French filmmaker Michael Hazanavicius, the Oscar winner for “The Artist”, presents another comic fable about a film genius in “Godard Mon Amour”. But this one is a real person, in fact, a living legend. Granted, this is a highly specialized entertainment, but for a cineaste like myself, most of it was very enjoyable. Jean Luc Godard […]
Some critics have called “Happy End”, the latest film from Michael Haneke, a “retread”, or something like that. I think, rather, that it shows a major artist losing his passion for filmmaking, as was also evident in his last film, the overrated “L’Amour”, which also starred Jean- Louis Trintignant. The first third of the film, at […]
Todd Haynes’ new film, “Wonderstruck”, was the closing night selection at the New York Film Festival. I didn’t see it there, but I’ve read that it was well-received, as it was at Cannes this year. Haynes is one of our most original and imaginative filmmakers. This story, adapted by Brian Selznick from his novel of […]
As in past years, I made my own select list from the main slate for my reviews. The seven for this year are diverse and timely. Also as before, I post the reviews in ascending order of preference. LET THE SUNSHINE IN Whether legendary veteran filmmaker Claire Denis originally had a serious story to […]
Revenge, as the saying goes, is a dish best served cold. There is little warmth to be found in Park Chan-wook’s brilliant The Handmaiden, but the filmmaker makes sure to serve bunches of wit and sexy fun along with it. It is essentially a dark tale, however, that sits comfortably alongside Park’s other work, like Oldboy, […]
Simon Dixon sees nothing wrong with starting at the top, and he makes a good case for that with his first film as a director, Tiger Raid, which had its world premiere at Tribeca on April 17th. I interviewed him and his producer, Gareth Evans, soon after the premiere, and it was obvious they were […]
The film from Estonia this year is Mother, the third feature directed by Kadri Kousaar, and her first at Tribeca. A serio-comic mystery set in a small town, it stars Tiina Malberg as a woman caring for her comatose adult son, who was shot by an unknown assailant. I sat down with Kadri and […]
A special screening of Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens was presented on the last night of the Queens World Film Festival. I’d never seen it before, but I knew of its reputation as one of the earliest films directed by a woman to get international attention. In spite of its being shot in 16 millimeter, […]
