Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| Il Grido (1957) | "
The camera's spare, stunning compositions and the tone of loss and disaffection anticipate Antonioni's later, brilliant explorations of bourgeois anomie." Village Voice Posted Jul 31, 2007 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| The Rules of the Game (1939) | "
Even if you think you know it, see it again for its newly rediscovered depth of field, and even more, for its infinite wellsprings of character and empathy." L.A. Weekly Posted Dec 28, 2006 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Cave of the Yellow Dog (2006) | "
At times the film's Buddhist lessons feel a bit forced, but the naturalistic performances Davaa has coaxed from a real-life Mongolian family, and her intimate understanding of their culture and values, give this sensitive portrayal its heft." Village Voice Posted Nov 7, 2006 |
Fresh
| Fresh 97%
| The Rules of the Game (1939) | "
If you think you know it, see it again for its newly rediscovered depth of field, and even more, for its infinite wellsprings of character and empathy." Village Voice Posted Oct 31, 2006 |
Fresh
| Fresh 87%
| Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) | "
Julia Jentsch gives a brilliantly nuanced performance as Sophie, a fun-loving girl who likes marmalade and Schubert but also happens to be a rare beacon of conscience in totalitarianism's dark night." Village Voice Posted Feb 14, 2006 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| My Name Was Sabina Spielrein (2002) | "
This evocative film is a poignant testament to the twin forces of love (however blighted) and the unconscious." Village Voice Posted Dec 28, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Touch the Sound (2006) | "
It's rare that a documentary conveys an artist's worldview so compellingly, but then Glennie is no ordinary musician." Village Voice Posted Sep 6, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 70%
| The Wall (2004) | "
Disturbing and compelling." Village Voice Posted Aug 23, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 83%
| The Memory of a Killer (2005) | "
Van Looy has created a fast-paced and stylish thriller." Village Voice Posted Aug 23, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| The Great Water (2005) | "
Despite the choppy script and cartoonishly bad villains, what emerges is a compelling tale of the moral compromises a corrupt system demands of even its most unwilling participants." Village Voice Posted Jun 14, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 89%
| Caterina in the Big City (2005) | "
Pitch-perfect performances and a light-handed but razor-sharp script keep this satire brisk and biting." Village Voice Posted May 31, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| The Two of Us (1968) | "
Some may find Berri's portrait of provincial France and its prejudices too loving, but it has the ring of a truth that escapes ideologies." Village Voice Posted May 24, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 78%
| Another Road Home (2005) | "
[A] moving film." Village Voice Posted Apr 26, 2005 |
Fresh
| Rotten 57%
| David Hockney: The Colors of Music (2005) | "
This delightfully sensual documentary gets inside the artist's creative process while also treating viewers to glorious music by the likes of Wagner and Satie." Village Voice Posted Apr 5, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| In Satmar Custody (2003) | "
Chilling and thoroughly engrossing." Village Voice Posted Apr 5, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 61%
| Nina's Tragedies (2005) | "
With improbable charm, Gabizon knits it all together, his characters' sexual obsessions and earthiness tempered by a soulful melancholy." Village Voice Posted Mar 22, 2005 |
Rotten
| Fresh 73%
| Walk on Water (2005) | "
The complex questions Walk on Water raises receive only confused answers." Village Voice Posted Mar 3, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 84%
| My Mother's Smile (2005) | "
Uncannily beautiful and deeply humanist." Village Voice Posted Feb 8, 2005 |
Fresh
| Fresh 80%
| The Keys to the House (2004) | "
Amelio's camera captures with subtlety and without sentimentality the state of mind of a parent for whom every child running freely in the park is a painful reminder of another's limitations." Village Voice Posted Dec 21, 2004 |
| Rotten 50%
| Whore (1991) |
Click here to read article Village Voice Posted Dec 15, 2004 |
Rotten
| Rotten 0%
| Whore (2004) | "
The subjects can be amusing, chilling, or tragic -- but in the end, they offer few surprises." Village Voice Posted Dec 14, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 100%
| Deserted Station (2002) | "
Hardcore Kiarostami devotees may miss the master's harsher clarity, but Hatami, best known for her starring role in Dariush Mehrjui's Leila, makes her character's inner transformation both subtle and palpable." Village Voice Posted Nov 30, 2004 |
Rotten
| Rotten 26%
| Noel (2004) | "
Most of the redemptive notes ring false, as does the mythical Manhattan, where the snow is just too clean and everybody lives around the corner." Village Voice Posted Nov 9, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 76%
| Being Julia (2004) | "
Bening's comic gifts make the most of Ronald Harwood's witty screenplay." Village Voice Posted Oct 12, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| Incantato (2003) | "
