8 years ago
All posts by Adam Cook
Cannes Review: “The Assassin”
One of the greatest directors of the last four decades, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s first feature film since 2007’s Flight of the Red Balloon immediately qualifies as one of his greatest achievements. The Assassin is a subtle, sparing, and at times abstract take on the ...
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Cannes Review: “Love”
Equally impassioned as a detractor of Gaspar Noé (Irreversible, Enter the Void) and as a believer in the possibilities of 3D form in cinema, I was on the fence about even seeing the infamous provocateur’s new film, which premiered in Cannes in a midnight times...
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Cannes Review: “Mountains May Depart”
There’s something confounding about Mountains May Depart, the latest film from Chinese master Jia Zhang-ke (Platform, Unknown Pleasures). In spite of its promising premise and formal expressiveness, there’s a tonal awkwardness that is hard to pin down as inten...
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Cannes Review: “Cemetery of Splendour”
It has been five long years since Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s last feature, the stunning masterpiece Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, won the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Now his much-anticipated follow-up has finally arrived, though, to everyone’s surpri...
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Cannes Review: “Carol”
Everything seems perfectly in place for Todd Haynes to deliver a great film in Carol. Excellent source material, strong actors, a period setting and milieu he proved himself adept at depicting in Mildred Pierce—a classical, straight up piece to show the other ...
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Cannes Review: “Irrational Man”
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The guarantee that with each new year comes another mediocre Woody Allen film used to be something I would do my best to ignore. Then I continually found myself in situations on airplanes, where having theretofore avoided whate...
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Cannes Review: “The Lobster”
In the hollow world of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster, society forces people to be with a romantic partner. Should you find yourself without a significant other, you check into a hotel where you have 45 days to find a lover. If you don’t succeed, you are turned...
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Cannes Review: “In the Shadow of Women”
In a career that has been intermittently prolific, French filmmaker Philippe Garrel seems to have moved into his so-called “late period”, after 2005’s Regular Lovers, and an ensuing six-year absence from the silver screen. His last three films, released over t...
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Cannes Review: “Tale of Tales”
One has to admire Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales for its sheer audacity. It’s an ambitious attempt to bring the fairy tales of Giambattista Basile to life; stories which are among the oldest fairy tales on record, dating back to 1634. The earnestness that driv...
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