The Dressmaker (Australia – 2015)

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Starting today (In Montreal) The Dressmaker (2015) is Jocelyn Moorhouse (Proof, How to make an American quilt) latest feature. It stars Kate Winslet and Judy Davis.

A woman returns to her Australian town after becoming successful in the Haute couture world. Her dark past comes back to haunt her as she is out for revenge because of prior events.

With both leading actresses overplaying and with its alternating sequences going from parody to drama with mild success, The Dressmaker offers nothing new but it can still act as a crowd pleaser…

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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

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for Cinetalk.net

The widow of a farmer hires a bounty hunter to form a league of defense against a powerful and cruel gold prospector who wants to seize properties in a small village.

A minor specialist of action cinema since his debut in 1998 with The Replacement Killers, Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer, Southpaw) now plunges  into western territory with The Magnificent Seven. This remake of the 1960  John Sturges’ classic, who transposed Akira Kurosawa’s feudal masterpiece of The Seven Samurai  in a western context, is surprisingly good. If the main narrative Continue reading →

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Focus on Nordic Cinema

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for Cinetalk.net

A focus on Nordic Cinema, presented by Cine Tapis Rouge, runs at Cinema Du Parc in Montreal from September 23rd-28. It opens with Aleksi Salmenperä’s Häiriötekijä (Distractions, Finland, 2015) made of multiple aesthetic short tales of the bizarre with no real link between them except for the actors playing several roles.

Also showing, Jörn Donner’s Armi elää! (Armi alive!, Finland, 2015) a film about the woman behind the Finnish design company Marimekko. Starting in a documentary style, it takes advantage of its budget limitation by constructing its portrayal of Armi Ratiaa by incorporating it in an in progress theater adaptation instead of going for the costly usual reconstitution. It interestingly questions the vision of a character in such biopic enterprises.

Horror fans have an appointment with WW2 German soldiers and their Norwegian prisoner confronted to a House of Exorcism in Reinert Kiil’s THE HOUSE (Huset, Norway). Same goes for Punk music fans with the showing of renown Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson’s WE ARE THE BEST.

Icelandic director Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Þrestir (Sparrows)a beautifully crafted adolescent drama set in Iceland’s breathtaking landscape will close the festival on Wednesday, 9PM at Parc.

Schedules:

http://www.cinemaduparc.com/english/affichee23sept.php?id=focus2016#top

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Views of the World Film and Music Festival

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Views of the World Film and Music Festival, a new player in the Montreal Film Festival scene, starts thursday Sept 22nd and runs until the 25th. Its goal is to provide features about vital social issues that aim to inspire audiences to take positive action. Portugal, Italy, Russia, Africa all get their special day. Jean-Pierre Melville’s L’armée des Ombres and Le Cercle Rouge are shown in restored editions.

The festival brings also Film music and script workshop and various other happenings and parties.

info:  http://www.viewsoftheworldfestival.com

Tickets: evenbrite.com

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CCIFF (Part 2)

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Daria Gamliel  for Cinetalk.net

In Cinema, the time it takes for a filmmaker to express his view outputs either a short, or a feature length oeuvre. Some benefit from the constraints of a shorter format and others need a full two hours to make their point. The success of either the short or long format depends on the execution.

The CCIFF compiled quite a few powerful shorts, where more screen time was unnecessary. Not all succeeded, but then, not all the feature films were effective either. Some were overly long with messy narration or plot holes. The collection of shorts was surprisingly strong overall. Some of Cinetalk’s personal Continue reading →

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