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VIFF’15: ‘Louder Than Bombs’ occupies a unique space by not conforming to its own genre

Grief, depression, and loneliness. Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s first foray into English language film is rife with subject matter suited for a dour art house affair. Yet Louder Than Bombs is infused with a vibrant humanism that cares for its characters and has a firm grasp of cinematic language and exceptional editing which ratchets it up a notch past a typical prestige drama. It’s too subtle, too bold, too willing to reach into a grab bag of visual styles and character set pieces to care about falling into the right Hollywood genre.

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Staff List: The 40 Best Films of 2012

#20: Cosmopolis (50 points) Directed by David Cronenberg Written by David Cronenberg Canada / France, 2012 Every time Cronenberg answers the prayers of his fans with a new movie, it seems that the first reflex is to attempt to categorize it. Is this new film more like the old Cronenberg, in which very strange, very …

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Staff List: The 40 Best Films of 2012

#30: Cloud Atlas Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski Written by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski Cloud Atlas is essentially a patchwork of narratives thematically linked with minor coincidences and recurring symbolism. With six stories spanning several centuries, Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact …

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Ricky D’s 50 Favourite Films of 2012 (Part Two)

  25: The Dark Knight Rises Directed by Christopher Nolan Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan 2012, USA The Dark Knight Rises feels as if it was made up of two equal halves, with the most critical moment of the film breaking the movie in half, almost literally. While the second half may have …

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Ricky D’s 50 Favourite Films of 2012 (Part One)

2012 wasn’t a bad year for movies. It was actually a great year. The problem is, the movies we were most anticipating, specifically the Hollywood blockbusters like Prometheus and The Hobbit, didn’t live up to our expectations. With that said I still managed to make a list of 50 films I loved. Maybe I just …

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‘Oslo, August 31st’ an honest, bleak, and emotional character study

Oslo, August 31st Directed by Joachim Trier Written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt Norway, 2011 The awkwardness and pain a person can feel from forever being an outsider reverberates strongly in Oslo, August 31st, a Norwegian film that earns its dark emotions by never being excessively melodramatic. Director and co-writer Joachim Trier paints a …

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‘Oslo, August 31st’ is an effective character piece

Oslo, August 31st Written by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt Directed by Joachim Trier Norway, 2011 Oslo, August 31st is the second feature length effort from director Joachim Trier, after 2006’s Reprise, and the second cinematic adaptation of the novel Le feu follet by author Pierre Drieu La Rochelle. Known in most English language territories …

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