Browsing: NP Approved

NP Approved Screen Shot 2015-04-10 at 6.39.41 PM
9.1
1

Francesco Munzi’s Black Souls (Anime nere) is an unflinching tale of one family’s prolonged descent into Hell. Three brothers, all involved in the Calabrian crime syndicate known as the ‘Ndrangheta in various ways, clash in what at first seems to be a standard, if evocative, crime drama. Soon, however, we realized that the film’s swift navigation through a series of seemingly unrelated incidents, from stealing goats to organizing international drug deals, is peeling away …

NP Approved ae3bdeb7e6b0a926614a821ebf2ed9c5
9.0
0

An abandoned baby crib sits on a train, causing nothing short of a nuisance. The train attendants plead multiple times for someone to claim the item, but to no avail. Its presence is utterly undeniable and its irritable effects painfully palpable, but still very little can be said beyond that. There’s no getting rid of the nuisance, but still nobody wants to speak up and take responsibility. Those who do try and deal with the problems are thrown under the bus, as it were.

Film Festival Screen Shot 2015-04-09 at 10.17.22 AM
9.2
1

Gauging the strength of a film involves many factors that depend greatly on the type of film you’re watching. Does it entertain? Is it thought provoking? Does it engage you? Do you have a difficult time suspending disbelief? Is it timeless? The list goes on, and for sci-fi films, cinema lovers tend to be tougher on these films. Other ideas that factor in the enjoyment of a sci-fi film: Is it Original? Is it scientifically accurate? (Queue the 100 things wrong with …..

NP Approved The Salt of the Earth
9.0
1

To see one of Sebastião Salgado’s photographs for the first (or even the 100th time) is to be instantly, irrevocably moved, instantly transported to a vastly different, vastly alien time and place. Primarily known as a “social photographer” (a chronicler of people more than places), Salgado has carved out a remarkable career spanning five decades and practically every continent, winning international awards and recognition with each new, years-spanning …

NP Approved eb04e3870caf58f04b406b958dbebaca
9.3
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Even in the context of liberalized and freewheeling Pre-Code Hollywood, The Bitter Tears of General Yen stands out. A daring story of forbidden attraction between an American Christian missionary and a Chinese warlord, the film was the first to open at Radio City Music Hall in 1933 but proved controversial and failed at the box-office. Both director Frank Capra and star Barbara Stanwyck nevertheless remained quite proud of their work and blamed its financial failure on a …

NP Approved b9875cb241f5dadde3705969884b42eb
10.0
0

It takes just minutes to realize that the plot of A Separation, director Asghar Farhadi’s Academy Award winning 2012 film, is at most an endeavor into the complicated domestic life of an Iranian middle-class family. Like many of Farhadi’s films, the arduous obstacles around familial clashes (in this case, the eponymous separation between a husband and wife) become more convoluted by the second, often …

NP Approved tale-of-princess-kaguya-2
9.0
0

Everything Ghibli takes the form of a traditional Japanese fairytale in Isao Takahata’s new feature. Dazzling audiences with sumptuous visuals and enchanting fantasy, it’s all Studio Ghibli has owed as its global success to in a nutshell. Viewers of all ages will be drawn in by the stunning animation styles and unique way of storytelling, but as always there’s plenty more under the surface for those more discerning …

BUFF 2015 remedy 1
9.0
0

Stigma is a fickle beast. It causes us to shut down, to level assumptions instead of searching for knowledge. When you say BDSM it conjures images of ropes, whips, handcuffs, and pain. No matter what your friend’s mom has to say about how much she enjoyed 50 Shades of Grey, my bet…

NP Approved Screen Shot 2015-03-25 at 11.51.32 PM
9.0
0

Hard To Be A God doesn’t really care about the traditional audience. It is a hard film. To the viewer with normal patience, it does not contain a cogent plot or coherent dialogue, it is frequently distressing, and almost always disgusting to look at. However, to ignore it, would be to miss out on one of the most unique films ever made.

NP Approved Screen Shot 2015-03-19 at 9.49.39 PM
9.5
0

Charming, engaging and humane, Abbas Kiarostami’s Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987) was the first film by the Iranian director to gain significant attention outside of his home country. In this simple tale, young Mohamed Reda Nematzadeh (Ahmed Ahmed Poor) is scolded by his teacher (Kheda Barech Defai), not for failing to do his homework, but for failing to write it all down in his notebook.

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