My Life as a Zucchini (2017; Claude Barras) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes Spoiler alert: this film is not about a little boy who transforms into a zucchini. That goofball title and the Pop Art-meets-Cubist character designs do nothing to prepare you for this relatively realistic and fairly […]
Evolution (2016; Lucile Hadzihalilovic) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens today at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. Evolution is an unusual, fairly original entry into the horror genre, blending Lost-style intrigue, Cronenberg-ian body horror and European neo-miserable disaffection. Unfortunately, despite a truly disturbing core and some nightmarish […]
Being 17 (2016; André Téchiné) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, October 27, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. Pampered, white, tentatively out teen Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein, who also starred in the MVFF39 offering Keeper) gets driven to […]
Elevator to the Gallows (1958; Louis Malle) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes This punchy debut feature from French New Wave satellite Louis Malle recently received a 2K digital restoration and a restored soundtrack. All the better to admire the documentary-style depiction of Paris nightlife and the electrifying jazz […]
Phantom Boy (2016; Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. The New York-based independent distributor GKIDS is becoming as sure a sign of quality animated cinema as Pixar or […]
The Measure of a Man (2016; Stéphane Brizé) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes Impotent resistance versus soul-sucking compliance in the bloody coliseum of capitalism. Human dignity loses either way. Vincent Lindon won the Best Actor prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for his work here as Thierry, […]
