The Miami Jewish Film Festival celebrated the centennial anniversary of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari last Saturday at the Coral Gables Art Cinema as part of their After Hours program. Restored in 4K, this German expressionist film was shown with a newly commissioned live score by sound artist Richard Vergez. Prior to the screening, the night’s program featured international shorts in competition at the festival. The combination of old and new, silent and sound, was an immersive experience that left ears ringing in its wake.
What do Casablanca, Amadeus, and TheGoonies have in common? Yes, sure, they’re all being screened for free under the stars at Miami Beach Soundscape as part of the 23rd Annual Miami Jewish Film Festival’s excitingly diverse line-up. Even more than that however, festival director Igor Shtereynberg has also paired these classics with recent biopics being shown in theaters as part of the festival’s regular lineup. Today you have a chance to catch the acclaimed Forman vs. Forman, which recounts the life struggles of the Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cukoo’sNest director Miloš Forman, a prominent figure of the late 1960’s Czech New Wave who fled Czechoslovakia for the United States after the hard-line communist crackdown. Next Wednesday keep an eye out for Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time, a biopic of the multi-Oscar winning conductor who scored such films as The Graduate, Tootsie, and The Goonies.
The Miami Jewish Film Festival is known for the diversity of its offerings. Those of us interested in romance and uplifting stories got to enjoy the South Florida Premier of German director Marcus H Rosenmüller’s The Keeper, a passionate biopic about Bert Trautmann (played by David Kross, Steven Spielberg’s War Horse), a German prisoner of war turned Manchester City football star and a symbol for peace and reconciliation in the 1950’s.
Growing up sucks and François Truffaut’s 1959 debut feature captures every gritty second of it. Much like the tumultuous transition that it solemnly transcribes onto celluloid, this coming of age film is timeless and is sure to keep you thinking well into adulthood.
The Report is an American docu-drama that follows Senate Staffer Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) and his small team as they investigate the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EIT) on detainees after the 9/11 attacks and the struggles and hurdles to get their findings released. As the title suggests, Director Scott Z. Burns based the film on 500-page summary of the Senate’s classified report on the use of torture in the “War on Terror.” Focusing on the actual report not only allows the film to reflect it’s opposing views, but also the nature that sometimes truth is what you decide it to be – a central theme throughout the film.
Unlike other reviews that cover how truthful the film is to the actual events, the main focus of this review will be on the film itself.
Fans of Daredevil may find that Oldboy is just as stylish, although far more intense. More realistic and unforgiving in his storytelling, director Park Chan-wook delivers a graphic hard-hitting action-thriller.
The second installment in The Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy primarily focuses on revenge, with elements of romance. Park occasionally presents moments of black humor, although these moments lessen as the film fully embraces its serious tone. Combined with neo-noir style cinematography and thrilling fight scenes, Oldboy becomes a daunting tale of vengeance and atonement. Continue reading Oldboy: The Daredevil of Vengeance→
Robert Eggers’s second feature film, The Lighthouse, proves that he’s a director to keep an eye on. Robert Pattinson plays Ephraim Winslow, a man who travels to a remote island to work as the assistant of an aged, eccentric lighthouse keeper (Willem Dafoe). The two men spend several tense weeks alone, keeping the lighthouse until a disastrous storm strikes. The Lighthouse is packed with intense acting, surreal imagery, and having been shot in 1.19:1 aspect ratio, it is a claustrophobic descent into madness. Continue reading ‘The Lighthouse’ Delivers Bizarre Art-Horror→
What do Casablanca, Amadeus, and The Goonies have in common? Yes, sure, they’re all being screened for free under the stars at Miami Beach Soundscape as part of the 23rd Annual Miami Jewish Film Festival’s excitingly diverse line-up. Even more than that however, festival director Igor Shtereynberg has also paired these classics with recent biopics being shown in theaters as part of the festival’s regular lineup. Today you have a chance to catch the acclaimed Forman vs. Forman, which recounts the life struggles of the Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest director Miloš Forman, a prominent figure of the late 1960’s Czech New Wave who fled Czechoslovakia for the United States after the hard-line communist crackdown. Next Wednesday keep an eye out for Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time, a biopic of the multi-Oscar winning conductor who scored such films as The Graduate, Tootsie, and The Goonies.
