Film Reviews

A feature-length independent documentary that follows the creation of a Steinway concert grand, #L1037- from forest floor to concert hall.

Sasha, a young British woman, is living with her baby daughter at Ile d'Yeu, a peaceful beach community. A stranger appears. Her name is Tatiana, she's passing through, and pitches her tent in Sasha's yard. The two women build an odd rapport, and tension builds as events unfold.

A nameless survivor is ambushed and infected with the virus, a beautiful gift to the world.

A look at the life of activist, musician, and cultural icon Kathleen Hanna, who formed the punk band Bikini Kill and pioneered the "riot grrrl" movement of the 1990s.

Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is dead. At least that is what the world (and Charles Dreyfus) believe when a dead body is discovered in Clouseau's car after being shot off the road. Naturally, Clouseau knows differently, and taking advantage of not being alive, sets out to discover why an attempt was made on his life.

Roy Andersson's short movies focus on working class and youth daily life, capturing and portraying a small slice of his characters' day.

Portrayal of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. Andrea Dunbar wrote honestly and unflinchingly about her upbringing on the notorious Buttershaw Estate in Bradford and was described as ‘a genius straight from the slums.’ When she died tragically at the age of 29 in 1990, Lorraine was just ten years old. The Arbor revisits the Buttershaw Estate where Dunbar grew up, thirty years on from her original play, telling the powerful true story of the playwright and her daughter Lorraine. Also aged 29, Lorraine had become ostracised from her mother’s family and was in prison undergoing rehab. Re-introduced to her mother’s plays and letters, the film follows Lorraine’s personal journey as she reflects on her own life and begins to understand the struggles her mother faced.

Cool, cultured John Gant rides into Lordsburg. Gant is a professional killer, and although no one knows who he is there to kill, they are all worried. Everyone has enemies, and maybe Gant is in town for them. While they wait for him to make his move, paranoia starts taking over... Written by Ken Yousten John Gant, hired assassin rides into town. No one is sure of the identity of his intended victim. Townsfolk have shady pasts that make each one believe that John Gant is there to kill them. While each townsperson is falling apart from guilt, Gant is waiting in the hotel but is still given the blame for the shootings and the suicide of the Banker. Written by Carol Johnson

Karl is the workaholic adopted son while Stephan is the lazy one. They both go to Munich to study medicine and Karl is at the top of the class while Stephan is barely passing. When Stephan's actions causes the death of Anna, Karl is the one who takes the wrap and three years in prison. When he gets out, he finds Stephan is dead and a sick child needs an operation and he does brilliant surgery. This gets him noticed and his mother tells them that he is Stephan Brenner, not Karl Brenner. She tells Karl that he must cure sickness in the world. But, being that he is Stephan, he can no longer marry Lottie, as she is now his sister.

The publicist Claudio and the housewife and choral teacher Helena have been married for many years, but they do not understand and respect the feelings and view point of the partner. Claudio sees Helena as a shopper and "little teacher of a choral" and Helena sees Claudio as an insensitive and rough man. On the night before the fiftieth anniversary of Claudio, they changed places with each other.

Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.

A modern day sci-fi about Palmer Marshall, a struggling engineering student that’s flailing through his personal life, classes, and career. Palmer is on the cusp of a potentially huge discovery and he devotes every waking moment to the challenging, and often fruitless, pursuit of creating something that might change the world. But Palmer soon learns that the road to success is long and fraught with failure. Despite crippling anxiety and personality disorders, Palmer perseveres and creates the one – the dream machine that he’ll be remembered for.

In Caro papá, Dino Risi is telling the story of the decadent lifestyle, and dysfunctional family, of a wealthy businessman (played to perfection by Risi's favorite leading man, Vittorio Gassman). Risi paints his portrait against a backdrop of an Italy where the new permissiveness has run rampant, traditional socio-cultural values have been usurped by consumerism, and the streets have become an open battleground for politically extremist groups (the '70s were dubbed "The Years of Lead" due to the great number of terrorist acts, and politically motivated assassinations).

Bob Brent, a young Marine from Arkansas, impresses his comrades with his singing ability, and they pitch in to send him to New York to compete in an amateur contest. Success in the contest, however, sets him up for trouble in romance, in his career, and with the Corps.

Portugal 1938. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of the "Lisboa," an unaffiliated evening paper. There is a civil war in Spain and the fascists are in power in Portugal, but he concerns himself only with his work – writing biographies of famous writers and translating French novels – and ignores what is going on around him. He hires Monteiro Rossi, an idealistic young man in love with a beautiful communist, as an assistant. He reluctantly helps them when they begin to get into trouble due to subversive activities. Eventually, events force him to take a stand.