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Palm Springs International Film Festival · 2018

Palm Springs International Film Festival 2018

Modern Masters

Programme

8 films · 6 reviews

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The Brawler (Mukkabaaz)

A lower caste boxer struggles to make his mark on the boxing world.

(Country: India; Year: 2017; Director: Anurag Kashyap; Writer: KD Satyam)

Happy End

Review preview for Happy End

Haneke is a master of his material, revealing just enough to keep the viewer on tenterhooks but not enough to give an easy explanations.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Story of a bourgeois family, set against the backdrop of the Calais refugee crisis.

(Country: France, Germany, Austria; Year: 2017; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Toby Jones, Mathieu Kassovitz, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Fantine Harduin, Loubna Abidar, Dominique Besnehard, Jack Claudany, Hassam Ghancy, Nabiha Akkari, Franck Andrieux, Jackee Toto)

Let The Sunshine In (Dark Glasses, Un Beau Soleil Interieur, Bright Sunshine In)

Review preview for Let The Sunshine In

Denis and Binoche take a perceptive and light approach to what could have been hackneyed material.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Isabelle, single mum, divorced artist with one child, is looking for love. True love at last.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Claire Denis; Writer: Christine Angot, Claire Denis; Stars: Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Josiane Balasko, Claire Tran, Xavier Beauvois, Alex Descas, Bruno Podalydès, Paul Blain)

The Post

Review preview for The Post

There's a quietness about it, a new maturity for Spielberg.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of how the Washington Post rose to prominence by taking on the Nixon administration.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Steven Spielberg; Writer: Liz Hannah, Josh Singer; Stars: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie)

Spoor (Pokot)

Review preview for Spoor

It has the ungainly but attractive ambience of an old fairy tale being passed down through the generations, becoming more and more embellished on each retelling.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An elderly woman is convinced she knows what lies behind a spate of mysterious crimes... but nobody will believe her.

(Country: Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia; Year: 2017; Director: Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik; Writer: Agnieszka Holland, Stepán Hulík, Olga Tokarczuk; Stars: Agnieszka Mandat-Grabka, Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszal, Patrycja Volny, Miroslav Krobot, Borys Szyc, Tomasz Kot, Andrzej Grabowski, Katarzyna Herman, Marcin Bosak, Andrzej Konopka, Sebastian Pawlak, Katarzyna Skarzanka, Monika Anna Wojtyllo, David Ali Hamade)

The Third Murder (Sando-me no satsujin)

Review preview for The Third Murder

The lightness of touch so evident in his family films is no less deft here, as he woos us with the promise of cast iron fact.... only to spend the rest of the film oiling the ground beneath our beliefs until they can't stop sliding this way and that

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defence of murder-robbery suspect Misumi - a crime he admits - but as he digs into the case, he begins to wonder if his client is guilty after all.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2017; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Kôji Yakusho, Suzu Hirose, Mikako Ichikawa, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Yuki Saitô, Isao Hashizume, Kôtarô Yoshida, Izumi Matsuoka)

The Workshop (L'Atelier)

Review preview for The Workshop

There's a potency to this film, largely thanks to a carefully judged performance by Marina Foïs as novelist and tutor Olivia, and a charismatic one by Matthieu Lucci as her most difficult student, Antoine.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An exploration of group dynamics in a young people’s writing workshop.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Laurent Cantet; Writer: Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet; Stars: Marina Foïs, Matthieu Lucci)

Youth

Portrait of the People's Liberation Army dance troupe.

(Country: China; Year: 2017; Director: Feng Xiaogang; Writer: Yan Geling; Stars: Xuan Huang, Miao Miao, Chuxi Zhong, Caiyu Yang, Xiaofeng Li)