Ahead of the Academy Awards, we’re reviewing each short category. See the Live-Action section below and the other shorts sections here.
Ennemis intérieurs – France – 28 minutes
The definitive exchange in Hidden Figures—the one that defines America then and still today—is when Kirsten Dunst’s personnel manager tells Octavia Spencer’s yet-to-be-given-the-title supervisor, “Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y’all.” Spencer’s Dorothy Vaughan counters without missing a beat, “I know you probably believe that.” It’s such a perfect distillation of how racism permeates the very core of who we are to the point where we don’t even understand why we are racist. It happens all the time now, white people accusing black people of screaming racism as a knee-jerk reaction because they believe their racist actions are normal. Their fear has made it so other colors are inferior, dangerous, and untrustworthy. In...
Ennemis intérieurs – France – 28 minutes
The definitive exchange in Hidden Figures—the one that defines America then and still today—is when Kirsten Dunst’s personnel manager tells Octavia Spencer’s yet-to-be-given-the-title supervisor, “Despite what you may think, I have nothing against y’all.” Spencer’s Dorothy Vaughan counters without missing a beat, “I know you probably believe that.” It’s such a perfect distillation of how racism permeates the very core of who we are to the point where we don’t even understand why we are racist. It happens all the time now, white people accusing black people of screaming racism as a knee-jerk reaction because they believe their racist actions are normal. Their fear has made it so other colors are inferior, dangerous, and untrustworthy. In...
- 2/8/2017
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
As is awards season tradition, ShortsHD will be releasing this year’s short film Oscar nominees — including live-action, animated and documentary — into theaters around the country this week, all in hopes that cinephiles will spark to the idea of checking out a big batch of contenders they most likely haven’t yet had the chance to watch. This year’s live-action batch includes a number of intriguing foreign entries — and not an American offering in the bunch — all of which are loosely unified around such timely concepts as connection (emotional and physical) and the current political climate.
Read More: Oscars 2017 Live-Action Shorts: Jane Birkin vs. Six-Time Nominee Kim Magnusson
From stories about children’s choirs gone wild, unexpected romances and even a gut-churning immigration story that couldn’t be more prescient, this year’s live-action nominees fit together into a satisfying, smart little package.
“Ennemis Interieurs,” France (28 minutes)
This...
Read More: Oscars 2017 Live-Action Shorts: Jane Birkin vs. Six-Time Nominee Kim Magnusson
From stories about children’s choirs gone wild, unexpected romances and even a gut-churning immigration story that couldn’t be more prescient, this year’s live-action nominees fit together into a satisfying, smart little package.
“Ennemis Interieurs,” France (28 minutes)
This...
- 2/6/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
★★★☆☆ Katarzyna Klimkiewicz's assured debut feature Flying Blind (2012), starring Helen McCrory, Najib Oudghiri and Kenneth Cranham, is a political thriller with a sting in its tail. Frankie (McCrory), an attractive middle-aged woman, is a successful aerospace engineer designing drones for the British military. She also lectures at Bristol University where she meets Kahil (Oudghiri), a French-Algerian student. They begin an affair and Frankie swiftly becomes obsessed with her young lover but after discovering, by accident, that he is a part-time taxi driver, she realises that she doesn't really know Kahil, his past, or where his loyalties lie.
Kahil mixes with some dubious characters, his body carries the signs of torture and he's lied about his student status. Frankie works in a sensitive field and becomes increasingly suspicious of Kahil's intentions towards her, but finds that she can't give him up so easily and starts to spy on him. She trawls...
Kahil mixes with some dubious characters, his body carries the signs of torture and he's lied about his student status. Frankie works in a sensitive field and becomes increasingly suspicious of Kahil's intentions towards her, but finds that she can't give him up so easily and starts to spy on him. She trawls...
- 7/17/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Imagine falling passionately in love with someone unsuitable. He's 20 years younger than you, but you get over that. He's from a completely different culture and speaks another language, but you somehow bridge your differences. Then the authorities come knocking, and tell you he's someone of great interest to them. You don't get over that.
Helen McCrory and Najib Oudghiri co-star in 'Flying Blind'
This is the premise of 'Flying Blind', starring Helen McCrory as Frankie, a woman I think we can safely deem a success. Professionally, she is a scientist, charged with the development of military machines. Academically, she's a well-respected lecturer. Her father (Kenneth Cranham) used to work on Concorde. Her down time is spent, solo, on her running machine. Romantically, she's a sitting duck, which is where one of her students, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri) comes in.
