8 years ago
All posts by Amir Soltani
“Camp X-Ray”
Putting aside Prince of Persia, in which Jake Gyllenhaal, one of America’s whitest actors, played Persian royalty, Hollywood has rarely shown us a Middle Eastern man who is not an imminent threat. When it does, there is so much self-conscious winking involved ...
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“Watchers of the Sky”
“We’ve run the numbers here and have decided that each American life is worth about 80,000 Rwandan lives.”
There is no context under which this sentence is not completely outrageous, much less so when you realize that real foreign policy decisions that cost...
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“Stop the Pounding Heart” Review
Stop the Pounding Heart, the latest feature by independent director Roberto Minervini, focuses on Sara, a 14-year old girl living in the heart of America, where bull riding is the pastime of choice and the Confederate flag can still be freely waved. She’s one ...
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“Canopy” A Minimalist, Tense Debut Feature
Aaron Wilson's debut feature film, Canopy, begins with a splendid but ominous shot of the lush forests of Singapore. From a place beyond several shades of densely packed greenery, thick clouds of smoke slowly rise to the sky. A caption informs us of the date: ...
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“Jealousy” Starts Strong, But Never Delivers On Its Promise
Philippe Garrel’s Jealousy (La Jalousie) opens with a static medium shot of Clothilde (Rebecca Convenant). The young, blond woman’s lips begin to tremble and tears gradually stream down her face. It’s a stunning composition and one that instantly throws us in ...
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“The Dog” A Flashy But Gratuitous Documentary About The Inspiration for “Dog Day Afternoon”
Sidney Lumet’s Oscar-winning film Dog Day Afternoon tells the story of Sonny Wortzik, a man who robs a bank in Manhattan to pay for his lover's sex reassignment surgery. The film is based on the true story of John Wojtowicz, a soldier-turned-criminal who becam...
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“Fifi Howls From Happiness” A Rich, Vivid, And Unpredictable Iranian Documentary
The history of 20th-century Iran is brimming with fascinating, complex tales of personal and social travails and triumph. The country went through name changes, revolutions, several dynasties, countless heads of state, and the Islamicization of the government ...
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“Venus in Fur” A Vibrant, Rich Drama Full of Meta Twists
The later years of Roman Polanski’s career, after the turn of the century, have taken him to vastly different highs and lows. From his somber, Palme-winning WWII epic to the chilling, seaside world of British politics, the unimaginative adaptation of a beloved...
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“Filth”: Has Plenty of It And Nothing Else
Telling a story entirely through the perspective of a film’s main character is a tricky proposition if that character is a drug-addled, hallucinating, misogynist wreck of a human being. Such filmmaking is tantamount to daring the audience to endure a high-temp...
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“The Double”: A Harmonious Blend of Orwellian Paranoia and Kafkaesque Psychological Terror
The Double opens with a medium close-up shot of Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg), seated in a moving train. The lights in the tunnel fill the frame intermittently, as do the eerily flickering lights in the train car. Simon seems lost in the disturbing harmony of ...
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