BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
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  Year Released: 2011 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 91 minutes |
IN LIMITED RELEASE! Unspoken sadness courses throughout the film, but humor punctuates it: not only from the many oddities on display but also Hushpuppy’s sassy ruminations…
Posted on July 13, 2012 by Michael Nordine
ELENA
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  Year Released: 2011 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 109 minutes |
2012 DALLAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION! Both Elena and “Elena” are oddly wired, and any attempt to understand either must be done on their own terms…
Posted on April 19, 2012 by Michael Nordine
JOHN DIES AT THE END
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  Year Released: 2011 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 108 minutes |
2012 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION! What it expects of the audience is disproportionate to what it offers, and so we’re left doing most of the work without getting much in return…
Posted on March 12, 2012 by Michael Nordine
I WANT MY NAME BACK
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  Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 93 minutes |
2012 SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL DOCUMENTARY FEATURE SELECTION! Paradiso takes an unabashedly one-sided approach to his subject but, to be fair, the facts appear to support it…
Posted on February 27, 2012 by Michael Nordine
L
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 87 minutes |
2012 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WORLD DRAMATIC FEATURES SELECTION! “L” is most certainly strange, but the movie itself never acknowledges as much. It instead offers itself at face value as though in a self-induced trance, unaware or indifferent to whether we might join in…
Posted on February 19, 2012 by Michael Nordine
LAY THE FAVORITE
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Year Released: 2012 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 100 minutes |
2012 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERES SELECTION! Its proficiency as lighter fare aside, the film’s rare ventures into more serious territory feel forced. Put simply, the characters (Hall’s in particular) aren’t suited for it…
Posted on February 18, 2012 by Michael Nordine
ABOUT THE PINK SKY
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  Year Released: 2011 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 113 minutes |
2012 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WORLD DRAMATIC FEATURES SELECTION! It simply wanders aimlessly for far longer than it needs to, neither arriving anywhere interesting nor taking any worthwhile detours along the way…
Posted on January 22, 2012 by Michael Nordine
A LETTER TO UNCLE BOONMEE
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Year Released: 2009 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 17 minutes |
The lion’s share of the short film’s imagery comes in the form of a series of tracking shots through a house, the open doors of which give way to a view of the wild brush just beyond its walls…
Posted on December 8, 2010 by Michael Nordine
CERTIFIED COPY
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  Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 106 minutes |
When it is impossible to fully know something, it may suffice to simply feel it. Such is the case with Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy,” a rare treat for a number of different reasons…
Posted on November 28, 2010 by Michael Nordine
BLACK SWAN
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 103 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! “Black Swan” is a film whose initial surprises gradually morph into a variation on a familiar theme. Its fixation on mirrors notwithstanding, the film shows us little we don’t already know…
Posted on November 15, 2010 by Michael Nordine
POETRY
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 139 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! “Poetry” is a film more concerned with journey than destination, and yet it takes our eventual arrival to understand the latent meaning behind the long process…
Posted on November 13, 2010 by Michael Nordine
SUBMARINO
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 110 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! Such a story could easily turn into melodrama, but Vinterberg prevents such a turn with a steady directorial hand, presenting everything as is and without sensationalizing in the slightest…
Posted on November 12, 2010 by Michael Nordine
LITTLEROCK
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 84 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! “Littlerock” is a road movie without much road and a love story without much love…
Posted on November 10, 2010 by Michael Nordine
THE HOUSEMAID (2010)
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 107 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! Aside from title and basic premise, Im Sang-soo’s remake of “The Housemaid” bears little resemblance to the original. The film thus deserves to be regarded on its own terms…
Posted on November 10, 2010 by Michael Nordine
UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES
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Year Released: 2010 MPAA Rating: Unrated Running Time: 113 minutes |
AFI FEST 2010 OFFICIAL SELECTION! “Uncle Boonmee” is a film to be experienced for its immediacy and thought upon for its ineffability…
Posted on November 9, 2010 by Michael Nordine