The Artist is a silent film like few others — perhaps unlike any other. Simultaneously staying true to the genre and playing with it, director Michel Hazanavicius creatively employs silent film as one element of great storytelling and filmcraft — and manages to do so without falling into …more »»
Film Talks: Most Recent
December 28, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes off with an intriguing mix of the slow and unemotional pace of the main character, Smiley, who is driving the action, countered by an emotionally charged, rapid-paced plot, while having little rapid or suspenseful onscreen action. Multiple subplots, as well as the film itself, are built around …more »»
December 18, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Of all the interest The Ides of March has to offer, the title is among the most interesting of them. The reference to political leaders and assassinations is the knee-jerk and most obvious reference, yet the film turns out to be much more …more »»
December 16, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Witty and gentle, unfolding at a closely measured pace, The Descendants moves through a chaotic but in the end lovely cohort of relationships wrestling with misdeeds, transgressions, wounds, and flaws, mixing tenderness and aggravation to explore how we might find heart in the middle …more »»
December 15, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing // After viewing
A momentary acquaintance is most times just that: momentary. The beauty in Goodbye Solo arises from a quick, sharp moment of insight leads one character, driven by his depth of concern for other people, to relentlessly …more »»
December 4, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
In Melancholia, Lars von Trier gives us a film that is simultaneously enigmatic yet concrete, multilayered yet with a simple-enough central story, immediately accessible yet with endless elements that beg for deeper consideration. By juxtaposing …more »»
December 1, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
The single most notable characteristic of J. Edgar is its even-handedness. It could have gone liberal, centering on abuse of power and civil rights violations, or conservative, centering on our dangerous world and the need for certain protections. Instead, …more »»
November 22, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Sympathy for Delicious takes us on an unusual journey of the collision between a faithless faith-healer and a priest who has big visions for his work. From both sides, it explores how we can miss the gifts we’ve been given …more »»
October 1, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
The trailers for Drive promise an action flick full of intensity and fast driving. There is indeed plenty of intensity and also some very good driving. There are some very bad bad guys, and great peril of life and limb. If that’s all one wants in a film, …more »»
September 20, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Knowing that Seven Days in Utopia is, broadly speaking, from the genre of Christian films might cause some to cheer and some to run. For my part, I take the film on its own terms, letting it build its …more »»
August 9, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Sarah’s Key relates a Jewish girl’s experience during a terrible incident of French complicity in the Holocaust, which is indeed a powerful story in itself, yet the true strength of the film (and the novel on which it is based) is in its intertwining of …more »»
July 23, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
The Trip comes off like two guys taking a trip. Not an odyssey, a trip. A week long trip, different place each night, lots of talk — often laugh-out-loud talk — on the road and at dinner. Yet the film sets a context and contrast for much more to be subtly, …more »»
June 21, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
I’ll say upfront that I find The Tree of Life to be very much worth the time. I’ll also say that it is the type of enigmatic and obscure exploration of life that demands viewers to be highly engaged and to reserve judgment. With any film, …more »»
June 6, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
Somewhere didn’t stay long at the theaters. That’s too bad, but it’s understandable. For many among us, a film must grab us and take us away; not so many know how to engage in the slow ride of taking in …more »»
May 21, 2011 by Randy Heffner Before viewing
With a mix of chagrin, delight, and mock ignominy, I must say that Sucker Punch really had something going on. Much of the film is pure video game in its construction, and the narration …more »»
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