“Dog Pound,” twenty nine year-old French director Kim Chapiron's account of modern-day juvy hell, was shot in just thirty days at an actual correctional facility in Ontario. To make his emphatically grim tale even grittier, Chapiron assigned real-life juvenile criminals various roles, mixing them in with his professional cast. Surly-looking men exiting random bars were hired on the spot to play ... more >
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TFF’10 – My Brothers
A serious film about brothers growing up
With slightly more wit, better casting, and finer handling of tone, “My Brothers,” the directorial debut of Irish screenwriter Paul Fraser, could have been a perfectly pleasant, bittersweet account of a dysfunctional yet loving family, like so many adequate little films before it. But in the hands of Fraser and writer William Collins, the quaint-little-film mentality of "My Brothers" is forced ... more >
TFF’10 – Into The Cold
Extreme temperatures
At 45, world-class photographer Sebastian Copeland has achieved more than most people would in twice their lifetimes. His famous shots of A-list celebrities (including his cousin Orlando Bloom) and rarely traversed landscapes have earned him numerous international awards. He's a tireless advocate for raising environmental awareness, traveling the world to study continuing global warming hazards ... more >
TFF’10 – Please Give
When social faux-pas become nasty
"Please Give," the new comedy written and directed by native New Yorker Nicole Holofcener ("Friends With Money") is about miserable urbanites of three generations, behaving miserably, being miserable to each other. Hellbent on proving her thesis that tactlessness is the most vibrant quality in just about everyone—the helpless elderly, adolescent daughters, guilty liberals—Holofcener creates six ... more >
TFF’10-Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
A New York City fixture goes under the miscroscope
Joan Rivers never wants to be left alone. If a paparazzi sabotaged an intimate dinner date, she wouldn't sock him in the jaw; she'd probably joke with him about her sagging 76 year-old boobs. For her, the only negative side of celebrity is that her many adoring fans, handlers and fellow comediennes (Kathy Griffin, for one) sometimes refer to her as an “icon,” which just makes her feel ... more >