Film Reviews

A theater projectionist's daughter is involved in the Resistance in WWII, but she doesn’t share his political involvement & only believes in passion. She follows the men she loves unconditionally, suffering betrayal and hardship.

The scene opens in an artist's studio where the unfinished statue of William Tell stands upon a pedestal. A clown appears and sticks a clay arm and clay head on the statue, thus completing it. He places a large brick on top of the head to make it stick. When he turns his back the statue turns into a living representation of William Tell. (Edison Catalog)

The ostensibly simple story of a sympathetic veteran teacher giving Italian lessons to a weekly class of diverse immigrants is given infinitely more depth and complexity by the manner in which director Daniele Gaglianone renders his story. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, truth and artifice, and between documentary and drama, Gaglianone has created a film within a film. You see the apparent artifice of Gaglianone’s crew using professionals, including the noted film actor Valerio Mastandrea as the teacher, interlinked with ‘real’ immigrant protagonists, studying the language to improve their chances of employment and of gaining a permanent residence permit. Thus in the course of the lessons there is simultaneously the painful and upsetting relation of the students’ personal stories but also humour, as they interact and share their humanity, bridging cultural differences, united in their striving to make a better life for themselves. (Source: LFF programme)

When five strangers with nothing in common come together at a remote roadside eatery, they place their orders with the diner's omniscient owner, who seems to know everything about them ... and is eerily reminiscent of Jesus Christ.

Set in early 16th century Finland, a knight Olavi Gideoninpoika meets Mirjam Raakelintytär and falls in love. Mirjami hides in a monastery disguised as a choir boy, but is revealed by a monk Rasmus, who also desires her, and is put on trial.

Emily (Faith Ford) misses her daughter Heather (Emma Lahana), who is attending college in Boston. Since her father died, Heather is sensitive to her mom’s dependence on long-standing holiday traditions. This Christmas, Heather has planned a trip to Phoenix with her boyfriend, but tells her mother she is staying on campus to study. After Emily arranges a house-swap with Charles (Tom Cavanagh), an English professor from Boston who wants Washington State’s solitude in order to finish his novel, Emily hops on a flight to Boston to surprise Heather for Christmas. Unaware of the house swap, Emily’s best friend, Faith (Gabrielle Miller) walks in on Charles at Emily’s house and in Boston, Ray, Charles’ brother (Gil Bellows) responds to a 911 call only to find Emily at Charles’ condo. Will Christmas travel calamities lead to cross-country romances? Or have there been one too many surprises already?

Birch, a young man living in the Catskill Mountains, reunites with his childhood friend from the city, Andrew.

Lachlan MacAldonich is a self-described “lazy Scotsman” and former guitar player for a once-popular 1990s rock band. No longer famous, he now lives a comfortably numb existence working on an organic farm outside Los Angeles. He drinks himself into a stupor every night and retires to his shabby apartment to record his podcast, recounting the tragic deaths of great musicians. After a particularly heavy night of drowning his sorrows at a local watering hole, he is arrested for driving under the influence. This snag, coupled with a long-ago conviction for a drug offense, means Lachlan faces possible deportation. His only hope of remaining stateside is proving that his absence would cause extreme hardship for a spouse or relative – forcing him to confront relationships he thought were buried forever.

The film grapples with multiple issues, but primarily the changing nature of love and its impact on the twin institutions of marriage and family.

A giant mutated alligator runs riot in a small town after the sewer system washes it into a lake...

Bookish and unpopular Mandy finds her luck finally changing when Drew, the school hottie, invites her to the year's biggest party. But with being grounded and Drew's ex-girlfriend bent on thwarting her, Mandy may be destined to remain a geek. Can a little ingenuity and some help from her friends save the day?

John has inherited a castle and Italy and he moves there with his wife Susan and their blind daughter Rebecca. What they don't realize is that there is somebody else in the castle. An abused child left to die in the basement who has now become the castle freak and is out to wreak havoc.

The concurrent sexual lives of best friends Jonathan and Sandy are presented, those lives which are affected by the sexual mores of the time and their own temperament, especially in relation to the respective women who end up in their lives.

Tom is a young guy from Zagreb, completely without money, trying to make films in Belgrade. He somehow manages to survive with a help of women. He doesn't believe in anybody, respects no one and is in constant conflict with the ruling system and order. After being left by a silly American girl, Tom binds with a woman whose husband is abroad. When she kicks him out, he moves in with her husband's sister, who later kills him in the attack of jealousy. All this is shown in the context of major historical events prior to 1968. with lots of archive footag of world leaders.

The film encompasses some of a lifetime span of the legend - "Father of Indian Unrest"