Feed

Andrew Sarris

More Moreau, Please!

Séraphine
Running time 125 minutes
Written by Martin Provost and Marc Abdenour
Directed by Martin Provost
Starring Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Wilhelm Uhde

Martin Provost’s Séraphine, from a screenplay (in French with English subtitles) by Mr. Provost and Marc Abdenour, tells the remarkable real-life story of Séraphine de Senlis, a 48-year-old chaste housekeeper whose naïve, Read More

Oh, Brother! Coppola Goes Back to the Family for Indie Treat

Tetro
Running time 127 minutes
Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Starring  Vincent Gallo, Maribel Verdú, Aiden Ehrenrich

Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro, from his own screenplay (partially in Spanish with English subtitles), conveys a sense of his own life and career convulsing wildly between fulfillment and tragedy, triumph and debacle. Now 70, Mr. Coppola Read More

Art Stars

Herb & Dorothy
Running Time  89 minutes
Directed by Megumi Sasaki
Starring Herb and Dorthy Vogel

Megumi Sasaki’s Herb & Dorothy describes and amply illustrates the extraordinary saga of the Vogels—Herbert, a postal clerk, and Dorothy, a librarian—who double-handedly built one of the most important collections of Minimalist and Conceptual Art in history with their Read More

The Academy Awards Got It Right With Departures!

Departures
Running Time 131 minutes
Written by Kundo Koyama
Directed by Yojiro Takita
Starring Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ryoko Hirosue, Kazuko Yoshiyuki

Yojiro Takita’s Departures (Okuribito), from the screenplay (in Japanese with English subtitles) by Kundo Kuyama, won last year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in an upset victory in this category over Read More

It’s Back to the Future! Terminator Salvation’s Time Warp Left Me Dizzy

Terminator Salvation
Running time 115 minutes
Written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris
Directed by McG
Starring Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Helena Bonham Carter

McG’s Terminator Salvation, from a story and screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, stipulates a post-nuclearized, post-apocalyptic America in the year 2018. Yes, 2018! That’s only nine years from now! Read More

He Loves New York

Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight
Running time 90 minutes
Directed by Wendy Keys

Wendy Keys’ Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight unfolds as a labor of love and mutual respect between Ms. Keys and Mr. Glaser, onetime colleagues in the early ’70s on the Board of Directors of the International Design Conference in Aspen. Read More

Motel Chronicles

Management
Running time 93 minutes
Written and Directed by Stephen Belber
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn, Woody Harrelson

Stephen Belber’s Management, from his own screenplay, is based on a one-act play he wrote as part of a projected series that took place in motel rooms. The series idea was abandoned, but the one-acter was eventually Read More

French Connections: Binoche Is Boss in Assayas Family

Summer Hours
Running time 103 minutes
Written and directed by Olivier Assayas
Starring Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier

Olivier Assayas’ Summer Hours (L’Heure d’Été), from his own screenplay (in French with English subtitles), is curiously described by the 54-year-old writer-director of a dozen or more feature films as his “most Taiwanese film.” Mr. Assayas Read More

Late Life

The Window
Running time 85 minutes
Written by Carlos Sorín and Pedro Maizal
Directed by Carlos Sorín
Starring Antonio Larreta

Carlos Sorín’s The Window (La Ventana), from a screenplay (in Spanish with English subtitles) by Mr. Sorín, in collaboration with Pedro Maizal, turns out to be a far more realistic and austere film than the Read More

Split Atom: New Egoyan Film Is Good, Not Great

Adoration
Running time 100 minutes
Written and directed by Atom Egoyan
Starring  Scott Speedman, Arsinée Khanjian, Devon Bostick, Rachel Blanchard

Atom Egoyan’s Adoration, from his own screenplay, is the 48-year-old, Cairo-born, Armenian-Canadian writer-director’s 12th feature film in a 32-year career that has spanned several media and art forms, and many countries, and for which he Read More