19 results with foreign tagged
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The Artist is a silent black-and-white film by French director Michel Hazanavicius that is easily the most entertaining film of 2011. Essentially, it is a silent film about silent films. The film benefits from being made in modern times in that it gets to toy with it’s self-aware silent self, unlike the era of films it pays tribute to, with occasional sounds here and there. Most people who are passionate about films will have fun with The Artist. |
on January 23, 2012
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Tyrannosaur is the first feature film by actor Paddy Considine (Submarine) who switched up his traditional role for writer and director on this film. It is a dark look into a lonely man whose life is filled with drinking and anger that at times can be hard to watch. Tyrannosaur is this year’s feel bad movie of the year (tied maybe with We Need to Talk About Kevin) that does not offer much for hope nor does it shy away from domestic violence and abuse. Domestic abuse is one of the scariest horrors in film, because it is the most realistic kind. |
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Circumstance is an indie foreign film written and directed by Maryam Keshavarz, about two teenage girls who are in love but are forced to live under circumstances of modern-day Tehran, Iran where that is forbidden. While the premise sounds intriguing, it often felt more like a melodrama than the aspiring film it could have been. |
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The Kid with a Bike is an independent French film written and directed by brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne about an abandoned adolescent boy who refuses to believe his father has left him. Doing everything he can to find him ends up being an emotional journey. The Kid with a Bike won the Grand Prize of the Jury award at the Cannes Film Festival and is nominated for Best Foreign film at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards and Golden Globes. |
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The Skin I Live In is a psychological thriller from the highly acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. His work is often compared to Alfred Hitchcock’s and it is easy to see why. Even though it was shot and set in present time the film looks like it could be from the 60’s when Hitchcock was around. As the title slightly suggests, the film is about how you still remain the same inside even if your outside has been completely changed. |
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Chan-wook Parks‘s Lady Vengeance is the third and last installment of the “Vengeance Trilogy”, which are all linked by theme only not literal sequels. Nearly the entire first half of the film is spent trying to understand the main character and the sequence of events that led her do the things she may or may not have done. So be warned that even revealing most of the synopsis is pretty much a spoiler. |
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is Park Chan-wook’s first installment of his “Vengeance Trilogy”, followed by the near masterpiece of a Oldboy and the last installment being “Lady Vengeance”. None of the films are literal sequels of one another but all contain the same overall theme of a likeable character with a guilty conscience having to resort to violence. Similar to his other films, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance contains some deadpan humor packed with horrific violence and told in a way that makes it impossible to look away. |
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Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles created possibly the most compelling foreign crime drama to date with City of God. It is based on actual events of the life of Wilson Rodriguez who is a famous Brazilian photographer. The storyline is comprised of many subplots that follows a young boy’s journey into adulthood from a ghetto filled with crime. Complex character development is present amongst the many characters we are introduced to. The story is told and unfolds beautifully with each passing chapter. |
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Fish Tank is a British film done by Andrea Arnold who wrote and directed it. The story is peppered with characters all of which share the major flaw of poor decision making. The main character is a young female teenager who has no guidance in life and is full of anger and cursing most of the time. Yet somehow the film makes us root for her to succeed. |