This morning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced its nominees for its awards ceremony, more commonly known as the Oscars. On Sunday, February 22nd, the winners will be decided. That gives everyone one month to catch up on the films they’ve missed. While the Best Film nominees were no big surprise, there were some in the other categories, and some disappointments to boot. Read more »
Uncategorized | 
January 22, 2009 | No Comments »
Part of the Montreal World Film Festival’s official selection in World Competition, Departures (Okuribito), directed by Yojiro Takita, is a picture of emotional beauty. Celloist Daigo Kobayashi departs from city life with his wife after the orchestra disbands and moves back to his home town in rural Japan. His job searching leads him to an ad in a newspaper advertising “departures” as the job description. Assuming work in a travel agency, Daigo is shocked to discover the work involves taking part in the Japanese death ritual of preparing the body of the dead for burial or incineration. Departures reveals to the world a heartfelt story through a cultural ritual that will feel alien to Western audiences. Read more »
Film Festivals, Film Reviews | December 17, 2008 | No Comments »
From August 21st to September 1st, the Montreal World Film Festival celebrated its 32nd anniversary with a selection of 234 feature films, and almost as many short to medium films. Like previous years, the pot was a mix of critical successes and abysmal failures. As is the case with such festivals, any one film enthusiast can hardly see them all, especially with more paying engagements throughout. The best place to start with the MWFF’08 is in the World Competition picks, 20 films that in the end will vie for the festival’s grand prize: The “Grand prix des Amériques” (Grand Prize of the Americas, or “Best Film”). Read more »
Film Festivals | September 30, 2008 | Comments Off
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