Reviews

Hot amnesia babe meets Mexican Mennonites

"Just Another Love Story" is a dazzling, bloody Danish noir; "Silent Light" a prodigious fable of love and faith in an unlikely setting.

By Andrew O'Hehir January 8, 2009

War as a "bad acid trip"

Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman talks about his extraordinary animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir," a trip down the nightmarish rabbit hole of memory.

By Andrew O'Hehir December 26, 2008

It's a seafood-couscous Christmas!

Vivid Arab-French immigrant yarn "Secret of the Grain" is a near-masterpiece; fascinating Brecht documentary "Theater of War" describes one.

By Andrew O'Hehir December 24, 2008

Revolution in shades of gray

Steven Soderbergh talks about his maddening, messy near-masterpiece "Che," an aloof and ambiguous portrait of the much-loved, much-hated Marxist icon.

By Andrew O'Hehir December 12, 2008

An indie chick, her dog and the 2008 depression

Will Oscar notice Michelle Williams' pitch-perfect performance as the dead-broke slacker gal who loses her dog in the wrenching, intriguing "Wendy and Lucy"?

By Andrew O'Hehir December 10, 2008

A fascist childhood (with naked chicks)

Fellini's 1973 "Amarcord" blends memory and fantasy into a grandiose, bittersweet entertainment. Sexist and sentimental? Well, duh. It's also wonderful.

By Andrew O'Hehir December 6, 2008

A raunchy gay fantasia from Tel Aviv

"Antarctica" pushes global gay cinema to new levels of manflesh hotness. But it's basically an Israeli episode of "Melrose Place" with bad lesbian folk music.

By Andrew O'Hehir December 2, 2008

The man who blew up America's closets

Sean Penn leaps to the front of the Oscar race with his uncanny invocation of the slain gay-rights leader. Gus Van Sant's vibrant biopic meets the challenge -- almost.

By Andrew O'Hehir November 26, 2008

Strangers in a strange land

Shot over 23 years, Ellen Kuras' haunting Oscar contender "The Betrayal" follows a Laotian immigrant family's agonizing American odyssey.

By Andrew O'Hehir November 21, 2008

Was this the greatest football game ever?

OK, maybe not. But "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" still spins an improbable, Fitzgerald-meets-Updike yarn about two elite schools, a turbulent year and an unbelievable ending.

By Andrew O'Hehir November 19, 2008

Teen tarts, sleeping nubiles -- and Harry

A wrenching, sexy marriage drama from the new Ireland. Plus: Potter fans go berserk, and a dose of arty, self-indulgent Euro-erotica.

By Andrew O'Hehir November 15, 2008

Thrill ride through a "maximum city"

Danny Boyle talks about shooting his Dickensian quiz-show saga "Slumdog Millionaire" on the streets of Mumbai (a podcast and interview).

By Andrew O'Hehir November 12, 2008

The meta-Muscles from meta-Brussels

Van Damme goes pomo Hamlet in the odd, ingratiating "JCVD." Plus: A wrenching divorce flick, Truffaut's great "Wild Child" and a gay zombie, lost in Berlin.

By Andrew O'Hehir November 8, 2008

A Holocaust movie unlike any other

French screen legend Jeanne Moreau will make you weep in Israeli director Amos Gitai's breathtaking and unconventional "One Day You'll Understand."

By Andrew O'Hehir November 1, 2008

The (undead) girl next door

Suburban realism gets an injection of fresh blood (ha!) in the gory, satirical and haunting Swedish vampire flick "Let the Right One In."

By Andrew O'Hehir October 27, 2008

Eat, for this is my body

In the amazing new film "Stranded," survivors of the legendary 1972 Andes plane crash talk about the moral and spiritual implications of eating their friends.

By Andrew O'Hehir October 23, 2008

Bigfoot's YouTube medieval adventure

The week in indie film, from the gorgeous animation of "Azur & Asmar" to Wayne Wang's edgy YouTube release to the quest for Bigfoot -- in Ohio.

By Andrew O'Hehir October 18, 2008

Madonna? I'm ready

Forget Guy! Forget A-Rod! All the reasons why the Material Girl and I should be together are made clear in "Filth and Wisdom," her likable, trivial directing debut.

By Andrew O'Hehir October 16, 2008

Don't call it mumblecore

Ultra-indie American film grows up in a hurry with Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig's erotic, wrenching relationship drama "Nights and Weekends."

By Andrew O'Hehir October 11, 2008

"Greatest film ever" or a cream cake?

Mocked on initial release and long unavailable, Max Ophüls' wide-screen spectacle "Lola Montès" returns in a lustrous restoration. So what's the big deal?

By Andrew O'Hehir October 10, 2008