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Heartbeats (15)

(Xavier Dolan, 2010, Can) Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schnieder, Anne Dorval. 101 mins.

He's young (22), talented, he directs, writes, produces and acts: don't you hate Xavier Dolan already? Those green with envy will find plenty to object to about the French-Canadian's second movie, not least the fact that it's rather good. It's a love triangle for our times: at its apex a charming Adonis who becomes the covert object of desire for two friends, a guy and a girl. Like its characters, it's not quite as sophisticated as it wants to be, but it's honest, accomplished and recklessly romantic.

The Hangover Part II (15)

(Todd Phillips, 2011, Us) Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms. 102 mins.

The location is different (Bangkok – or at least the movie version) but this sequel to the hit amnesiac prenuptial buddy comedy takes no risks with formula or cast (even Mr Chow is back). The adult humour, though,...

A precise, subtle and masterful example of art film from Italy

Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro Volte, or The Four Times, is a gem of art cinema and a miracle of animal-wrangling. This beautiful movie is almost entirely wordless; it is slow, precise, superbly filmed, with an almost respiratory sense of the rise and fall of the seasons and the rhythm of the countryside. The scene is Calabria in southern Italy, in a medieval village, and for the first hour of so, the action could be taking place at any time over the past couple of centuries. Only the final section definitely locates it in the present day.

An old shepherd (Giuseppe Fuda) tends to his goats, who roam mesmerically all over the landscape and all over the screen. These goats are natural performers. Their shepherd is dying, and when he slumps down or collapses in a field or woodland,...

“Le Quattro Volte,” Internationally Acclaimed Meditation On The Cycles Of Life,

Has U.S. Theatrical Premiere Wednesday, March 30 At Film Forum

Film Forum is proud to present the U.S. theatrical premiere of Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte (“the four times”), beginning Wednesday, March 30. An idyllic village in southern Italy’s mountainous region of Calabria is the setting for this exquisitely filmed take on the cycles of life. Structured in four parts, per its title, it opens with a shepherd tending his herd of goats, then shifts focus to one animal in particular, the tree under which he seeks shelter, and the industrialized fate of that plant. A.O. Scott of The New York Timeswrites: “(Its) view of nature is among the most profound, expansive and unsettling I have ever encountered on film. There is virtually no dialogue, yet the film is far from silent: the rustling of trees, the sounds of agricultural labor,...

This is the Pure Movies trailer for Le Quattro Volte, screening at the London Film Festival. Le Quattro Volte directs Michelangelo Frammartino and starring Giuseppe Fuda, Bruno Timpano and Nazareno Timpano. An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria, at the southernmost tip of Italy. He herds goats under skies that most villagers have deserted long ago. He is sick, and believes to find his medicine in the dust he collects on the church floor, which he drinks in his water every day. Pure Movies is at the London Film Festival, featuring films such as Let Me In, Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Another Year and Black Swan. Follow everything at @puremovies.