The following short synopses (A-Z) link to corresponding features, interviews and reviews published as part of The Lumière Reader’s film festival coverage.

Adventureland
Greg Mottola/USA/2009 | REVIEW
Greg Mottola’s auto-biographical coming of age story is a work of delightfully bittersweet nostalgia. “Adventureland may not dispense the laugh-out-loud moments of Superbad-vulgarity – despite its fair share of body fluids and alcohol fuelled lapses – but in its compassionate treatment of youthful inelegance it delivers.”—Caleb Starrenburg

All Tomorrow’s Parties
Jonathan Caouette/UK/2009 | REVIEW

Antichrist
Lars von Trier/Denmark/2009 | FEATURE REVIEW
“Few films are easier to scoff at than Antichrist, the contentious new film by Lars von Trier. It’s so easy in fact, that film commentators are tripping over themselves in the rush to pour scorn on what might be a better film than hasty critics think. Mind you, who can blame them? Antichrist is full of moments that could be described as sophomoric and pretentious, but as anyone familiar with von Trier knows, that’s par-for-the-course when it comes to the work of the wilful Danish provocateur.”—Steve Garden

The Baader Meinhof Complex
Uli Edel/Germany/2008 | REVIEW
“As specious as a big-subject, big-gesture movie can be... this adolescent wet dream is little more than a cartoon posing as a serious film.”—Steve Garden

The Beaches of Agnès
Agnès Varda/France/2008 | REVIEW
“Varda has said that Beaches will be her last film, and one senses that this is how she would like to be remembered – and why not? It’s a gorgeous piece of work, and it expresses genuine, vital affection for people, art, and above all, cinema.”—Steve Garden

Before Tomorrow
Marie-Helene Cousineau/Madeline Ivalu/Canada/2008 | REVIEW
“The third in a series of films preceded by Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and The Journals of Knud Rasmussen... this beautiful and precisely focused film, rich in mythic evocation, is a reinterpretation of ancient tales traditionally passed down orally.”—Steve Garden

Best Worst Movie
Michael Paul Stephenson/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“Best Worst Movie might just be the most enjoyable film ever made about the most implausibly awful movie ever made... At its heart however, this documentary is about the power of cinema to bring people together and make us laugh. Even if it is for all the wrong reasons.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Birdsong
Albert Serra/Spain/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2 #3 INTERVIEW
Albert Serra sublimely re-imagines the journey of the three wise men. “The nativity tale is one of Western Civilization’s most potent stories... Despite being so familiar, the remarkable achievement of Birdsong is that it manages to re-flavour the Magi narrative with new spices.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Blind Loves
Juraj Lehotský/Slovakia/2008 | REVIEW
“Ostensibly a documentary about a small number of visually impaired people grappling with life and love... Lehotský seamlessly incorporates a fictional layer into the mix that results in a work of rare honesty, intimacy and poetry. If this film is a measure of what we can expect from this year’s line-up, we could be in for an exceptional fortnight.”—Steve Garden

Bluebeard
Catherine Breillat/France/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
“Bluebeard is another piece of brilliance, as [Catherine Breillat] takes an oft-filmed Charles Perrault fairytale and adds her own vision on the proceedings. Her underrated visual sense is as gorgeous as ever; her thematic concepts as challenging as ever.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Bright Star
Jane Campion/UK/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
Jane Campion on the English romantic poet John Keats. “Plays like a poem by the film’s protagonist... its narrative structure is separated into couplets and stanzas with plenty of breathing space between providing a unique rhythm to the work that takes a bit of finding, but is ultimately a satisfying experience.”—Jacob Powell

Broken Embraces
Pedro Almodóvar/Spain/2009 | REVIEW
“Neither poetic nor political, Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces is perfect. Perfectly designed, perfectly composed, perfectly scored, full of perfect faces, this lush noir-tinged homage to classic Hollywood is a perfectly mounted film. It is also a perfect bore.”—Steve Garden

