You’ve heard of sing-along movies, but what about the dance-along? Milwaukee Film Festival patrons are encouraged to unlock their bodies Saturday night during “Stop Making Sense” (Oriental Theatre, 11 p.m.), Jonathan Demme’s euphoric 1984 concert film about the Talking Heads and the ever-expanding big suit worn by frontman David Byrne. Playing for the third consecutive […]
2015 Milwaukee Film Festival: Week Two Picks Read More »
It’s a sorry festivalgoer that doesn’t make at least one deep cut discovery. Much of the ink spilled about the Milwaukee Film Festival, given its rising cultural cachet, is devoted to the Competition and Spotlight programming. (If you haven’t heard, Saturday’s centerpiece is the nonfiction “The Great Alone,” about four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey frosting
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After six years of launching with undercooked comedies, pint-sized documentaries, and one scorching drama made by relative unknowns, the Milwaukee Film Festival will for the first time kick off with a movie directed by a major international figure. Paolo Sorrentino’s “Youth,” which stars Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as entertainment legends trading jokes and wisdom
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Film festivals are about seeing tons of movies, sure, but they’re also about hanging out with people who love talking about all those movies. Not long after the curtain fell on the 2014 Milwaukee Film Festival, Critic Speak contributor Eric Beltmann and The Cinemaphile blogger Shelly Sampon decided to continue a dialogue that started between
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“I’m going to yell at him when I go back to Iran,” Maryam Sepehri said while we chatted in the lobby of the Downer Theatre. She was referring to Mohammed Rasoulof, whose risky new feature “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” screened at this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival. Maryam, a documentary filmmaker from Tehran, knows Rasoulof but was
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Guitar gods, of course, only play after the openers are through. No wonder the Milwaukee Film Festival saved its Centerpiece selection, a biopic starring Outkast’s André Benjamin as legendary musician Jimi Hendrix, for its final week. “Jimi: All Is by My Side” is written and directed by Mequon native John Ridley, who earned an Oscar
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Maybe close your eyes and start throwing darts at the program guide. It’s tough to choose movies to see from among the 276 feature and short films being presented at this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival. Selecting at random can be a rewarding methodology—after all, the potential return rises with an increase in risk—but there’s equal
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For the Milwaukee Film Festival, the Times they are a-changin’. The festival is shaking things up for its sixth year, most notably by adding the Times Cinema in Washington Heights to its roster of sites. The cozy, single-screen theater has been a community treasure since 1935, making it a natural fit for a festival that
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“Hey, Teach, sit down and let me get you a pastry,” said Rachel Engel, one of the theater managers for the Milwaukee Film Festival, in an effort to soften the blow. Technical glitches forced the cancellation of “Drug War,” Johnnie To’s latest Hong Kong action ballet. For To junkies like me, a film and literature
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Iranian filmmaker Maryam Sepehri (left) won an award at the 2013 Milwaukee Film Festival for “Habibeh,” a documentary about painter Habibeh Bedayat (right). In the dead of night she labors, trance-like, over a canvas. By the end of “Habibeh,” viewers will comprehend all of the thorny reasons why this fascinating woman—a painter, mother, teacher, and
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