"Mustang" The sublimely beautiful story of five young sisters

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Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls’ family. In reaction, the family overreacts, removing all “instruments of corruption,” like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides.  As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate.  The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment. Mustang is a great movie.

Love in the sand would be part of “Sand Dollars”

By GTVW Staff

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Directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, “Sand Dollars” (Dólares de Arena) is a great art-house romance starring legendary film actress Geraldine Chaplin (Talk to Her.

In this powerful and haunting ending, an older European woman becomes captivated with a young Dominican woman struggling to make ends meet. Every afternoon Noelí (played by Yanet Mojica), goes to the beaches at Las Terrenas with her boyfriend to look for ways to make a living at the expense of one of the many tourists that wander the beach. As people parade through her life, Noelí has a steady client; Anne, a mature French woman who, as time goes by, has found an ideal refuge on the island to spend her last years. When Noeli’s boyfriend feigns to be her brother, he outlines a plan in which Noelí travels to Paris with the old lady and sends him money every month. For Noelí, the relationship with Anne is one of convenience, but the feelings become more intense as the departure date closes in. Definitely, is a film that shows lack of economic, ethnic, cultural, and gender power in any relationships. Built on the premise that one’s mate is determined by destiny and the belief that even choice cannot override intense attraction but is intense in feelings and damage in a love storm.

Although this a film full of physical jeopardy, all the characters are superb because they really reflect drama and anguish for their lives.

“Southpaw” is synonym of hope

By Jenny Alvarez

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One of the best roles of Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Billy Hope during 124 min.,  in a perfect story where hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services. The tragedy marks his life centered around a champion prize fighter and all the things related to the ring. Definitely a heartbreaking and emotional film where director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) and screenwriters Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy) and Richard Wenk (THE MECHANIC), reflect the strength of the human being. This boxing melodrama must be part of your Blu-ray collection with this great cast such Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence and more. As viewer you can enjoy it in English and Spanish Dolby Digital with English and Spanish subtitles.

The worst race relations are reflected in “Mi America”

By GTVW Staff

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From Director/screenwriter Robert Fontaine inspired by true stories from around the country, Mi America delivers a harrowing narrative on the conflict between disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers. The film explores the circumstances surrounding a brutal hate crime that has upset the delicate balance of the small, ethnically diverse waterfront city of Braxton in upstate New York. Five Hispanic migrant labors are beaten, shot, then ditched near an abandoned warehouse, by the waterfront. The bodies are discovered six months later.

Rolando Ramirez (played by Fontaine) is a Hispanic-American Detective, and a longtime resident of this community) who has been assigned to this case by chance. Or was it fate? His journey will force him to question his own identity and beliefs on what it means to be a North American, and in turn, attempt to bring those who committed this crime to justice… His former best friends.

Violence against Latinos and the story told in Mi America is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. where the conflict of disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers has resulted in tragedy. The immigration dilemma and debate continues to rage on as we enter the politically charged battlefield of the 2016 election and Latinos continue to be targeted. This timely and urgent drama offers a potent opportunity to take a closer look at a dire issue in the media.

Mi America offers an on-the-ground look at some of the reality of this conflict. Although this film is not just about a hate crime but about how residents of divided communities, certainly violence against Latinos is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. The question is how politicians react when they are ratcheting up the anti-immigration rhetoric.

An electrifying “Truth”

By GTVW Staff

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Written and directed by James Vanderbilt TRUTH is based on the book “Truth and Duty” by Mary Mapes. In the vein of “All The President’s Men” and “The Insider”, it is the incredible true story of Mary Mapes (played by Cate Blanchet), an award-winning CBS News Journalist and Dan Rather’s producer, who broke the Abu-Ghraib prison abuse story, among others.

The film chronicles the story Mapes and Rather uncovered that a sitting US president may have been AWOL from the United States National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War. When the story blew up in their face, the ensuing scandal ruined Dan Rather’s career, nearly changed a US Presidential election, and almost took down all of CBS News in the process. The “Rathergate” centered film is James Vanderbuilt’s directorial debut and also stars Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, and Dennis Quaid. Truth deals iwith real journalism  and legal ethics and main characters (Redford and Blanchet) shine in the twilight even the story sounds like an old script  where almost anyone at home could check the facts and documents the story fell apart and the ending might surprise more than one.

Experimenter is not enough disturbing

By GTVW Staff

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Yale University, 1961. Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) designs a psychology experiment that still resonates to this day, in which people think they’re delivering painful electric shocks to an affable stranger (Jim Gaffigan) strapped into a chair in another room. Despite his pleads for mercy, the majority of subjects don’t stop the experiment, administering what they think is a near-fatal electric shock, simply because they’ve been told to do so. With Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram strikes a nerve in popular culture and the scientific community with his exploration into people’s tendency to comply with authority. Celebrated in some circles, he is also accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster, but his wife Sasha (Winona Ryder) stands by him through it all.

“The Wine of Summer” will make you to be thirsty

By GTVW Staff

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From director and writer Maria Matteoli, The Wine of Summer will give stand-out performances in each character. James (Ethan Peck), at the age of 27, quits his law career in pursuit of his childhood dream of becoming an actor. While studying acting under the tutelage of Shelley (Marcia Gay Harden), he becomes engrossed in Carlo Lucchesi’s play, Tinto de Verano, which is set in Spain. James’ girlfriend Brit (Kelsey Chow) leaves him, and he spontaneously flies to Spain, where he encounters the misanthropic playwright Lucchesi (Bob E. Wells) at a bookstore in Barcelona. Lucchesi is in a relationship with a much younger woman, Veronica (Elsa Pataky), but still nurtures an old love for his long lost muse, Eliza (Sonia Braga), a novelist, who happens to be visiting her son, Nico (Nicholas Dominic Talvola) a trumpet player who also lives in Barcelona. In the golden backdrop of Spain. Even frustration is one of the main subjects of the film, characters find their fates intertwined and Sonia Braga is amazing in her role. A great film for relaxing in a comfortable coach.