If you can suspend your disbelief regarding Nello's naďveté, this film offers some quiet pleasures." Village Voice Posted Sep 21, 2004 |
Rotten
| Rotten 49%
| Vanity Fair (2004) | "
The pacing feels choppy, and the characters' emotions are sometimes too sudden to be believable." Village Voice Posted Aug 31, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 73%
| Almost Peaceful (2004) | "
Deville has managed to preserve the work's great virtues -- the intimacy, discretion, grace, and humor with which it speaks of both irredeemable disaster and the taste for life that survives it." Village Voice Posted Aug 17, 2004 |
Fresh
| Rotten 45%
| Nicotina (2004) | "
What does it mean? Not all that much, really -- just a pleasurable hour and a half passing, like an extended cigarette break." Village Voice Posted Aug 17, 2004 |
Rotten
| Fresh 75%
| Inheritance (2003) | "
In the end, there's little left in that sad, cold figure at the head of the firm to compel our empathy or compassion." Village Voice Posted Jul 6, 2004 |
Rotten
| Fresh 69%
| Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi (2003) | "
It also seems, like Shlomi himself, a bit naive and formless." Village Voice Posted Jun 29, 2004 |
Fresh
| N/A | The Junction (2004) | "
Looks beyond the current wave of violence, to its roots in a culture of tragedy and denial." Village Voice Posted May 11, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 95%
| The Story of the Weeping Camel (2004) | "
Beyond its rare visions of remote vistas, Camel's great charm lies in its seeming simplicity." Village Voice Posted Mar 23, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 71%
| Yves Saint Laurent: Empire Collection (2002) | "
A family feeling pervades this intimate documentary, which follows three months of creation for a single season's collection (Winter 2001), from the first drawings to the last finished garment." Village Voice Posted Jan 6, 2004 |
Fresh
| Fresh 86%
| Children of Love (2003) | "
The film's striking realism makes you feel you're gaping at a car wreck." Village Voice Posted Dec 23, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 85%
| Monsieur Ibrahim (2004) | "
Unusual in its ambition to pose deep spiritual questions, but its enticing surfaces ... are the best thing about it." Village Voice Posted Dec 2, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 93%
| My Architect: A Son's Journey (2003) | "
A bracing, bittersweet testament of filial love mixed with pain and compassion." Village Voice Posted Nov 11, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 38%
| The Singing Detective (2003) | "
The problems come in the shadow world, where everything's a jumble, where Dark's compositional strategy ('all clues and no solutions') eventually becomes wearing, and Gordon's direction can't hold it all together." Village Voice Posted Oct 21, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 58%
| Passionada (2003) | "
The clash between Ireland's art house aspirations and the obviousness of his choices ... is grating." Village Voice Posted Sep 9, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 77%
| Taking Sides (2003) | "
Flawed but fascinating." Village Voice Posted Sep 2, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 21%
| Dust (2003) | "
In reaching for a cubist style of storytelling, [Manchevski] sacrifices character and motivation." Village Voice Posted Aug 19, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 44%
| Lucia, Lucia (2003) | "
Even as the story of one woman's midlife crisis, it's a bit lightweight." Village Voice Posted Jul 22, 2003 |
| Fresh 72%
| Bonhoeffer (2003) |
Click here to read article Village Voice Posted Jul 3, 2003 |
| Rotten 55%
| Jet Lag (2003) |
Click here to read article Village Voice Posted Jun 10, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 40%
| Three Marias (2003) | "
[Abranches is] so focused on creating a strikingly mannerist visual style that he forgets to flesh out his plot and characters." Village Voice Posted May 27, 2003 |
Fresh
| Rotten 51%
| The Sea (2003) | "
Kormákur is at his best with dark, raw humor. When he reaches for tragedy, his film feels predictable." Village Voice Posted May 13, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 92%
| Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII (2002) | "
Slesin's film is a profound meditation on the resilience of children -- their ability to take sustenance from whatever love is available -- and on the persistent presence of the child hidden within each grown-up." Village Voice Posted May 13, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 63%
| Foreign Sister (2003) | "
Offers an incisive glimpse into one woman's inner transformation -- her secret sense of loss in the midst of plenty and her sudden perception of a world of suffering lying just beyond her home." Village Voice Posted Feb 25, 2003 |
Fresh
| Fresh 88%
| Chaos (2003) | "
Fast-paced feminist thriller and witty black comedy." Village Voice Posted Jan 28, 2003 |
Rotten
| Rotten 40%
| The Jimmy Show (2002) | "
There's an admirable rigor to Jimmy's relentless anger, and to the script's refusal of a happy ending, but as those monologues stretch on and on, you realize there's no place for this story to go but down." Village Voice Posted Dec 10, 2002 |