Most filmmakers of any notice nowadays are older. It’s somewhat a hazard of the job, since it takes time for most directors to find prominence, especially in a Hollywood still not completely awake for what is happening in the indie scenario. The guys and girls on this list, though, are the honorable exceptions. They’re young, […]
Month: October 2016
Graduation – VIFF 2016 Review
Cristian Mungiu’s provocative Graduation––which he shared the Best Director prize at Cannes 2016 with Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper, also screening at VIFF––is as intricate as it is sharp and unsettling. Adrian Titieni is gripping as grey-haired Dr. Romeo Aldea and he dominates almost every frame of this arresting Romanian drama. Mungiu, who won the Palme […]
The Complexity of Happiness – VIFF 2016 Review
Italian director Gianni Zanasi (Non penarci) offers up a shrewd, cerebral, and stylish comedy with his latest film The Complexity of Happiness. Enrico Giusti (Valerio Mastandrea, brilliant) is a scoffing and somewhat autonomous businessman who routinely chides no-account CEOs to trade their companies, but his old ways won’t wash now that he’s met two orphaned […]
Little Sister – VIFF 2016 Review
Writer/director Zach Clark (White Reindeer, Vacation!) begins his latest comedy––more of a melodrama with an irreverent spin––with a quote from shock rocker Marilyn Manson; “Fail to see the tragic, turn it into magic!” And thus begins Little Sister, an immediately light and likeable indie with enough witty aphorisms, sardonic interactions, and odd-yet-amiable characters that more […]
Gimme Danger – VIFF 2016 Review
Ohio-born American Indie auteur Jim Jarmusch, himself no stranger to the rock doc (namely, 1997’s Neil Young and Crazy Horse documentary, Year of the Horse), makes a very persuasive argument for the Stooges as “ the greatest rock-and-roll band ever” in his latest non-fiction offering, Gimme Danger. Outrageous and unpredictable rock icon Iggy Pop (James […]
10 Aesthetically and Existentially Relevant Scenes from Kiarostami’s Cinema
Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) was one of the most influential post-revolution (1978-79) Second Wave filmmakers of Iran, who accrued universal attention for his atypical cinematic style. Kiarostami helped in setting up the film department for Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon). In the 20 years during which he made films for Kanoon, he developed his individualistic style. […]