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4/5
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Sam Now
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
After making the theatrical rounds in 2023, Sam Now aired as part of PBS's Independent Lens and on The Criterion Channel. It's one of the finest documentaries to emerge from the Pacific Northwest and one of the very best of the year.
Posted Dec 01, 2023
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3.5/5
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Trenque Lauquen: Part I
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
With her third feature, a work six years in the making, Laura Citarella teases out the central mystery with droll and insightful digressions, while composer Gabriel Chwojnik keeps things lively with an ever-changing score...
Posted Nov 24, 2023
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4/5
|
The Night of the 12th
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
The Night of the 12th centers the case, but it's mostly about the consequences of unchecked misogyny. It's also about the life of a detective, in which romance and optimism don't stand much of a chance...
Posted Nov 23, 2023
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3.5/5
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Before, Now & Then
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Drawing from co-writer Ahda Imran's fact-based novel My Name Is Jais Darga, in addition to the experiences of her own grandmother, filmmaker Andini (Seen and Unseen, Yuni) never pushes the melodrama too hard.
Posted Nov 20, 2023
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3/5
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Passion
(2008)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
For all its imperfections...the film is remarkably self-assured for a thesis project. Over the next decade, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi would make great strides, but Passion proves he was a gifted filmmaker right from the start.
Posted Nov 11, 2023
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3.5/5
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Aloners
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
To Hong's credit, Aloners rarely comes across as depressing, though the subject matter might indicate otherwise. She has a light touch, and her cast does, too...
Posted Nov 08, 2023
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3.5/5
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Oki's Movie
(2010)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Though no one would describe Oki's Movie as a revenge film in the conventional sense, the way Hong [Sang-soo] allows Oki to have the last word gives her back the autonomy Jingu attempted to stifle.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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3.5/5
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Our Sunhi
(2013)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Compared to previous Hong women, like Haewon, Sunhi (Jung Yu-mi) is surly and defensive. The men aren't much better, though Sunhi seems more capable of growth.
Posted Aug 30, 2023
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3.5/5
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Nobody's Daughter Haewon
(2013)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Though the film struck some critics as scattered, a narrative in which dreams and waking life entwine reflects Haewon's approach to an adulthood she's struggling to navigate, largely on her own.
Posted Aug 25, 2023
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3/5
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Walk Up
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
In Korean, Tab translates as “top,” a play on the word “tower,” and Hong uses the title building well, with each floor representing a different stage in Byung-soo 's life. If he intended the film as a self-portrait, though, it's not a very flattering one.
Posted Aug 24, 2023
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4/5
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The Novelist's Film
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
If The Novelist's Film revolves around a writer and director who constantly surprises, Hong proves with this film, that he can, too.
Posted Aug 22, 2023
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3/5
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Secret Defense
(1998)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
The entire cast rises to the occasion, particularly [Sandrine] Bonnaire, who was on a roll in the 1990s, though the fatalistic tone rarely lifts.
Posted Jul 27, 2023
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2.5/5
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Backtrack
(1989)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Catchfire wasn't a hit in 1990, and unfortunately, time hasn't transformed it from a misfire into a hidden gem—even in the extended director's cut included with this release.
Posted Jul 20, 2023
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3/5
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The Line
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Though The Line's ambiguity is probably intentional, rather than the result of carelessness, it prevents the film from being wholly satisfying. Nonetheless, Meier elicits full-bodied performances from her entire cast...
Posted Jun 26, 2023
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3.5/5
|
Yakuza Graveyard
(1976)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
It's a violent film that hews toward the lurid, but there's never a dull moment, and the chemistry between Kuroiwa and Keiko adds some much-needed tenderness to the tough scenario.
Posted Jun 22, 2023
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3.5/5
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The Sunday Woman
(1975)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Overall, the three movie stars all make their mark, especially Mastroianni who brings a deft comic touch to his character (he would revisit the role in the 1985 sequel).
Posted Jun 19, 2023
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3.5/5
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Hit the Road
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
In best road movie fashion, Hit the Road also serves as a travelogue as the family passes pistachio-like hills, hot springs, and babbling brooks.