Their connection is magnetic, by turns sweet and challenging,...
Helen McCrory and Najib Oudghiri co-star in 'Flying Blind'
This is the premise of 'Flying Blind', starring Helen McCrory as Frankie, a woman I think we can safely deem a success. Professionally, she is a scientist, charged with the development of military machines. Academically, she's a well-respected lecturer. Her father (Kenneth Cranham) used to work on Concorde. Her down time is spent, solo, on her running machine. Romantically, she's a sitting duck, which is where one of her students, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri) comes in.
Their connection is magnetic, by turns sweet and challenging,...
- 4/23/2013
- by Caroline Frost
- Huffington Post
The highly photogenic city of Bristol has too rarely been used on the widescreen. But a couple of years ago, there was Starter for 10 and now in Flying Blind we have a good-looking, fortysomething heroine (the excellent Helen McCrory) living in a flat in a beautiful Georgian crescent overlooking the city from Clifton, working at Filton airport and dining out at suave restaurants in the old central dockland.
McCrory is Frankie, an aeronautical scientist, daughter of a retired aircraft engineer (Kenneth Cranham) who had worked on Concorde. She has a top security job, designing drones for the MoD, and gets picked up by a 24-year-old Algerian refugee, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri), who's been sitting in on her lectures at Bristol University.
Continue reading...
McCrory is Frankie, an aeronautical scientist, daughter of a retired aircraft engineer (Kenneth Cranham) who had worked on Concorde. She has a top security job, designing drones for the MoD, and gets picked up by a 24-year-old Algerian refugee, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri), who's been sitting in on her lectures at Bristol University.
Continue reading...
- 4/13/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The highly photogenic city of Bristol has too rarely been used on the widescreen. But a couple of years ago, there was Starter for 10 and now in Flying Blind we have a good-looking, fortysomething heroine (the excellent Helen McCrory) living in a flat in a beautiful Georgian crescent overlooking the city from Clifton, working at Filton airport and dining out at suave restaurants in the old central dockland.
McCrory is Frankie, an aeronautical scientist, daughter of a retired aircraft engineer (Kenneth Cranham) who had worked on Concorde. She has a top security job, designing drones for the MoD, and gets picked up by a 24-year-old Algerian refugee, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri), who's been sitting in on her lectures at Bristol University.
A torrid affair with this handsome student ensues, after he's left her some lines from an Arabic love poem and she's seen his torture scars. But soon, she becomes...
McCrory is Frankie, an aeronautical scientist, daughter of a retired aircraft engineer (Kenneth Cranham) who had worked on Concorde. She has a top security job, designing drones for the MoD, and gets picked up by a 24-year-old Algerian refugee, Kahil (Najib Oudghiri), who's been sitting in on her lectures at Bristol University.
A torrid affair with this handsome student ensues, after he's left her some lines from an Arabic love poem and she's seen his torture scars. But soon, she becomes...
- 4/13/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
The Place Beyond The Pines | Oblivion | Simon Killer | The Gatekeepers | Flying Blind | Scary Movie 5 | Bafta Shorts 2013 | First Position | Theorem | Nautanki Saala!
The Place Beyond The Pines (15)
(Derek Cianfrance, 2012, Us) Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper. 141 mins
Fans might be disappointed to hear it, but this has bigger ambitions than just drooling over Ryan Gosling. His criminal stunt-biker is merely one part of a weighty cross-generational triptych: a study of fathers, sons, sins and justice that seeks a place beyond standard storytelling structure, even if there's not quite enough meat on the bones, especially of the Gosling variety.
Oblivion (12A)
(Joseph Kosinski, 2013, Us) Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko. 125 mins
Cruise is in his familiar anchorman role for this big-budget sci-fi, set on a devastated future Earth where all is not what it seems with his drone repairman's job. It's potentially a Philip K Dick-style thriller, though the lack of advance screenings is a danger sign.
The Place Beyond The Pines (15)
(Derek Cianfrance, 2012, Us) Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper. 141 mins
Fans might be disappointed to hear it, but this has bigger ambitions than just drooling over Ryan Gosling. His criminal stunt-biker is merely one part of a weighty cross-generational triptych: a study of fathers, sons, sins and justice that seeks a place beyond standard storytelling structure, even if there's not quite enough meat on the bones, especially of the Gosling variety.
