Movies
A dark journey to the countryside in “Tom At The Farm”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
From the creative mind of Xavier Dolan (Mommy, Heartbeats) comes the psychological thriller Tom at the Farm. After the sudden death of his lover, Guillaume (Caleb Landry Jones of Heaven Knows What), Tom (Dolan), travels from his home in the city to a remote country farm for the funeral. Upon arriving, he’s shocked to find that Guillaume’s family knows nothing about him and was expecting a woman in his place. Torn between his own grief and that of the family, Tom keeps his identity a secret but soon finds himself increasingly drawn into a twisted, sexually-charged game by Guillaume’s aggressive brother (Pierre-Yves Cardinal of Through the Mist), who suspects the truth. Stockholm syndrome, deception, grief, and savagery pervade this stirring tale from Dolan.
Definitely this a film full of secrets, abusive relationships, homophobia and dead that involve each character. Sometimes confrontation is not the best solution and limits of certain love could be dangerous in the sense of timing revitalizes otherwise familiar moments. During 102 minutes you will experiment the best of the talent from Quebec, Canada.
FICG is the best appreciation, promotion and distribution of Mexican and Ibero-American films
By GTVW Staff
Photos By: Alfonso De Elias
The Guadalajara International Film Festival is a week-long film festival held in Los Angeles at Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood for its fifth year and runs from Thursday, August 27 to Sunday, August 30.The festival is considered the most prestigious film festival in Latin America and among the most important Spanish language film festivals in the world. The festival is the premier showcase for new work from Mexican and international independent filmmakers.
FICG in LA will offer the premiere of other titles that have emerged in the world of cinema throughout the year to great critical acclaim with the best of contemporary Mexican and Latin American cinema. Eugenio Derbez will receive the Tree of Life award in representation of the Derbez dynasty. Oscar winner Eugenio Caballero (Best Art Direction, Pan Labyrinth), Ofelia Medina (Mexican actress), Josep Parera (Entertainment Editor La Opinion) and LPB (Latino Public Broadcasting) will also receive the festival’s Tree of Life Award for their contributions to Mexican, Latino and Ibero-American culture.
13 Feature and documentary films and 12 short films will be showcased in this year’s festival.
Opening Night Gala – August 28, 2015
MESSI, Dir. Álex de la Iglesia (Spain, 2014, L.A. Premiere)
Closing Night Gala – August 30, 2015
Ciudad Delirio, Dir. Chus Gutiérrez (Colombia, 2014, 100 min., L.A. Premiere)
Special Events:
• KIDS GALA: EL JEREMÍAS (JEREMY) Dir. Anwar Safa (Mexico, 2015, US Premiere)
• MAGUEY (LGBT) GALA: MADE IN BANGKOK Dir. Flavio Florencio (México – Alemania, 2015, US Premiere)
• ART, HEALTH & HEALING SPECIAL SCREENING: JUANICAS
Dir. Karina García Casanova (Mexico – Canada, 2015, US Premiere)
and La Teta de Botero, Dir. Humberto Busto, Mexico (short film)
• HUMAN RIGHTS SPECIAL SCREENING: LA PRENDA (The Pawn)
Dir. Jean-Cosme Delaloye (Guatemala – Suiza, 2014, Sneak Preview) in Association with the Mill Valley Film Festival.
• FREE SCREENING: LA ONCE (Tea Time) –Dir. Maite Alberti (Chile, 2014)
Other Feature Films
El PATRÓN, RADIOGRAFÍA DE UN CRIMEN (THE BOSS, ANATOMY OF A CRIME)
Dir. Sebastián Schindel (Argentina, 2014, L.A. Premiere)
HBO Latino presents – HEROES COTIDIANOS – “El cometa”
Dir. Alejandra Sánchez (Mexico, 2014, Sneak Preview)
IXCANUL Dir. Jayro Bustamante (Guatemala – France, 2015, Sneak Preview)
LOREAK (FLOWERS) Dir. Jon Garaño, José Mari Goenaga (Spain, 2014, L.A. Premiere)
POCHA (Manifest Destiny) Dir. Michael Dwyer (USA – Mexico, 2015)
QUE VIVA LA MUSICA (LIVEFOREVER)
Dir. Carlos Moreno (Colombia -Mexico, 2015, L.A Premiere)
Short Films
MEXICAN ANIMATED SHORTS SHOWCASE & PANEL (in chronological order)
Como preparar un sandwich (How to Prepare a Sandwich) Dir. Rigo Mora
Hasta Los Huesos (Down to the Bones) Dir. René Castillo
Jacinta Dir. Karla Castañeda
Jaulas (Cages) Dir. Juan José Medina
Prita Noire (Black Doll) Dir. Sofía Carrillo
La Casa Triste (The Sad House) Dir. Sofia Carrillo
La Noria (The Waterwheel) Dir. Karla Castaneda
Lluvia en los Ojos (Rain in the Eyes) Dir. Rita Basulto
Zimbo (Zimbo) Dir. Rita Basulto & Juan Jose Medina
Shorts Before Features
ELLA (Her) Dir. Ximena Urrutia (Mexico, 2014, 23 min)
MESTIZO, Dir. Talon Gonzalez (USA, 2014, 10 min.)