Posted Jun 07, 2023
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3.5/5
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1970
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Though Wolski could have extended the 70-minute run time through interviews with strikers, journalists, and historians, it might have diluted the power of his approach, which makes a historical event feel immediate and relevant.
Posted Jun 05, 2023
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3.5/5
|
Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Native Vermont filmmaker Nora Jacobson pays tribute to Vermont poet and writing instructor Ruth Stone (1915-2011) in a tender, clear-eyed documentary that examines her enduring legacy as much as her eventful life.
Posted May 30, 2023
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3.5/5
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Le Plein de super
(1976)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Fans of Cassavetes' films about masculinity and its discontents will find a lot to love in this nicely acted, sensitively-directed look at male friendship.
Posted May 15, 2023
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3/4
|
Other People's Children
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Not to give too much away, but as a woman without children, I found it quite affecting, even as [Virginie] Efira is a cool, if compelling performer.
Posted May 10, 2023
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3/5
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Phantom Project
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
The lack of a definitive explanation may frustrate some viewers, but the director, lead actor, and cinematographer Patricio Alfaro certainly create a warm and welcoming world where young people, gay and straight alike, are free to shape their lives...
Posted May 08, 2023
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3/5
|
Official Competition
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
As a satire, Official Competition is a mixed success, since it's rarely as laugh-out-loud funny as intended, though it's never less than entertaining.
Posted May 08, 2023
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3.5/5
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Murina
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Murina is a coming-of-age story in the guise of a thriller. Kusijanović prioritizes emotional violence, which only escalates from start to finish, brought to life by a gifted cast, Gracija Filipović (a professional swimmer) above all.
Posted May 08, 2023
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3.5/5
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Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, the Road Is All...
(2015)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Davidov, Blottner, and Mueller offer an enlightening portrait of an author who wrote about people on the margins with a distinctly poetic, unsentimental form of sympathy. As Studs Terkel states, Algren was "the bard of the losers."
Posted May 04, 2023
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3/5
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I Didn't See You There
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
...the film may prove challenging to viewers accustomed to more conventional documentaries, but it definitely presents an under-seen, under-considered perspective--one usually discussed more often than shown.
Posted Apr 24, 2023
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3/4
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Missing
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Director and co-writer Shinzô Katayama served as Bong Joon-ho’s assistant on 2009's Mother, and his second feature has the feel of a slow-burn Bong thriller combined with the deadpan weirdness of a Kiyoshi Kurosawa murder mystery.
Posted Apr 18, 2023
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3/5
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Eyes of Laura Mars
(1978)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
...a mesmerizing mix of high fashion, disco culture, slasher thrills, and pre-gentrification New York at its grittiest.
Posted Mar 31, 2023
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3/5
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Outta the Muck
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Outta the Muck presents a beautifully-shot portrait of a resilient city that has survived over 100 years of challenges, including the 1928 Okeechobee flood.
Posted Mar 31, 2023
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3.5/5
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Electra Glide in Blue
(1973)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Library programming on biker movies and cult classics could make excellent use of Electra Glide in Blue.
Posted Mar 23, 2023
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4/5
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A New Old Play
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
At 179 minutes, A New Old Play might seem like a daunting watch, except it's a lively, lovely film, even in the saddest moments.
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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2.5/5
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My Best Part
(2020)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
As a directorial debut, though, My Best Part is a decent effort (Maury co-wrote the script with Sophie Fillières and Maud Ameline). The film's most valuable player is multiple-César winner Nathalie Baye...
Posted Mar 08, 2023
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3.5/5
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Let the Little Light Shine
(2022)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Chicago native Kevin Shaw's stirring documentary recounts the struggle of the city's majority-Black National Teacher's Academy to stay open after a rash of elementary school closings in Black and Latino neighborhoods.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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3.5/5
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All Light, Everywhere
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Anthony brings a lot of intriguing ideas into play about vision, technology, and how the two have tangled in myriad ways throughout the centuries, often with weaponry and state control involved in troubling ways.
