Excellent cast, great humor, very sensitive direction
Cast: Elle Fanning, Susan Sarandon, Naomi Watts, Tate Donovan, Maria Dizzia, Sam Trammell, Linda Emond, Jordan Carlos
Director: Gaby Dellal
Writer: Nikole Beckwith, Gaby Dellal
Cinematographer: David Johnson
Editor: Joe Landauer, Jeff Betancourt
Composer: West Dylan Thordson
Sex and relationships in the eyes of a teenage girl and a woman in her late 40’s.
A movie staging 3 women in a finely-tuned coming-of-age and out-of-the-closet story, with balanced personages, multi-faceted sexual identities, and an healthy racial distribution.
“You may look at Miranda, and think immediately, ‘Oh, okay, I know who that woman is’. You would be wrong. The same for Cyd. ‘Oh, okay. Bored teenager sunbathing in a bikini. I know who that is’. Again, you would be wrong.” writes Sheila O’Malley.
Cast: Rebecca Spence, Jessie Pinnick, Malic White, James Vincent Meredith, Tyler Ross, Matthew Quattrocki
Director: Stephen Cone
Writer: Stephen Cone
Editor: Christopher Gotschall
Director of Photography: Zoe White
Original Music Composer: Heather McIntosh
An exceptional success at mixing comedy and drama / Rich representations of minorities, excellent dialogues
Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Caleb Landry Jones, Kathryn Newton, Clarke Peters
Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Cinematographer: Ben Davis
Editor: Jon Gregory
Composer: Carter Burwell
Excellent scenario and some fantastic editing.
Many have called it a bad movie (see the main ratings) because of its scandalous theme – two middle-aged women falling for two young men they know. However, the same critics wouldn’t have blinked if the movie had staged two men falling for their daughter-in-law. Hypocrisy at its best!
Cast: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, Ben Mendelsohn, Sophie Lowe
Director: Anne Fontaine
Screenplay: Christopher Hampton
Novel: Doris Lessing
Music by Christopher Gordon
Cinematography by Christophe Beaucarne
Film Editing by Luc Barnier, Ceinwen Berry
Intense thriller, sustained direction, truthful personages, great sound track
A movie that has a “visual language designed to enhance the mood of its leading man without distracting from it” writes Brian Tallerico; a movie in which everyone gets used and abused to no end
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Buddy Duress, Ben Safdie, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Barkhad Abdi
Director: Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie
Writer: Ronald Bronstein, Joshua Safdie
Cinematographer: Sean Price Williams
Composer: Daniel Lopatin
Social hierarchy is a recurring theme in this director’s work. In Mansfield Park, the lead personage comes from a poor branch of a family whose wealth is built on slavery. Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl (2008) depicts the social destitution and disintegration of a family as a consequence of the Great Depression, and the parallel world of hobos. Into The Forest shows again a society in the process of disintegration, which leads to the rape of a woman – both woman and rapist being honorable members of that society prior to these events.
“This is an uncommonly intelligent film, smart and amusing too, and anyone who thinks it is not faithful to Austen doesn’t know the author but only her plots.” writes Roger Ebert.
Cast: Frances O’Connor, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola
Director: Patricia Rozema
Writers: Jane Austen (novel), Patricia Rozema
Music by Lesley Barber
Cinematography by Michael Coulter
Film Editing by Martin Walsh
“The haggard, inconstant flashes of beauty, and then the wretched squalor and miserable humanity”
Excellent musical choice and editing. Music by John Tavener, Zbigngiew Preisner, Henryk Górecki, Georges Bizet, and many more (this blog provides a good overview)
Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Franco Graziosi, Giorgio Pasotti, Massimo Popolizio
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Screenplay: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello
Music by Lele Marchitelli
Cinematography by Luca Bigazzi
Film Editing by Cristiano Travaglioli
“stings and stuns”
Cast: Minnie Driver, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Danny Glover, Jordan Belfi, Nate Parker
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Writer: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Cinematography: Tami Reiker
Music by Mark Isham
Film Editing by Terilyn A. Shropshire
The many facets of truth!
Gender roles in Victorian Canada / Excellent female lead
Cast: Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, Rebecca Liddiard, David Cronenberg, Anna Paquin
Director: Mary Harron
Script: Margaret Atwood, Sarah Polley
Cinematography: Brendan Steacy
Music: Jeff Danna, Mychael Danna
Happiness doesn’t need much and can be learned.
One negative point: Ethan Hawke doesn’t fit the personage.
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Gabrielle Rose, Billy MacLellan, Zachary Bennett, Kari Matchett
Director: Aisling Walsh
Writer: Sherry White
Cinematographer: Guy Godfree
Editor: Stephen O’Connell
Composer: Michael Timmins