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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2015

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015

Horizons

Programme

27 films · 21 reviews

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45 Years

Review preview for 45 Years

To call the film haunting is an understatement.

Luke Shaw · 5 out of 5
A marriage is thrown into turmoil with news of a long dead lover.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Andrew Haigh; Writer: Andrew Haigh, based on the short story by David Constantine.; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells, David Sibley, Sam Alexander, Richard Cunningham, Hannah Chalmers, Max Rudd, Martin Atkinson, Kevin Matadeen, Camille Ucan, Lucy Temple, Paul Goldsmith, Rachel Banham)

Full review See: Andrew Haigh in conversation on 45 Years , Charlotte Rampling in conversation on 45 Years

Aferim!

Review preview for Aferim!

Jude and Lazarescu also show how the structure of society has a habit of making you conform to it, whatever your intentions - a barbed idea intended to stick in the minds of those who live in today's Europe where the Roma still face wide-spread prejudice

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A policeman and his son hunt a runaway gypsy slave.

(Country: Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France; Year: 2015; Director: Radu Jude; Writer: Radu Jude; Stars: Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Toma Cuzin, Alexandru Dabija, Luminita Gheorghiu, Victor Rebengiuc, Alberto Dinache, Alexandru Bindea, Mihaela Sirbu, Adina Cristescu, Serban Pavlu, Gabriel Spahiu, Puiu Mircea Lascus, Daniel Visan)

Full review See: Radu Jude on language, prejudice and seeing the past in the present.

All About Them

Review preview for All About Them

Fresh, frisky and surprisingly chaste considering the amount of bed-hopping going on.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Love triangle romcom.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2015; Director: Jérôme Bonnell; Writer: Jérôme Bonnell, Jérôme Bonnell, Maël Piriou; Stars: Anaïs Demoustier, Félix Moati, Sophie Verbeeck, Patrick d'Assumçao, Olivier Broche, Laure Calamy, Hannelore Cayre, Claire Magnin, Caroline Baehr, Pierre Bizet, Marcelle Fontaine, Pascal Roux, Jurica Barisic, Mathieu Intikalau, Franck Andrieux)

Full review

Body

Review preview for Body

Malgorzata Szumowska takes a playful approach to the subjects of eating disorders and grief with suprisingly effective results.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A police officer struggles with his daughter's anorexia.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2015; Director: Malgorzata Szumowska; Writer: Malgorzata Szumowska; Stars: Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwala)

Full review

The Brand New Testament (Le tout nouveau testament)

Review preview for The Brand New Testament

The levels of twee are fairly high, and contrasted with the bizarre and often regressive gendered comedy it’s likely to divide audiences right down the middle.

Luke Shaw · 2.5 out of 5
The new adventures of God, who lives in Brussels with his teenage daughter and falls foul of her hacking skills.

(Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2015; Director: Jaco van Dormael; Writer: Thomas Gunzig, Jaco Van Dormael; Stars: Benoît Poelvoorde, Yolande Moreau, Catherine Deneuve)

Full review

The Club (El Club)

Review preview for The Club

Larraín's judgement when it comes is fiercely Old Testament - harsh, unexpected and fast.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A group of priests of various ages lives together with Mónica, a nun, in a house on the Chilean coast. When they are not praying and atoning for their sins, they train their greyhound for the next race.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2015; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos; Stars: Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers, Alfredo Castro, Alejandro Goic, Alejandro Sieveking, Jaime Vadell, Marcelo Alonso, Jose Soza) , Trailer

Full review

Court

A folk singer is charged on dubious grounds after a man's body is found inside a manhole.

(Country: India; Year: 2014; Director: Chaitanya Tamhane; Writer: Chaitanya Tamhane; Stars: Vivek Gomber, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Pradeep Joshi, Shirish Pawar, Usha Bane, Vira Sathidar)

The Drop

Review preview for The Drop

Bob may have the beefed up body of a bouncer but Hardy continually emphasises his softer, hesitant side, his body language screaming flight even though he is built to fight.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A barman finds himself embroiled in mob trouble after a robbery and facing personal threat after finding a puppy in a dustbin.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Michaël R Roskam; Writer: Dennis Lehane; Stars: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Erin Darke, James Frecheville, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz, Jeremy Bobb, Patricia Squire, Michael Aronov, Michael Esper, James Colby, Morgan Spector, Alex Ziwak)

Full review

El Cinco (El 5 de Talleres)

As a football player prepares to retire from the sport, he contemplates what life holds beyond the pitch.

