film reviews
Film Review: TOKYO!
Considered by producers Masa Sawasa and Michiko Yoshitake to be a “Tokyo rhapsody” (or, “a work composed of several pieces presented one after the other”), TOKYO! is meant to be a multi-part snapshot of the ever-growing, ever-evolving, all-consuming megalopolis that is Tokyo. Tapping international arthouse favorites Michel Gondry, Leos Carax, and Bong Joon-Hong to each [...]
Film Review: Nikita Mikahalkov’s “12″
Jurors ponder a verdict for a Chechen boy accused of murdering his stepfather.
It is no small task to remake one of the greatest films of all time. Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men is a classic on par with the likes of Casablanca and Citizen Kane, absolute perfection and completely untouchable. To remake it would be [...]
Film Review: Shall We Kiss?
Leave it to the French to over-intellectualize everything. In Shall We Kiss?, writer/director/actor Emmanuel Mouret explores the nature of the “kiss without consequences” (and asks if indeed there can be such a thing). The film opens. Gabriel (Michaël Cohen) meets Émilie (Julie Gayet). There is an attraction. Both are otherwise attached. Gabriel tries to kiss [...]
Film Review: Six in Paris
And so we go from one of the first examples of the French New Wave to the last, Six in Paris (1965). Producer Barbet Schroeder was intent on gaining success as a producer and decided that he could take the New Wave to the next wave. After the New Wave movement had a burst of [...]
Film Review: The 400 Blows
Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is considered to be one of the defining films of the French New Wave, and was the movement’s first example of international acclaim. However, unlike Truffaut’s next film Shoot the Piano Player (which we looked at last week), The 400 Blows is a fairly straightforward narrative piece, borrowing pretty heavily [...]
Film Review: Timecrimes
Below is a theory intro to my review of the film Timecrimes which seeks to contextualize this piece in its proper place as a postmodern sci-fi artifact. Following that is a theoretical deconstruction of the film which reveals key points and twists to the plot. My apologies as well as my thanks for allowing me [...]
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