film review

'The Missing Picture' takes chances to more fully tell a story of genocide
By Seamus Kirst
September 25, 2014 - 9:34pm
Review: With the experimental film 'The Missing Picture,' Cambodian director Rithy Panh answers the question: How do you tell the story of the dead when they leave us without a trace?

The Khmer Rouge regime killed nearly 2 million people while in power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. It targeted those who had affiliations with the former government, professionals, intellectuals and ethnic minorities. This period of genocide came to be known as the era of the Killing Fields, as the Khmer Rouge sent their victims to be “reeducated” in the fields, with the primary means of reeducation being torture and execution.

The graphic, gripping 'Return to Homs' puts a burning Syria on display
By Varuni Sinha
September 25, 2014 - 4:54pm
Review: Syrian director Tala Derki paints a violent reality of the ongoing Syrian unrest with the documentary 'Return to Homs.'

A nation is burning right now. As we sit in our pretty little homes fuming over petty little problems, millions in Syria are being snuffed out. And as we glance at the newspaper, a country where a civil war rages since 2011 finds no place. It is old news.

Talal Derki’s documentary Return to Homs, which screened at the Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival last Saturday, is a reminder to the world to act.

'Through a Lens Darkly' exposes the power of self-image
By Lauren Cavalli
September 21, 2014 - 5:11pm
Review: Thomas Allen Harris probes into African-American culture with his film 'Through a Lens Darkly,' but occasionally gets in the way of his own story.

Through A Lens Darkly, a documentary film given to us by director Thomas Allen Harris, kicked off the 12th annual Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival on Thursday, Sept. 18. In it, photographs, interviews and historical footage are expertly woven into a montage exposing a hole in the history books where black photographers should be.

LCD Soundsystem Film Screens at The Westcott Theater
By Molly Kalan
September 14, 2012 - 8:33pm
Shut Up and Play The Hits, a film documenting the bands final, sold out show at Madison Square Garden, screened in Syracuse last night.

 

When James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem announced the band’s final show over a year ago, fans rushed to buy tickets to what would turn into a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. With the release of Shut Up and Play the Hits (directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern), those at the show will get to relive the experience, and those who missed out can get a taste of what the night was like.

Review: "Invention" Invites Controversy
By Jason Berger
November 20, 2009 - 8:00pm
"The Invention of Lying", the new film from comedian Ricky Gervais, sparks debate with its polarizing views on religion.

The Invention of Lying, the new inflammatory (and very funny) comedy from TV mastermind Ricky Gervais, starts off simply enough.

Review: "Air" Soars to Great if Uncomplicated Heights
By Jason Berger
November 16, 2009 - 11:43pm
A review of "Up In the Air," the upcoming film directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney

Review: Jennifer's Body
By Nigel Smith
October 30, 2009 - 9:14pm
More to Jennifer than her body.

When it was announced that Academy Award-winning queen of quirk Diablo Cody would follow up Juno with the teen-horror film Jennifer’s Body, the news garnered tentative excitement within the horror fan community. The teen-horror genre has been in a slump since the last Scream entry nine years ago. The deft Scream series toyed with genre conventions in a self-referential manner, while still providing a great number of scares. Saw and Hostel then started a wave of lamentable torture porn.

Review: Enter the Void
By Nigel Smith
October 30, 2009 - 8:26pm
Gaspar Noe nixes substance for style, in his follow up to Irreversible.

Lars Von Trier. Park Chan-wook. Michael Haneke. Provocative auteurs like these are masters whose works are defined by their distinctive approach to divisive subject matter. France’s Gaspar Noe looked to be one of the tribe with his first feature, Irreversible. Told in a real-time backwards narrative, the film is infamous for an unflinching nine-minute rape sequence featured in the film’s first half. Yet as the film unraveled itself, it presented a dilemma.

Chilean film given international voice
By Tamara Vallejos
September 29, 2009 - 10:45pm
Review: 'Huacho' depicts rural Latin America in an honest and emotional way.

There’s a scene in Huacho, the feature-length debut from Chilean director Alejandro Almendras, when the camera closes in on the face of an elderly woman selling blocks of homemade cheese by the side of the road. The shot is held for an unconventionally long time, with no movement or dialogue to break up the seconds ticking by. But in those moments, the audience is able to read the hard-earned wrinkles on the woman’s face, and we can begin to absorb the profundity of a life where a...