Posted Mar 02, 2023
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Lonelyhearts
(1958)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Shot by John Alton (He Walked by Night), a cinematographer famed for his expertise with light and shadow, Lonelyhearts resembles a film noir, but it's more of a character study, since Adam, though well-intentioned, is also a bit of a fake and a fraud.
Posted Jan 23, 2023
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3.5/5
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Going Places
(1974)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
French filmmaker Bertrand Blier didn't reinvent the wheel with 1974's Going Places, an adaptation (with cowriter Philippe Dumarçay) of his 1972 novel, but the film wouldn't have become an international sensation if he didn't push the envelope...
Posted Jan 19, 2023
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3/5
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Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things
(1972)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
"Nasty, brutish, and short," a phrase coined by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes to describe life under anarchy, aptly describes Bob Clark's 1972 horror-comedy Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
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3/5
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Happy Birthday to Me
(1981)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
[J. Lee] Thompson pinned the crime on a different culprit, making for a ridiculously entertaining, if not entirely credible ending, though credibility doesn't appear to have been the goal in a slasher with more comic moments than most.
Posted Jan 19, 2023
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2.5/5
|
After Blue
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
At 129 minutes, After Blue feels longer than this sort of film has any right to be, but it's certainly a singular experience. Beautiful and baffling in equal measure, it was tailor-made for queer film festivals and midnight screenings.
Posted Jan 05, 2023
|
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3/5
|
Apples
(2020)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
If the conclusion to [Christos] Nikou's debut doesn't land as effectively as it could, he casts an enchanting spell through deft direction combined with [Aris] Servetalis's consistently compelling performance.
Posted Dec 20, 2022
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3/5
|
Neptune Frost
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
With their first film, funded through a successful Kickstarter campaign, Williams and Uzeyman have bypassed conventional storytelling for an aesthetically unique plea on behalf of the invisible individuals who make our wired world possible...
Posted Dec 05, 2022
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3.5/5
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Coming Apart
(1969)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
...the tension between style and substance—a critique of sexism using the tools of sexism—makes Coming Apart such a singular piece of work, one just as likely to inspire strong feelings now as it did then.
Posted Nov 15, 2022
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3.5/5
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The Trials of Oscar Wilde
(1960)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
If coy by today's standards, it's a fair accounting of Oscar Wilde's life from 1895-1897, and [Peter] Finch's performance deserves to be remembered alongside his acclaimed turns in [John Schlesinger's] Sunday Bloody Sunday and Sidney Lumet's Network.
Posted Nov 15, 2022
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3.5/5
|
Cow
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Cow would provide an intriguing choice for library education programs about animal welfare. Film professors might also find it useful as an example of cinéma vérité or observational cinema.
Posted Oct 26, 2022
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|
3.5/5
|
Nitram
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Some filmmakers just can't resist challenging material, though Kurzel proves equal to the task.
Posted Oct 10, 2022
|
|
4/5
|
Lost Illusions
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Students of French history and literature, particularly the post-Napoleonic/Bourbon Restoration era and the works of Honoré Balzac, are likely to find Lost Illusions of interest.
Posted Oct 01, 2022
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3.5/5
|
The Innocents
(2021)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
The Innocents would provide an excellent fit for a film series involving Scandinavian cinema and supernatural horror.
Posted Oct 01, 2022
|
|
3/5
|
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
(1997)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Rappaport's rigorous scholarship combined with his playful style makes this release a great bet for film studies students and non-academic viewers interested in LGBTQ and Jewish history alike.
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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3/5
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Nathalie...
(2003)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Nathalie could enhance an academic film studies collection focused on French cinema, particularly films made by women...
Posted Sep 20, 2022
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|
4/5
|
Out of Sight
(1998)
|
Kathy Fennessy
|
Compared to previous Leonard adaptations, Out of Sight doesn't offer anything radically new, but it revealed Soderbergh--after a string of box office disappointments--in full command of his craft.
Posted Sep 09, 2022
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