LA TETA DE BOTERO, Dir. Humberto Busto (Mexico, 2015, 18 min., US Premiere)
The screening of the selected work-in-progress films will be for industry accredited to the festival. These screenings are not open to the general public or member of the press.
Guadalajara Construye in Los Angeles 2
• Angelica, Dir. Marisol Gómez-Mouakad, Puerto Rico/USA
• Dementia (Demencia), Dir. Jose Luís Valenzuela, Mexico/USA
• Lupe under the Sun (Lupe bajo el sol), Dir. Rodrigo Reyes, Mexico/USA
• No Dresscode Required (Etiqueta no rigurosa), Dir. Cristina Herrera Borquez, Mexico/USA
• Looking at the Stars (Olhando pras estrelas), Dir. Alexandre Peralta, Nicaragua/Brazil/USA
• Omar & Gloria (Omar y Gloria), Dir. Jimmy Cohen, Mexico/Canada
Fantastic Four deal with problems on a more cosmic scale
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
From director Josh Trank and screenplay of Jeremy Slater and Simon Kinberg & Josh Trank, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.
Although this cast is full of young lead actors, the most interest part of this film was the way how was developed each character evolution with great brotherhood for some characters especially when they were younger. I really enjoyed a tale of superhero beginnings with a very long predictable opening sequence. As boys growing up on Long Island, Reed and Ben are good buddies and the way the support each other. This film is very familiar, full of good visual effects and reasonably and easily watchable in the world of comic-book movies.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a fascinating film you can see it again and again
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
Like most teenage girls, Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) is longing for love, acceptance and a sense of purpose in the world. Minnie begins a complex love affair with her mother’s (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend, “the handsomest man in the world,” Monroe Rutherford (Alexander Skarsgård). What follows is a sharp, funny and provocative account of one girl’s sexual and artistic awakening, without judgment.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s novel of the same name, hailed by Salon as “one of the most brutally honest, shocking, tender and beautiful portrayals of growing up female in America.” Although is related to a confused young woman, during 1 hr. 42 min. the spectator will enjoy many magnificent scenes from the sunshine of ’70s San Francisco. Minnie is the perfect combination of immaturity and youth full of emotions, sex and drugs so her womanhood might be inspirational or educational and parents might have a big responsibility to show the consequences of bad behavior of their children.
It is a complex film which reflects creativity of some animated images of Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s comics. This teenage girl is the only victim of a delusional mindset, little attention to her physical and psychological needs. Definitely is a film you can have a good learning and somehow create awareness that our teenagers should have the right path in life to have a happy life without having to face the misfortune that may cause the misuse of drugs or unbridled sexual life.
“Samba” reflects the goodwill of French films style
Photo courtesy
From Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the acclaimed writing and directing duo of The Intouchables, are back with “Samba.” For ten years, Senegalese immigrant Samba (Sy) has stayed under the government radar, taking menial kitchen jobs in the hope of becoming a professional chef. Suddenly, as his longtime ambitions for a better life seem just within reach, immigration authorities hit Samba with an order to leave France immediately. Stubbornly holding onto his dream, Samba pins his hopes for a reprieve on a local immigration advocacy center and Alice (Gainsbourg), an emotionally vulnerable volunteer with little experience but plenty of heart. He finds a second home at the center with Alice and her colleagues, including brusque law student Manu (Izïa Higelin), do-gooder Marcelle (Hélène Vincent) and naïve Maggy (Jacqueline Jehanneuf), as they search for a way for him to stay in France.
