“Come Away” by Brenda Chapman (2020)

Excellent minority representation

A story for children with an ambitious script and many connotations, but irregularly directed and awfully static at times
Very special racially-mixed cast

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,9
Metascore 4,0
Roger Ebert 1,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 4,6
IMDB 5,7
TMDB 6,3
Average critics 3,4
Average public 5,5

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Carter Thomas, Ava Fillery, Derek Jacobi, Michael Caine
Director: Brenda Chapman
Writer: Marissa Kate Goodhill
Music by John Debney
Cinematography by Jules O’Loughlin
Film Editing by Dody Dorn

“Land” by Robin Wright (2021)

A week of first features

Good script, personages, dialogues, direction, images,
minority representation, message, and expression

A simple message – helping others is a powerful way to help oneself – brought in a beautiful setting
“To survive you first have to die” could have been a second title

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,6
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,4
IMDB 6,6
TMDB 7,4
Critics average 6,8
Audience average 7,5

Cast: Robin Wright, Demián Bichir, Sarah Dawn Pledge
Directed by Robin Wright
Writing Credits: Jesse Chatham, Erin Dignam
Music by Ben Sollee, Time for Three
Cinematography by Bobby Bukowski
Film Editing by Anne McCabe, Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

Multiple facets of mother-daughter relationships (4/29)

“Angela” by Rebecca Miller (USA, 1995)

First Feature

Good dialogues

A young girl with a depressive mother and a stressed father takes her younger sister into a (religious) fantasy journey, torn between anger and guilt, heaven and hell
Some very amateurish aspects (have you seen the microphones?) but a movie that keeps surprising the viewer and that has a very expressive musical score
Nevertheless, there’s something that just feels wrong… Maybe it’s the fact that all females are having difficulties integrating the reality…

IMDB 6,4

Cast: Miranda Rhyne, Charlotte Eve Blythe, Anna Levine
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writer: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Ellen Kuras
Film Editing by Melody London

“10,000 Saints” by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (2015)

Favorite 52 movies screened between Aug 20 and May 21 (#16)

Good personages, humor, images, music, gender content, minority presence, and expression
Excellent script, dialogues and direction

The first half-hour is great, tense, constantly bouncing
This third feature by Berman and Pulcini brings some interesting perspective to their second movie, The Nanny Diaries, in which uninvolved motherhood and attachment are central themes. 10,000 Saint deals with uninvolved fatherhood and attachment “a sensitive and interesting film” [Sheila O’Malley]
Great acting by Ethan Hawke

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 5,8
IMDB 5,9
TMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,6
Average public 5,9

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Writers: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
Based on the novel by Eleanor Henderson
Music by Garth Stevenson
Cinematography by Ben Kutchins
Film Editing by Robert Pulcini

“10,000 Saints” by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (2015)

The work of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (3/3)

Good personages, humor, images, music, gender content, minority presence, and expression
Excellent script, dialogues and direction

The first half-hour is great, tense, constantly bouncing
This third feature by Berman and Pulcini brings some interesting perspective to their second movie, The Nanny Diaries, in which uninvolved motherhood and attachment are central themes. 10,000 Saint deals with uninvolved fatherhood and attchement… “a sensitive and interesting film” [Sheila O’Malley]
Great acting by Ethan Hawke

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,2
Metascore 6,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 5,8
IMDB 5,9
TMDB 5,9
Average critics 6,6
Average public 5,9

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld
Directors: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Writers: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
Based on the novel by Eleanor Henderson
Music by Garth Stevenson
Cinematography by Ben Kutchins
Film Editing by Robert Pulcini

“Yes, God, Yes” by Karen Maine (2019)

Facets of Patriarchy

First Feature

Good humor and direction
Excellent gender content and message

Everyone is doing it but no one admits it!
A teenage girl tries to understand why she’s being rekected as a weirdo-psycho pervert for wanting to discover sex while she sees everyone around her doing it… Fortunaltely, sex is lately a bit more libertated, but hypocrisy still prevails
Interesting ending scene between the girl and the priest

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,2
Metascore 7,1
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,0
Average critics 7,3
Average public 6,8

Cast: Natalia Dyer, Francesca Reale, Alisha Boe
Director: Karen Maine
Writer: Karen Maine
Music by Ian Hultquist
Cinematography by Todd Antonio Somodevilla
Film Editing by Jennifer Lee

“The Roads Not Taken” by Sally Potter (2020)

2020, a turbulent year!

