Synopsis: Aurora, an elderly Portuguese woman and her Cap Verdean housekeeper live next door to Pilar, who has made it her aim in life to do good. Not that she receives any gratitude for her efforts – and certainly not from the notoriously mistrustful Aurora, who prefers to spend her remaining years losing her meagre savings at the tables of Estoril casino. When the old lady dies, Pilar gets on the track of an old lover. Making a film without referring to film history is unthinkable for director Miguel Gomes, and it’s no coincidence that his film has the same title as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s TABU. In his third feature film outing Gomes playfully interprets and rearranges historical events: whilst the first part of his film is in black-and-white and portrays a society wallowing in nostalgia, the second part delivers everything they long for: stirring melodrama, slapstick, juxtaposition and passion. [Synopsis courtesy of Berlin International FIlm Festival]
With the focus this weekend on Park City with the Sundance Film Festival now in full swing, it might be easy to forget we're still in the midst of the awards season. And even though we're nearing the finishing line, with the Golden Globes already handed out, and a few more major guild awards and the...
Read More »2012 is so two weeks ago, right? Well, forgive my tardiness, but I was doing my best to catch up with as much as possible before putting this list together, but even then some films missed out. "Once Upon A Time In Anatolia," "Compliance," "Sleepwalk With Me," "Nob...
Read More »Happy almost new year, cinephiles! To ring in the last week of 2012 the studios are releasing films that feature the most wretched, bloody, depraved, licentious, gruesome characters imaginable. To ensure you don't forget how extreme these storylines are, the roles are filled by Hollywood's m...
Read More »It's December 1st, which means we're just weeks away from 2013, and critics will be compiling their 'Best of 2012' lists over the next few weeks. The Cahiers Du Cinema already got the ball rolling with their selection of the best films of the year, and now another venerated cinema ma...
Read More »As Miguel Gomes’ “Tabu” has worked its way around the festival circuit during the course of the year (and also during its theatrical release in a few lucky international markets) the critical acclaim it has garnered has been nothing short of stupendous. We were bowled over by it he...
Read More »The following article is a reprint of our review that ran during the Toronto Interntional Film Festival. Keep an eye on this one too. It's been released very late in the year, but we suspect you'll be seeing it on many of our top 10 lists.
Read More »Another year, another list. While the industry is in the midst of pricey marketing campaigns for awards contenders -- dominated this time by studios with the wherewithal to position their smart fall season product as the definitive movies of the year -- critics get to play a different game. Despite ...
Read More »The 50th edition of the New York Film Festival opened on Friday with the world premiere of "Life of Pi," but Indiewire had already covered many of the films in the program at other festivals earlier this year. Here's a rundown of the 18 movies from this year's NYFF lineup we've...
Read More »The Toronto International Film Festival continues through next weekend, but Indiewire has already reviewed a significant portion of the program at various other festivals over the past year.
Read More »Gomes' Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner is an evocative, lyrical two-chapter love story separated by decades and continents that transcends what initially seems to be nothing more than an experiment in style over substance. Beginning in modern day-ish Lisbon, we are introduced to Aurora, an o...
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