The Camera on the Shore
Graeme Tuckett/NZ/2009 | REVIEW INTERVIEW
Documenting the legacy of Barry Barclay – the late, great Kiwi filmmaker in retrospective at the festival this year. “This meticulous and well-crafted documentary captures the last interviews Barclay did before his death in 2008, and also incorporates testimony from some of Barclay’s collaborators and friends.”—Nina Fowler

Che
Steven Soderbergh/USA/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
“An achingly beautiful blend of biography, adventure-odyssey and deep social commentary, with a touch of blockbuster thrown in for good measure. This master work is not only remarkable for sheer scale – two revolutions, two parts, four hours – but because director Steven Soderbergh has managed to successfully bind these disparate components together.”—Nina Fowler

A Christmas Tale
Arnaud Desplechin/France/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
The director of Kings and Queen riffs the Holiday Movie with briskness and dexterity. “Centred on a fraught clan gathering over the yuletide period... this mid-winter concoction juggles its shamelessly self-obsessed characters, drunken escapades, and unresolved issues with aplomb.”—Tim Wong

Chuck Close
Marion Cajori/USA/2007 | REVIEW
Close up on celebrated New York portraitist Chuck Close. “It is when the filmmaker and her camera hone in on the artist and his work that the film really shines.”—Jacob Powell

Cléo from 5 to 7
Agnès Varda/France/1962 | REVIEW
“Cléo from 5 to 7, while full of Nouvelle Vague trickery, is never flippant or half-baked – and perhaps this explains why the Left Bank filmmakers perhaps feel less dated than their counterparts. Instead, Varda produces one of the more moving odes to life in the face of death, pulling out the most romantic notions out of the most banal.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Coco avant Chanel
Anne Fontaine/France/2008 | REVIEW
“Coco avant Chanel, as the film’s title suggests, is more a snapshot of the designer’s early life than conventional biopic, and this is both its success and failing. Director Anne Fontaine chooses to end things just as they become really interesting.”—Caleb Starrenburg

The Cove
Louie Psihoyos/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“With a spy-thriller intellect and activist spirit, The Cove is an utterly compelling exploration of the dolphin trade, and the efforts of one passionate individual to tear it down.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Daytime Drinking
Noh Young-seok/Korea/2008 | REVIEW
“Sharply written, acted with heart, and imaginatively and wittily composed.”—Alexander Bisley

Disgrace
Steve Jacobs/South Africa/2008 | REVIEW

Dogtooth
Yorgas Lanthimos/Greece/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
A mean-spirited black comedy of three captive siblings and their control-freak parents. “Both hilarious and monstrous to watch... the surprise package of the festival thus far.”—Tim Wong

Double Take
Johan Grimonprez/Belgium/2008 | REVIEW
“An idiosyncratic blend of historic fact and fiction that casts a wry eye on commercial and political duplicity, by assembling archival news footage, sexist television advertisements, and Alfred Hitchcock’s droll introductions to his late 50s TV series, ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’.”—Steve Garden

Drag Me to Hell
Sam Raimi/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“Frightening and funny in equal measure, Drag me to Hell might just be the medicine jaded horror fans have been waiting for.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl
Manoel de Oliveira/Portugal/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
“[Manoel de Oliveira]’s latest... is a very old-fashioned narrative, full of suitors, guardians and love-at-first-sight. However, de Oliveira’s approach is anything but old-fashioned, an immaculately shot dream, that wryly concludes things are much more complex beneath the surface.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

An Education
Lone Sherfig/UK/2009 | REVIEW

Enjoy Poverty
Renzo Martens/The Netherlands/2008 | REVIEW
The result of Dutch artist Renzo Martens’s three years traveling the Congo, documenting the country’s ongoing plunder by foreign interests and our complicity in the ‘poverty industry’. “By turns flawed, frustrating, illuminating and thought provoking. Absolutely recommended viewing.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Examined Life
Astra Taylor/Canada/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
Slavoj Zizek, Cornel West and others chew the fat. “A buoyant, life-affirming 90-minutes in the company of a handful of today’s most renowned thinkers.”—Steve Garden