Weak script

The broken life of a broken man broken into pieces
The story of a man who has lost track of time and who amalgamates the obsessive parts of his life at three different places (Greece, Mexico, New York)
Sally Potter didn’t succeed in letting us share this man’s painful journey, partially because of the continuous presence of his daughter: unable to follow what her father goes through, she takes the viewer away from him…

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,7
Metascore 3,9
Roger Ebert 5,0
Rotten Tomatoes Audience —
IMDB 4,8
Average critics 4,5
Average public 4,8

Cast: Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning, Salma Hayek, Laura Linney,, Chris Rock, Branka Katić
Director: Sally Potter
Writer: Sally Potter
Original Music Composer: Sally Potter
Cinematographer: Robbie Ryan
Editor: Emilie Orsini. Sally Potter, Jason Rayton
Composer: Sally Potter

“An Inspector Calls” by Aisling Walsh (2015)

My Year’s Favorites (Aug. 2019-July 2020)

Good humor and images
Excellent personages and direction
Top script + content

An excellent adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s classic play about class, responsibility, guilt, honesty, and…
A world that will need a most terrible war to (almost) disappear

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,7
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,0

Cast: Sophie Rundle, Lucy Chappell, Miranda Richardson
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writers: J.B. Priestley (based on the play by), Helen Edmundson (adapted by)
Music by Dominik Scherrer
Cinematography by Martin Fuhrer
Film Editing by Alex Mackie

“The Ballad of Jack and Rose” by Rebecca Miller (2005)

The work of Rebecca Miller (3/5)

There are many things in this movie that just do not fit. First, it is difficult to understand the fact that a man like Jack (Daniel Day-Lewis) would suddenly
abandon the quality of life he has built for himself and his daughter to invite his girlfriend and her two sons to share his life in the middle of nowhere; second, he has to give a check to his girlfriend to convince her to come and live with him; third, he doesn’t even discuss their coming with his daughter with whom he shares everything; fourth, he has to pay the woman again to convince her to move out (and she doesn’t even say a word against being bought around); fifth, the copied-and-paste musical score made of existing songs (songs that were not written for the movie) breaks the unity of the movie, making it look like it has been patch-worked; sixth, although Daniel Day-Lewis is a good actor, he is here miscast.
And then, there are so many aspects that could have made this movie really great…
I wonder what you think about it 🙂

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,6
Metascore 5,9
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,0
IMDB 6,6
Average critics 6,3
Average public 6,8

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writer: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Ellen Kuras
Film Editing by Sabine Hoffman

“Angela” by Rebecca Miller (1995)

The work of Rebecca Miller (1/5)

First Feature

Good dialogues

A young girl with a depressive mother and a stressed father takes her younger sister into a (religious) fantasy journey, torn between anger and guilt, heaven and hell
Some very amateurish aspects (have you seen the microphones?) but a movie that keeps surprising the viewer and that has a very expressive musical score
Nevertheless, there’s something that just feels wrong… Maybe it’s the fact that all females are having difficulties integrating the reality…

IMDB 6,4

Cast: Miranda Rhyne, Charlotte Eve Blythe, Anna Levine
Director: Rebecca Miller
Writer: Rebecca Miller
Music by Michael Rohatyn
Cinematography by Ellen Kuras
Film Editing by Melody London

“Somersault” by Cate Shortland (2004)

Teens & Sex / First Feature

Great gender content

 

Weak story, shallow personages

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,9
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,4
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 7,1
Average public 7,1

Cast: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington, Lynette Curran
Director: Cate Shortland
Writer: Cate Shortland
Music by Decoder Ring
Cinematography by Robert Humphreys
Film Editing by Scott Gray

“An Inspector Calls” by Aisling Walsh (2015)

A British week: Aisling Walsh (2/3)

Good humor and images (8)
Excellent personages and direction (9)
Top script + content (10)

An excellent adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s classic play about class, responsability, guilt, honesty, and…
A world that will need a most terrible war to (almost) disappear

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,2
IMDB 7,7
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,0

