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Halfway Mark: The Best Movies of 2014 (so far) Part 2

    15. Stranger by the Lake Directed by Alain Guiraudie Written by Alain Guiraudie France Though Stranger by the Lake premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (and appeared on Sound On Sight’s best of 2013 list), it finally reached North American audiences in January of this year. Alain Guiraudie’s stunning noir-tinged thriller is …

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Halfway Mark: The Best Movies of 2014 (so far) Part 1

Picking the best movies that come out in any given year is no easy feat. For film fans, a quality feature can come out at any time, from any one, and discovering an enjoyable and well-crafted feature is truly a pleasure. As we reach the halfway point of the year, many excellent films have already …

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2013 in Film: A Year of Love (Part 3)

In American cinema, fate is often presented as a path leading to success – especially when it comes to love.  People meet, fall head-over-heels for one another, experience a setback or two, then live happily ever after.  In films outside of Hollywood, love stories are more realistic, and more in tune with subjective experiences of …

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2013 in Film: A Year of Love (Part 2)

Directed by Alain Guiraudie and photographed beautifully by Claire Mathon, Stranger by the Lake has drawn comparisons to the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, and rightly so. The atmosphere is one of chilling tension and highly controlled camera work, with point-of-view shots being used to draw attention to the role of both the cruising space and …

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Staff List: The 30 Best Films of 2013

As with any year, some people have begun arguing that 2013 was a bad year for film, because of the expected glut of effects-heavy blockbusters that litter the multiplexes each summer, or because there was a lack of auteur-driven storytelling for the majority of the year. Though it is indeed frustrating that studios hold their …

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FNC 2013: ‘L’inconnu du lac’ proves that sex on the beach can be deadly

There is a certain simplicity in Alain Guiraudie’s L’inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake) not seen in many films these days. However, that is not to say this is a simple film; it happens to run deep with emotion, stimulation, and humor. The story is set in what appears to be the early 1990s in the south of France, where local men gather around a crystalline lake to swim, sunbathe in the nude, and cruise. Starring Pierre Deladonchamps as Franck, a sensitive and curious young man; and Christophe Paou as Michel, a seductively dangerous stranger, the film is suspenseful, sexy, and smart, not to mention beautifully shot.

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NYFF 2013, Day One Dispatch: ‘Like Father, Like Son’; ‘Stranger by the Lake’; ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’; ‘Nobody’s Daughter Haewon’

Like Father, Like Son There’s a sweetness and emotional weight to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s tales about children and family dynamics that instantly recalls another great Japanese auteur, Yasujiro Ozu. Kore-eda’s previous film, 2011’s I Wish, follows a pair of brothers who plot a long-traveled reunion following their parents’ separation. Over the course of two breezy hours, …

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A (straight) person’s guide to talking about queer cinema

Growing up gay as a suburban teenager in the mid 90s, my access to queer culture was severely limited (ie nonexistent). Before the proliferation of the internet, one relied on the “gay” section in bookstores and video stores, if there even was one, to seek out examples of visible representation in the media throughout the …

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