Once again this year, I am devoting the entire week of Thanksgiving to catching up with the 2016 films that I missed, as well as re-watching some of my favorites of the year so far. We begin this annual cinematic orgy with an invocation to our deity: All […]
The Handmaiden (2016; Chan-wook Park) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes The best film of the year so far. Anyone who has followed me over the years knows my love-hate relationship with the act of taking notes during a film. My chief concern: it interferes with the act of […]
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 […]
Spa Night (2016; Andrew Ahn) GRADE: B- Danny Says (2016; Brendan Toller) GRADE: B- Cameraperson (2016; Kirsten Johnson) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes *All three films open in the Bay Area on Friday, September 30. Spa Night and Danny Says play at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco; Cameraperson plays at […]
White Girl (2016; Elizabeth Wood) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, September 16, at the AMC Van Ness 14 in San Francisco. The 1990s nostalgia trend in pop culture continues with this energetic throwback to Larry Clark’s Kids, Gregg Araki’s early work, and other benchmarks of casually […]
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 […]
