The Son (2002; Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes In my festival intro, I mentioned that actor Jérémie Renier served as the Dardenne brothers’ “on-again, off-again muse,” a blonde-mopped personification of moral turpitude and financial desperation in modern-day Belgium. That argument still holds water, especially […]
Rosetta (1999; Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes There persists an idea that the Dardenne brothers create aimlessly verisimilar films, but now that I’m five movies deep into their filmography (deep enough to create my first Dardenne Brothers Power Rankings), it’s clear that they shrewdly […]
La Promesse (1996; Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne) GRADE: B+ By Mike Dub In the hands of the right filmmakers, adolescence provides fertile ground for exploring the conditions that shape society. Far from just the finite crises of finding acceptance, achieving arbitrary victories, beating up a bully, and losing […]
When Father Was Away on Business (1985; Emir Kusturica) GRADE: B By Daniel Barnes If you look at the recent history of the Cannes Film Festival, it’s pretty clear that for all of their emphasis on unique cinematic voices, there is a certain type of film that tends […]
Paris, Texas (1984; Wim Wenders) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes These festivals are all about reducing my cinematic blind spots, so it is without (much) shame that I admit that Paris, Texas is the first non-documentary film I’ve seen by director Wim Wenders. That said, from my general […]
The Ballad of Narayama (1983; Shôhei Imamura) GRADE: A- By Mike Dub The opening image of Shôhei Imamura’s 1983 Palme d’Or winner The Ballad of Narayama is a somewhat anachronistic helicopter shot. We’re ushered deep into the mountainous recesses of the Japanese wilderness, a journey that reaches further […]
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