All articles by Dan Fainaru – Page 44
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Reviews
Grimm
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam. The Netherlands, 2003. 104mins.Looking both grim and Grimm (as in the Brothers), this modern nightmarish fairytale has nevertheless enough weird humour in it to legitimately qualify as a comedy, though there is nothing funny going on throughout. The way Dutch director Warmerdam applies his wicked touch ...
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Reviews
Grimm
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam. The Netherlands, 2003. 104mins.Looking both grim and Grimm (as in the Brothers), this modern nightmarish fairytale has nevertheless enough weird humour in it to legitimately qualify as a comedy, though there is nothing funny going on throughout. The way Dutch director Warmerdam applies his wicked touch ...
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Reviews
Suite Habana
Dir. Fernando Perez. Cuba/Spain, 2003. 80 min.This well-intentioned, mostly melancholy but positive hymn of love to Havana, in the form of a pseudo-documentary, bears all the earmarks of an officially approved production that projects a more than affectionate portrait the city, notwithstanding all its shortcomings. But it is still a ...
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Reviews
The Galindez File (El Misterio Galindez)
Dir. Gerardo Herrero. Spain/UK/Cuba/Portugal/Italy/France. 2003. 128 min.A political thriller based on a true story that delivers its answers before it asks the questions must be some kind of novelty. Not to mention that after establishing all the facts and pinpointing all the heroes and the villains of the story without ...
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Reviews
Mike Brant: Laisse Moi T'Aimer
Dir. Erez Laufer. Israel/France. 2002. 101mins.A natural for French markets, this account of the meteoric rise and fatal crash of Israeli performer Mike Brant, who became one of Paris's shiniest stars in the early 1970s, is more than a nostalgia piece. Instead it plays as a cautionary tale about a ...
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Reviews
A Little Bit Of Freedom
Dir: Yuksel Yavuz. Germany. 2003. 101minsAwell-intentioned attempt to explore the fate of Kurdish immigrants, both legal and illegal, living on the streets of Hamburg and the illusion of freedom they enjoy there, Yuksel Yavuz's second feature seeks to cover too much ground and ultimately delivers too little for its efforts. ...
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Reviews
Twentynine Palms
Dir. Bruno Dumont. France/Germany, 2003. 119mins.It's The Brown Bunny syndrome all over again. This time, two people driving in a car instead of one, covering only a small part of Southern California instead of the entire continent. And granted, there is a lot more sex, not particularly attractive but quite ...
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Reviews
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Dir. Tsai Ming-Liang. Taiwan, 2003. 82 mins.Tsai Ming-Liang will once again be taking his new film to all the festivals in sight and will see it displayed at a select choice of art houses around the globe, for another mystifying encounter that will delight his fans and baffle everyone else. ...
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Reviews
The Company
Dir. Robert Altman. US-Germany. 2003. 112mins.A feast for balletomanes, but with very little else to offer the rest of the audience, Robert Altman's new film may be a splendid promo reel for Chicago's Joffrey Ballet Company. But do not expect anything like his brilliant forays into American music in Nashville, ...
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Reviews
The Return (Vozvrashcheniye)
Dir. Andrei Zvygatinsev. Russia, 2003. 105 min.This intimate, almost metaphysical study of rebellion against parental authority does everything a Hollywood picture doesn't. Not only because it is refreshing to see, for a change, that adolescence does not relate only to sexual glands, but also because it takes a considerable risk ...
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Reviews
Imagining Argentina
Dir. Christopher Hampton. UK/Spain, 2002. 107 min.If there is anything disturbing in this misconceived project by celebrated scriptwriter and occasional director Christopher Hampton, it is not its contents, though it should have been, but the simple fact that an experienced person like him, who only last year was highly praised ...
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Reviews
Imagining Argentina
Dir. Christopher Hampton. UK/Spain, 2002. 107 min.If there is anything disturbing in this misconceived project by celebrated scriptwriter and occasional director Christopher Hampton, it is not its contents, though it should have been, but the simple fact that an experienced person like him, who only last year was highly praised ...
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Reviews
The Return (Vozvrashcheniye)
Dir. Andrei Zvygatinsev. Russia, 2003. 105 min.This intimate, almost metaphysical study of rebellion against parental authority does everything a Hollywood picture doesn't. Not only because it is refreshing to see, for a change, that adolescence does not relate only to sexual glands, but also because it takes a considerable risk ...
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Reviews
Zatoichi
Dir. Takeshi Kitano. Japan, 2003. 116 min.A rousing, energetic take-off on a 19th century samurai tale which has become part of Japanese folklore, this black comedy, spurting fountains of digital blood and moving forward relentlessly at a fiery tempo, is a surprisingly entertaining departure for Takeshi Kitano from his dark ...
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Reviews
Zatoichi
Dir. Takeshi Kitano. Japan, 2003. 116 min.A rousing, energetic take-off on a 19th century samurai tale which has become part of Japanese folklore, this black comedy, spurting fountains of digital blood and moving forward relentlessly at a fiery tempo, is a surprisingly entertaining departure for Takeshi Kitano from his dark ...
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Reviews
Matchstick Men
Dir. Ridley Scott. US, 2003. Paper Moon meets House Of Games in this lightweight crime caper coming from one of Hollywood's heavyweight directors, obviously on a break between his major projects. The tale of a con artist suffering from a severe case of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) who is surpassed by ...
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Reviews
Matchstick Men
Dir. Ridley Scott. US, 2003. Paper Moon meets House Of Games in this lightweight crime caper coming from one of Hollywood's heavyweight directors, obviously on a break between his major projects. The tale of a con artist suffering from a severe case of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) who is surpassed by ...
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Reviews
Anything Else
Dir. Woody Allen. US, 2003. 108 min.The prevalent notion that a Woody Allen comedy is just what the doctor ordered for the opening night of a major festival, may take another inauspicious turn after this year's Venice curtain raiser. Not only is the smart wit frayed at the edges and ...
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Reviews
The Miracle Of Bern (Das Wunder Von Bern)
Dir. Sonke Wortmann. Germany, 2003. 117mins.Covering similar grounds to Fassbinder's celebrated The Marriage Of Maria Braun but in a vastly different fashion, Sonke Wortmann's new film goes back to portray a moment in history that has been for many analysts, the milestone marking the beginning of Germany's post-World War Two ...
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Reviews
Chokher Bali: A Passion Play
Dir. Rituparno Ghosh. India. 2003. 167mins.This adaptation of the novel written by India's Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore in 1902 tries to expand the story of "four young people trapped in a tangle of sensuality" (in Tagore's words) into a larger parable on the state of women in general and ...