Firaaq
Nandita Das/India/2008 | REVIEW
“Firaaq is nicely put together, and one can’t argue with its objective to address the injustice and suffering of racial violence, but the need to produce a movie that reaches as wide an audience as possible has made for a rather conventional film that almost works against its intentions.”—Steve Garden

Four Nights With Anna
Jerzy Skolimowski/Poland/2008 | REVIEW
Jerzy Skolimowski (The Shout) returns to filmmaking with the story one man’s eccentric, obsessional love for his neighbour, and the voyeuristic courtship which follows. “The verve of the filmmaking and attractive atmospheric appeal of the visual storytelling (refreshingly light on dialogue) make Four Nights With Anna the most teasingly intriguing of the European films in this festival.”—Steve Garden

Goodbye Solo
Ramin Bahrani/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“Goodbye Solo is the type of gentle US indie which doesn’t try to bury its story underneath a forced quirkiness or look-at-me tactics. Instead it’s more of a sigh, a quiet film about the passing of time and a demographic changing of the guard in the United States, where the old “white” world typified by Hank Williams is being replaced by a new multi-ethnic world of “reggae, rock n roll and all that”.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

The Higher Force
Olaf de Fleur Johannesson/Iceland/2008 | REVIEW
“Icelandic director Olaf de Fleur Johannesson juxtaposes slapstick small-time gangsters with the personal tragedy that shapes their lives.”—Joe Sheppard

Humpday
Lynn Shelton/USA/2009 | REVIEW
Lynn Shelton hilariously exposes the blinkered bravado and sulky intolerance underpinning the relationship between two confused beasts. “Like that hangover the morning after a night spent talking shit, Humpday is a wonderfully awkward mess best watched between closed fingers.”—Joe Sheppard

In the Loop
Armando Iannucci/UK/2008 | REVIEW
“As an updated riff on Yes, Minister, it lacks comparable wit and perception. Nor could any one seriously call the film political, despite its setting. In the Loop tells us nothing we don’t already know about the scoundrels who presume to lead us, and yet most reviewers can’t shout its praises loudly enough. Some have even tried to liken it to Dr. Strangelove – go figure.”—Steve Garden

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Chantal Akerman/France/1975 | REVIEW #1 #2 #3
One of the seminal (and least seen) films of the last 50 years is afforded a rare brace of screenings at this year’s festival. “A contender for the cinematic event of the year... Jeanne Dielman is an intelligent and challenging work. The rigour Akerman brings to the film is uncompromising, making it a film one must actively (rather than passively) engage with. The more one works with it, the more rewarding the experience will be.”—Steve Garden

Jerichow
Christian Petzold/Germany/2008 | REVIEW
“Given the history of German racism against the Turks, this reworking of The Postman Always Rings Twice looked set to twist the familiar tale into a Haneke-like dissection of lingering fascism, but Petzold sidesteps that potentially didactic route in favour of a modest commentary on venality, albeit one with decidedly Teutonic overtones.”—Steve Garden

A Lake
Philippe Grandrieux/France/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
Philippe Grandrieux’s exquisite new film. “With its epic visual and thematic scope, this is cinema at its most richly elemental, and a brilliant example of elliptical visual storytelling. It’s a film you give yourself over to and simply let it do its oneiric magic.”—Steve Garden

The Limits of Control
Jim Jarmusch/USA/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
“Jarmusch’s simple, less-is-more approach forsakes dialogue for gesture, tone and a calm space where meanings, analogies and allegories tempt and tease. Key images, scenarios and sound bites are repeated, reverberating throughout like in a fugue (or perhaps at times like a broken record). As long as there’s evidence of some design – and very pretty too – does it really matter if it makes very little sense?”—Joe Sheppard

The Man in the Hat
Luit Bieringa/NZ/2009 | REVIEW
“Peter McLeavey is without a doubt one of the most important figures in New Zealand contemporary art. As such he is long overdue a comprehensive biography. It’s a shame that this doco isn’t that biography. It is essentially a love story, albeit a multifaceted one – art, people, a building, a city, and a street.”—Andy Palmer

