Phoenix (2014)
★★★★☆
In war-damaged Berlin a disfigured concentration camp survivor strives to rediscover her identity as she searches for the husband who may have betrayed her.
★★★★☆
In war-damaged Berlin a disfigured concentration camp survivor strives to rediscover her identity as she searches for the husband who may have betrayed her.
★★☆☆☆
A Danish Western with the magnetic Mads Mikkelsen, Kristian Levring’s The Salvation is gorgeous to look at but as hollow as a Ten-gallon hat.
★★★☆☆
With a transgender teen searching for her true self, Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Something Must Break lends a poetic look at the unbecoming state of becoming.
★★★☆☆
A self-referential odyssey of filmmaking and its ethics, Michael Winterbottom’s The Face Of An Angel loses its way in a labyrinth of satire and horror.
★★★★☆
Crazy, caustic, and ingeniously clever, Damián Szifrón’s Wild Tales is an excellent Argentine selection box of intricate short stories.
★★★★☆
A violent, visual explosion of fiercely maternal love and insuppressible energy, Xavier Dolan’s Mommy reveals a love that will surely tear us apart.
★★★☆☆
As one girl comes to terms with the strange disappearance of her mother, Gregg Araki’s White Bird In A Blizzard gets under the skin of a family mystery.
★★☆☆☆
Uncompromising in its running time, Sergei Loznitsa’s sedate shooting style renders this potentially remarkable account of civil unrest quite the opposite.
★★★★★
A poignant New York story of love in a dark time, Ira Sachs’ Love Is Strange makes for a fine romance of the most human kind.
★★★★☆
With a great performance from Alba Rohrwacher, Laura Bispuri’s Sworn Virgin is a stunning but underwhelming glimpse into celibacy in the Albanian mountains.
★★★☆☆
The comic story of a New York gay couple trying for a baby with their 30-something best friend, Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby falls apart in the final reel.
★★★☆☆
Anorexia, ghosts and the broken bond between father and daughter, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Body is a finely acted black comedy about laying grief to rest.
★★★★☆
A scurrilous comedy about degenerate priests, Pablo Larrain’s The Club rides a dark political undercurrent as God’s rejects refuse to see the light.
★★★★☆
A cosmological constellation of water, native tribes and Chile’s disappeared, Patricio Guzmán’s The Pearl Button is a powerful wave of connections.