Louis Proyect
Louis Proyect's reviews (from any publication) always count toward the Tomatometer
because this critic is a Tomatometer-approved critic.
| Biography: |
I am a long-time socialist with a an interest in the problems of developing countries. Therefore, films made in Latin America, Africa and Asia are of great interest to me. I am also the moderator of a Marxism mailing list at www.marxmail.org.
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| Favorites: |
1. Burn2. Strawberry and Chocolate3. Battle of Algiers4. Moolaade5. Sargeant Shakespeare
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| Publications: | rec.arts.movies.reviews, Counterpunch.org |
| Critics' Group: | New York Film Critics Online |
| Location: | NYC |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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| No Score Yet | Mama Africa (2011) |
Worth watching as a compilation of the great singer's songs but even more worth watching as social history from the heyday of the civil rights movement to Black Power to the end of apartheid.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 21, 2017
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| No Score Yet | The Shopkeeper (2016) |
This loving tribute to a saintly Austin recording studio owner is also a searing examination of the dubious benefits of streaming services like Spotify. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 18, 2017
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| 100% | California Typewriter (2017) |
A fantastically entertaining movie even if you--unlike me--never had the pleasure (and frustration) of using a manual typewriter. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 18, 2017
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| 98% | Whose Streets? (2017) |
Sensitive study of the activists in Ferguson who helped launch an urgently needed new civil rights movement, especially with a racist President determined to permit cops to kill with impunity.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 13, 2017
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| 69% | The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) |
Brilliant synthesis of film noir and political analysis of the fetid core of Egyptian bourgeois society.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 13, 2017
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| 93% | A Taxi Driver (2017) |
A timely reminder that the South Korean state could act as brutally as the demonized regime to the North.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 11, 2017
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| 93% | Icarus (2017) |
Starts out like "Super Size Me" and then turns into an investigation of Russian use of PED's and a much more interesting film.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 4, 2017
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| 90% | Machines (2016) |
In 25 years of reviewing documentaries, this is the most powerful work on labor exploitation I have ever seen. It brings Marxist theory to life with a remarkable compassion. Brilliant in all respects.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Aug 4, 2017
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| 100% | Sled Dogs (2017) |
A powerful documentary that reveals how much Iditarod and Michael Vick have in common.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 28, 2017
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| 94% | Menashe (2017) |
A stunning achievement in every sense. The film stands on its own as family drama but beyond that is a profoundly sensitive look at an orthodox society that is facing challenges from within. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 25, 2017
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| 100% | Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey (2017) |
A portrait of a young man who never expected to serve life in prison for a first-time drug offense and whose true-life escape from a Turkish prison was dramatized effectively by Oliver Stone but with a needless demonization of the Turks.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 20, 2017
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| 84% | The Fencer (Miekkailija) (2017) |
Compelling story of how a Soviet satellite stood up for its national dignity during the depths of the Cold War but without anti-Communist cliches.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 19, 2017
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| 100% | Chasing Coral (2017) |
The urgency of this problem requires people to become informed about the issues, starting with seeing the film either at the IFC or on Netflix.‐ rec.arts.movies.reviews
Read More | Posted Jul 18, 2017
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| 99% | City of Ghosts (2017) |
A timely reminder that as the city of Raqqa is being bombed mercilessly by the USA, it was never reconciled to ISIS rule. Ordinary Syrians were confronted by fascists in beards and fascists in neckties. Down with fascism.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 7, 2017
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| 90% | RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017) |
Succeeds both as entertainment, musicology and American Indian history. It shows that no matter how hard white America tried to force Indians to be "white", they maintained their traditions even expressing them as rock-and-roll. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2017
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| 83% | Santoalla (2017) |
A gripping mystery story based on cultural clashes between a Dutch couple and the only family left in a farming village in Spain's beautiful but impoverished Galicia region.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2017
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| No Score Yet | A Bold Peace (2016) |
Fascinating insights into the real possibility of living without war in a society committed to equality. Not a utopia--just Costa Rica.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jul 5, 2017
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| 100% | Nowhere To Hide (2017) |
Courageous filmmaking at its best.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 30, 2017
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| 88% | Lady Macbeth (2017) |
Despite a questionable revision of the Leskov novella upon which the film is based, a most compelling work that prioritizes mis-en-scene over dialog.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 30, 2017
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| 100% | Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (2017) |
By far the best documentary on Syria to date. It deserves the widest audience given the urgent need for solidarity with a people who have been killed or displaced for demanding freedom.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 14, 2017
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| 95% | Night School (2017) |
I have over 1000 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and this is the first one that uses that overused word "inspirational". A great work for a period when the government views the film's subjects as superfluous.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 10, 2017
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| 70% | Moscow Never Sleeps (2017) |
This film is an unqualified masterpiece and my pick for best foreign language film of 2017. It is a throwback to the naturalist fiction of Chekhov and Zola but in cinematic terms. Bravo! ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jun 10, 2017
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| 83% | Afterimage (Powidoki) (2017) |
Penetrating examination of how an avant-garde artist true to the vision of the early days of the USSR collided with the reactionary "Socialist Realism" diktats of Poland's Stalinist bureaucracy.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted May 19, 2017
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| 92% | Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017) |
