In 5…6…7…8 first time filmmaker Andy Milkis invites his audience behind the scenes of the renown Nova Jazz dance team which is based at the Pulse Performing Arts Center in Bedford Hills, NY. The film centers on the lives of five young women, each with different personalities and strengths, but all of whom share the same passion and love of dance. Behind these girls is Jennifer Dell the Director, choreographer and head instructor at Pulse. The film follows Jennifer and her students through one year of the dance season and shows firsthand what it takes to be a part of…
Author: Ed Yealu
Police Adjective is the new film from Romanian Director Corneliu Porumboiu. After the critical success of his previous film 12:08 East of Bucharest, Porumboiu tells the story of a disillusioned young police officer who is suffering from the banality and tediousness of his job as a police officer. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) has been assigned the case of investigating a group of young kids who are using and dealing small amounts of drugs. Cristi acknowledges that the assignment is superficial and feels that his superiors are exacerbating the importance of the case in order to make up for the lack of…
In 35 Shots of Rum, Claire Denis presents a tender and heartfelt film that is both tragic and inspiring. The film follows Lionel (Alex Descaus) a widowed train operator who lives with his grown daughter Josephine (Mati Diop). Father and daughter seem to have a great relationship, but as the film progresses we begin to see that their affection towards one another seems to be out of routine; it becomes evident that they both wish to seek love and affection elsewhere. Living with them in the apartment complex is Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue) a local taxi driver who has had a…
Based on the childhood exploits of actor George Hamilton, My One and Only follows the four month adventure of Anne Deveraux (Renee Zellweger) and her two teenage sons (of different fathers) George (Logan Lerman) and Robbie (Mark Rendall). After growing tired of the uninvolved and adulterous ways of her musician husband Dan (Kevin Bacon) Anne gathers her two sons and sets out on an adventure to find a husband who will support her and her children. We see that Anna has no real relationship with her children particularly with her son George; despite her constant reassurances to her children it…
In The Country Teacher Pavel Liska plays the role of a young and disillusioned teacher who arrives in a small farming town in the Czech Republic hoping to find independence and purpose in life while at the same time trying to escape his past. The teacher befriends a single mother named Maria (Zuzana Bydzovska) and agrees to tutor her delinquent son (Ladislav Ledivy). After initial difficulties the teacher and boy eventually form a bond, akin to a father and son. Eventually the film reveals that the teacher is a closeted homosexual, and a visit from a former lover reveals the…
The Girl from Monaco tells the story of Bertrand Beauvois (Frabrice Luchini) a skilled trial attorney who travels to Monaco to engage in a high profile case. Due to the intensity of the case, Bertrand is assigned a bodyguard named Christophe (Roschdy Zem) to ensure his safety from any potential dangers. Although Bertrand is extremely talented and well-respected in his profession, he still manages to maintain a fun-loving and womanizing personality, which contradicts with the serious minded and almost misanthropic personality of Christophe. Bertrand eventually becomes smitten with a local weather girl named Audrey Varella (Louise Bourgoin), a beautiful and…
Summer Hours is the new film by critically acclaimed French film director Olivier Assayas. Simple, charming and with rare moments of conflict, Summer Hours is an impressive film about the importance of family and tradition. The film begins in the Parisian suburbs at the home of Helene (Edith Scob), a widowed woman who is celebrating her 75th birthday along with her three grown children and 5 grandchildren. The youngest child is Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), an opinionated and free spirited artist who currently resides in New York city and rarely returns home to France. The middle child is Jeremie (Jeremie Renier);…
Sin Nombre (which translates to “without a name”) is the award-winning directorial debut by American born director Cary Fukanaga. An intense, honest, and emotional film, Sin Nombre tells an engaging, suspenseful and resonating story of loyalty, family, and the necessity of love and kinship in times of violence and desperation. Based and filmed in Mexico with Spanish as the spoken language, Sin Nombre weaves together the lives of Willy (Edgar Flores), a young gangster who is seemingly growing disillusioned with the violence and excess of gang-life, and Sayra (Paulina Gaitan) a young Honduran girl who after meeting her estranged father…
Slumdog Millionaire is the Golden Globe winning and Academy Award nominated film by critically acclaimed British director Danny Boyle. The film is a fairy tale like drama that follows the life of a poor Indian boy named Jamal (Dev Patel) who tries to endure the obstacles of growing up in the poverty stricken Indian slums, resisting the controlling and sometimes violent nature of his older brother Salim, while persistently trying to reunite with Latika; a fellow orphan whom he has loved since he was child. Jamal eventually lands a spot on the Indian version of the popular game show Who…
Ang lee’s follow up to his Academy Award winning Brokeback Mountain is the controversial Lust, Caution. The film delivers an intense portrayal of sex, politics, loyalty and the hardships that are endured by those that are caught in the savagery of war. Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) is a young girl who is living in china during the Japanese occupation that occurred during WWII. She is seemingly lost and has no real family seeing as how her father left her behind when he fled to England. During her time at University she meets Kuang Yumin (Wang Lee-Hom) a handsome young…