Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris Resurrects the Lost Generation

A deceptively light time-travel romance, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris uses fairy-tale devices as a way to get to the filmmaker’s familiar themes. A nebbishy screenwriter who longs to publish a novel, Gil (Owen Wilson) is working on a book set in a nostalgia shop–much to the open frustration of…

The Hangover II Treats the Original Like a Sacred Text

Most sequels are born of good box office rather than good ideas–if you build it and they come, you simply must build another one. But it’s hard to imagine a more calculating, creatively bankrupt piece of real estate than The Hangover Part II.  Trade out Las Vegas for Bangkok, a…

Inside Barry Jenkins’s Chlorophyl with Lead Ana Trevino

Chlorophyl, the 25-minute short directed by Miami native Barry Jenkins, stars first-time actress and Miami local Ana Trevino. It premiered at last month’s Borscht Film Festival. If you saw the movie, regardless of your opinion, it didn’t quite fit into the context of the arena in which it was presented…

Village Voice Media’s Picks From the Strongest Cannes Film Festival in Years

The following review was provided by Village Voice Media critic J. Hoberman, who was in Cannes for the festival.The last day screening of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ruminative, challenging Once Upon a Time in Anatolia strengthened an exceptionally ambitious and coherent competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival–although Terrence Malick’s The…

MIFF Director Jaie Laplante on Palme d’Or Contenders at Cannes

Film Fiend features dispatches from Miami International Film Festival Director Jaie Laplante as he scopes flicks on the indie film festival circuit. As another Cannes Film Festival winds down, all the chic cineastes here on the Croisette are pretending not to care about the Grand Jury prizes, awarded in a glitzy ceremony…

The Haircut‘s Ken Clement on Borscht, Sideburns, and Acting

The Haircut, for many in attendance, was a delightful treat at last month’s Borscht Film Festival. Clocking in at a little over five minutes, the short was filled with wonderful twists and turns. If you recall, a man saunters into a barbershop at night feeling insecure about his haircut. He’s…

MIFF Director on Bonsai, Beauty, and Bob Marley Docx at Cannes

Film Fiend features dispatches from Miami International Film Festival Director, Jaie Laplante, as he scopes flicks on the indie film festival circuit. A “melancholy” mood has set over the Cannes Film Festival today: in a few hours, Film Fiend and 2,299 of his closest personal friends will settle into the…