Crisp Criticism - "Oldboy", "Kill Your Darlings", "This is Martin Bonner", "Faust", "Laurence Anyways"

by

Julien Faddoul

Oldboy

A former advertiser vows revenge after being kidnapped and unjustly imprisoned for 20 years.

A complete piece of mediocrity: an American remake of a stylish Korean thriller with its director butchering every opportunity. Not only does the plot now seem completely indiscriminate but also, in English, it’s puerile with no tone whatsoever.

d – Spike Lee

w – Mark Protosevich   (Based on the Manga by Garon Tsuchiya, Nobuaki Minegishi)

ph – Sean Bobbitt

pd – Sharon Seymour

m – Roque Banos

ed – Barry Alexander Brown

cos – Ruth E. Carter

p – Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Spike Lee

Cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, Sharlto Copley, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Imperioli, Pom Klementieff, James Ransone, Max Casella, Linda Emond

Kill Your Darlings *

A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.

Another attempt to dramatize the poetry of the beatnik generation that, despite a hard-working cast, rarely offers anything of interest outside the casual clever remark, of which it is flagrantly proud.

d – John Krokidas

w – John Krokidas, Austin Bunn

ph – Reed Morano

pd – Stephen H. Carter

m – Nico Muhly

ed – Brian A. Kates

cos – Christopher Peterson

p – Michael Benaroya, Rose Ganguzza, John Krokidas, Christine Vachon

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Jack Huston, Ben Foster, Michael C. Hall, Elizabeth Olsen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Cross, Kyra Sedgwick, David Rashe, John Cullum

This is Martin Bonner **

An ex-convict and a social counsellor, both of whom are starting new lives in Nevada, form a friendship.

Slow, insignificant, witty film on life’s relative disappointments.

wd – Chad Hartigan

ph – Sean McElwee

pd – Maggie Kaiser

m – Keegan DeWitt

ed – Julio Perez IV

cos – Maggie Kaiser

p – Cherie Saulter

Cast: Paul Eenhoorn, Richmond Arquette, Sam Buchanan, Robert Longstreet

Faust **

A man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge.

Goethe by Sokurov: we know that the deed came before the word but without the latter how do we know good from evil? A singular achievement; make of it what you will.

d – Alexander Sokurov

w – Alexander Sokurov, Marina Koreneva, Yuri Arabov   (Based on the Play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

ph – Bruno Delbonnel

pd – Elena Zhukova

m – Andrey Sigle

ed – Jorg Hauschild

cos – Lidiya Kryukova

p – Andrey Sigle

Cast: Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinsky, Isolda Dychauk, Georg Friedrich, Hanna Schygulla, Antje Lewald

Laurence Anyways *

Ten years in the relationship of a male-to-female transsexual and her girlfriend.

Although it’s his best film to date, Dolan still rubs me the wrong way. He’s moved on from Wong Kar-Wai and now seems to want to emulate Stanley Kubrick, with very little interest of his own. The way he candidly treats the material is laudable, but there just isn’t enough here for 169 minutes.

wd – Xavier Dolan

ph – Yves Belanger

pd – Anne Pritchard

m – Noia

ed – Xavier Dolan

cos – Xavier Dolan

p – Charles Gillibert, Nathanael Karmitz, Lyse Lafontaine

Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clement, Nathalie Baye, Monia Chokri, Susan Almgren, Yves Jacques, Sophie Faucher, Magalie Lepine Blondeau