Ananda Dillon
225 articles written by Ananda Dillon
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LAFF 2014: Libertador: The Liberator
As a vast majority of the world tuned in to the World Cup Sunday, I was treated to an equally lively South American production. Libertador, or The Liberator, is a large-scale saga portraying the early years and successful liberation campaign...
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LAFF 2014: The Two Faces of January
The Los Angeles Film Festival continued its Gala screenings Tuesday with The Two Faces of January. First time director Hossein Amini has proven he understands the art of calculated and slow-building periodic drama as the screenwriter of subdued gems The Wings of...
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LAFF 2014: Trouble Dolls
A cross between the millennial musings of Lena Dunham and the dimwittedness of Romy and Michele, Trouble Dolls is a female buddy comedy for today’s self-aware art hipsters, or more specifically those looking to poke fun at them. Written and...
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LAFF 2014: Eat With Me
Sunday at the Los Angeles Film Festival was a gorgeous day, so it’s fortunate that this year’s LA Muse category at the festival has afforded viewers a way to enjoy the city despite being inside a theater all day....
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LAFF 2014: The Last Time You Had Fun
A night-on-the-town movie for the pre-middle age crowd, The Last Time You Had Fun is out to show that divorce, kids, and growing disillusionment doesn’t mean life can’t still be lively. Mo Perkins’ comedy follows four adults, each in the...
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LAFF 2014: Echo Park
It used to be that indie cinema was the place to go to get fresh perspective on common film themes. Somewhere along the way indie films have formed their own grooves and well-worn paths, and every so often someone...
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LAFF 2014: Lake Los Angeles
The gap between the allure of American refuge and the actual plight of those who immigrate here empty-handed is movingly portrayed in Mike Ott’s Lake Los Angeles. Entirely in Spanish, the film is slow and intentional, with breakout performances by its two leads. The film...
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LAFF 2014: Frank
Saturday at the Los Angeles Film Festival has been full of laughers, but the quirkiest among them is likely Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank. The film first premiered at Sundance in January and will get a limited release in August. Following musician...
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LAFF 2014: Comet
First time director, Sam Esmail, may not have picked especially uncharted territory for his directorial debut Comet, which focuses on the rocky relationship of an oddly paired couple, but his storytelling technique reflects the perspective of an enlightened and...
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LAFF 2014: Inner Demons
The words “twist on the found footage genre” are among the most cringeworthy you’ll find in a movie review these days. If anyone has found any new way of twisting found footage it’ll probably be laughably implausible, and since the found...
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New International Trailer for Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Zero Theorem’
Dangled before us since early last year, Terry Gilliam’s highly anticipated next film The Zero Theorem has a new international trailer that continues to tantalize us. With a vague “Summer 2014” expected US release, the film follows Qohen Leth, played...
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LAFF 2014: The Ever After
Writer turned director Mark Webber is only 34 years old, his wife of a few months, Teresa Palmer, is 28. Incredibly young and newlywed for the level of drama they face in Webber’s latest directorial endeavor which involves him...
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LAFF 2014: Runoff
Films set in the Midwest have the perfect background for the slow delivery of a well told story. A natural element of the setting I suppose. Competing in LAFF’s Narrative Competition is the slow and mesmerizing Runoff. Starting with...
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LAFF 2014 Opening Night: Snowpiercer
The 20th Los Angeles Film Festival has begun! Despite its location in the heart of the film industry in downtown Los Angeles, and the now 20 years it has under its belt, the LA Film Fest hasn’t yet joined the ranks...
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Iranian Vampire Film ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ Gets North American Distribution
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the Iranian film that premiered five months ago at Sundance. The film also opened the New Directors/New Films event in New York. Shot in black and white,...