Cast: Sophie Rundle, Lucy Chappell, Miranda Richardson
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writers: J.B. Priestley (based on the play by), Helen Edmundson (adapted by)
Music by Dominik Scherrer
Cinematography by Martin Fuhrer
Film Editing by Alex Mackie

“Someone You Love” by Pernille Fischer Christensen (2014)

The work of Pernille Fischer Christensen (4/5)

Top score: music (10)

Great music (written by Tina Dickow and performed by Mikael Persbrandt and Trine Dyrholm) that perfectly punctuates the movie + great characters
The 4th movie written by Kim Fupz Aakeson and Pernille Fischer Christensen

Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen
Writers: Kim Fupz Aakeson, Pernille Fischer Christensen
Cinematography by Laust Trier-Mørk
Film Editing by Janus Billeskov Jansen, Anne Østerud
Songs written by Tina Dickow, performed by Mikael Persbrandt and Trine Dyrholm

“Upperdog” by Sara Johnsen (2009)

Sara Johnsen (2/3)

Top score: direction, minorities (10)

Two young very vulnerable men, and two young and strong women
Guilt, a theme already present in Sara Johnsen’s previous movie, was then centered on a woman, whereas the man with whom she had a relationship mitigated her feeling of guilt. The gender roles are now reversed: the guilt and trauma that both men carry with them are tempered by the women with whom they have a relationship.
A cleverly constructed story, a strong direction, and interesting (contemporary) personages, with a fantastic Agnieszka Grochowsk and a surprising musical score.
The absence of critic reviews is shameful! A movie worth resurrecting!

Cast: Hermann Sabado, Agnieszka Grochowska, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen
Director: Sara Johnsen
Writer: Sara Johnsen
Music by Marcus Paus
Cinematography by John Andreas Andersen
Film Editing by Zaklina Stojcevska

“Kissed By Winter” by Sara Johnsen (2005)

Sara Johnsen (1/3)
First Feature

Top score: script, personages, dialogues, direction, images, minorities, message (8)

A poignant movie about death, loss, guilt, and responsability

Cast: Annika Hallin, Kristoffer Joner, Fridtjov Såheim
Director: Sara Johnsen
Writers: Ståle Stein Berg, Sara Johnsen
Music by Ståle Caspersen
Cinematography by Odd Reinhardt Nicolaysen
Film Editing by Zaklina Stojcevska

“Lore” by Cate Shortland (2012)

A year’s favorites review

Unpretentious, great acting, a dizzying but expressive camera work
Riveting!

Cast: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi, Andre Frid
Director: Cate Shortland
Screenplay by Cate Shortland, Robin Mukherjee
Music by Max Richter
Cinematography by Adam Arkapaw
Film Editing by Veronika Jenet

“It’s Easier for a Camel…” by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (2003)

A year’s favorites

= First Feature =

A woman tries to make sense of the chaos in her life
Fantastic acting, a thoroughly chosen cast, an almost continuous humorous undercurrent, a fine, underrated comedy

Cast: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Chiara Mastroianni, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Director: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Writers: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Lvovsky, Agnès de Sacy
Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Film Editing by Anne Weil

“A Castle In Italy” (Un Chateau En Italie) by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (2013)

The work of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (3/3)

As in her preceding movies, past and family are intertwined in the story in present time with her usual themes – wealth, religion, guilt, death – and three female characters.
“I think I should make room for life in my life.”

Cast: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Louis Garrel, Filippo Timi
Director: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Writers: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Lvovsky, Agnès de Sacy
Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Film Editing by Anne Weil

“It’s Easier for a Camel…” (Il est plus facile pour un chameau…) by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (2003)

The work of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (1/3)

– First Feature –

A woman tries to make sense of the chaos in her life
Fantastic acting, a thoroughly chosen cast, an almost continuous humorous undercurrent, a fine, underrated comedy

Cast: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Chiara Mastroianni, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Director: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Writers: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Noémie Lvovsky, Agnès de Sacy
Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Film Editing by Anne Weil

“Night Moves” by Kelly Reichardt (2013)

5 Fridays with Kelly Reichardt (1)

The first movie by this director with a ‘real’ storyline
“As with all of Reichardt’s films, it’s more about the journey than the destination… Reichardt uses her increasingly impressive sense of composition and intuitive pacing to slow burn the audience into a state of anxiety instead of manipulatively pushing them there.” [Brian Tallerico]

