Four new indie releases -- none two of which I've now seen -- compete for your attention this weekend, May 31-June 2 Pieta. The new film by oft-controversial Korean auteur Kim Ki-Duk is a melodrama about a brutal collector for a loan shark and his odd relationship with his mother. Recommended with reservations. Reviewed here. (Angelika... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Frances Ha,’ ‘Dead Man’s Burden,’ ‘Love is All You Need,’ ‘What Maisie Knew’
Four new indie releases compete for your attention this long holiday weekend, May 24-27: Frances Ha. Noah Baumbach directs a comedy about a would-be dancer (Greta Gerwig) who finds herself adrift in Manhattan. Recommended. Reviewed here. (Angelika Dallas) Baumbach will participate in a Q&A via Skype following the 8:30 p.m. screening on Friday, May 24.... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Sightseers,’ ‘The Iceman,’ ‘Scatter My Ashes,’ ‘Black Rock,’ ‘Koch,’ ‘Erased’
Half a dozen new indie releases compete for attention this weekend, May 17-19: Sightseers. A black comedy about an English couple who take a trip to the countryside that turns murderous. I think so highly of Ben Wheatley's first two films, Down Terrace and Kill List, that I believe a blind recommendation is warranted. Not... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘No Place on Earth,’ ‘Midnight’s Children,’ ‘Source Family,’ ‘Star Trek II’
New indie releases and special screenings of note this weekend: No Place on Earth documents "the untold story of thirty-eight Ukrainian Jews who survived World War II by living in cold, damp caves for eighteen months." (Angelika Dallas) Midnight's Children. Salman Rushdie adapted his own novel and narrates "a lushly visual epic about two boys who... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Reality,’ ‘Renoir,’ ‘Reluctant Fundamentalist,’ ‘Kon-Tiki’
New indie releases and special screenings of note this weekend: Reality. Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone turns his perceptive lens from organized crime (Gomorrah) to reality television in his latest effort, described as a darkly comic piece. In Italian with English subtitles. (Angelika Dallas) Renoir. In 1915, the great painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his son, filmmaker... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Mud,’ ‘Days of Heaven,’ ‘Starbuck,’ USA Film Festival
The 43rd annual USA Film Festival kicked off this past Wednesday night and continues through the weekend at Angelika Dallas. Visit the official site to download the complete program. (I'm hoping to see John Carpenter's They Live and Soi Cheang's Motorway -- review for the latter at my sister site A Better Tomorrow.) Other new... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Upstream Color,’ ‘From Up on Poppy Hill,’ ‘Chasing Ice,’ ‘To the Wonder’
Shane Carruth, Studio Ghibli, an environmental doc, and Terence Malick battle it out on the indie front.
Indie Weekend: ‘Promised Land,’ ‘Rust and Bone,’ ‘Barbara’
Matt Damon wrestles with fracking. Who wins? Not the audience.
Indie Weekend: ‘Anna Karenina,’ ‘Life of Pi,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook’
Only one new indie film is opening this week, but two of the wide releases felt very indie to me, so I'm grouping these three together, mainly because these are ones that I've seen. Anna Karenina, the latest screen version of Leo Tolstoy's classic of Russian literature, gets a highly-stylized, heightened theatrical treatment from director... Continue Reading →
Indie Weekend: ‘Holy Motors,’ ‘A Royal Affair,’ ‘The Other Son’
What is, in my opinion, the best movie of the year opens this weekend. And, no, it's not the one with the glittering vampires. Holy Motors will infuriate and/or bore some, no doubt, but I was enchanted, moved, and fascinated by a day in the life of a man hired to play different roles throughout the... Continue Reading →
Dallas Film Weekly 