Indignation [2016] – ★★★★ Indignation is a directional debut of screen-writer and producer James Schamus, known for adapting the script of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and being producer of Brokeback Mountain (2005). Adapting a book by Philip Roth, in Indignation, Schamus presents the life of Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), a bright lad who, while…
Tag: Drama
“The Handmaiden” Review
The Handmaiden [2016] – ★★★★★ 🖌️ Fiercely intelligent, unapologetically erotic and endlessly stylish, The Handmaiden is a perfect film that toys with the audience’s expectations and formed beliefs. The Handmaiden is an award-winning erotic psychological drama directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy (2003), Stoker (2013)), and based on/inspired by the novel Fingersmith (2002) by Sarah Waters. The film…
“Rebecca” Review
Rebecca [1940] – ★★★★1/2 “…I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end” (Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca (1938)). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca is adapted from the best-selling novel…
“Elle” Review
Elle [2016] – ★★★★ A Dutch director known for Basic Instinct (1992) and Total Recall (1990), Paul Verhoeven has produced his first French-language film to date – Elle, based on a novel by Philippe Dijan (who is also known as a writer behind Betty Blue (1986)). Elle has already competed for a Palme d’Or at…
Makoto Shinkai: “Your Name” & “5 Centimetres per Second”
Your Name [2016] – ★★★★★ 📆 An emotionally intense, unforgettable viewing experience, filled with “coming-of-age” fun and spiritual longings. Showcasing Makoto Shinkai’s talent for presenting emotional connections, fully-fledged characters and breathtakingly beautiful, detailed animation, Your Name is a romantic story of an accidental body-swap between country girl Mitsuha and city boy Taki, who, in reality,…
“Two Days, One Night” Review
Two Days, One Night [2014] – ★★1/2 Two Days, One Night is a critically acclaimed French-language film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid with a Bike (2011)). The plot is uncomplicated: Belgium; depressed married mother-of-two Sandra (Marion Cotillard) is having problems at work. The management of her solar-panels-making company proposed to make Sandra…
“The Infiltrator” Review
The Infiltrator [2016] – ★★★★ The 1980s. A federal agent Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) works as an undercover in a notorious drug trafficking ring established by Pablo Escobar. Robert Mazur is now influential and charismatic Bob Musella who operates alongside two other undercover agents: his “fiancée” Kathy Ertz (Diane Kruger) and best friend Emir Abreu…
“Dead Ringers” Review
Dead Ringers [1988] – ★★★★ David Cronenberg’s 1988 feature Dead Ringers is the director’s “trademark” film starring Jeremy Irons, and loosely based on a real-life story of identical twin brothers working as gynaecologists in New York. The story closely follows Elliot and Beverly Mantle (both played by Jeremy Irons), who share their lives so closely…
“Florence Foster Jenkins” Review
Florence Foster Jenkins [2016] – ★★★★1/2 Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen (2006) & Dangerous Liaisons (1988)), Florence Foster Jenkins is a comedy based on a true story[1] of Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep), a New York socialite whose desire to be a well-known opera singer greatly surpassed her natural abilities.[2] Unaware that she has a poor…
“Love & Friendship” Review
Love & Friendship [2016] – ★★★★1/2 🏰 Like its main heroine, the film puts a special charm on the viewer, and its intriguing, witty, playful and engaging nature is hard to resist. Love & Friendship is a new film by Whit Stillman and an adaptation of a short novel by Jane Austen Lady Susan. The…
“La Corrispondenza” Review
La Corrispondenza [2016] – ★★1/2 La Corrispondenza or The Correspondence is a film by renowned director Giuseppe Tornatore, the mastermind behind cleverly-crafted La Migliore Offerta (2014), beautiful Malena (2000), and critically-acclaimed Cinema Paradiso (1988). The film, with music from Ennio Morricone, is about astrophysics student Amy Ryan (Olga Kurylenko) and her infatuation with older Professor…
“12 Years a Slave” Review
12 Years a Slave [2013] – ★★★★★ Coming from Steve McQueen (director of Shame (2011)), 12 Years a Slave can now be comfortably described as this year’s cinematic sensation. The film, based on a self-autobiographical novel by Solomon Northup, tells the story of a black free man, who lives a happy family life in Saratoga, New York…
“Margaret” Review
Margaret [2011] – ★★★1/2 Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) is a somewhat spoiled and opinionated seventeen-year-old girl living with her mom, Joan (J. Smith-Cameron), an actress and her little brother in New York City. After witnessing a bus accident, in which she believes herself and a driver (Mark Ruffalo) to be guilty, Lisa’s views on life…
“The Secret in their Eyes” Review
El Secreto de sus Ojos [2009] – ★★★★★ ‘¿Te das cuenta, Benjamín? El tipo puede cambiar de todo: de cara, de casa, de familia, de novia, de religión, de Dios…pero hay una cosa que no puede cambiar, Benjamín… no puede cambiar…de pasión’. (Pablo Sandoval) Praised by critics and audiences alike worldwide, El Secreto de sus…
“The Skin I Live In” Review
The Skin I Live In [2011] – ★★★★★ 🥼This artistically gorgeous and unflinching cinematic creation is a triumph of specifically Almodóvarian film-making. Hailed as one of the most provocative films of the year, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In is a bizarre drama about a genius plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) who…
“Last Night” Review
Last Night [2010] – ★★★1/2 Directed by Iranian-American director Massy Tadjedin, Last Night is a romantic drama revolving around a posh married couple, Joanna and Michael Reed (Keira Knightley and Sam Worthington), who live in New York. After years of marriage, Joanna and Michael start to experience relationship tensions, doubts and stings of jealousy. Over…
“Shame” Review
Shame [2011] – ★★★★★ Directed by Steve McQueen (Hunger (2008)) and starring Michael Fassbender, Shame is a bold, beautiful film about a high-paid office worker in New York, Brandon Sullivan (Michael Fassbender), who suffers from sex addiction. While Brandon is able to shuffle work and (his idea of) play reasonably successfully on a daily basis,…
“Antichrist” Review
Antichrist [2009] – ★★★★ ✂ The film targets the “primal human need” in the audience, the Freudian connection between sex and death, and the “death” drive. Coming from Danish director Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003)), this controversial film promises to be anything but an easy ride. Hailed in Denmark a masterpiece overnight,…
“The Painted Veil” Review
The Painted Veil [2006] – ★★★★1/2 “Lift not the painted veil which those who liveCall Life: though unreal shapes be pictured there,And it but mimic all we would believeWith colours idly spread….” (Percy Bysshe Shelley) The Painted Veil is a moving romantic drama set in China in 1925, and based on Somerset Maugham’s critically acclaimed…
“Drive” Review
Drive [2011] – ★★★★★ Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling, Drive is about a stunt and getaway driver and car mechanic man (Gosling), who gets entangled in a complicated criminal affair. With an amazing soundtrack, cast, performances, script and, above all, that nostalgic and unforgettable 1980s feel to it, Drive is an impressive…
Spotlight on Film 