The Nightingale (2019; Jennifer Kent) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, August 9, at the Landmark Embarcadero in San Francisco, Piedmont in Oakland and the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. Jennifer Kent follows up the psychological horror of her 2014 breakthrough The Babadook with a […]
Pilgrimages – Tribute to Abbas Kiarostami festival By Daniel Barnes *Tribute to Abbas Kiarostami plays at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco on 8/3, 8/11 and 8/17. Visit the Roxie website for a complete list of showtimes. Influential Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami passed away in 2016, leaving behind […]
Sword of Trust (2019; Lynn Shelton) GRADE: C By Daniel Barnes Opens on Friday, July 19, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. Sword of Trust is the ninth feature from Ohio-born, Seattle-raised filmmaker Lynn Shelton. However, it’s only my second experience […]
The Fall of the American Empire (2019; Denys Arcand) GRADE: C By Daniel Barnes The film opens on Friday, July 12, at the Tower Theatre in Sacramento. “Static, Shapeless and Flat” While the films of Atom Egoyan chart a pronounced rise and fall, fellow Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand […]
Paris is Burning (1990; Jennie Livingston) Grade: B+ By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, July 5, at the Landmark Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley. Released in 1990 but immersed in the ethos of 1980s New York, Paris is Burning still feels like one of the […]
Funan (2019; Denis Do) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes *Opens Friday, June 21, at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco. French artist and first-time feature filmmaker Do based this “digitally hand-drawn” GKIDS release on stories told by his Cambodian mother. Earnest and filled with grace, Funan follows a Phnom […]