Oblivion (12A)
(Joseph Kosinski, 2013, Us) Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko. 125 mins
Cruise is in his familiar anchorman role for this big-budget sci-fi, set on a devastated future Earth where all is not what it seems with his drone repairman's job. It's potentially a Philip K Dick-style thriller, though the lack of advance screenings is a danger sign.
- 4/13/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Katarzyna Klimkiewicz's film fails to grip as a sexual thriller, squandering strong performances
There are strong, committed performances here from Helen McCrory and Najib Oudghiri, but they can't make much difference to how frankly weak this movie is: at once predictable and implausible. McCrory plays Frankie, an engineering lecturer who runs a consultancy practice designing drones for the British military. Hardworking, lonely and yearning for love, she is flattered when handsome young student Kahil (Oudghiri) makes approaches – but he seems to have an interest in her military work that is making some people nervous. As a sexual thriller, this fails to grip, and director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz does not endow it with all that much tension or contemporary credibility. Right the way through to the fence-sitter of an ending, the movie looks like it was written by committee at a screenwriters' seminar.
Rating: 2/5
DramaPeter Bradshaw
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News...
There are strong, committed performances here from Helen McCrory and Najib Oudghiri, but they can't make much difference to how frankly weak this movie is: at once predictable and implausible. McCrory plays Frankie, an engineering lecturer who runs a consultancy practice designing drones for the British military. Hardworking, lonely and yearning for love, she is flattered when handsome young student Kahil (Oudghiri) makes approaches – but he seems to have an interest in her military work that is making some people nervous. As a sexual thriller, this fails to grip, and director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz does not endow it with all that much tension or contemporary credibility. Right the way through to the fence-sitter of an ending, the movie looks like it was written by committee at a screenwriters' seminar.
Rating: 2/5
DramaPeter Bradshaw
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News...
- 4/11/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Frankie (Helen McCrory) is a successful, smart and furiously driven aeronautical engineer and part-time lecturer who takes her work very seriously. When she strikes up a relationship with murky student Kahil (Najib Oudghiri), her work ethic decreases in favour of sex-fuelled infatuation. However, as Frankie starts to discover more and more about Kahil (he’s an illegal immigrant and seems eerily interested in fundamentalism), she becomes concerned for both her wellbeing and that of her country, which she’s involved in protecting.
Tapping into post-9/11 issues that are as controversial and discussion-raising as ever, Flying Blind elevates itself beyond minor budgeted romantic drama into a discerning and puzzling directorial debut from Polish filmmaker Katarzyna Klimkiewicz. Slow-burning in its nature, screenwriters Caroline Harrington, Bruce McLeod and Naomi Wallace continually challenge the audience’s perceptions through Frankie’s multiplying speculation and sense of insecurity.
It’s a mostly successful approach, particularly in...
Tapping into post-9/11 issues that are as controversial and discussion-raising as ever, Flying Blind elevates itself beyond minor budgeted romantic drama into a discerning and puzzling directorial debut from Polish filmmaker Katarzyna Klimkiewicz. Slow-burning in its nature, screenwriters Caroline Harrington, Bruce McLeod and Naomi Wallace continually challenge the audience’s perceptions through Frankie’s multiplying speculation and sense of insecurity.
It’s a mostly successful approach, particularly in...
- 7/3/2012
- by Jamie Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Walking around Edinburgh today it almost felt like there was a Film Festival taking place – an improvement over last year, when even the city’s residents seemed oblivious to the whole thing. Between films today I spotted a group of journalists snapping Festival patrons Tilda Swinton and Mark Cousins (whose film What Is This Film Called Love? I am seeing tomorrow). Elliott Gould could be seen hanging around the Cineworld in Fountainbridge. I was genuinely moved to look up from the DVDs in the Filmhouse foyer today and find that the sweet little lady smiling back at me was Thelma Schoonmaker, long-time collaborator of Martin Scorsese, widow of British film legend Michael Powell, and one of the finest editors in cinema history.
I kicked off today with a documentary about which I knew zip: One Mile Away. It explores gang culture in Birmingham, and the long-standing feud between the Burger...
I kicked off today with a documentary about which I knew zip: One Mile Away. It explores gang culture in Birmingham, and the long-standing feud between the Burger...
- 6/23/2012
- by Adam Whyte
- Obsessed with Film
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