Valhalla Rising is a 2009 Danish adventure drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Mads Mikkelsen. The film takes place in 1000 AD and follows a Norse warrior named One-Eye and a boy as they travel with a band of Christian Crusaders in pursuit of the Holy Land. Instead, they… Continue Reading
An emotionally engaging coming-of-ager set in Rotterdam, “Lena” features one of the most complex and endearing teen heroines of recent years. Continually onscreen and effortlessly carrying the film, non-pro Emma Levie bravely embodies the title character, while Christophe van Rompaey… Continue Reading
Victoria is a 2015 German drama film directed by Sebastian Schipper, starring Laia Costa and Frederick Lau. The film is shot in one single long take by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen from about 4:30 to 7:00 in the Kreuzberg and Mitte neighbourhoods. Victoria, a runaway party girl, is asked by three friendly men to join them… Continue Reading
Mommy is a 2014 Canadian drama film directed by Xavier Dolan. It was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. The film stars Anne Dorval as Diane Després, a widowed mother who is overwhelmed by… Continue Reading
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis and based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O’Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas. While there, he… Continue Reading
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The script was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Jon Voight in the title role alongside Dustin Hoffman. The film portrays the unlikely companionship and poignant tragic… Continue Reading
Hesher is a 2010 American dark comedy/drama film co-written and directed by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Natalie Portman (who also produced the film) and Devin Brochu. Following the loss of his mother in a car crash, T.J. (Devin Brochu) falls into a state of depression. He… Continue Reading
“Ms.45” is the quintessential 1980’s vigilante rape revenge movie. Reportedly shocking jaded 42nd Street NYC grindhouse audiences into silent submission on its release, “Ms.45” is an early feature from director Abel (“Bad Lieutenant”) Ferrara. It’s a landmark of sleaze cinema,… Continue Reading
Efter brylluppet (After the wedding in the english version) is a 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier, in which a manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret. It stars Mads Mikkelsen and… Continue Reading
Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies in the english version) is a 2010 French comedy-drama film written and directed by Guillaume Canet. In a Parisian nightclub, party man Ludo (Jean Dujardin) takes off late at night on his scooter, where he’s blindsided by… Continue Reading
Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before… Continue Reading
Paris, Texas is a 1984 drama film directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Nastassja Kinski, and Hunter Carson. The plot focuses on an amnesiac (Stanton) who, after mysteriously wandering out of the desert, attempts to revive… Continue Reading
Mr. Morgan’s Last Love (also known as Last Love) is an 2013 comedy-drama film based on Francoise Dorner’s French novel La Douceur Assassine. It is written and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck and stars Michael Caine and Clémence Poésy. The film centres… Continue Reading
Old mate is an atmospheric story about peer pressure and culpability. Desperate to impress the boys he idolizes, fifteen year old Casey agrees to steal a hunting rifle from a crippled old manʼs cabin in the hills. When the job… Continue Reading
Bitter Moon is a 1992 Franco-British-American romantic thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner and Peter Coyote. The film crosses the line into intentional camp more often than not in its tale of… Continue Reading
Gegen die Wand (Head-On in the english version) is a 2004 German-Turkish drama film written and directed by Fatih Akın. A marriage of convenience in Hamburg between two troubled Turks changes both their lives in this fine, gritty, contemporary love story.… Continue Reading
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, in which upon admittance to a mental institution, McMurphy, a… Continue Reading
37°2 le matin (Betty Blue) is a 1986 French film about Zorg, a handyman working in France, maintaining and looking after the bungalows. He lives a quiet and peaceful life, working diligently and writing in his spare time. One day Betty walks… Continue Reading
The Broken Circle Breakdown is a 2012 Belgian drama film directed by Felix Van Groeningen.The film is set in Ghent, Belgium, where Elise (Veerle Baetens) and Didier (Johan Heldenbergh) fall in love at first sight. She has her own tattoo shop… Continue Reading
“Detachment” is a chronicle of one month in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes. Barthes’ method of imparting vital knowledge to his temporary students is interrupted… Continue Reading
“Fish Tank” is a 2009 British drama film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It also won the 2010 BAFTA for Best british film The film is a portrait of an angry, isolated 15-year-old… Continue Reading