Lore: delicate and brutal at once, this is a meaningful road movie that works well both in objective and subjective levels. Acting is impressively good with the young cast, building up on the well-written and complex characters. Very strong visually, allowing us to appreciate the minutes of the world, much like the children; the mix of wonder and horror of the images set the mood perfectly. Not an easy film to sit through, but a very rewarding one.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Anastasia: elegant, well made, but ultimately a bit unsatisfying film. The game of smoke and mirrors played by the characters makes them unsympathetic and not very interesting. They are well played, however, in particular by Ingrid Bergman. The main problem is with how the story  develops: while we may care about how things happen, the direction it takes seems mostly contrived.

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Blancanieves: to call this film original is somewhat misleading, since this tale is centuries old and has been told, in fact, three times in the last year alone; the style is not original either, since it was the only way films were made for over 30 years. It is, however, an interesting translation to a place and time which keeps enough elements to be recognizable and makes enough changes to feel fresh. Silent films, of course, depend a lot on […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Gentleman’s Agreement: this film’s theme, by all means an important issue, is dealt with at turns elegantly and heavy-handedly, making this a movie that is both good and “important”. The great cast defends beautifully an interesting, rich set of characters, that are above all very well-written (particularly the female ones): Celeste Holm, in particular, lights up every frame she is in: her character is probably the best written and sympathetic of the whole bunch, and she plays it beautifully. Gregory […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama

Quartet: a number of good things about this nice little, light drama. First and foremost, the acting is excellent: Dustin Hoffman, despite directing a feature for the first time, knows a thing of two about the subject (and shows some surprisingly interesting camera work); but with a cast of that quality, it would need a director trying to ruin the experience to make the acting bad. The collection of characters, fleshed out and alive, fell true to the story, a […]

Categories: Film reviews • Tags: drama