Monthly Archives: September 2009

VENICE FILM REVIEW: Shinya Tsukamoto ‘s ‘Tetsuo’

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto shows what a “Transformers” movie would be like on a shoestring budget with “Tetsuo the Bullet Man”, which features a man whose mother was an android and whose half-human half-machine body … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Reviews, Venice International Film Festival | Tagged , , | Comments Off on VENICE FILM REVIEW: Shinya Tsukamoto ‘s ‘Tetsuo’

VENICE FILM REVIEW: Oliver Stone doc ‘South of the Border’

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Good humored, illuminating and without cant, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone’s documentary “South of the Border” is a rebuttal of what he views as the fulminations and lies of right-wing media at home and abroad regarding … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Reviews, Venice International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on VENICE FILM REVIEW: Oliver Stone doc ‘South of the Border’

VENICE FILM REVIEW: Patrice Chereau’s ‘Persecution’

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Everybody persecutes everybody else and they all feel persecuted in Patrice Chereau’s talkative roundelay “Persecution”, which stars Romain Duris and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a Parisian couple who spend more time talking about their relationship than … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Reviews, Venice International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on VENICE FILM REVIEW: Patrice Chereau’s ‘Persecution’

VENICE FILM REVIEW: Yonfan’s ‘Prince of Tears’

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Very pretty people seen against beautiful landscapes provide most of the enjoyment in Chinese director Yonfan’s glossy melodrama set in Taiwan in the 1950s when the hunt for communists on the island led to the … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Reviews, Venice International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on VENICE FILM REVIEW: Yonfan’s ‘Prince of Tears’

VENICE FILM REVIEW: ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’

By Ray Bennett VENICE – Filled with unexpected turns and subversive humor, Werner Herzog’s “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” is a jazzy and very entertaining riff on the theme of a cop who spends too much time … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Reviews, Venice International Film Festival | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on VENICE FILM REVIEW: ‘Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans’