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As I Lay Dying (Cannes Review)
At the very least, you must credit James Franco for even attempting to film what some consider to be a near impossible story to tell. William Faulkner’s classic 1930 novel, As I Lay Dying, features 15 different characters, each...
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Cannes Day #3: Like Father Like Son & Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
My third day at the Cannes Film Festival brought both my favorite and least favorite films of the festival so far. After hearing some positive buzz around the Japanese film, Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), I...
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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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Stories We Tell
“Every family has a story.” Canadian actor and director Sarah Polley (Away From Her, Take This Waltz) lost her mom, Diane, to cancer in 1990. In Stories We Tell, her quietly spectacular documentary, she sits with her family and...
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Cannes Day #2: Jimmy P. & The Dance of Reality
This morning I made a rookie mistake by leaving my umbrella at the hotel and not checking the weather before I left. The weather in Cannes can turn from sun-baked beaches surrounded by palm trees to a cold downpour...
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Cannes Day #1: The Congress
There cannot be much to complain about when your travels go relatively to plan, but that does not mean that the first day of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival was not a long and hectic day for me. Having...
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Interview: Sarah Polley of Stories We Tell
Director Sarah Polley took time to sit with us at the San Francisco International Film Festival to talk about her critically acclaimed, hyper-personal documentary, Stories We Tell, in which she excavates her late mother, Diane’s life story by interviewing...
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2013 Cannes Film Festival Coverage Introduction
It is a great honor to be able to cover the Cannes Film Festival this year as the prestigious festival turns 66-years-old. I am also very excited as it will be my first visit to Europe, although the majority...
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Interview: Onata Aprile, Scott McGehee, David Siegel of What Maisie Knew
In What Maisie Knew, we witness a custody battle gone sour through the eyes of the innocent center of contention, Maisie, played by the brilliant 7-year-old Onata Aprile. Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan star as Maisie’s bitter, bickering parents,...
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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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Interview: Jeremy Teicher of Tall as the Baobab Tree
Tall as the Baobab Tree was one of my favorite films at the San Francisco International Film Festival, a serene, beautiful story about a Senegalese family torn between modernity and tradition. Director Jeremy Teicher took some time to chat...
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Touchy Feely
Lynn Shelton’s Touchy Feely has, so far, gathered mixed reviews and unfortunately I got to see why. I went into the film very open minded and came away feeling confused and largely disappointed. Nevertheless, there can be a lot...
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Interview: Michael Ling of Edward Lee’s the Bighead
In Michael Ling’s adaptation of Edward Lee’s gory-as-hell novel The Bighead, he channels the gritty, uncompromising exploitation horror films of the ‘70s. He’s made a short film version of the story, which acts as a sampler of the unrelenting...
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2013 SFIFF Wrap-Up and Top 5
The thing I’ll remember most about this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival were the amazing conversations I had with some of the talented filmmakers in attendance during the festival’s two-week stretch. Everybody was open and willing to share...
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