SING STREET (2016) review
written by: John Carney
produced by: Anthony Bregman, John Carney, Kevin Scott Frakes, Christian Grass, Martina Niland, Raj Brinder-Singh, Paul Trijbits
directed by: John Carney
rated: PG-13 (for thematic elements including strong language and some bullying behavior, a suggestive image, drug material and teen smoking)
runtime: 106 min.
U.S. release date: April 15, 2016 (limited)
“Maybe you’re living in my world but I’m not living in yours.”
A passion project will almost always be flawed. A film in which a writer/director pulls very directly from past experiences and pours their essence into, will almost always have a fatal flaw that keeps it from greatness. So it is with “Sing Street,” the latest film from Irish director John Carney, whose films have an undeniable musicality to them whether or not they’re actually about music. This is one of Carney’s music films, alongside the decent “Once,” and “Begin Again,” which I haven’t seen. Read more…
APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD (2015) review
written by: Franck Ekinci and Benjamin Legrand (screenplay), Jacques Tardi (graphic novel)
produced by: Michel Dutheil, Franck Ekinci, and Marc Jousset
directed by: Christina Desmares and Franck Ekinci
rated: PG (for action/peril including gunplay, some thematic elements and rude humor)
runtime: 106min.
U.S. release date: April 8, 2016 (NY/LA), May 6, 2016 (Chicago)
“There’s more to life than chemistry.”
I had never heard of Jacques Tardi’s graphic novel “Avril et le monde truqué” before seeing this film adaptation of his work – being released in America under the title “April and the Extraordinary World” – likely because I’m not a fan of so-called Steampunk. This fascinating sub-genre involves advanced technology in the hands of characters from the Victorian age, so it’s an interesting melding of ideas. The problem is that much of this fictional output is terribly insular, and attempts to bring it into the 21st Century, via films like “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” have failed miserably. Read more…
(photo courtesy of Bucharest Film Studios)
In my mind, I imagined one soundstage and some exteriors when I pictured the production of “Octave”, the Romanian film coming out next year which marks the feature-length debut of writer/director Serge Ioan Celebidachi. But that is, of course, before I visited in person and experienced a tour of Bucharest Film Studios, where the drama is primarily shot, located on an immense compound in Buftea, just outside of downtown Bucharest. Its size and capabilities rival any of the major studios here in the States. Read more…
(photo by: Adi Marineci)
As a film enthusiast, what I most desire in my viewing experiences is to be transported to a different environment as I watch a film unfold. If I can form a connection with the characters or subject matter in the film I’m watching, well that certainly elevates the viewing experience. This desire took a surreal form early last month, when I was physically transported to Bucharest, Romania, as part of an invitation I accepted to visit the set of “Octave”, a film currently in production. Little did I know I would form such a memorable connection with those involved in the making of the film. Read more…
DOUGH (2015) review
written by: Jonathan Benson and Jez Freedman
produced by: John Goldschmidt, Wolfgang Esenwein, György Gattyán & András Somkuti
directed by: John Goldschmidt
rated: unrated
runtime: 94 min.
U.S. release date: April 29, 2016 (limited release, Amazon, iTunes & VOD)
The synopsis for the comedy “Dough” seems like a racist joke – an old Jewish kosher baker struggles to keep afloat until his young Muslim apprentice drops cannabis into the dough, spending sales (and customers) sky-high. Get it, sky-high? And look at these posters – trying a little too hard with this gimmick, no? It’s actually funny, because if this were a Hollywood comedy it would be raunchy and starring Jonah Hill or Seth Rogen as the old Jewish guy. Not that director John Goldschmidt doesn’t have some comedic elements, it’s just that the heart of the story isn’t being mined for its potential drama, making this independent film a missed opportunity. Read more…
L’ATTESA (THE WAIT) (2015) review
written by: Giacomo Bendotti, Ilaria Macchia, Andrea Paolo Massara & Piero Messina
produced by: Carlotta Calori, Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano
directed by: Piero Messina
rated: unrated
runtime: 100 min.
