By Lesley Brill. In Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons dangereuses (most of the plot of which Frears’s Dangerous Liaisons follows faithfully), love and passion dominate religion until the end. Concluding his epistolary novel, however, Laclos sends Cécile de Volanges back to the convent to become a nun and visits […]
The 19th Annual Cucalorus Film Festival
January 12, 2014
By Brandon Konecny and Jacob Mertens. Tucked away on the coast of North Carolina, there is a festival dedicated to the weirdly beautiful, the perversely provocative—a lovingly programmed lineup, taking shape as an island of misfit films that find refuge with their own kind. Carefully placed at the year’s end, […]
Scott McGehee and David Siegel: What Maisie Knew
January 9, 2014
By Paul Risker. Author Henry James continues to find work posthumously, and last year directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel lifted James’ psychological 1897 novel of the dysfunctional couple amidst divorce in What Maisie Knew from the page and projected it onto the cinema screen. McGehee and Siegel discussed with Film International’s Paul Risker the […]
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013)
January 7, 2014
By Bill Fech. David Lowery’s quiet western drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints came and went from theaters like a passing tumbleweed. The film grossed fewer than $400,000 domestically and fared little better overseas. Perhaps audiences expected an old-fashioned shoot ‘em up from what, at its core, is a love story […]
One-Location Films and How They Achieve Their Success
January 5, 2014
By Victoria Tickle. One-location (or one-room) films are films that do exactly what they say on their metaphorical tins: their narratives take place within the confines of one location or one room. In order to compensate for their lack of locations, settings and (potentially) character interactions, one-location films have to […]
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
January 3, 2014
By Jacob Mertens. “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge […]
Following (1998)
January 1, 2014
By Andrew J. Douglas. Anticipating an early effort by a respected filmmaker—let alone one known for work that is at once thoughtful, entertaining, acclaimed, and popular like Christopher Nolan—can be conflicting. There is the tantalizing allure of raw, unbridled talent on display, accompanied by the reticence ignited by the possibility […]
Call for Reviews – Winter 2013
December 29, 2013
By Jacob Mertens, Review Editor for Film International. Here we are at the cusp of a new year, and the long-awaited Film International call for reviews is finally here! It is my pleasure to announce that we are actively seeking reviews for the titles listed blow. If you are interested in receiving […]
All is Lost: Great Forces at Sea
December 29, 2013
By Matthew Sorrento. The choice of writer-director JC Chandor to cast Robert Redford in All is Lost was astute, if not fortunate. By offering Redford the sole role in this survivalist-at-sea pic – essentially, a leaner Cast Away (2000; with no landing) for the 77-year-old performer, and a chance to […]
12 Years a Slave: Commendable and Interesting
December 27, 2013
By Axel Andersson. At first it looks like an ornate latticework, but there is no way to separate the scars from the man. Most of us are familiar with the image, although few know the name of the most iconic whipped black man whose tortured skin has been reproduced so […]