mexican actress Salma Hayek fought for most of a decade to bring to the screen, is not the masterpiece some had anticipated. The good news, at least for distributor Miramax, is ...
-
Reviews
The Magdalene Sisters
Dir: Peter Mullan. UK-Ireland. 2002. 118minsShocking true events are transformed into a powerful and moving human drama in The Magdalene Sisters. The second feature from writer-director Peter Mullan, the film is an angry cry from the heart rendered all the more effective by its restraint and burning sense of injustice ...
-
Reviews
Lilja 4-Ever
Dir: Lukas Moodysson. Sweden. 2002. 109 mins.After a promising debut with Show Me Love (known in some territories as Fucking Amal), Swedish wunderkind Lukas Moodysson entered the major league with his last film, Together, a study of a dysfunctional 1970s commune that combined wry humour with emotional torture. Moodysson seemed ...
-
Reviews
Frida
Dir: Julie Taymor. USA. 2002. 121mins.First the bad news: Julie Taymor's cinematic life of painter Frida Kahlo, which US-based Mexican actress Salma Hayek fought for most of a decade to bring to the screen, is not the masterpiece some had anticipated. The good news, at least for distributor Miramax, is ...
-
Reviews
Lilja 4-Ever
Dir: Lukas Moodysson. Sweden. 2002. 109 mins.After a promising debut with Show Me Love (known in some territories as Fucking Amal), Swedish wunderkind Lukas Moodysson entered the major league with his last film, Together, a study of a dysfunctional 1970s commune that combined wry humour with emotional torture. Moodysson seemed ...
-
Reviews
The Red Siren
Dir: Olivier Megaton. France. 2002. 108 mins.A blandly conventional English-language actioner featuring good and bad mercenaries battling it out across Europe to retrieve a 12-year-old runaway, The Red Siren seems more like a spin-off of a Luc Besson formula thriller than a screen adaptation of a cult French suspense novel, ...
-
Reviews
The Last Great Wilderness
Dir: David Mackenzie. UK. 2002. 90minsAn idiosyncratic combination of stalled road movie and psychological drama, The Last Great Wilderness marks a promising feature debut from director David Mackenzie. The dry, dark wit and unpredictable nature of the narrative reveal it to have more in common with the sensibility of early ...
-
Reviews
Volcano High (Whasango)
Dir: Kim Tae-gyun. Korea. 2001. 99minsA manic, manga-style mixture of frenzied fight sequences and hysterical comedy, Volcano High makes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon seem like a sedate stroll in the park by comparison. Downplaying narrative cohesion in favour of spectacular martial arts moves, it should find an eager audience among ...
-
Reviews
The Idol (L'Idol)
Dir: Samantha Lang. France. 2002. 110mins.A great leap of faith is required to adore The Idol, an overwrought chamber piece about the ambiguous, erotically charged relationship between two expatriates living in Paris. Premiered at Locarno's vast Piazza Grande but much better suited to an intimate art-house setting, this French-language drama ...
-
Reviews
Heartlands
Director: Damien O'Donnell. UK. 2002. 98minsAnswering the question of how you follow an international success like East Is East (1999), director Damien O'Donnell's second feature Heartlands is a slow-burning delight that will steal audience hearts just as effectively as his broader, more obviously crowd-pleasing debut. A gentle road movie filled ...
-
Reviews
Out Of Control
Director: Dominic Savage. UK. 2002. 90 minsAn angry, nihilistic drama told with gut-renching conviction, Out Of Control confirms writer-director Dominic Savage as the standard bearer for the raw, social realist traditions established and refined by Ken Loach and the late Alan Clarke. A largely improvised story intended for transmission on ...
-
Reviews
Simone
Dir: Andrew Niccol. US. 2002. 124mins A third slice of near-futuristic fantasy from Andrew Niccol, the creator of The Truman Show and Gattaca, Simone is a silly souffle of a movie that has some good ingredients but turns out overcooked and stodgy. The film's awkward tone - not to mention ...
-
Reviews
The Eye (Oko)
Directors: Oxide and Danny Pang. Hong Kong-Thailand. 2002. 98minsAn atmospheric blend of psychological thriller and eerie ghost story, The Eye sees director brothers Danny and Oxide Pang follow the highly stylised, hitman thriller Bangkok Dangerous (which won the FIPRESCI prize at Toronto two years ago) with a successful foray into ...
-
Reviews
Possession
Dir: Neil LaBute. US. 2002. 103 mins. An extraordinary choice of director lies at the heart of Possession, a story of rapturous Victorian romance told by a film-maker, Neil LaBute, best known for his razor-tongued and cynical comedies about contemporary American sexual mores. Critical response will depend on whether his ...
-
Reviews
The Guru
Dir: Daisy von Scherler Mayer. UK-US. 2002. 94minsFeatherweight, feel good escapism, The Guru grafts a modish Bollywood sensibility on to a tried and tested fish-out-of-water comedy scenario. The end result is technically polished candy floss that tries desperately hard to please, with a cartoonish approach and casual disregard for basic ...
-
Reviews
Okay
OKAYReviewed by Sheila Johnston in LocarnoScreened in competitionDir: Jesper W Nielsen. Denmark. 2002. 95mins. Danish actors must be the envy of their colleagues the world over: this tiny national industry produces an endless stream of films which treat very recognisable, everyday problems with that distinctive Nordic blend of comedy and ...
-
Reviews
The Longing
THE LONGING (DAS VERLANGEN)Reviewed by Sheila Johnston in LocarnoScreened in competitionDir: Iain Dilthey. Germany. 2002. 90mins.The winner of this year's Golden Leopard in Locarno, The Longing (Das Verlangen), a low-budget film school graduate work by the Scottish-born, German-bred director Iain Dilthey, presents a redoubtable marketing challenge. With its sombre subject ...
-
Reviews
Cinemania
Dirs: Angela Christlieb, Stephen Kijak. Germany. 2002. 80mins. Cinema is "better than sex - better than love," enthuses Bill at the beginning of Cinemania, a funny and affectionate chronicle of five film-crazy New Yorkers and the astonishing lengths to which they will go to feed their obsession. A perfect crowd-pleaser ...
-
Reviews
XXX
Dir: Rob Cohen. US. 2002. 124mins.While the film-making on show here is about as sophisticated as an episode of Baywatch, XXX possesses a powerful quality which has been lacking from most studio-level action adventures in some time: an attitude. A perfect vehicle for its viciously charismatic star Vin Diesel, XXX ...