All articles by Dan Fainaru – Page 30
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Reviews
Cassandra's Dream
Dir. Woody Allen. UK, 2007. 108 min.Woody Allen's third British outing is neither the satire some of the Venice audiences seemed to denote in it, nor the forbidding tragedy painted in early rumours which spread around the Lido before the official press screenings. If there is a black comedy hiding ...
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Reviews
Redacted
Dir: Brian De Palma, US, 2007. 90minsDesigned to resemble an American's soldier video blog from Iraq , with additional footage from a French-language pseudo-documentary, YouTube clips and reports from local TV crews, Brian de Palma's attempt to reveal some of the expurgated truth behind the media coverage of the war ...
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Reviews
Lust, Caution (Se Jie)
Dir. Ang Lee. China/US, 2007. 156 mins. One of the main attractions in Venice this year, Ang Lee's new film promises much more than it actually delivers. Lavishly handsome and elegant, possibly too much so for its own good, this sprawling adaptation of a short story by Eileen Chang risks ...
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Reviews
The Living and the Dead (Zivi I Mirtvi)
Dir: Kristijan Milic. Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia, 2007. 90 mins.The winner of theGrand Prixat The 54th Pula Film Festival,garnering seven awards in total (including best picture and director), The Living and the Dead is a striking examination of war-fever, unadulterated and Balkan-style. Kristijan Milic's debut film will strike a familiar chordwith its own ...
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Reviews
It's Hard To Be Nice (Tesko Je Biti Fin)
Dir/scr: Srdan Vuletic. Bosnia Herzegovina-Slovenia-Serbia-Germany-UK. 2007. 102mins.Local Balkan audiences will respond cheerfully to the familiar characters and scenes in Srdan Vuletic's lively sophomore effort, but international sales agents Fortissimo Films will have a tougher time selling this well-intentioned film to international markets. The story of a cab driver striving to ...
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Reviews
Beneath The Rooftops of Paris (Sous Les Toits De Paris)
Dir: Hiner Saleem. France, 2007. 100minsThis study of old age and solitude finds exiled Kurdish director Hiner Saleem divesting himself of the mischievous drive and wicked sense of humour which permeated such earlier efforts as Vodka Lemon and Kilometre Zero. Launched in a light, warm and humanistic vein which keeps ...
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Reviews
The Drummer
Dir. Kenneth Bi. Hong Kong / Taiwan , 2007. 115 mins.Conceived as a vehicle for Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son) but more likely to serve as a showcase for the talents of the U Theatre drummers, this gangster-movie-meets-rites-of-initiation picture has a hard time deciding which way to go among the ...
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Reviews
Ai No Yokan (The Rebirth)
. Dir. Masahiro Kobayashi. Japan , 2007. 102mins.A test of endurance that will defeat most audiences, MasahiroKobayashi's new film is an exercise in repetitious movement bound to earn plaudits with both festival juries and the more refined art cinema patron. The closest parallel to this kind of cinema is the ...
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Reviews
Captain Achab
Dir. Philippe Ramos. Fr-Swe, 2007. 100mins. This five episodes piece, only the last section of which actually deals with Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, is a Freudian attempt to explain why Captain Achab became the driven man he was. It's the kind of picture that should please certain film theorists ...
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Reviews
The Yellow House (La Maison Jaune)
Dir/scr: Amor Hakkar. Fr-Alg. 2007. 80mins.Shot in the Aures mountains, one of the more remote and arid regions of Algeria, The Yellow House is a worthy and particularly authentic representative of North African cinema that at the least can expect an extended list of festival. Refraining from any political statements ...
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Reviews
Sooner Or Later (Fruher Oder Spater)
Dir/scr: Ulrike von Ribbeck. Ger. 2007. 91mins.Dangerously tottering on the line between parody and ridicule, this debut feature by a short film director whose early efforts got into both Berlin and Cannes is either a send-up of the coming-of-age movie, back in fashion in Germany of late, or an honest ...
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Reviews
Thieves (Ladrones)
Dir. Jaime Marques Olarreaga. Sp. 2007. 101mins.Sombre mood and stylish visuals lend a mysterious atmosphere to Jaime Marques Olarreaga's feature debut Thieves, a film which attempts to explore more avenues than it is willing to actually venture down, leaving the audience, by the end, with a work that amounts to ...
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Reviews
Summit Circle (Contre Toute Esperance)
Dir/scr: Bernard Emond. Can. 2007. 89mins.Having regained faith in God, against all odds, in La Neuvaine, Canadian anthropologist-turned-film-maker Bernard Emond, sets out, in the second part of his trilogy Faith-Hope-Charity, to retrieve hope where there is none. No wonder the original French, and much more suitable, title for Summit Circle ...
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Reviews
Vexille
Dir: Fumihiko Sori. Jap. 2007. 109mins.Opening Locarno with the world premiere of a new Japanese CG anime feature might have been a shrewd decision in this era of animation popularity. But, technical achievements aside, even a Japanese anime is ultimately judged by what it is attempting to say and how ...
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Reviews
Teddy Bear (Medvidek)
Dir. Jan Hrebejk. Czech Rep. 2007. 98mins.Unquestionably the leading exponent of modern Czech comedy of manners, Jan Hrebejk returns with Teddy Bear, dabbling again with the morals of his contemporaries in a picture that has a good chance of being dubbed by many as The Czech Chill. Comparisons to Lawrence ...
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Reviews
Empties (Vratne Lahve)
Dir. Jan Sverak. Czech Rep-UK. 104mins.A smash hit in the Czech Republic, drawing more than 1m admissions since its March release, the latest collaboration between director Jan Sverak, his actor-director father Zdenek Sverak and British producer Eric Abraham looks poised for a career similar to previous venture Dark Blue World: ...
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Reviews
Simple Things (Prostyje Vesci)
Dir. Alexey Popogrebsky. Russ, 2007. 108mins.Flying solo for the first time after the resounding success of his debut Koktebel (directed with Boris Khlebnikov), Alexey Popogrebsky has opted for an intimate, closely observed story with Simple Things which, just as its title indicates, refrains from more ambitious metaphors and prefers to ...
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Reviews
The Art Of Negative Thinking (Kunsten A Tenke Negativt)
Dir. Bard Breien. Nor. 2007. 79mins.The script Bard Breien wrote for The Art of Negative Thinking, blackly comic debut, may have been intended for the screen, but it could work as well, if not even better, on the stage. Dealing with the type of material that Scandinavian cinema seems unusually ...
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Reviews
Jar City (Myrin)
Dir. Baltasar Kormakur. Ice-Ger. 2007. 93mins.It starts with the death of a little girl and it ends in a cemetery. In between these grim bookends, Jar City, Baltasar Kormakur's remarkable new whodunit, forges pitilessly ahead, through a maze of facts systematically unearthed one after the other, to reveal not only ...
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Reviews
The Champagne Spy (Meragel Hashampaniya)
Dir. Nadav Schirman. Is. 2007. 90mins.If the first requisite for a good documentary is a darn good yarn, then Nadav Schirman couldn't have asked for anything better than with The Champagne Spy, a tale of intrigue, espionage, love, betrayal, glamour and misery based on a true story that is begging ...