Mary and Max
Adam Elliot/Australia/2008 | REVIEW
“Utilising the clay-mation medium to good effect... Elliot’s debut feature Mary and Max takes on the odd-couple genre in a sweetly endearing way but injected with a good dose of black humour and without the saccharine coating this kind of story might usually attract.”—Jacob Powell

Mock Up On Mu
Craig Baldwin/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“Those familiar with the found-footage creations of Craig Baldwin (Tribulation 99, Spectres of the Spectrum) will have some idea what to expect from his latest excursion into cut-and-paste retro-chic... Coming at a furious clip and packed with aural, visual and intellectual stimuli, Mock Up On Mu is an unrelenting ride.”—Steve Garden

Modern Life
Raymond Depardon/France/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
“”—Steve Garden

North Face
Philipp Stolz/Germany/2008 | REVIEW
“If the film’s political and romantic plots fail to scale heights of epicness, the success of North Face is visceral. Stölz’s assault on the senses is technically assured and so utterly immersive you won’t know where the two-hour running time has gone.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Old Partner
Lee Chung-ryoul/Korea/2008 | REVIEW
“This genuine and revealing film about the 40-year friendship between two humble soul mates (and Mrs Choi too) is sure to find an appreciative and justly deserved audience. It depicts a way of life, traditions and values that are steadily vanishing, and has much to say to a world reeling from the collapse of the erroneous imperatives of consumption and greed.”—Steve Garden

OSS 117: Lost in Rio
Michel Hazanavicius/France/2009 | REVIEW
“If the film is less subtle than Cairo, Nest of Spies (which wasn’t in any way restrained) it’s deliberately so. Everything in this sequel is ratcheted up to the next level of ludicrous. Lost in Rio is the most entertaining French comedy to hit our shores in some time, and perhaps one of the most enjoyable comedies period. Let’s hope this isn’t the last outing in the OSS series.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Our Beloved Month of August
Miguel Gomes/Portugal/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
“A heady mixture of fiction and documentary (and both at the same time), Miguel Gomes evokes the nostalgia of painful summer love in the Portuguese countryside with considerable verve. And in the process, Gomes may have set up a revolutionary template on how to film a community when the director is an outsider (or even an insider). A moving, languid dream of a movie, this is a stunning piece of filmmaking.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Paper Soldier
Alexey German Jr/Russia/2008 | REVIEW
“Paper Soldier gives potent expression to the notion that the personal is the political, but above all, this poetic and philosophical meditation is outstanding on purely cinematic terms. It’s a fabulous piece of work. I’m tempted to say more about it, but it should be seen more than talked about – and then seen again, and again. If you missed it, do whatever you can to track it down.”—Steve Garden

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
Arne Glimcher/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“A potent reminder of the excitement that can be generated by the movies and the experimental and artistic possibilities inherent in this medium.”—Thomasin Sleigh

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Hayao Miyazaki/Japan/2008 | REVIEW
“The latest and long-awaited feature from master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki is his most gentle to date... With Ponyo the director is not just pitching for an audience the same age as the film’s five-year-old titular character – but is daring viewers to imaginatively become children themselves.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Red Cliff
John Woo/China/2008 | REVIEW
A return to China – and form – for Hong Kong action exponent John Woo. “Big, loud, a little camp, and stuffed-to-the gills with old-fashioned epicness.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Samson and Delilah
Warwick Thornton/Australia/2009 | REVIEW INTERVIEW
“Mature, intelligent, compassionate, artful, sensitive, respectful, perceptive, understated... What more can I say? This film is superb.”—Steve Garden

The Secret of Kells
Tomm Moore/Nora Twomey/Ireland/2008 | REVIEW
“The Secret of Kells’ largely two-dimensional and swirling aesthetic won’t be to everyone’s liking, although it certainly makes an interesting departure from the American and Japanese animation hitting our screens. All up, a noteworthy debut from Moore and Twomey.”—Caleb Starrenburg

