Farran Smith Nehme
Tomatometer-approved critic
Movies reviews only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
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The Beguiled (2017) |
Coppola's screenplay meticulously softens or eliminates everything that was bold and frightening about Don Siegel's 1971 film version. - Film Comment Magazine
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| Posted Jul 11, 2017
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A Dog's Purpose (2017) |
By the end, I was worn out by all the selfless devotion, all the joyous running across meadows and wheat fields while the camera soars as high as a dog's love for his human. - New York Magazine/Vulture
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| Posted Jan 30, 2017
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César (1936) |
Pagnol gives the illusion of naturalism through the vivid energy and affection of his characters. - Village Voice
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| Posted Jan 03, 2017
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Fanny (1932) |
Pagnol gives the illusion of naturalism through the vivid energy and affection of his characters. - Village Voice
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| Posted Jan 03, 2017
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Marius (1931) |
Pagnol gives the illusion of naturalism through the vivid energy and affection of his characters. - Village Voice
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| Posted Jan 03, 2017
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Denial (2016) |
The movie sneers at the journalists covering the trial, but for those of us who followed it at the time, the newspaper accounts were a lot more engrossing than this film. - New York Post
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| Posted Sep 29, 2016
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I.T. (2016) |
Beat by beat, it's exactly what you'd expect, right down to the camera's prurient interest in the dewy flesh of Stefanie Scott as the 17-year-old daughter. - New York Post
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| Posted Sep 22, 2016
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Command and Control (2016) |
Archival footage is combined with somewhat affected-looking re-enactments, but the film achieves its purpose: to remind us that we still have thousands of bombs, and neither they - nor we - have gotten that much smarter. - New York Post
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| Posted Sep 15, 2016
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London Road (2015) |
Mesmerizing. - New York Post
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| Posted Sep 08, 2016
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The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) |
The film can be rough going for those who know little of Berger's work. - New York Post
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| Posted Sep 01, 2016
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When Two Worlds Collide (2016) |
The importance of the issues is what carries the film along. - New York Post
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| Posted Aug 18, 2016
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A Tale of Love and Darkness (2015) |
The sort of mistily pretty literary adaptation where everyone speaks in complete sentences pregnant with imagery and meaning, and where historic events serve largely to try the souls of the characters, who in turn try the audience ... - New York Post
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| Posted Aug 18, 2016
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Anthropoid (2016) |
This is a story of heroes, and the second half in particular shows why. - New York Post
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| Posted Aug 11, 2016
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Neither Heaven Nor Earth (2015) |
[A] strange and engrossing spin on the war movie genre ... - New York Post
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| Posted Aug 04, 2016
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Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil (2016) |
Like other recent art-world documentaries, much time is spent on inter-museum wrangling, and the personalities aren't vivid enough ... to build tension. The interest lies in the close look at the strange vision of this great artist. - New York Post
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| Posted Jul 28, 2016
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The Childhood of a Leader (2015) |
It's an ambitious, often arresting film, but it lacks cohesion, and the seesawing plot and motivations seem more indecisive than mysterious. Still, it's a promising debut ... - New York Post
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| Posted Jul 21, 2016
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Don't Blink -- Robert Frank (2015) |
As the title seems to advertise, it's a frustrating blur of a movie; the rock 'n' roll soundtrack, however, is terrific. - New York Post
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| Posted Jul 14, 2016
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The Innocents (2016) |
The actors bring emotional authenticity to the aftermath of trauma, but despite that and the handsome cinematography, there is also a persistent phoniness. - New York Post
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| Posted Jun 30, 2016
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Nuts! (2016) |
This is one of the most entertaining documentaries to come along in some time. - New York Post
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| Posted Jun 23, 2016
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Cosmos (2015) |
It's a surreal piece of mischief, equal parts breezy fun and maddening confusion. - New York Post
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| Posted Jun 16, 2016
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From Afar (2015) |
Carefully composed, shot in the usual gray and mustard digital palette, the film deals in small slivers of information. - New York Post
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| Posted Jun 09, 2016
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The Witness (2015) |
Solomon's documentary goes deep into what we know about the killing, and what - thanks to flawed original reporting in the New York Times - we only think we know. - New York Post
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| Posted Jun 02, 2016
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Unlocking the Cage (2016) |
The film is impeccably shot and paced, but the radical real-world implications of Wise's agenda are never fully explored. - New York Post
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| Posted May 26, 2016
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Kaili Blues (2015) |
"Kaili Blues" has the kitchen-sink feel of a new director eager to try every art-film technique in the book, but the film's beauty and inventiveness are riveting. - New York Post
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| Posted May 19, 2016
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A Monster With a Thousand Heads (2015) |
It is engrossing, even funny at times, but it is a bit too jagged in execution to properly build to its tragic climax. - New York Post
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| Posted May 12, 2016
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Love & Friendship (2016) |
