All articles by Dan Fainaru – Page 46
-
Reviews
Koktebel
Dir. Boris Khlebnikov, Alexei Popogrebsky. Russia. 2003. 100mins.One of the nicest surprises at Moscow, this unprepossessing but remarkably sensitive road movie will most likely have a very busy festival career - and not just because it took the Grand Jury Special Prize and the Silver St. George. Rather, few selectors ...
-
Reviews
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Dir: Mike Hodges. USA/UK. 2003. 103 mins Midway between a psychological thriller and a tough action movie, with a touch of existential soul-searching but never really making up its mind which way to go, Mike Hodges' new film looks better than it actually is and promises much more than it ...
-
Reviews
The Stroll
Dir. Alexei Uchitel. Russia, 2003. 90 min.Alexei Uchitel's first film since he represented Russia in the Oscars in 2000 with His Wife's Diary is an easygoing romp which turns out to be a challenge in more ways than one. The opening attraction at this year's Moscow Festival, it is light, ...
-
Reviews
Les Cotelettes
Dir. Bertrand Blier. France, 2003. 86 mins.Cannes selectors must have been pretty desperate to drag this dubious comedy, met at the end of its press screening with vociferous booing, into the world's most prestigious film competition. Adapted from Blier's stage debut, which was a hit, this is simply a dialogue-driven ...
-
Reviews
Robinson's Crusoe
Dir: Lin Cheng-sheng. Taiwan. 2003. 90minsFor this contemplative, static portrait of a successful Taipei real estate dealer, unhappy with his life and his career but unable to make a decisive move elsewhere, director Lin Cheng-sheng - never one to rush proceedings - seems to have slowed to a crawl. The ...
-
Reviews
Quaresma (Careme)
Dir: Jose Alvaro Morais. Portugal. 2003. 95minsExclusively for followers of Portuguese cinema and dealing with national traumas that do not always translate into dramatic narrative sense, Jose Alvaro Morais' latest effort, Quaresma, while visually impressive, remains pretty much a puzzle for those who will wish to take the plot at ...
-
Reviews
Drifters
Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai. Hong Kong. 2003. 120minsWang Xiaoshuai's follow-up to his Berlin winner Beijing Bicycle goes back to the more hermetic, introverted style that established his reputation with arthouse patrons in his earlier films. Drifters, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is a Hong Kong production shot in ...
-
Reviews
Joao Botelho's satirical stab at US 'imperialism'
Dir: Joao Botelho. Portugal, 2003. 90minsThis was not a very good year for Cannes openers. After the debacle of Fanfan La Tulipe in the Official Section, the Directors' Fortnight, evidently thinking a light intellectual entertainment with a political theme would be the best choice to launch the programme of the ...
-
-
Reviews
Hurricanes (Entre Ciclones)
Dir. Enrique Colina. Cuba-Sp-Fre. 2003. 122minsA strangely populist choice for the normally rarefied atmosphere of Cannes' Critics' Week, Colina's debut, a comic take on life in contemporary Cuba, has already notched up over half a million admissions in its first five weeks of release at home, according to its director, ...
-
Reviews
The Southern Cross (La Cruz Del Sur)
Dir: Pablo Reyero. Argentina/France. 2003. 86minsA long time in gestation - and picked for the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes at the last minute - Pablo Reyero's first fiction feature is sure to attract further festival fixtures, but will struggle to make it onto the commercial circuit beyond its ...
-
Reviews
La Petite Lili
Dir: Claude Miller. France. 2003. 104minsBetter forget all about Chekhov before you go to see this. Though a free adaptation of The Seagull, one more among so many, Claude Miller's film has none of the subtle, sensitive intelligence of the great Russian playwright. Instead, it is a clever but blunt ...
-
Reviews
James' Journey To Jerusalem
Dir. Ra'anan Alexandrowicz. Israel. 2003. 85mins.The first fiction feature by documentary film-maker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, James' Journey To Jerusalem is a dark satire that confronts the black market labour and moral bankruptcy of the once idealistic Israeli society. Originally planned as part of a TV drama series called Voices From The ...
-
Reviews
Stormy Weather
Dir: Solveig Anspach. France-Iceland-Belgium. 2003. 90minsA compact little film destined to do well on TV screens, and with careful handling on the arthouse circuit as well, Solveig Anspach's third feature goes back to medical matters, but is quite different from those she explored in her Haut Les Coeurs' debut. This ...
-
Reviews
Fanfan La Tulipe
Dir. Gerard Krawczyk. France. 2003. 100mins.Supposedly a fluffy piece of entertainment to kick off Cannes' 56th festival in style, Gerard Krawczyk's remake of the swashbuckler classic - which won Christian-Jaque the best director award in 1952 - is a pretty plodding and charmless experience that works too hard but not ...
-
Reviews
The Glow (Zimzum)
Dir: Igal Bursztyn. Israel. 2002. 86mins.A disenchanted metaphor for contemporary Israel, located in a satirical limbo, Igal Bursztyn's The Glow addresses politically-involved academic circles rather than mainstream film audiences. A low-budget production made for TV - it has already screened on cable in Israel - but shot on film with ...
-
Reviews
Distant (Uzak)
DistantDan Fainaru in IstanbulDir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Turkey. 2002. 106mins.With a high profile after its selection in competition at Cannes later this month, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's new film promises to become a surefire hit on the festival circuit. Faithful to Ceylan's intransigently ascetic reputation, it has already collected all the ...
-
Reviews
The Barbecue People
Dir. David Ofek, Yossi Madmony. Israel. 2002. 102mins.The feature debut by two Israeli directors who have a strong body of TV work behind them at home, The Barbecue People is an ambitious jigsaw puzzle that profiles one specific community of immigrants in Israel, the Iraqi Jews. First launched at last ...
-
Reviews
Yossi And Jagger
Dir Eytan Fox. Israel. 64mins.Just a sketch, but highly perceptive and remarkably sensitive one at that, this compact gay love story, set in a remote Israeli military outpost on the Lebanese border, has already gone down a storm at home. Produced for cable television, shot in DV and first unveiled ...
-
Reviews
The Blessing Bell (Koufuku No Kane)
Dir: Sabu. Japan. 2002. 87mins.Even those who have learned to appreciate Japanese director Sabu, his deadpan ironical portrayal of his fellow countrymen and the laconic, elliptical delivery of his films, will find that with The Blessing Bell he has gone to lengths even he has not attempted before. An almost ...