Raw (aka Grave) represents the best elements of the London Film Festival. Not only did this neat, original, out-of-nowhere film about living zombies at a veterinary school play at the festival, it actually won the Sutherland Award, given to the first feature with “the most original and imaginative directorial debut.” Last year, the same award went to Robert Eggers for his outstanding maiden effort, The Witch. That’s two years in a row in which this prize has gone to horror films. London is at the forefront of the major festivals at showcasing and promoting excellence in genre films. It is part of what makes those 12 days in October in the UK capital so special for film fans. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘French movies’
Raw (aka Grave) Review
Posted: October 27, 2016 in 2016 London Film Festival, Foreign, Horror, ReviewsTags: Ella Rumpf, French movies, Garance Marillier, Julia Ducournau, Sutherland Award, The Witch
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The Crew (aka Braqueurs) Review
Posted: September 14, 2016 in 2016 Fantasy FilmFest, Action, ForeignTags: Crime, French movies, Heist Movie, Julien Leclercq, Philip Lozano
The Crew (aka Braqueurs) is a phenomenon – an 80-minute, pure adrenaline, perfectly crafted exercise in action filmmaking. Writer/director Julien Leclercq has assembled a dragster built for speed and stripped of anything that would weigh the story down for even one beat. This movie is mandatory viewing for all would-be genre directors. Scratch that. The Crew should be studied in film schools or shown to anyone interested in a pure economy of storytelling. Of course, not every film should be be built according to these specifications, but given that too many movies are simply too damn long, Leclercq beautifully demonstrates the art of the possible. (more…)
Aux yeux des vivants (Among the Living) Review
Posted: December 6, 2014 in 2014 Fantasy FilmFest, Foreign, HorrorTags: Alexandre Bustillo, French movies, Julien Maury, Slasher Film, The Hills Have Eyes
The opening scene of Aux yeux des vivants (Among the Living), the new French horror film from the makers of Inside and Livid and contributors to the anthology The ABCs of Death 2, is intense. Intense in this case translates to shocking, violent, and graphic. How intense? Even hardcore fans of the macabre may fear that they are in over their heads with this one. If the movie starts with this type of shock, you might ask yourself frightfully in the cool black of a darkened movie theater, what lies in store over the remaining 85 minutes?
Vie sauvage (Wild Life) Review
Posted: October 21, 2014 in 2014 London Film Festival, Drama, Foreign, ReviewsTags: Céline Sallette, Fortin family, French movies, Mathieu Kassovitz, Yves Cape
The French drama Vie sauvage (Wild Life) starts at full tilt. A father is headed out for the day to run errands, leaving his wife and three children behind in less than bucolic splendor at the rural site where their camper is parked, their chickens are roosted, and their goats are roped. No sooner is Dad’s car pushed through the mud by the three boys than Mom begins to move frantically through the checklist of an obviously well planned and rehearsed escape. She gathers a few belongings, corrals the boys, and meets a friend by the side of the road who will take them to the train station and a start to their new life. The boys have other ideas, and she must keep control over them and make the train, while the threat of her husband returning looms. (more…)
Meet Mr. Karma 