Tag: 2016

FNC 2017: Women of the Weeping River (short Review)

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for Cinetalk.net

In Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s feature, Women of the Weeping River, two women are in the middle of an enduring blood feud slowly decimating their respective families.

Davoc, who’s documentary The Crescent Rising was about men and women caught in the middle of war and poverty in the same area of Muslim Mindanao, brings to our attention a conflict over land dispute involving the Moro Muslim group in this island of southern Philippines. With an ensemble cast of non-professionals and a background that made the locals trust him so he could go on with his work in a region considered highly dangerous, the director chronicles with empathy, the side effects of these blood feud for those involved, especially the women. A world where the first authority, before even the state, is family bond, but from another age. So embittered are the two families they mainly live for vengeance.

Through the microcosm it describes as its central theme, Women of the weeping river tackles larger issues about ultimate political responsibilities of the central state in ending cycles of violence.

Last Screening: Wednesday October 11, 12:45 – Quartier Latin 17

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by Categories: Contemporary CinemaTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

FNC 2017 : KFC (Vietnamese horror film)

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for Cinetalk.net

A plain black screen warns in white typeface that the following characters and occurrences are fictional. This is followed by two subsequent warnings that nothing within this feature bears resemblance to real events. The disclaimer is in place for a reason, and Cinetalk would like to express its own. Discretion is definitely advised. This will not sit well with most audiences, but for those who can handle gratuitous gore and raunchy violence, there is some form of payoff.

To generalize, Le Binh Giang’s KFC is a splatter film about cannibalism, which is neither excused nor elaborated in terms of the participants’ motivation. If we put that aside for a moment, what we have is a tale about a very dysfunctional family, possibly due to generations of violence. The timeline jumps around. In consequence, it manages to confuse the viewer about Continue reading →

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The Girl Without Hands (France – 2016) – Short Review

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for Cinetalk.net

Sébastien Laudenbach’s The Girl Without Hands (La fille Sans Mains),  his first feature after a string of highly promising shorts, is a hand-painted animated jewel of a film in glorious 2D. The story of a young woman, collateral victim of her father’s pact with the Devil, challenging the darkness of the world with her purity of mind and body.

Freely adapted from European folk tales (once collected by Brothers Grimm), The Girl Without Hands is mainly the results of Continue reading →

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Fantasia 2017: Fritz Lang ( Germany – 2016)

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for Cinetalk.net

With Fritz Lang, Gordian Maugg directed a risky fantasized story about the famous German director set at the beginning of the 1930’s. Lang had yet to direct his first talkie, Germany was on the verge of disasters to come with the rise of the Nazi party, a series of gruesome murders, by serial killers, was terrorized the German public.

Fritz Lang & wife/ screenwriter Thea von Harbou, for their first sound film, that would become the celebrated M (1931), draw inspirations from serial killer Peter Kürten, dubbed the “Vampire of Düsseldorf “, but also from the Fritz Haarmann and Carl Grobmann cases.

Fritz Lang is not your typical biopic. It approaches its subject as if Continue reading →

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BILL FRISELL, A PORTRAIT

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Sandro Forte for Cinetalk.net

Emma Frantz new music documentary Bill Frisell, A Portrait, is about feelings, exploration of ideas and creative process more than it is actually about music itself.

A witness to the simplicity (and talent) of a gifted guitarist, in which arrogant rocker behavior is denied, Bill Frisell, A Portrait offers selected insights (with the participation of a collection of colleagues and admirers) about the work and the input of Frisell from Hal Willner, Paul Simon, Ron Carter,  Bonnie Raitt, Nels Cline, Jim Hall , Jack DeJohnette, Michael Gibbs & Al.

Bill Frisell, A Portrait may take a time for beginners to get into it, Continue reading →

by Categories: Documentaries, Animation & Experimental FilmsTags: , , Leave a comment