With the Kansas City FilmFest going on this weekend, there's no shortage of great cinema to take in (not to mention the New York Dog Film Festival and Pooch Party). For those of us not lucky enough to get tickets to that event, though, Up To Date's indie, foreign and documentary film critics have a few recommendations that can fill the festival void.
Steve Walker
Land of Mine, R
- This searing best foreign film Oscar-nominee examines the Danish army's use of German prisoners of war — many of them teenagers — to clear the Danish coast of land mines at the close of World War II.
Frantz, PG-13
- In this smart, gorgeous film from François Ozon, a potential romance between a French soldier and a German woman who share a tragic bond is thwarted by the post-World War I animosity between their respective countries.
Personal Shopper, R
- Olivier Assayas won best director at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for this contemporary ghost story featuring Kristen Stewart working for an aloof rich woman while attempting to communicate with her dead twin brother.
Bob Butler
Personal Shopper, R
- Kristen Stewart plays a listless celebrity-wardrobe attendant in Paris named Maureen, who shares a genetic heart problem with her recently-passed twin brother and awaits a posthumous sign from him.
Donald Cried, Not rated
- In this awkward buddy comedy, uptight banker Peter reconnects with his former childhood friend, a greasy man-boy named Donald, when he loses his wallet on a trip back home to settle family affairs after the death of his grandmother.
I am Not Your Negro, PG-13
- Director Raoul Peck uses James Baldwin's unfinished book about the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medger Evers as a jumping off point to question representations of African-Americans throughout history.
The Kansas City FilmFest runs from April 5 to 9 at Cinemark Palace at the Plaza, 526 Nichols Road, Kansas City, Missouri. For ticketing information, visit KCFilmFest.org.