The sharpest, least sentimental and possibly the best version of Austen yet. - New York Post
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| Posted May 12, 2016
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Dheepan (2015) |
The remarkable performances from the central trio are what carries the film. - New York Post
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| Posted May 05, 2016
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Eva Hesse (2016) |
It is odd to watch a documentary where the subject becomes more interesting when she is discussed by other people. - New York Post
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| Posted Apr 28, 2016
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Streit's: Matzo and the American Dream (2015) |
A record of another unique New York institution, making way for another glass box. - New York Post
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| Posted Apr 21, 2016
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The Measure of a Man (2015) |
French director Stéphane Brizé films in lingering takes, with Lindon in almost every shot, and the actor is wonderful, able to convey Thierry's conflict even when his back is to the camera. - New York Post
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| Posted Apr 14, 2016
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Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt (2015) |
The film works to rescue Arendt and her phrase "the banality of evil" from years of clich, and largely succeeds. - New York Post
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| Posted Apr 07, 2016
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Francofonia (2015) |
Beware the film billed as a "meditation" on anything. - New York Post
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| Posted Mar 31, 2016
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Fireworks Wednesday (2006) |
While not as brilliant as his 2012 Oscar-winning "A Separation" or 2009's "About Elly," the film has the same qualities of compassion and suspense that have made Farhadi one of the world's most acclaimed directors. - New York Post
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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The Clan (2015) |
Swift, confident, and exceptionally nasty ... - New York Post
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| Posted Mar 17, 2016
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Marguerite (2015) |
It's an often witty, smoothly shot film with a couple of extraneous subplots and some last-act psychology that feels contrived. But Frot shines. - New York Post
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| Posted Mar 09, 2016
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Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015) |
The slow-paced film includes all the expected social themes - drinking, poverty, broken families. Where Zhao excels is in the range of emotions she gets from a mostly nonprofessional cast. - New York Post
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| Posted Mar 03, 2016
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King Georges (2015) |
Frankel has a fine eye for telling detail, and the result, while sentimental, is as irresistible as the dessert cart. - New York Post
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| Posted Feb 25, 2016
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Embrace of the Serpent (2015) |
A sudden lurch into trippy abstraction at the end simply doesn't work, but for the vast majority of the time this is a strong and original film. - New York Post
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| Posted Feb 18, 2016
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A War (2015) |
It's a pity that "A War" will be seen by only a fraction of those who turned out for the pieties and yowling stereotypes of "American Sniper." - New York Post
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| Posted Feb 10, 2016
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Rams (2015) |
Director Grímur Hákonarson excels at building tension through long takes, and the actors are excellent. Sigurjónsson offers a world of meaning in a grunt or a lift of the shoulders. - New York Post
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| Posted Feb 03, 2016
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Rabin, the Last Day (2015) |
At times overemphatic (no one will ever accuse Gitai of holding too much back), this docu-thriller is also agonizingly suspenseful, despite the foreordained conclusion. - New York Post
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| Posted Jan 28, 2016
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Bleak Street (2015) |
"Come, let us have a drink," says one aging streetwalker to another, "and hate everything and everyone." If that sounds tempting, then Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein's latest will be right up your dimly lit, trash-strewn alley. - New York Post
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| Posted Jan 20, 2016
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Band of Robbers (2015) |
In addition to Twain, the directors clearly worship the Coens, specifically "Raising Arizona." And that's OK. - New York Post
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| Posted Jan 15, 2016
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In the Shadow of Women (2015) |
Filmed in widescreen black-and-white that makes Paris look both decrepit and irresistible, this is a swift tale of what men and women want versus what they settle for. - New York Post
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| Posted Jan 13, 2016
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The Treasure (2015) |
The film is an unusual mixture of joy and cynicism. - New York Post
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| Posted Jan 06, 2016
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Brooklyn (2015) |
Brooklyn at heart is a women's picture, that staple of mid-century cinema in which a woman must choose her path in life, and the film adapts the genre's traditions splendidly. - Film Comment Magazine
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| Posted Jan 06, 2016
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45 Years (2015) |
At some point in her 50-year career, Rampling became one of the world's great actresses. Driven by her and Courtenay's work, and by director Andrew Haigh's limpid style, the film is devastating. - New York Post
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| Posted Dec 22, 2015
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Dreams Rewired (2015) |
It's a feast for fans of early film, but alas, the narration is inescapable. - New York Post
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| Posted Dec 17, 2015
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Son of Saul (2015) |
It's a harrowing story, as Tamás Zányi's sound design spells out the horror left in soft focus behind Rohrig's head. - New York Post
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| Posted Dec 16, 2015
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Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015) |
The movie doesn't rise above its music-doc formula of photo, clip, talking head. But for fans - like me - it's a heartfelt, engrossing tribute. - New York Post
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| Posted Nov 24, 2015
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