The documentary hearkens back to Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life". I prefer the documentary.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted May 18, 2017
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| 100% | Last Men in Aleppo (2017) |
Deeply affecting portrait of two White Helmet first responders who struggle to save the lives of victims of Russian and Baathist terror.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted May 5, 2017
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| 94% | Citizen Jane: Battle for the City (2017) |
Does not quite get to the social contradictions of New York that have turned it into a theme park for hedge fund magnates, but it does serve to show how big capital was fought by Jane Jacobs in the early 60s. ‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 21, 2017
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| 87% | The Lost City of Z (2017) |
Confused thematically but cinematically impressive. A study of obsession evocative of Herzog's "Aguirre, Wrath of God" but based on British rather than Spanish colonialism.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 19, 2017
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| 90% | Glory (2017) |
An absolutely devastating critique of corporate corruption in post-Communist Bulgaria. Brilliant script and performances single this film out for one of the best of 2017.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 14, 2017
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| 50% | The Promise (2017) |
"Entertainment" oriented critics obviously were not entertained by this. If you are a thoughtful person trying to get a handle on the barbarism of the 20th century, this is a good place to start.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Apr 12, 2017
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| 100% | Tickling Giants (2017) |
Despite the light-hearted and guffaw-inspiring nature of most of the film, it is also a deadly serious look at repression in Egypt and how it might crop up here in the USA as well.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 14, 2017
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| 100% | Uncertain (2017) |
A worthy addition to the genre that includes "Vernon, Florida" and "Pleasures and Plagues of the Salton Sea".‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 9, 2017
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| 95% | I Called Him Morgan (2017) |
Quite simply, the greatest film about a jazz musician ever. Do not miss this story of a career cut short by a "Frankie and Johnny" tragedy.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 8, 2017
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| 89% | Tanna (2016) |
No film in this genre comes close to "Tanna" in terms of story-telling expertise, acting by non-professionals, cinematography, music and political insight.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Mar 7, 2017
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| 100% | The Last Laugh (2017) |
Nominally about whether jokes about the holocaust can be funny, it is much more an insightful look into the nature of comedy itself.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 28, 2017
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| 100% | P.S. Jerusalem (2017) |
A documentary about the clash between romantic illusions in the Zionist dream of the early 50s and the ugly reality of today's Israel embodied in a family drama. Raw and realistic.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 28, 2017
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| 100% | The Settlers (2017) |
With one settler asserting that Israel is entitled to all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates, this documentary should serve as a wake-up call especially with Trump in the White House.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 28, 2017
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| 9% | Bitter Harvest (2017) |
Yes, the film is flawed but it is still one of the most important films to see this year for its first-time look at one of the 20th century's greatest injustices that sheds light on Ukraine's current travails.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 24, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Irada (2017) |
Despite its Bollywood conventions, this is not an escapist film but one that deals with a social problem facing India and the entire world: corporate environmental despoliation and the cancer epidemic‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 17, 2017
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| 32% | In Dubious Battle (2017) |
A dubious film based on a dubious novel.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 17, 2017
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| 89% | Land of Mine (Under Sandet) (2017) |
The visceral excitement of "Wages of Fear" combines with a sharp critique of "Good War" mythology. Brilliant filmmaking with a moral edge.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 10, 2017
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| 100% | Keep Quiet (2017) |
Could an anti-Semite renounce decades of ideological zealotry and become an observant Jew after discovering that his grandmother was an Auschwitz survivor? Maybe or maybe not. The film allows you to make your own conclusion.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 8, 2017
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| 88% | Left on Purpose (2017) |
Did the retreat of the 60s radicalization ultimately lead to Mayer Vishner's suicide? Depression was also a factor as this deeply moving film indicates.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 8, 2017
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| 60% | Joy (2015) |
A briskly entertaining film about a woman who "makes it" as an entrepreneur, even if the film fosters Horatio Alger type illusions in a period of deep capitalist decline.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2017
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| 84% | The Founder (2017) |
Despite a tendency to veer toward something out of the McDonalds PR department, a briskly entertaining look at Ray Kroc's sleazy business practices.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 3, 2017
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| 95% | De Palma (2016) |
You'll learn more about the art of filmmaking in this documentary than from any course in the UCLA or NYU film school.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2017
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| 94% | Life, Animated (2016) |
A film that makes you want to stand up and cheer at the ending, much more than the routinely "inspirational" films shown in Multiplexes.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2017
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| 98% | I Am Not Your Negro (2017) |
More interesting as a portrait of James Baldwin than it is of the men he planned to write about but compelling nonetheless.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Feb 1, 2017
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| No Score Yet | The Modern Jungle (La Selva Negra) (2016) |
A fascinating deconstruction of ethnographic films that still remains faithful to the genre it belongs to.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 17, 2017
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| 100% | The Sunshine Makers (2017) |
Terrific story of two men and the revolutionary period they lived in made all the more powerful by their defiance of society's norms as septuagenarians.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 17, 2017
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| No Score Yet | Go North (2017) |
An update of "Lord of the Flies" taking place in a post-apocalyptic Detroit rather than a Pacific island. A much better example of this genre than the Mad Max franchise.‐ Counterpunch.org
Read More | Posted Jan 10, 2017
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