Foreign Movies
Foreign movie reviews of arthouse world cinema from an indie film perspective.
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Rue Mandar (SFJFF Review)
Following the death of their beloved family matriarch, two sisters (Sandrine Kiberlain and Emmanuelle Devos), their brother (Richard Berry), and their French-Jewish families gather in Paris to mourn their loss (each in their own way), annoy the living daylights...
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The Cutoff Man (SFJFF Review)
Set in a sun-toasted Israel, first-timer Idan Hubel’s The Cutoff Man is a patiently reflective tale of an old man named Gabi (veteran Israeli actor Moshe Ivgy) whose dignity is slowly stripped away by a thankless (putting it mildly)...
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The Hunt
No film released this year has left me more shattered during its end credits than Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt. The film has moments of immense power and at times is very hard to watch. The story, co-written by Vinterberg,...
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Post Tenebras Lux
If you combined the provocative tenacity of Ulrich Seidl with the non-narrative structure and beautiful cinematography of Terrence Malick then you would get somewhere close to Carlos Reygadas’ baffling Post Tenebras Lux. There is a narrative found within the...
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Paradise: Faith
Almost immediately after I saw Paradise: Love at the Chicago International Film Festival last year I knew it would land towards the top of my favorite films of the year. Paradise: Love is an exploitation film where neither paradise...
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Electrick Children
You might have seen movies about teenage pregnancy before, but you’ve never seen them done like this. In a refreshing take on the topic, Rebecca Thomas’ debut Electrick Children gives us a story of immaculate conception that is easy...
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No
Right around the time the world began to awe over household microwaves (something touched on in this film), the country of Chile was in the middle of a huge political reform with a public election that could free their...
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I’m So Excited
Returning to his absurdist comedy roots after taking years off, Pedro Almodóvar keeps it (mostly) playful with his unfiltered, druggy, cocktail-crazy sex party in the sky, I’m So Excited. 90 percent of the film is set on an airplane...
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Like Father, Like Son (Cannes Review)
Hirokazu Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son turned a lot of heads in theater at the Cannes Film Festival today, where it played in front of a teary eyed audience. On front display is the depiction of how strong parental...
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Reality
Matteo Garrone’s new film Reality is sensationally exciting; constantly alive in a way that a lot of films these days are not. The film runs just over two hours but is never boring. Spearheaded by a brilliant lead performance...
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Modest Reception
Modest Reception is a foreign indie film by Mani Haghighi that is both a dark comedy and a psychological exploration of the human soul. The film travels on the wild joy ride of two people that hand out millions...
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Timecrimes
It does not take long to notice that even the smallest of details in Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes are not without purpose. As with most time-travel films, if you were to break everything down you are bound to find plot...
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Paradise: Love
Ulrich Seidl packs a punch full of irony in Paradise: Love where neither paradise nor love is anywhere to be found. On display instead is a voyeuristic view of a shy woman in search of love who goes wild...
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Import/Export
Ulrich Seidl has a knack for making his audience uncomfortable and Import/Export is certainly no different. If any amusement is found in the film, it generally comes at someone else’s expense. The theme of Import/Export is an unwavering look...
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Kon-Tiki
The story of Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki expedition is one so extraordinary it’s hard to believe it took this long to get dramatized. Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen), an ethnographer who spent a decade in Polynesia, discovered the natives’...
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Attenberg
Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Attenberg does not shy away from showing absurd situations in unorthodox environments, something that has become a staple in the last few years of Greek cinema. Attenberg is a film that explores mankind’s primal desires (sex)...
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Declaration of War
Declaration of War is about the nightmare that every parent with a sick newborn fears, that something is not quite right with their child. This French film by Valérie Donzelli, who also shares a lead role, is ultimately about...
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Beyond the Hills
Faith and love tragically clash in Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu’s latest film since his Palme D’Or-winning 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days. Mungiu’s film opens with the reunion of two friends: Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) and Alina (Cristina...
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Like Someone in Love
Abbas Kiarostami’s gift is his ability to elicit feelings in his audience from the inside out; he sneaks into our subconscious, plants a seed that germinates and grows slowly—at his pace, specifically—and eventually flourishes into a flood of emotion,...
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Paradise: Hope (Berlinale)
A highly anticipated screening I attended here at Berlinale was Ulrich Seidl’s third installment of his Paradise trilogy, Paradise: Hope. I have only seen one other film in the Paradise trilogy, which was Paradise: Love, but this did not...
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Dog Days
If there is one thing Ulrich Seidl is the master of, it is getting a reaction out of his audience. Whether or not it is a positive one is another story. This is especially in film Dog Days as...
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Berberian Sound Studio
Isolation is the name of the game in Peter Strickland’s new thriller Berberian Sound Studio. The film concerns itself with a British man Gilderoy, played perfectly by Toby Jones, a sound engineer who is asked to come to Rome...
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Amour
After Michael Haneke’s Amour was awarded the prestigious Palme D’or (the highest prize awarded and his second career win) at Cannes Film Festival this year it was instantly considered to be the front-runner to win this year’s Best Foreign...
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Tabu
Right on the heels of two successful films that paid respect to the history of cinema, The Artist and Hugo, Tabu receives its title from the final film from one of cinema’s great romantics, F.W. Murnau, and serves as...
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L
Step aside Ryan Gosling, there is a new driver in town. One who trades good looks for absurd quirks and puts a new spin on taking your work home with you. The gist of L sounds simple, it's about...
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Alps
Giorgos Lanthimos’ Alps is a follow-up (some say companion piece) to his amazing 2009 film Dogtooth. The gist of the film is about how the main character loses her own identity while trying to impersonate others. The premise may...
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Barbara
In 1980s East Germany, Barbara (Nina Hoss) is showing up to her first day of work at her new job. After applying to leave the country, the police have forced Barbara to move from her job as a doctor...
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Laurence Anyways
Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is back with his third film Laurence Anyways, which attempts to show that gender is not everything when it comes to a relationship. The film did well at the Cannes Film Festival this year as...
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Doomsday Book
Doomsday Book is a Korean anthology film from directors Kim Ji-woon and Yim Pil-sung. It was originally supposed to have three directors as it has three chapters but the two collaborated on one together when the other director dropped...
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Rust and Bone
In what will more than likely go down as the biggest disappointment of the year in film for me, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone isn’t something that I would label as bad but I certainly couldn’t call it very...