Reviews

Césaria Évora – Voz D’Amor

Barefoot, chain-smoking and velvetvoiced, the Cape Verdean diva returns

Mellow – Perfect Colors

Oddly English-sounding quirkadelica from Paris

The Fugs – The Fugs Final CD (Part 1)

Return of Ed Sanders' and Tuli Kupferberg's legendary punk-poets

The Von Bondies – Pawn Shoppe Heart

Major label debut produced by Talking Head Jerry Harrison

Robin Scott – Life Class

First release on boutique imprint from synth-pop veteran behind "Pop Muzik"

The Marbles

Best known for their late-'60s hit "Only One Woman" and its identically arranged follow-up "The Walls Fall Down", the Marbles were driven by the sheet metal-bending larynx of Graham Bonnet and the prolific writing of the Gibb brothers, who are responsible for half of the tracks featured here.

Paycheck

Rollicking techno daftness from John Woo

The Barbarian Invasions

Canadian master deals with age and mortality

Vendredi Soir

Director Claire Denis rediscovers her personal vision after the debacle that was Trouble Every Day. With echoes of Godard's Weekend, it's an erotic tone poem in which a woman stuck in a rainy Paris traffic jam picks up a man for a mutually satisfying one-night stand. That's the entire plot, but the auteur's intensity makes every moment telling and tactile.

Public Enemy

Kang Woo-Seo's admittedly stylish regurgitation of every Hollywood serial-killer/renegade-cop thriller cliché follows recalcitrant and psychotically violent detective Kang on the hunt for a mac-wearing knife-wielding slasher. Kang is a surly Kitano-esque bully, the killer is a narcissistic investment banker, and the whole movie is completely charmless.
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