(Country: Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, France, Netherlands; Year: 2014; Director: Adrián Biniez; Writer: Adrián Biniez; Stars: Diego Mattioli, Néstor Guzzini, Esteban Lamothe, Patrick Mölleken, Julieta Zylberberg)

Hungry Hearts

Review preview for Hungry Hearts

A thriller, a deep hard stare into the nature of escape, a comedy of metaphors and an alluringly photographed glimpse into the abyss.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
New York-set drama about a young couple who tear each other apart over the care of their child.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Saverio Costanzo; Writer: Marco Franzoso, Saverio Costanzo; Stars: Adam Driver, Alba Rohrwacher, Roberta Maxwell, David Aaron Baker, Dennis Rees, Victoria Cartagena, Ginger Kearns, Natalie Gold, Cristina J. Huie, Katherine O'Sullivan, Toshiko Onizawa, Jason Selvig, Jake Weber, Victor Williams)

Full review See: Alba Rohrwacher in conversation on Adam Driver in Saverio Costanzo’s Hungry Hearts, Arnaud Desplechin, Isabelle Huppert on shoes and Sworn Virgin , Saverio Costanzo in conversation on Hungry Hearts , Alba Rohrwacher in conversation on Hungry Hearts

The High Sun (Zvizdan)

Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighbouring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred

(Country: Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia; Year: 2015; Director: Dalibor Matanic; Writer: Dalibor Matanic; Stars: Tihana Lazovic, Goran Markovic, Nives Ivankovic)

Inherent Vice

Review preview for Inherent Vice

This is the tail end of the good times, Doc and his cohort seem as though they are fading out.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
A drug-fuelled detective investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.

(Country: US; Year: 2014; Director: Paul Thomas Anderson; Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson, based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon; Stars: Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Reese Witherspoon, Sasha Pieterse, Joaquin Phoenix, Owen Wilson, Eric Roberts, Michael K. Williams, Maya Rudolph, Wilson Bethel, Jillian Bell, Martin Short, Anders Holm, Martin Donovan)

Full review

Land And Shade (La Tierra Y La Sombra)

Review preview for Land And Shade

From silence and small details, César Augusto Acevedo weaves a devastating tale.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A man returns home after a 17 year absence because his only son is gravely sick.

(Country: Colombia, France, Netherlands, Chile, Brazil; Year: 2015; Director: César Augusto Acevedo; Writer: César Augusto Acevedo; Stars: José Felipe Cárdenas, Haimer Leal, Edison Raigosa, Hilda Ruiz, Marleyda Soto)

Full review

Last Summer

A woman has four days to say goodbye to her son after losing a custody battle.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli; Writer: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Igort, Banana Yoshimoto; Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Bach, Daniel Ball, Ken Brady)

The Measure Of A Man (La Loi Du marché, A Simple Man)

Review preview for The Measure Of A Man

Stephane Brizé is a master of films that appear to say very little but actually speak volumes.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A supermarket guard faces a moral quandry.

(Country: France; Year: 2015; Director: Stéphane Brizé; Writer: Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Gorce; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Karine de Mirbeck, Matthieu Schaller)

Full review See: Interview with Vincent Lindon about The Measure Of A Man , Interview with Vincent Lindon about his career

Mississippi Grind

Review preview for Mississippi Grind

As a road movie it is surprisingly static

Angus Wolfe Murray · 2.5 out of 5
On the road with gambling addicts who live high and lose loads.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck; Writer: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck; Stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds, Sienna Miller, Analeigh Tipton, Alfre Woodard, Robin Weigert, Teri Wyble, Christopher Heskey, Stephanie Honoré, Jane McNeill, Patrick Kearns)

Full review

Mountains May Depart (Shan He Gu Ren)

Review preview for Mountains May Depart

A bold study of what it means to be Chinese in the modern age.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A young woman chooses between two men as China is torn between its traditional values and a capitalist future.

(Country: China, Japan; Year: 2015; Director: Jia Zhangke; Writer: Jia Zhangke; Stars: Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi, Dong Jing, Dong Zijian)

Full review

One Floor Below (Un Etaj Mai Jos)

Review preview for One Floor Below

Deftly scripted, subtle and challenging, this is a film which reminds us why Muntean is such an important contributor to the Romanian New Wave.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A witness to a crime is faced with a philosophical dilemma.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2015; Director: Radu Muntean; Writer: Alexandru Baciu, Radu Muntean, Razvan Radulescu; Stars: Teodor Corban, Iulian Postelnicu, Tatiana Iekel, Ionut Bora)

Full review

Rams (Hrútar)

Review preview for Rams

Hákonarson proves himself a master of his material - a sort of rural Ken Loach - shooting sparingly yet dramatically against extreme weather conditions.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
In a remote Icelandic farming valley, two brothers who haven't spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what's dearest to them - their sheep.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2015; Director: Grímur Hákonarson; Writer: Grímur Hákonarson; Stars: Sigurður Sigurjónsson, Theodór Júlíusson, Charlotte Bøving, Jon Benonysson, Gunnar Jónsson, Þorleifur Einarsson) , Trailer

Full review See: Composer Atli Örvarsson on his family connection to Rams and drawing on tradition , Grímur Hákonarson on Rams, Little Moscow, The County and Icelandic co-operation

Reality (Réalité)

Trouble brews when a little girl finds a tape in the carcass of a boar that her dad was planning to stuff.

