All articles by Dan Fainaru – Page 36
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Reviews
Fresh Air (Friss Levego)
Dir: Agnes Kocsis. Hung. 2006. 109mins.Critics and arthouseaudiences should welcome Fresh Air, adeliberately slow and sombre study from first-time Hungarian director Agnes Kocsis. It will strike many as more than a littlereminiscent of Keren Yedaya'sOr, which won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in 2004 when it played in Un Certain ...
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Reviews
New York Waiting
Dir: Joachim Heden. Swe. 2006.96mins.There is little new or of interest in New York Waiting, a modest romanticcomedy from newcomer Jonathan Heden - save that despiteits Stateside location, everyone behind the camera isSwedish.The English-language story mostlytakes place in Manhattan during one summer day and night, and shares theenthusiasm of all ...
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Reviews
Lonely Hearts
Dir/scr: Todd Robinson. US. 2006. 100mins.Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez, otherwise known asthe "Lonely Hearts Killers", return foranother adaptation of their sex, murder and mayhem saga, which delighted theAmerican tabloids during the late 1940s before their eventual executions in1951. Neither as shocking nor as decadent and perverse as its two ...
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Reviews
The Groomsmen
Dir/scr: Edward Burns. US. 2006. 93minsEdward Burns delivers anotherbitter-sweet romantic comedy with TheGroomsmen - but whatever freshness marked him out as a promising newcomerin The Brothers McCullen(1995) seems to have pretty much evaporated by now.What's left is anotherroutine job relying on well-established formulae, with Burns again taking leadrole and embarking ...
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Reviews
The Bridge
Dir: Eric Steel. US. 2006.93mins.Somewhere between a painful human issue piece and acalculated gamble as regards its potential to touch a large audience, EricSteel's debut documentary The Bridgetreads dangerous ground.Inspired by an article in The NewYorker about the pull of the Golden Gate Bridge for would-be suicides,Steel stationed two cameras ...
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Reviews
Times And Winds (Bes Vakit)
Dir/scr: Reha Erdem. Turk.2006. 110mins.Looking every inch the festival warhorse, Times And Winds,Reha Erdem's contemplativeobservation on life in a remote Anatolian village, is the kind of picture criticswill adore and film events queue for.Subdued, low key andpractically plotless - it is reminiscent of both Ki-duk'sSpring, Summer, Fall, Winter' And Spring,if ...
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Reviews
Times And Winds (Bes Vakit)
Dir/scr: Reha Erdem. Turk.2006. 110mins.Looking every inch the festival warhorse, Times And Winds,Reha Erdem's contemplativeobservation on life in a remote Anatolian village, is the kind of picture criticswill adore and film events queue for.Subdued, low key andpractically plotless - it is reminiscent of both Ki-duk'sSpring, Summer, Fall, Winter' And Spring,if ...
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News
Times, Father take top local film prizes at Istanbul
MichaelWinterbottom's Tristram Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story won the Golden Tulip for best film in theinternational competition at the 25th International Istanbul Film Festival onSaturday, as well as the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize.AnotherBritish film, Julian Fellowes' Separate Lies won the People's Choice audience award for mostpopular film ...
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News
Istanbul festival director Ucansu steps down after 25 years
Hulya Ucansu, the directorof Istanbul Film Festival through its entire 25 years of existence, is leavingher post at the end of this year's edition of the event. Rumours were persistentthroughout the festival and were confirmed on the last day by a an officialpress release put out by the Istanbul Foundation ...
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Reviews
Eden
Dir: Michael Hoffman. Ger-Switz. 2005. 98mins.Voted the audience award winner at Rotterdam, MichaelHoffman's Eden is a natural crowdpleaser that successfully combines food and sex for aromantic romp in the best tradition of hits like Mostly Martha.More demure and lessenergetic than Sandra Nettlebeck's feature, thiscomedy about the encounter between an overweight, ...
