“Something Must Break” lifts its title from the Joy Division song of the same name and repurposes the duality Ian Curtis was pondering before his death in 1980, “Two ways to choose / Which way to go / Had thoughts for one / Designs for both.” Early on in the film, Sebastian (Saga Becker) promises, […]
When a young athlete reaches a certain skill level in a sport, their talent becomes their obligation in the eyes of others. Suddenly there’s money and awards and honor at stake and a good thing becomes an angle to be manipulated. Anna (Judit Bárdos), a rising track star, faces an ethical dilemma when she’s selected […]
With the 50th Chicago International Film Festival coming to a close, we’ve ran out of chances to catch the films from around the world that will define the next year of cinema. Here’s our favorites from this year’s CIFF: 10. The Babadook Directed by Jennifer Kent Australia See it: November 28, 2014 From the sound design that […]
For most teenagers, becoming your own person, distancing yourself from your parents, and falling in love is enough to handle. Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo) does it blind. While working to gain independence from his kind but over-protective parents, Leo’s teenaged struggles are compounded by his disability. His relationships, both with his best friend Giovana (Tess Amorim) […]
Frederick Wiseman’s long-form, observational style of documentary filmmaking may appear to be an assemblage of footage with no traditional “story,” but, like the great works of art living in London’s National Gallery, Wiseman’s work is full of intent, structure, and drama waiting to be unlocked by the willing viewer. After 40 films investigating and documenting […]
In 1965, the Indonesian army overthrew the government and murdered more than one million people deemed “communists.” The perpetrators of those crimes are, to this day, in power and seen as heroes. Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing,” one of the most important documentaries of our time, challenged those perpetrators to reenact their executions and […]
The rich benefit from economic instability and the poor are driven to desperation in this mystery drama that reveals three different perspectives of a single crime. As “Rashomon” and “Reservoir Dogs” worshippers continue to filter through film schools, the indie market is no doubt being flooded with films using the multi-perspective structure. The trouble is […]
