Poster - Newlyweds

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The Yellow Handkerchief (2010)

The Yellow Handkerchief explores a realm of pain, hard-knocks and loneliness. Set in a southern town, three characters meet and unexpectedly go on a road-trip together. They struggle against self-fulfilling prophesies of fear and unworthiness and must look within to find the courage to live, love and to truly see and be seen by another person. The film offers solid performances across the board: William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne.

It's a road-trip movie that never ventures into the outlandish; The Yellow Handkerchief finds its groove, and walks the line, a nice balancing act that in the hands of another director or cast could have easily rested heavily on the melodramatic side but Hurt anchors the movie with his quiet rawness.

This kind of movie, with its delicate tone, gives Kristen Stewart the room to flex her artistic skills, to grow and blossom. Will the Twilight shadow fade away enough for her to be appreciated in projects like this? I hope so.

Available on Netflix.

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We Need To Talk About Kevin (AFI Film Fest 2011)

We Need To Talk About Kevin is brilliantly creepy. It inhabits a place that few films venture to, and even fewer successfully convey a subtle darkness in a real and believable way. Tilda Swinton gives a remarkable performance as a mother dealing with the upbringing and after-math of her child's devious behavior. The actors who play her son at various ages (Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell, Rock Duer) all give equally riveting portrayals of a wayward mind as it descends into a land of no return. If you're looking for a conventional, happy-ending kind of Hollywood movie, this isn't it. We Need To Talk About Kevin is a disturbingly memorable slice of cinema.

It opens in NYC and Los Angeles on December 9th. 

Official Site: www.oscilloscope.net

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Poster - In The Land Of Blood And Honey

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The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch

Tomer Sisley makes a compelling lead in the action-suspense The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch. Sisley plays the title character, an adopted son who rises from obscurity to reclaim his father's empire. This movie is the fast paced, high-voltage kind of variety, but when Kristin Scott Thomas is involved it adds a certain validity to the project (with her being one of the best working actresses). But back to Sisley... the guy is truly magnetic: handsome, bilingual and full of machismo. If it were a different movie, he would be James Bond. He's that smooth.

Now playing in select theaters.

Official Site: www.musicboxfilms.com/largo-winch

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Oslo, August 31st (AFI Fest 2011)

Oslo, Ausgust 31st is a depressingly good slice of Norwegian cinema. The film follows a 34-year-old rehabbing from drug abuse, who in one day, must decide between finding purpose and losing his grip on reality. Anders Danielsen Lie (Reprise) gives a powerful performance in this tragically moving story that highlights a city, a place and a decision.

Michael Nordine of NotComing.com captured it nicely...

"Oslo, August 31st has an ear for dialogue and an eye for natural movement; it employs a documentary-like approach that uses little but communicates much." [source]

The somber tone bleeds through the screen haunting every scene quite perfectly.

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Young Goethe in Love

Young Goethe soars with exquisite cinematography. Alexander Fehling (Inglorious Basterds) and Miriam Stein offer two charismatic performances in a delightful story about first love. Fehling plays Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a famous German poet, who nearly quits before his breakthrough work. Fans of Bright Star and Pride & Prejudice will find enjoyment in this spitfire romantic tale. It's one of my favorite movies of the year and the musical score accentuates its beauty.

Now playing in select theaters.




Official Site: www.younggoetheinlove.com

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Green (AFI Fest 2011)

Green is a peculiar film, oddly charming, eerie, lingering, I'm still digesting it. As I sat through the film I wasn't sure how it would end, and I liked that. There were times when I found certain characters annoyingly pretentious (the farmer-blogger boyfriend) but thankfully moments of depth surfaced, and eventually I found him likable enough. Sophia Takal is by far the stand-out actor of the piece, her character sparked the brightest, her performance kept me captivated through the lulls of the story. Takal also holds the title of writer/director and Green marks a noteworthy entrance. If you're looking for a conventional Hollywood love-triangle then be forewarned, Green travels more subtle waters. But if you're interested in something a little less neat, strangely potent and thought-provoking you're on the right boat.

An intimate friendship between two women dissolves as they are drawn into an irrational, destructive spiral of jealousy and paranoid fantasy in this haunting examination of the female psyche.

You can catch an encore screening of Green at the AFI Fest presented by Audi on Saturday, Nov. 5th at 10p.m. For more info visit www.afi.com/afifest

Official Site: www.themoviegreen.com

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AFI Film Fest (Black Film Picks)

The AFI Film Fest presented by Audi opens tonight with a gala screening of Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar. One of the neat things about this festival are the smaller indie films that come from the U.S. and around the world. Two noteworthy films emerging from the the black cinema sphere are Restless City and Kinyarwanda.

Restless City tells the story of an Africa immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City where music is his passion, life is a hustle, and falling in love is his greatest risk.

I've seen Restless City and it's exactly what black cinema needs. I'll talk more about the film later but it's a definite must-watch. It screens on Friday, Nov 4th at 4:45pm and Saturday at 4:15pm.

Kinyarwanda is the second film promoted by Ava DuVernay's AFFRM company which brought us I Will Follow (that played at last year's AFI Fest). I haven't seen this one yet but it looks promising. Kinyarwanda screens on Saturday, Nov. 5th at 1:15pm and Monday at 7pm. 

During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as the country became a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis came together to protect each other. Inspired by true stories KINYARWANDA interweaves six tales that provide a complex and real depiction of life and human resilience in the face of unimaginable danger.

The AFI Fest presented by Audi runs November 3rd - 10th in Hollywood. For more info visit www.afi.com/afifest

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