The September Issue
R.J. Cutler/USA/2009 | REVIEW #1 #2
Editor-in-Chief (and Devil Wears Prada inspiration) Anna Wintour dictates terms in this fly-on-the-wall making of Vogue magazine’s coveted September issue. “Are there enough Nina Ricci dresses? Will Sienna Miller wear a wig? The achievement of The September Issue is that by the end of the film I actually cared about the answers to these questions.”—Danyl McLaughlan

Serbis
Brillante Mendoza/Philippines/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
A rundown grindhouse is the setting for this outrageous Filipino film. “Serbisis nothing if not challenging – it almost dares you to fault it. One might be tempted to cite Mendoza’s liberal use of art-film clichés... as evidence of a calculated appeal to the art-house and festival circuits, if it wasn’t for the fact that the film is so palpably convincing.”—Steve Garden

Sin Nombre
Cary Joji Fukunaga/Mexico/2009 | REVIEW
Desperate souls attempt to cross the Mexican border in this precarious thriller. “Very well constructed – suspense, drama, emotion all get played out with considerable control and energy. Sin Nombre’s characters and ideas are a little problematic, and the story is a little hokey – but it’s an entertaining film nonetheless.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

The Sky Crawlers
Mamoru Oshii/Japan/2008 | REVIEW
“While The Sky Crawlers is a film that too often confuses stillness with coldness, if you’ve got the patience for it then the aerial set pieces are an awe-inspiring reward.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Song from the Southern Seas
Marat Sarulu/Kazakhstan/2008 | REVIEW
“Although sometimes conventionally lost-in-translation, Song is consistently interesting.”—Alexander Bisley

Soul Power
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte/USA/2008 | REVIEW
Talent from the United States and around the African continent converge at the legendary “Zaire 1974” music festival on the eve of Muhammed Ali/George Foreman’s Rumble in the Jungle. “Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s documentary includes some incredible music, and though it’s a little light on the “African” musicians, it’s still an excellent account of a great show.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Still Walking
Hirokazu Kore-eda/Japan/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
Regret and discontent simmer beneath the serene family gathering of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film. “While Kore-eda’s film is sure to resonate with Ozu-philes, this is no slavish imitation or wan homage. Like the equally great Hou Hsiao-hsien (another filmmaker influenced by Ozu), Kore-eda’s individual voice is always impressively to the fore.”—Steve Garden

The Strength of Water
Armagan Ballantyne/NZ/2009 | INTERVIEW

Summer Hours
Olivier Assayas/France/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2 #3
Three siblings inherit their mother’s legacy of art in Olivier Assayas’s Musée d’Orsay-inspired meditation on heritage and succession. “One of Assayas’s more restrained, thoughtful and consequently (in my view) most substantial films.”—Steve Garden

Teza
Haile Gerima/Ethiopia/2008 | REVIEW
“While the humanity and courage depicted in the drama is reflected with equal intensity in the filmmaking, Teza is not without flaws. But none of this really matters – the passion and sincerity come powering through regardless.”—Steve Garden

Theater of War
John Walter/USA/2008 | REVIEW
“Jogn WAlter’s impassioned and inspirational Theater of War raises many though-provoking questions, such as what do we do with the knowledge of our complicity, what do we do with our powerlessness, and how does our work (and actions) define us?”—Steve Garden

Themis as A Lady of Loose Morals
Viktar Dashuk/Belarus/2008 | REVIEW
“Dashuk captures some of the repression in his home country in a truly courageous manner – and in the process makes a highly charged piece of political filmmaking.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Thirst
Park Chan-wook/Korea/2009 | REVIEW
The director of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Old Boy turns to vampires. “Park Chan-wook has hit this incredibly twisted and malleable nail on its head... a vampire film for the record books.”—Jacob Powell

35 Shots of Rum
Claire Denis/France/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
A very appealing Claire Denis Ozu homage about Parisian train driver Lionel (Alex Descas) and his daugher Josephine (Mati Diop). Diop, daugher of the Senegalese legend Wasis Diop, is gorgeous and musical. Agnes Godard imparts her usual sensuous cinematography; camera as caress.—Alexander Bisley

