The first time I saw “Salo: 120 Days of Sodom”, I was fairly certain I was watching a documentary. I simply couldn’t conceive that a filmmaker (in this case, Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was ultimately murdered in what was referred to as a “mafia-style revenge killing”) would set about to put something so debauched on […]
Year: 2016
The Love Witch – VIFF 2016 Review
“I’m scared,” admits Wayne (Jeffrey Vincent Parise), “I’m not used to feeling things so strongly.” Poor, clueless, not-long-for-this-world Wayne, for Elaine (Samantha Robinson, excellent), a vivacious young witch, has already seduced and worked her brand black magic on him in Anna Biller’s amazingly audacious second feature, The Love Witch. Wayne’s not the first, nor will […]
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The 20 Best Japanese Films of the 1960s
As the quality of the films of the 50s continued through to the 60s, and the economical growth continued in an unwavering rhythm, Japanese cinema experienced its most prolific decade, with hundreds of movies produced from major and independent studios. This second aspect was an outcome of the rise of the Japanese New Wave, which […]
Julieta – VIFF 2016 Review
Gestating since 2009 when Pedro Almodóvar acquired the rights to a trio of celebrated Canadian writer Alice Munro’s short stories (they all come from the same 2004 collection, “Runaway”), Julieta marks the provocative Spanish filmmakers 20th feature. Alternately beautiful and sad, Julieta is also obvious and self-indulgent, but is nonetheless a ravishing cinematic experience where […]
American Honey – VIFF 2016 Review
“What’s your dream?” asks an even-tempered cattle-truck driver to Star (Sasha Lane) as they drive down the highway. She’s surprised by this near-stranger’s charitable question and says, “Nobody’s ever asked me that before.” There’s many moments like this in a film that seems to move from one desultory random moment to the next; arranged with […]
Maliglutit (Searchers) – VIFF 2016 Review
Canadian Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kununk is still best known for his first film from 2001, the epic Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (amongst its many accolades is the 2001 Cannes Caméra d’or) and his most recent film, Maliglutit, returns to epic territory with this tale of revenge set in the 1930s in the icy arctic. “We […]