One of the great things about smaller independent films is that the freedom they explore in not getting pigeon-holed into one specific genre. As the recently-passed Tribeca Festival caters to the independents it follows that they reap the benefits of this formula. Case in point is one of the festival’s better selections this year ASHBY which combines drama, comedy (or dark comedy) sprinkled with a bit of teen angst, romance, action and even neo-noir.

Notwithstanding the lack of one film trailblazing the others as was the case in previous years (MOMMY or LA VIE D'ADELE, as recent examples, HOLY MOTORS a little bit earlier), 2015 has borne a tremendously-strong Cannes vintage. So yes, credit--much of it--goes to Thierry Frémaux and his team for having bravely assembled such an inventive slate of films by filmmakers who express themselves genuinely on the larger issues

CANNES, France - Defining the influences that push someone towards a career as filmmaker isn't an easy task. But where Ethiopian director Yared Zeleke is concerned two events can be said to have been defining ones: a photo he saw in the French city of Cannes fourteen years ago and his emigrating to the US with his father at age ten, a very difficult moment

This doesn't happen every year, and yet, 2015 is now the year that Ethiopia was represented in the official selection. Ethiopia by way of New York University Film, where filmmaker Yared Zeleke studied, among others, screenwriting under Todd Solondz. "Lamb," which screened yesterday afternoon, is a tender and affecting film about a young boy and his goat. At least, that seems to be the point

Every Cannes Festival (and so, every festival) needs a good shoot-em-up movie. We got ours this year with SICARIO, starring Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Josh Brolin in the supporting role. SICARIO's at-times lack of depth and the expeditious nature of certain plot twists make this solid revenge drama imperfect. But an extraordinary lensmanship by Roger Deakins and ominous, queasiness-inducing sound by Tom Ozanich complemented by the tense three-way tug-of-war between the characters played by Blunt, Del Toro and Brolin as they somehow try to work together to take out the top of a drug cartel is a joy to watch. SICARIO hasn't stayed with

Apichatpong Weerasethakul made a huge comeback to Cannes today with two screenings of his new film CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR, a new feature-length drama about soldiers suffering from mysterious sickness that makes them sleep. The soldiers get transferred to a temporary clinic in a former school. Housewife and nurse's volunteer Jenjira (played by Jenjira Widner) is gradually pulled into the strange mystery

Director Yorgos Lanthimos's fourth feature-film, and second one at the Cannes Festival, can be divided into two parts: the first, good one, and the second half, which takes place in a woodsy area. There are trees, lots of them, and people living in them who attempt to alternatively break away from, and comply with, some complicated social constructs governing celibacy and marriage. How does THE LOBSTER succeed? Let me count the ways.

Sentaro (Nagase Matasoshi) runs a small bakery that serves dorayakis, Japanese pastries filled with sweet red bean paste called “an”. When an old lady, Tokue (Kiki Kirin), offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. But Tokue proves to be quite skilled at making “an." Thanks to a recipe she's taken half a century to perfect, the dorayaki counter takes off. But not everything is coming up roses. Tokue's past slowly comes into view, an old affliction that will have a serious impact on their newfound success.

DAY 1 got off to a strong start with two films that are hopefully a harbinger of things to come in this 68th edition of the Cannes Festival. I just finished watching the Matteo Garrone THE TELLER OF TALES, which was screened before the press at 7pm. I will talk about that film in a later post. French filmmaker Emmanuelle Bercot's LA TETE HAUTE is an uncensored and deftly-lensed look at youth in perdition. Her portrait of Malony

This year’s last Tribeca Film Festival featured some great offerings in the entertaining-yet-underrated short film category, films by female filmmakers particularly. Filmmaker Heather Jack presented her directorial debut LET’S NOT PANIC, an apocalyptic comedy about love and neuroses in fest's NY: Double Expresso program. Jack, a recent N.Y.U. graduate who also wrote the script, tells the story of a woman