During 1 hr. 58 min Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano reflect a new comic drama style. Both are versatile and irresistible. This film is, in the context of French society, quite embarrassing. The French are often loved for being articulate and sophisticated. But this film reveals that there is still profound resistance to engage with the issues of representation of French society because of resistances to debate about immigration, multiculturalism, and race. Anxiety, confusion, and discomfort are elements seen in this film in which ending will surprise you.
Irrational Man would be your best experience in life
By GTVW Staff
Photos by Agencies
Woody Allen’s Irrational Man is about a tormented philosophy professor who finds a will to live when he commits an existential act and emotionally unable to find any meaning or joy in life. Abe feels that everything he’s tried to do, from political activism to teaching, hasn’t made any difference.
Soon after arriving to teach at a small town college, Abe gets involved with two women: Rita Richards (Parker Posey), a lonely professor who wants him to rescue her from her unhappy marriage; and Jill Pollard (Emma Stone), his best student, who becomes his closest friend. Definitely one of the better casts Allen has had in this film so during 1 hour and 34 minutes you will be involve in many decisions and actions alter the main character of Abe through an existential act gives rise to a murder plot that ends with his unintended collateral victims. In all probability is a film that connects with a broad audience.
The tears of the world are a constant quantity in “Boulevard”
By GTVW staff
Photo by Agencies
People are really looking forward to this film. Robin Williams has always been an excellent dramatic actor and this film makes his last role one of the best. The routine of everyday life quietly peels away to reveal the struggle of a loving husband in conflict with his inner-self in Boulevard. While Nolan Mack (Robin Williams) and his wife Joy (Kathy Baker) wake up under the same roof each morning, separate bedrooms underscore the disparate worlds they are living in. His emotional journey begins to unfold with a drive down a desolate city street where he encounters a troubled young man named Leo (Roberto Aguire). As lost time slowly awakens Nolan’s secret life, he realizes that truth is an opportunity for change.
Directed by Dito Montiel and written by Douglas Soesbe, this film makes Robin’s role one of his best and serious roles with a bitter sadness and has the ability to feel and portray emotion with such genius, both through laughter and pathos, was his curse as well as our gift as audience adorers.
A film full of contrast and passion in “Jimmy’s Hall”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
From Director Ken Loach and a well structured cast Barry Ward, Francis Magee, Aileen Henry, Simone Kirby, Stella McGirl, Sorcha Fox, Martin Lucey, Mikel Murfi, Shane O’Brien, as spectator you will enjoy for 106 minutes the great story of Jimmy Gralton’s sin was to build a dance hall on a rural crossroads in an Ireland on the brink of Civil War In 1921. The Pearse-Connolly Hall was a place where young people could come to learn, to argue, to dream… but above all to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close.
A decade later, at the height of the Depression, Jimmy returns to Co. Leitrim from the US to look after his mother and vows to live the quiet life. The hall stands abandoned and empty, and despite the pleas of the local youngsters, remains shut. However as Jimmy reintegrates into the community and sees the poverty, and growing cultural oppression.
Definitely is a smart and familiar film, full of turbulent times for each character and celebrates the spirit of these free-thinkers. The best key element is the Jazz Music with certain predictable anti-clerical anti-Irish stereotype. Even Ken Loach tends to be unsubtle when he is making some political points; however, this film earns points in many facts such as all violent protests that the main character has to face from the church for running a dance hall where his freedom has been compromised.
The best world-beaters are in “Spy”
By GTVW Staff
Photo Agency
Spy is the new film of Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is an unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst, and the unsung hero behind the Agency’s most dangerous missions. But when her partner (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) is compromised, she volunteers to go deep undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent a global disaster. This film was written and directed by Paul Feig.
During 1hr 19 min. Melissa McCarthy’s performance is one of the best. On the contrary, Statham is rarely stands out into his comedic potential. However, the good direction, jokes and the well developed physical comedy makes this is more on par with The Heat.
Most people begin to like the idea that this comedy is very well made from an over weighted -lady jokes combined with two elements that makes successfully a film because this one has comedy and action.
Definitely, Spy is highly recommended for its memorable supporting characters and funny contrast of personalities of Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) and Rick Ford (Jason Statham) as the moody and hyper-masculine action tough guy.
