This year brought 18 features and seven shorts, all presented with live musical accompaniment.
Moselle’s slapdash, borderline indifferent aesthetic shortchanges the more fascinating elements of her subject.
Though Virgin Mountain is the English title, its Icelandic title, Fusí, seems more fitting.
Being 14 is a much more realistic representation of young mindsets and behavior than Bridgend.
Among the Believers takes viewers to the frontlines of an ideological battle playing out in the Islamic world.
Ido Mizrahy’s Gored is a survey of hard knocks and the terror of dying dreams.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Cozarinsky’s story is how circuitous his and his parents’ geographical trajectories have been.
As far as matters of its own history goes, Los Angeles has a reputation for having one eye set to the rear-view mirror.
J. Davis’s Manson Family Vacation is a disarmingly unpredictable tale of reconciliation between two brothers.
Throughout 7 Chinese Brothers, Bob Byington’s sense of humor is familiar and facile.
Twinsters is a charming, energizing, and sometimes moving meditation on what it means to be a family.
The inclusivity of this Melissa McCarthy showcase leaves plenty of room for the rest of the cast to stretch their comedic legs.
Those familiar with Les Blank’s malleable approach to documentary production will recognize that energy in its nascent form.
It’s so easy to take images for granted in our media-saturated, selfie-happy culture, but that’s a luxury the subjects can’t indulge in.
The Nightmare seems frustratingly content with alarming us with shock cuts and surface-level boogie monsters.
Manglehorn is too talky by half, especially when two or even three scenes are superimposed on one another.
The films detour down stylistic back roads that yield new perspectives on the art/life divide.
Lawrence Wright’s presence in Going Clear is a persistent reminder of what the film could have been.
Set almost entirely in a French employment-recruitment firm, Rules of the Game is a documentary David Foster Wallace would have loved.
We develop an investment in the health of these subjects, but remain aware that we’re unable to reach out to them.
Director Joshua Oppenheimer emphatically suggests that all of humankind’s troubles begin and end with the body.