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Reviews
Paper Dolls
Dir/scr: Tomer Heymann. Is-Swiss.2005. 80mins.A surefire winner on specialistcircuits, Paper Dolls, Tomer Heymann's documentary abouta group of Filipino transsexuals in Israel has everything a successful pictureneeds: endearing characters, tears, laughter, heartbreak and an explosiveclimax at the most unexpected moment.Originally commissioned as asix-part TV series, it has now been cut to ...
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Reviews
My Country, My Country
Dir: Laura Poitras. US. 2006. 90mins.The trouble with current affairs documentaries istheir topicality: contemporary as they may seem at the time, they lose lustreby the time they premiere.It could be an obstacle forLaura Poitras' MyCountry, My Country, about the Iraqi elections of January 2005. There islittle more she can add ...
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Reviews
Four Stars (Quatre Etoiles)
Dir: Christian Vincent. Fr. 2006.100mins.A mildly entertaining French boulevard farce, Four Stars is much better suited to aswift home release than the spotlight of a festival like Berlin where itpremiered.Very much in the traditionof light Gallic comedies sustained by gags and assembly line jokes, ChristianVincent's new feature matches a pretty ...
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Reviews
Conversations On A Sunday Afternoon
Dir/scr: Khalo Matabane. S Afr. 2005. 80minsFalling somewhere between a tentative documentary anda piece of home movie improvisation, Khalo Matabane's first fictional feature allows him to againexplore the many faces resident in South Africa today.The set-up is the accidentalencounter between a tormented poet Keniloe (Kgoroge) and a Somali refugee, Fatima ...
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Reviews
4:30
Dir: Royston Tan. Sing-Jap.2005. 93mins.There are few 93-minute films as long as 4:30, Royston Tan's study of youth that feelslike a tribute to Tsai Ming Liang - or, for thatmatter, Eric Khoo, one of the film's executive producers.Nothing like15, Tan's over-the-top and similarlythemed work, it is meticulously shot in spare ...
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Reviews
Close To Home (Karov La Bayit)
Dir/scr: Dalia Hager, Vidi Bilu. Israel. 2005. 90mins.A modest, low-budget feature that shows the rarelyexplored routines of female soldiers in Israel, Close To Home was one of the more pleasant surprises from Israellast year.A theatrical debut for itstwo directors, it follows two 18-year-old girls, Smadar(Smadar Sayar) and Irith (Naama Schendar),new ...
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Reviews
Another Morning (Sobhi Digar)
Dir/scr: Nasser Refaie. Iran. 2006. 89minsA study in grief and solitude verging on theexperimental, Nasser Refaie's second feature Another Morning is a tough nut to crackfor all but the most dedicated students of Iranian cinema.It's not as if the messagehe wishes to deliver is that obscure or difficult to unravel; ...
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Reviews
Invisible Waves
Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Thai-Neth-SKor-HK-Chi. 2005. 115mins.InvisibleWaves is a feature whose admirers will find it hard to pinpoint why theylike it. Its numerous detractors, on the other hand, will find it easy tosubstantiate their dislikes.Ostensibly about murder,guilt and redemption and told in a manner reminiscent of Jean Pierre Melville, Thaidirector Pen-ek ...
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Reviews
Isabella
Dir: Pang Ho-cheung. HK-Chi. 2006. 109mins.Although it deals with corruption and features asuspended cop as its hero, Pang Ho-cheung's Isabella is no gritty action drama. Noris it a political piece, despite being set on the eve of Macau's return toChinese hands after 400 years of Portuguese rule. And while it ...
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Reviews
A Soap (En Soap)
Dir: Pernille Fischer Christensen. Denmark. 2006. 104mins.A woman's picture by definition, ASoap, Pernille Fischer Christensen's auspiciousdebut, should play well with female audiences who will appreciate its intimatesensitivities.Portraying a woman who breaks out of a stagnating relationship and hertranssexual neighbour, the script has the earmarks of the TV soaps it emulates,while ...