A gang leader on the lam in search of redemption. A prostitute eager to gain her freedom back. Together they will decide to play one last gamble with their fate, the proverbial last big hit. Within this narrative proposition, a discrete romantic plot that will come to fit within the film’s dramatic structure. This is “Wild Goose Lake,” by Chinese director Yi'nan Diao, a film that’s inferior to his previous ones. It’s convoluted

Despite its non-chronological narrative and slightly-convoluted plot Corneliu Porumboiu’s new film “La Gomera” is a winner. It’s a film noir with a femme fatale, murders and a morally-questionable hero. “Gomera” references “The Maltese Falcon,” and has one scene that looks like a first take from “Psycho.” Add to this a mattress full of cash, a pious mother and scenes from the Singapore's Garden Rhapsody show and lots of waltzes

(CANNES, France) - Ever loved someone from a different category as you? Different colors, different creeds and backgrounds can separate a lot of us from a lot of other us. How do we respond, what do we do, if cupid strikes? In Danielle Lessovitz film “Port Authority” two people, Paul and Wye, belong to different social groups in New York City’s downtown and outer-boroughs. Paul (British actor Fionn

“Sorry we missed you” by Ken Loach is laden with social significance. It stands as direct indictment of how businesses have reorganized labor contracts, passing risk and exposure unto their workforce. In France, the U.K., Belgium and elsewhere job precarity has increased due to various factors, but also due to the fact that employers, such as the parcel delivery service pictured in the film no longer offer long-term contracts but rather, short term agreements

“Bacurau” has been one of the richest cinematic experiences I've seen in a while, producing enormous feeling. And while the writing is slightly disheveled, this panoramic film is brimming with imagery of folklore, capoeira, community life and historical legacy. It’s a celebration of Brazilian sertao (outback) living, told from the viewpoints of several different people but not without its acidic share of tragedy.

Many a filmmaker has shot the inner city, the tough neighborhoods, in order to highlight the plight of the locals. In press documents for “Les Misérables” director Ladj Ly has said, “I hope the President [of France] watches the movie, so he can get a sense for what’s going on here.”Making movies is a personal project, innately, but not all stories are autobiographical. This one is. Ly has grown up in the same city of Montfermeil

CRITICS WEEK, Cannes - Amine, a man for whom life is a struggle of every instant (French-Moroccan actor Younes Bouab)—at least this is what his weary and beautiful gaze seems to say—is being pursued by the police somewhere in the Moroccan desert. He runs up to the top of a hill to bury his treasure before getting collared. A decade later, he comes out of jail and goes back to the hilltop to retrieve his treasure. Except that, during

Life sometimes requires us to swallow our ego, put out fires and resolve crises on a variety of fronts, family, work, children. How about if this were the case all the time? How do we confront these adversities, but more to the point, where do we find the gumption to do so?  In Franco Lolli’s very personal film “Litigante,” there’s something almost invasive about watching Silvia (Carolin Sanin) go through a life that seems to be getting

When planetary disaster strikes the planet, one turns to country-music for solace. The song in question was written by Grammy-nominated country music singer Sturgill Simpson and keeps making a comeback throughout “The Dead Don’t Die,” the new Jim Jarmusch film which opened the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The song, which shows up repeatedly in dialogues, on a CD that changes hands, is a mantra, something for

Gender parity and multiculturalism are on the program at this year's Cannes Festival. Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux have done their homework and they've taken the temperature. Quite right!This year’s program, which we reported on on April 18th after attending the press conference here in Paris, is gleaming with talent and may even earn the Cannes Festival a Nobel Peace Prize, with women filmmakers better represented than ever