U.S. release date: April 29, 2016 (NY/LA)
What is just as common as birth, school, work and death? Grief. Who’s the greatest griever in independent cinema? Without a doubt, the magnificent and luminous, Juliette Binoche. If you’ve been following her award-winning career at all, you probably first noticed this in Krzysztof Kieślowski 1993 film “Blue” (part of the “Three Colors” trilogy), where Binoche extraordinarily portrayed a grief-stricken woman who lost her husband and child in an accident. I was reminded of that role while watching the recent Italian film “L’attesa” or “The Wait” as it’s been renamed for the international market. Binoche’s expressive work in this film – Piero Messina’s impressive directorial debut – is just as spellbinding as her previous dramatic roles and it helps that Messina’s vague approach to loss is reliant on her abilities. Read more…
THE MEDDLER (2016) review
written by: Lorene Scafaria
produced by: Joy Gorman Wettels
directed by: Lorene Scafaria
rated: PG-13 (for brief drug content)
runtime: 100 min.
U.S. release date: April 22, 2016 (NY/LA) and April 29, 2016 (limited)
For moviegoers who walk up to a theater blind and choose what they’ll watch based on title alone (believe it or not, they’re still out there), “The Meddler” will seem like a comic book super villain movie. That would be a very clever way to get viewers to watch a surprisingly touching and poignant dramedy that deals with the varying degrees of grief that comes with the loss of a loved one. Audiences may be surprised how relatable the characters are in this largely autobiographical story from writer/director Lorene Scafaria (“Searching for a Friend for the End of the World“), but loss has hit all of us at some point in life and it’s easy to connect with the highs and lows that such a life-changing event undoubtedly brings. Maybe that sounds heavy for a film called “The Meddler”, with a poster that looks like a straight-up comedy, but that’s one of the many aspects I like about Scafaria’s film. Despite its flaws, it’s a film that subverts expectations and one that effectively utilizes three talented actors to their ample potential. Read more…
THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016) review
written by: Justin Marks
produced by: Jon Favreau and Brigham Taylor
directed by: Jon Favreau
rated: PG (PG for some sequences of scary action and peril)
runtime: 105 min.
U.S. release date: April 15, 2016
I’m still rolling my eyes in response to Disney’s latest fad – which is to produce live-action/CGI updates of their animated classics. They’ll say it’s for “a new generation” of viewers or justify it by claiming the approach provides “a new take”, but you and I are smart enough to know better. It’s purely a business decision, motivated by the gazillions that Tim Burton/Johnny Depp debacle “Alice in Wonderland“, earned at the box office. Granted, not all these live-action remakes have been as annoying and in-your-face as that CGI-heavy blockbuster (“Maleficent” was an interesting spinoff that worked), but none of them have offered anything wholly different or have proven themselves necessary – not even Jon Favreau’s “The Jungle Book”. In fact, it’s “barely” necessary. Read more…
MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART (2015) review
written by: Jia Zhangke
produced by: Shozo Ichiyama
directed by: Jia Zhangke
rated: unrated
runtime: 131 min.
U.S. release date: September 28, 2015 (New York Film Festival), October 17, 2015 (Chicago International Film Festival) & April 15-12, 2016 (Gene Siskel Film Center)
Of the six movies I saw recently while flying to Bucharest and back, this was the best. Watching movies on an airplane is probably one of the worst ways to take in a movie, but here is one that I found myself enraptured by. Chinese writer/director Jia Zhangke’s eighth feature film, “Mountains May Depart” – his first since the award-winning “A Touch of Sin” – is a touching and ambitious look at family and identity, and the loss and alienation that comes with it. It’s a complex film in how it has a story that moves through time and in how it defies any definitive genre labeling, but it exudes a relevancy that is never in doubt. “Mountains May Depart” may be a fictional story, but it feels like it certainly could be someone’s autobiography, because it feels so true to life. Read more…
Keeping It Reel Goes to Bucharest!
Why Bucharest? Because I was invited and also – why not? If you were to tell me six years ago when I started Keeping It Reel that I would one day be invited to a film set, I would’ve dismissed such a thought as nonsense. Now, if you were to tell me that I’d be invited to visit the set of a film in another country, I would call you insane. Well, this weekend, such insanity is turning into reality, because this guy has accepted such an invitation and is being flown to Bucharest, Romania! So, what is this movie, what is it about and when will it get released? Read more…
