While it would be nice to say that the oddball Mafioso comedy The Family is a great return to form for French auteur Luc Besson, it wouldn’t be true. At best, it’s an intriguing misfire, full of style over substance, but the substance should be beefed up and the style cut back considerably.
Brazilian Western Contemporary World Cinema Director: René Sampaio Although titled Brazilian Western, Sampaio’s new film is, in practice, much more of a crime/gangster pic, about a young man, João, who moves from the outer provinces to the fast-paced world of the capitol, Brasília. There he gets caught up in the shady world of criminals, and […]
Proxy Vanguard Director: Zack Parker Opening with a brick-induced miscarriage that sets the tone for what’s to follow, Proxy is if nothing else a dark and ballsy little thriller. Co-writer/director Zack Parker certainly has a knack for the misdirection, manipulation, and blasts of violence that define the genre and when the film works, comparisons to […]
Joe Special Presentation Director: David Gordon Green An unusual relationship develops between young, refuge seeking drifter, Gary (Tye Sheridan) and ex-con Joe (Nicholas Cage) who oversees a crew clearing trees. Joe is a believable and emotional film that follows an unconventional friendship between two emotionally scarred people Taking place in America’s deep south, site foreman Joe […]
R100 Midnight Madness Director: Hitoshi Matsumoto Japan has absolutely no shortage of absurd, off-the-wall directors, who take already gaga plots and then execute them in even more surreal ways. Matsumoto, with the head-turning Big Man Japan under his belt, has already managed to help establish himself amongst the bewilderbeast heard. R100, his new film about […]
Gerontophilia Vanguard Director: Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce, Canada’s most shocking film director and queer zombie porn auteur, has officially mellowed. Expecting something edgy or cynical from his latest, Gerontophilia, will only have you second-guessing the sentiment as slow motion embraces between the young and the old are actually more sincere than sinister. Lake, a young […]
The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas City to City Director: Elina Psilkou Branded by the festival as this year’s new-wave of Greek cinema entry, Antonis Paraskevas isn’t as high concept as Dogtooth, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t as bizarre or unforgettable. Sombre and psychotic, the strange tale is best described as The Shining, but […]
1982 Discovery Director: Tommy Oliver Not only an assured debut for first time feature filmmaker Oliver, but boasting a heartbreaking and incredibly nuanced performance from leading man Hill Harper, 1982 charts one man’s near descent into madness while trying to keep his family together amid the backdrop of the early 1980s crack cocaine epidemic in […]
We Gotta Get Out of This Place Vanguard Directors: Simon Hawkins, Zeke Hawkins This debut film from the Hawkins brothers doesn’t contain realistic characters, dialogue, or even a believable set-up for a good neo-noir. It’s merely a tired exercise from people who watched one too many films from Tarantino or the Coen Brothers and somehow […]
The Railway Man Gala Director: Jonathan Teplitsky The Railway Man is the true story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a British soldier captured during World War II who endured some of the most horribly gruelling conditions imaginable as a forced labourer on the Thailand Death Railway, and how confronts his demons years later when he […]
Felony Special Presentation Director: Matthew Saville A little known fact about actor Joel Edgerton is that he’s actually quite the accomplished screenwriter. His latest effort (following several shorts and the sadly under-seen in North America Aussie noir The Square) as a scribe and leading man comes in this admirably even keeled cop drama focusing on […]
Life Of Crime Closing Night Gala Director: Daniel Schechter It’s been a long time since Elmore Leonard was treated well on the big screen. Back in those innocent iPod-free days of the 90s, the author’s books became brilliant crime comedies like Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight. Since then things have been a […]
Bad Words Special Presentation Director: Jason Bateman If Bad Words came out 15 years ago and starred Bill Murray, it probably would have been a massive hit. Released today starring (and weirdly, directed by) Jason Bateman, it’ll be a mid-level comedy release probably targeted at a niche market. That’s a bit of a shame since […]
You Are Here Special Presentation Director: Matthew Weiner There’s a movie starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, and Amy Poehler that was written/directed by Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. It’s a film that Weiner has nursed along for years and was his dream project that he just had to make once he had some post-Mad Men […]
Don Hemingway Special Presentation Director: Richard Shepard Jude Law delivers the best performance of his career as a boorish, loutish, foul mouthed, just released from prison London area safe cracker, but the film built around him isn’t even handed enough to do his work justice. It’s a choppy and episodic look at the titular career […]
