• Festival

    Capers

    by  • February 22, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Comedy

    Cinequest 2009 “Capers” is a happy little ditty. Really. Take three groups of sad sacks, each wanting Connie’s treasure to bring about changes in their own lives, schedule three simultanious break-in buglaries, throw in a delightfully uncaring sullen fence of stolen goods, and you’ve got a hit film. In competition for the valuables in Connie’s […]

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    The Caller

    by  • February 22, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Drama

    Cinequest 2009 The Caller, directed by Richard Ledes, is a melancholy drama about Jimmy (Frank Langella) who has resigned himself to his last days of life. He’s not sick, but he expects a visit by a hit man as consequence for exercising his conscience. Before he meets his executioner, we’re treated to a view of […]

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    Indie and Mainstream Talent

    by  • February 22, 2009 • Articles, Cinequest 19

    Cinequest 2009 I’ve noticed an interesting happening taking place within Indie films during the past few years. It’s the arrival of Hollywood mainstream tallent. Seems that the Indie has gained a legitimate face and has attracted the more seasoned film denizens into the genre. Maybe its a way to hone their skills. Maybe its a […]

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    Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf

    by  • February 22, 2009 • Action, Cinequest 19

    Screenings: February 27, 11:30 PM (Cam 12); March 2, 9:30 PM (Rep) Everyone knows that the standard samurai movie tropes and the standard Western movie tropes mesh well together — look at Kurosawa’s samurai classics and Clint Eastwood’s early “spaghetti” Westerns. But what do you get when you mesh them with a little less subtlety? […]

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    Capers

    by  • February 22, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Comedy

    Screenings: February 26, 7:00 PM (Cal); February 27, 4:30 PM (Rep); March 1, 9:30 PM (Cam 12) Things are tough in New York since 9/11. Your photo ID has to match what you actually look like. Fences are picky about what stolen stuff they’ll fence. A forged green card is expensive. Nobody is paying up […]

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    Cinequest Approaches

    by  • February 21, 2009 • Articles, Cinequest 19

    Every year, filmmakers and appreciators of independent cinema from around the world converge on San Jose for Cinequest, the annual celebration of maverick filmmaking. Last year, Cinequest had over 80,000 attendees and over 500 of them filmmakers for the two-week event. This year’s festival runs from February 25 through March 8, 2009, and will be […]

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    Rocaterrania

    by  • February 21, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Documentary

    Screenings: February 28, 2:30 PM (Cam 12); March 2, 7:15 PM (Cam 12); March 3, 12:30 PM (Cam 12). Renaldo Kuhler is a scientific illustrator with a lifelong project: his own nation, Roccaterania. With the same detail he uses to record the scale patterns of snakes or the curves of microscopic bones, he has designed […]

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    Opening Night Film: Wake

    by  • February 12, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Comedy

    Opening Night: February 25, 7:00 PM (Cal) Carys (Bijou Phillips, “Choke”) is an unusual gal who attends the funerals of strangers looking for something ineffable. She meets Tyler (Ian Somerhalderl, “Pulse”), the fiance of the dead individual at one of the funerals she crashes. She manages to accidentally steal the dead girl’s wedding ring, but […]

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    The Caller

    by  • February 11, 2009 • Cinequest 19, Drama

    Screenings: March 1, 7:00 PM (Cal) Jimmy Stevens (Frank Langella) has blown the whistle on his company’s corrupt practices. He knows he will be killed for it, so he anonymously hires private eye Frank Turlotte (Elliott Gould) to follow him. As the time draws near for Jimmy’s execution, we learn more about his past and […]

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