A Nightmare on Elm Street

Samuel Bayer’s remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is an allegory about bourgeois people who live in denial, sweeping problems like class disparity, molestation, and murder under the carpet. Via a new and even more disturbing Freddy Krueger, the film explores the dark underside of the American Dream in a post-modern world.

[en] Beneath the American Dream by Roland Finger

Un Prophète

Jacques Audiard's latest film "Un Prophète," awarded with Grand Prix at Cannes in 2009, is a brilliant crime film that extends beyond its genre for a social critique. Audiard's 2005 César award-winning film "The Beat that My Heart Skipped" ("De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté"), has already signaled the emergence of a contemporary auteur dealing with themes of violence, masculinity, and power. Un Prophète develops Audiard's chosen themes even further than the personal journey and struggles depicted in "The Beat that My Heart Skipped." The film tackles with Malik El Djebana's unusual "coming-of-age" story within a matrix of contemporary social relations.

[en] Prison as the Locus of Power Dynamics by Irmak Ertuna

[en] Breaking Down the Black-and-White by Suzanne Marie Hopcroft and Jonny Rose

[it] La «vita doppia» di Malik by Paolo Lago

[fr] Entretien avec Jacques Audiard, San Sebastian film festival by -

Inglourious Basterds

There are some things no one misses about Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film, Inglourious Basterds (2009). For one, the film bears an obvious indebtedness to film history and popular culture.

[en] The Revelation to Tarantino as it is given in Inglourious Basterds by Allen H. Redmon

[en] The Good, the Bad and the Basterds by Alison Reed

The Ghost Writer

Roman Polanski’s latest film, The Ghost Writer, is a structurally complex creation the mysteries of which reveal not only a local, diegetic significance, but a parable with significance beyond the screen as well. Through the lens of this political thriller, Polanski questions the relative objectivity of History and of film, responding with what should be the shared purpose of each.

[en] The Trouble with the Ghosts of History by Lelaine Bonine

Agora

In his latest movie, Alejandro Amenábar recreates the legend of Hypatia, the first woman philosopher, who has also been considered one of the first victims in the clash of science and the intolerance of religion. Agora is not only a cinematic journey to the past, contextualised during the fall of Alexandria but, furthermore, a colourful lesson of astronomy that shows the importance of common dialogue for safeguarding pluralism in contemporary politics.

[en] Looking to the Heavens by Dolores Martín Moruno

Alice in Wonderland

Despite its adherence to the original title, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) is more sequel than remake of the 1951 Disney animated feature. Told primarily as a 13-year flashforward from the childhood adventures of the original, the now nearly 20-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is being pushed to accept a pending marriage proposal—a socially advantageous proposal from a member of the British nobility that Alice does not desire.

[en] Transformative Representations by Lelaine Bonine

Amreeka

Cherien Dabis’ Amreeka is a nice film. Nice, of course, is a flexible, ambiguous word and I employ it for just that reason. It is a nice film, for one, because it is the type of movie most viewers will like. It features good, hard-working people struggling to get by in a new country and ends with a musically enhanced ethnic dinner scene that attests to the fact that, for all its problems, America has a lot to offer

[en] Amreeka and the Challenge of bringing Palestine to American Audiences by Matt Sienkiewicz

Brothers

Un ladro e un eroe si alternano sulle scene dell’ultimo film di Jim Sheridan, Brothers. Sono fratelli. Un eroe di guerra, Sam, ma non solo: un eroe nella vita, nella famiglia, nello sport. Un ladro fallito, Tommy, che ha rapinato una banca ed è finito in carcere. La mattina in cui esce c’è un ufficiale dei marines ad attenderlo: è suo fratello Sam, eroe anche negli affetti. Da lì in poi le loro vite saranno destinate ad un incrocio inestricabile che confonderà i ruoli e scambierà le parti.

[it] Eroi e ladri, filosofie a confronto by Ilario Belloni

Gamer

Both Gamer (Neveldine/Taylor, 2009) and Avatar (Cameron, 2009) serve up unsettling visions of the future. Gamer takes the present surge in popularity of gaming to an uncomfortable new low; while Avatar scores points by revisiting past concepts like Manifest Destiny and colonization. Judging by these two films it would seem that future humans are doomed to either repeat the mistaken ways of their past, or to succumb numbly to the excesses of their present.

[en] Future, Present and Past: A Tale of Two Movies by Suzanne Sunshower

Vals Im Bashir

Hollywood sera sous le charme, l’Europe applaudira et le ministère israélien des affaires étrangères enverra le film et ses réalisateurs dans le monde entier pour montrer le pays sous son beau jour. Mais en vérité, c’est de la propagande. Ses réalisateurs ont de la classe, ils sont sophistiqués et doués et ils ont du goût, mais le film est de la propagande.

[fr] Le film anti guerre n'est qu'une mascarade by Gideon Levy

[it] Il mare nero di Bashir by Giorgio Maniaci