Maurice Pialat shines with 5 classics

By GTVW Staff

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For all fans of independent films,  5 Classics by Maurice Pialat will come as one of the best collections that will be played in Los Angeles from September 25 to October 1 at the Laemmle Royal Movie Theater (11523 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Los Angeles, California 90025).  The iconoclastic French auteur, called “the French Cassavetes,” created films that were, in the words of Film Comment’s Kent Jones “all about the shock—startling, violent, eternally and teasingly promising—of being alive.”

This collection of masterworks includes 1987’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, “Under the Sun of Satan,” with Gérard Depardieu and Sandrine Bonnaire, “Loulou,” a tale of tortured love with Isabelle Huppert and Depardieu, “Van Gogh,” a chronicle of the last days of the artist, family drama “The Mouth Agape,” with Nathalie Baye, and the slice-of-life film about teenagers in suburban France “Graduate First.”

 “Loulou” will be a masterpiece of subtlety and eroticism

During 117 min, you will discover to Nelly who meets Loulou, a down-and-out young man. After her husband kicks her out, she goes off to live with Loulou. She is soon with child, but Loulou doesn’t change his wayward life, spending time with his pals and pulling off small-time robberies. Deeply hurt by his attitude, Nelly decides not to keep the baby. With a great cast such Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, Guy Marchand,  Humbert Baln, Bernard Tronczyk, Christian Boucher, Frédérique Cerbonnet. Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert reflect their job as the sexiest couple in the history of the cinema.

 “Van Gogh” painted his own life

Cast:  During 158 min. Vincent Van Gogh settles in Auvers-sur-Oise, in the home of Doctor Gachet, an art lover and patron. Vincent keeps painting amidst the conflict with his brother, Theo, and the torments of his failing mental health. He has an affair with Marguerite, his host’s daughter. However, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for his art.

Definitely, a well structured film full of good scenes with an interesting plot, intelligence and acted with earnest conviction with an experienced cast such Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Gérard Séty, Bernard LeCoq, Corinne Bourdon, Elisa Zylberstein, Leslie Azzoulai.

When cancer gets suffering of a French family in “The Mouth Agape”

During 1h 22m, the viewer will experience pain and suffering after cancer strikes the mother of the family in this French film, everyone in the family expresses a previously invisible caring and tolerance of the others. The father has always been a bit of a drunk, and is forever chasing younger women. Despite that, he and his wife care for each other, and he tends attentively to her in her last days while remaining unchanged in character. The son and daughter-in-law, whose marriage is somewhat sterile, have similarly penetrating interactions with the dying mother. Full of dramatic scenes with a great cast as Nathalie Baye, Philippe Leotard. Definitely, a heartbroken film full of emotions, tolerance and deep feelings strengthened.

Deep feelings of particular teenagers in “Graduate First”

During 85 min in a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. The past year has been the scene of their conflicts with adults and teachers alike who consider the exam as the highway to employment. The disillusioned teenagers played by  Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Annick Alane, Michel Caron, all of them will see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment. These teenagers will experience the real labor life, including sacrifice and suffering in a new and modern society.

Controversy in “Under the sun of Satan”

During 100 min, Donissan, a mediocre seminarian, haunted by Evil and the failure of his divine mission, mortifies his body and is unable to establish any rapport with his parishioners. Until the day the abbot meets young Mouchette, who has just committed a mortal sin. Based on Georges Bernanos’s novel, the viewers will enjoy pure drama in each scene. Definitely this great cast Gérard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat, Alain Artur, Yann Dedetmade an excellent performance in each character.

The New Girlfriend has new face in these modern days

By Jenny Alvarez

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From Director François Ozon, The New Girlfriend is a humorous psychological drama begins after the death of her best friend, Claire falls into a deep depression, but a surprising discovery about her friend’s husband gives her a new taste for life. During 109 min. any viewer will enjoy the female friendships will reflect a well structured satire of sexuality full of fantasies with a sensitive portrayal of sexual & gender identity. This film also develops many subjects and the mystery unveils and the clichés disappear and the terrific, prolific and provocative cast by Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz make it delightfully and enjoyable affair.

Impressive animal sequences in “Wolf Totem”

By Jenny Alvarez

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In acclaimed director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s film adaptation of Jiang Rong’s best-selling novel, a young Beijing student is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia.  Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads’ traditional enemies – the marauding wolves – to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world.

During 121 minutes with Mandarin and Mongolian languages with English subtitles, Feng Shaofeng, Shawn Dou with, Ankhnyam Ragchaa, Yin Zhusheng, Basen Zhabu as part of the cast, will surprise you with a great story of survival of wild animals. The balance of man and wolf works like this. Everything depends on the grass feeding the sheep, horses and goats, which the herdsmen use for food, clothing and shelter. The grasslands are also home to marmots, mice, rabbits and gazelles. Definitely is a different story and the way of life of the tribes is something completely alien to the main characters’ experience. The tribesmen are so finely attuned to steppe life and so reverent of their nature that the young man is at first overwhelmed, but he eventually grows to appreciate their customs but his heart for a wolf puppy puts in a interesting and precious balance between predators and prey, and all results in chaos.

This story is important and emotionally hard-hitting and reflects the real farmers and the problem with China’s policies regardless of regional considerations. A great film which deserves to be seen due has beautiful scenarios with many social details and facts into characters’ dialogs.