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, Logan Miller, Katherine Waterston, James Legros
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Writer: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Director of Photography: Christopher Blauvelt
Editor: Kelly Reichardt
Original Music Composer: Jeff Grace

“Little Accidents” by Sara Colangelo (2014)

first feature

Interesting ending

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Boyd Holbrook, Chloë Sevigny, Jacob Lofland, Josh Lucas
Director: Sara Colangelo
Writer: Sara Colangelo
Director of Photography: Rachel Morrison
Editor: Suzy Elmiger
Original Music Composer: Marcelo Zarvos

“The Savages” by Tamara Jenkins (2007)

3 Movies by Tamara Jenkins (2)

Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco
Director: Tamara Jenkins
Writer: Tamara Jenkins
Music by Stephen Trask
Cinematography by W. Mott Hupfel III
Film Editing by Brian A. Kates

“Please Give” by Nicole Holofcener (2010)

6 Mondays with Nicole Holofcener (4)

Nicole Holofcener “pays close attention to women. She doesn’t define them by their relationships with men. In a Holofcener movie, women actually have their own reasons for doing things — and these are even allowed to be bad reasons, and funny ones. The movie is about imperfect characters in a difficult world, who mostly do the best they can under the circumstances, but not always. Do you realize what a revolutionary approach that is for a movie these days?” Roger Ebert

Cast: Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert
Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener
Music by Tim LeFebvre, Marcelo Zarvos
Cinematography by Yaron Orbach
Film Editing by Robert Frazen

“Lore” by Cate Shortland (2012)

Unpretentious, great acting, a dizzying but expressive camera work
Riveting!

Cast: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi, Andre Frid
Director: Cate Shortland
Screenplay by Cate Shortland, Robin Mukherjee
Music by Max Richter
Cinematography by Adam Arkapaw
Film Editing by Veronika Jenet

“Somersault” by Cate Shortland (2004)

first feature

Weak scenario, shallow personages

Cast: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington, Lynette Curran
Director: Cate Shortland
Writer: Cate Shortland
Music by Decoder Ring
Cinematography by Robert Humphreys
Film Editing by Scott Gray

“Every Secret Thing” by Amy Berg (USA, 2014)

Good acting, good drama / “The interrogation scenes, between Alice and a detective played by Elizabeth Banks, explore the social disadvantages of a fat woman with a stark bluntness that’s unheard of in a popular cinema” writes Chuck Bowen.

Cast: Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning, Danielle Macdonald
Director: Amy Berg
Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener
Novel: Laura Lippman
Director of Photography: Rob Hardy
Editor: Ron Patane, Billy McMillin

“Stander” by Bronwen Hughes (South Africa 2003)

Robbery as a political statement. Intelligent direction

Cast: Thomas Jane, David O’Hara, Dexter Fletcher
Director: Bronwen Hughes
Writer: Bima Stagg
Music by The Free Association
Cinematography by Jess Hall
Film Editing by Robert Ivison

“The Levelling” (Hope Dickson Leach, UK 2016)

Depressingly slow moving drama filled with silences

Cast: Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton, Jack Holden
Director: Hope Dickson Leach
Writer: Hope Dickson Leach
Music: Hutch Demouilpied
Cinematography: Nanu Segal
Editing: Tom Hemmings

“Hounddog” (Deborah Kampmeier, USA 2007)

“Rape and repressions are the two sides of the same coin. When you rape a girl, the problem is not that you’re taking away her purity, which gets everyone all up in arms. It’s that you’re taking away her wholeness. Trying to keep her pure, repressing her sexuality also takes her wholeness. I don’t want my daughter to grow up pure. I want her to grow whole.”  says Anja in Split.
The idea of sexual violence taking a woman’s or a girl’s wholeness is the leading theme in Deborah Kampmeier’s three movies (Split, Virgin, and Hounddog).

Cast: Dakota Fanning, David Morse, Piper Laurie, Afemo Omilami, Robin Wright Penn, Cody Hanford, Jill Scott
Written and directed by Deborah Kampmeier
Music: Gisburg
Cinematography: Jim Denault
Photography: Edward Lachman
Editing: Sabine Hoffman