(Year: 2014; Director: Quentin Dupieux; Writer: Quentin Dupieux; Stars: Alain Chabat, Jonathan Lambert, Élodie Bouchez, Kyla Kenedy, Eric Wareheim, John Glover, Lola Delon, Matt Battaglia, Susan Diol, Erik Passoja, Jonathan Spencer, Bambadjan Bamba, Serge Hazanavicius, Roxane Mesquida, Brad Greenquist)

Slow West

Review preview for Slow West

Maclean shows a land where loss of innocence is ever-present.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A Scotsman heads to the american West in search of his lost love.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2015; Director: John Maclean; Writer: John Maclean; Stars: Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ben Mendelsohn, Rory McCann, Jeffrey Thomas, Brooke Williams, Stuart Martin, Madeleine Sami, Caren Pistorius, Kalani Queypo, Michael Whalley, Erroll Shand, Tawanda Manyimo, Stuart Bowman, Edwin Wright) , Trailer

Full review See: Slow West director John Maclean in conversation , Kodi Smit-McPhee in conversation on Slow West , Ben Mendelsohn in conversation on Slow West

Tale Of Tales (Il Racconto Dei Racconti)

Review preview for Tale Of Tales

On balance, the dexterity of Garrone’s vision papers over the cracks and finds the poetic dimensions of the magical material.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Collection of fairy tales. In one, Salma Hayek is a jealous queen and in another Vincent Cassel plays a king who encounters two mysterious sisters. In a third a king raises a gigantic flea.

(Country: Italy, France, UK; Year: 2015; Director: Matteo Garrone; Writer: Matteo Garrone, based on the book by Giambattista Basile; Stars: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, John C Reilly, Shirley Henderson)

Full review

Theeb

Review preview for Theeb

This is a well structured and affecting piece of film-making.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A Bedouin boy experiences a desert adventure when he joins a British officer searching for a well on the eve of the 1916 Arab Revolt.

(Country: United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, UK; Year: 2014; Director: Naji Abu Nowar; Writer: Naji Abu Nowar, Bassel Ghandour; Stars: Jacir Eid Al-Hwietat, Hussein Salameh Al-Sweilhiyeen, Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh, Jack Fox)

Full review

Tangerine

Review preview for Tangerine

This film is a shot of dayglo-coloured adrenaline to the vein, a vat of sugar poured into the eyes.

Owen Van Spall · 5 out of 5
A working girl tears through Tinseltown on Christmas Eve searching for the pimp who broke her heart.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch; Stars: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, James Ransone, Clu Gulager, Scott Krinsky, Katja Kassin, Josh Sussman, John Gulager, Ana Foxx, Jason Stuart, Anni Weisband, Frances Green, Scott Lyons, Richie Lillard, Mickey O'Hagan, Karren Karagulian, Tess Hunt)

Full review See: Interview with Mya Taylor about Tangerine

Wondrous Boccaccio (Maraviglioso Boccaccio)

Set against the backdrop of a black plague-stricken Florence, ten young men and women escape to a country estate where they spend their days telling different stories of love, fate, and resurrection.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2015; Director: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani; Writer: Giovanni Boccaccio, Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani; Stars: Lello Arena, Paola Cortellesi, Carolina Crescentini, Flavio Parenti, Vittoria Puccini, Michele Riondino, Kim Rossi Stuart, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kasia Smutniak, Jasmine Trinca, Josafat Vagni, Eugenia Costantini, Miriam Dalmazio, Fabrizio Falco, Melissa Bartolini)

Youth (La Giovinezza, The Early Years)

Review preview for Youth

The trappings and style more than make up for any lack of substance.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A composer and a film director staying in an Alpine hotel find themselves under unexpected pressure.

(Country: Italy, France, Switzerland, UK; Year: 2015; Director: Paolo Sorrentino; Writer: Paolo Sorrentino; Stars: Rachel Weisz, Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Paul Dano, Harvey Keitel, Neve Gachev)

Full review See: Harvey Keitel on Sorrentino, Campion and Scorsese , Michael Caine, Jane Fonda, Paolo Sorrentino, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano and Rachel Weisz talk Youth