Treeless Mountain
So Yong Kim/USA/Korea/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
So Yong Kim’s (In Between Days) tale of two abandoned young girls. “Kim and her cinematographer, Anne Misawa, lock eyes with their two child stars, and with an invisible hand, don’t let go. The compassion expressed through this unwavering, unobtrusive lens is remarkable.”—Tim Wong

Trip to Asia: The Quest for Harmony
Thomas Grube | REVIEW INTERVIEW
“Trip to Asia is as much a journey of self-discovery for the filmmaker as it is for the 120-odd musicians and flamboyant conductor Sir Simon Rattle, all of whom explore the tensions implicit in being an individual – and often a perfectionist – working collaboratively in search of the artistic sublime.”—Joe Sheppard

Tulpan
Sergey Dvortsevoy/Kazakhstan/2008 | REVIEW
“Little-by-little the simple charms of Tulpan spring up and overwhelm you. Gently comic and endearing, the debut feature-film from Kazakhstani director Sergey Dvortsevoy says more about family dynamics than the bloated vanity of Frenchman Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale.”—Caleb Starrenburg

24 City
Jia Zhang-ke/China/2008 | REVIEW
“24 City is Jia Zhang-ke’s most dense, challenging film to date. It might also be one of his greatest achievements.”—Steve Garden

Tyson
James Toback/USA/2008 | REVIEW

Unmade Beds
Alexis Dos Santos/UK/2009 | REVIEW INTEREVIEW
“Recreating the spirit of those peripatetic uni days, Unmade Beds reveals its story amidst the aimless existence of urban 20-somethings brought together for brief spell in a sprawling London squat. Sporting a consistent tenor of muted cool, Alexis Dos Santos’s appealing new feature charts afresh the age old quest for love, connection, and meaning.”—Jacob Powell

Van Diemen’s Land
Jonathan auf der Heide/Australia/2009 | REVIEW #2 INTERVIEW
Australia’s convict past through eight doomed escapees. “A deeply unsettling and resonant tale of barbarism, and a hugely impressive debut feature by its director Jonathan auf der Heide.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Waiting for Sancho
Mark Peranson/Canada/2008 | REVIEW INTERVIEW
Canadian film critic Mark Peranson’s witty documentary on the making of Birdsong. “Improvised and ad hoc, a fascinating insight into how a work of great beauty can be created through the everyday.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Way of Nature
Nina Hedenius/Sweden/2008 | REVIEW
“Nina Hedenius takes a quietly meditative approach to her subject matter in Way of Nature, aiming for a simple visual poetry to balance her humble political intentions. ”—Steve Garden

We Live in Public
Ondi Timoner/USA/2009 | REVIEW INTERVIEW
Ondi Timoner’s (Dig!) explores the cause and effect of social networking through the eyes of Internet trail-blazer Josh Harris. “In many ways a snapshot of a society on the cusp of change, it’s Harris that makes this documentary a truly fascinating – if at times a draining and uncomfortable – experience.”—Caleb Starrenburg

Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt/USA/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
Michelle Williams loses her canine companion in this quietly devastating impression of present-day America. “Reichardt’s thematic and formal restraint positions her work alongside the very best of contemporary American, European and Asian cinema. Wendy and Lucy is understated, intelligent and compassionate, and is sure to be one of the highlights of 2009.”—Steve Garden

The White Ribbon
Michaea Haneke/Germany/2009 | REVIEW
“Confirms Haneke’s stature as one of contemporary cinema’s most provocative and insightful commentators.”—Brannavan Gnanalingam

Winnebago Man
Ben Steinbauer/USA/2009 | INTERVIEW

Yes Madam, Sir
Megan Doneman/Australia/India/2008 | INTERVIEW

Zift
Javor Gardev/Bulgaria/2008 | REVIEW #1 #2
“A black and white hyper-machismo tale of revenge and revelry, Zift shamelessly plunders from other noir/revenge/exploitation films... Outrageous camera angles, barely-believable storylines, sordid characters are all necessary to qualify as exploitation these days, so it’s hardly dripping in originality. But despite its unabashed neo-noir silliness, it’s highly watchable, and perhaps offers some sort of critique of Communist Bulgaria.”—