Cloud Atlas
It's a sad state of affairs: audiences complain that Hollywood is out of ideas – that with all the sequels, reboots, and movies based on TV shows that we're inundated with, the whole damn industry must be creatively bankrupt. But when you get something ambitious, unusual, daring, and challenging like Cloud Atlas, these same audiences stay away in droves because it's… read more!
Heaven
After his final film Red, the renowned Polish film director Krzysztof Kieslowski announced to the world that he was retiring from filmmaking. Secretly, however, he and his frequent collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz were writing a new trilogy of films, to be titled Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, respectively. Unfortunately, Kieslowski died after writing Heaven, and so never got the chance to personally… read more!
The Princess and the Warrior
I'm beginning to wonder if Tom Tykwer's breakout hit Run Lola Run was a fluke. After seeing his earlier Wintersleepers, an interesting if pretentious drama, and now his latest offering, I suspect that this guy is more comfortable making dry, slow films than his frenetic Lola. Time time around, he explores the odd relationship between Sissi (Lola herself, Franka Potente),… read more!
Run Lola Run
Hyperkinetic adventure where the titular heroine (the charismatic Franka Potente) has just 20 minutes to find the equivalent of $60,000 in order to save her ne'er-do-well boyfriend's life from the gangsters he's indebted to. In a wonderful twist, the film gives Lola three chances to get it right. Writer/director Tykwer – who also co-composed the film's catchy techno score (with… read more!
Wintersleepers
This 1997 feature by the German director of the rocket-fueled international hit Run Lola Run finally got a US release in 2000, but those expecting to see the later film's energy, spirit, or brevity will be disappointed by Wintersleepers. Which isn't to say that this is a boring or worthless film. However, it is far more meditative and, I think,… read more!