In Israeli-American director Joseph Cedar’s masterful film, Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes given as a gift leads to a friendship between rising Israeli politician Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi, “Encirclements”) and Norman Oppenheimer (Richard Gere, “Time Out of Mind”), an American businessman, consultant…
In a world in which sequels appear decades after the original film (such as “Bambi II,” “Fantasia 2000,” “The Wicker Tree,” “Easy Rider: The Ride Back,” “TRON: Legacy,” and “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” among others), let’s just say the results are, well, not very good. People usually do not want to wait that long…
Everybody is fine in Every Thing Will Be Fine. This is a title that lives up to its expectations. They’re all fine . . . just fine: Actors, cinematographer, production designer, sound mixer, editor, writer . . . filmmaker. And it would be all relatively okay were this not a Wim Wenders’ movie. It’s been…
Throughout his career, Lars Von Trier has made a name for himself as one of this generation of filmmakers’ premiere provocateurs. However, there is some debate as to whether or not that’s all he is with an equal amount of people seeing him as a shameless shock merchant as those who believe him to be…
Whether you like him or not, Lars von Trier certainly knows how to push the boundaries of what many consider bad taste. And just by looking at the title of his latest effort, Nymphomaniac, audiences should quickly realize he has no plans of slowing down. Reuniting with the controversial director is Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Antichrist“) in…
The title of Lars von Trier’s latest film refers to a rogue planet, significantly dwarfing our Earth and heading for it on an inevitable collision course. von Trier sets the countdown to extinction among a wealthy family holed up in a storybook castle, inhabited largely by two sisters, one a force of depressive nature and…
If you’ve seen “Antichrist” or “Dogville,” you know Lars von Trier is an artistic director who does not shy away from deep, dark, bleak, and generally very unsettling subject matter. The trailer for his latest, Melancholia, doesn’t say either way, but you can get a sense of what may come: Due to a freak planetary…
