What other place can you see the biggest films from Cannes intermingled with ruminative Eastern European stories that eloquently tell the history of the people and the region? Here, the theaters—a mixture of splendid venues like Grand and Small Hall and intimate, seemingly makeshift cinemas like Husovka—are always packed. Audiences want to see the movies, … Read more
No matter how many films I see at a festival, I almost always miss the big prize winner. It’s almost as if the jury is purposefully picking the one film I either haven’t seen or had never heard until their name was announced at the awards ceremony. This time, at the Karlovy Vary International Film … Read more
Through her eyes and ears, in the film’s opening scene, we witness mom and dad engaged in a fight so big it’s dragged in Amálka’s grandmother (Veronika Zilková) and grandpa (Martin Finger). As Amálka’s mother tries to share her unhappiness with her parents—only to be rebuffed by her mother—Amálka looks on behind a frosted window … Read more
Rather the film is best when it’s austere. This is a complicated story of teenagers navigating their bodies and wants in a society that doesn’t see their sense of introspection as worthwhile, in fact, it often labels it demonic. Sikharulidze eloquently expresses these obstacles through a visual language that plays as strict and classical, relying on his … Read more
British actor Clive Owen will also receive the KVIFF President’s Award. While the actor is probably best known for his roles in Alfonso Cuarón post-apocalyptic dystopian masterpiece “Children of Men,” Spike Lee’s intense caper “Inside Man,” and the bloody action flick “Shoot ‘Em Up”—he will be furthered honored by the festival with a 20th anniversary … Read more
While the 1960s saw a rise in Japanese noir, many of these films—like the popular Nikkatsu noir and Yakuza films—centered on the criminal underworld as it adapted to modern times. Masumura, however, used the genre to expose the crime embedded in what was considered just regular business tactics and found ways to bring these noir … Read more
In the neat, uniquely conceived apocalyptic film”Brutal Heat”—competing in the Proxima section—a solar fragment is hurtling toward earth. No one knows if it’s going to hit the planet or just barely miss. But it is making everything hotter, consequently making everyone more violent, and hornier. To escape his contentious relationship with his dad, the teenage … Read more
KVIFF was also filled with wonderful retrospectives. “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” Peter Weir’s feast of masculine tenderness wrapped in a nautical epic, screened in 35mm. John Cassavetes’ romantic screwball “Minnie and Moskowitz” was also shown. But the major highlight was curator Joseph Fahim’s richly programmed series on mid-century Japanese author … Read more
While the film also doesn’t remake the wheel for these kinds of narratives, the vision is so otherworldly and Mohylová’s physically attuned performance so immersive, that “Restore Point,” an imaginative, propulsive thrill ride, offers well–paced entertainment attached to a subject we all fear. The near-death experience that rocks Etero (Eka Chavleishvili) at the start of … Read more
Another of the film’s memorable sequences involves the final search by Thien for his brother. In a film brimming with natural, reverent metaphors—the birds, the wind, and rain—and an invocation toward a divine law that seems to bend time, the final shot, a quietly cathartic baptism, gives An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” a sense … Read more