Shoplifters (2018; Hirokazu Koreeda) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes When the domestic drama Shoplifters won the Palme d’Or last Summer at Cannes, right on the heels of a string of solid but same-ish domestic dramas from Japanese filmmaker Koreeda (including Like Father, Like Son, Our Little Sister and After the Storm), it seemed possible […]
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 […]
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 […]
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007; Cristian Mungiu) GRADE: B+ By Daniel Barnes The first film in our Romanian New Wave festival was Corneliu Porumboiu’s low-key comedy 12:08 East of Bucharest, in which several men debate the existence of a “revolution” in their small town, with […]
The Class (2008; Laurent Cantet) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes While Hollywood films are typically and predictably dismissive of school teachers (and all public servants, really) as pedants, snobs, fascists, and/or layabouts, there also exists a mostly icky vein of educator-as-hero stories. Movies ranging from Goodbye, Mr. Chips […]
