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directorfredericeger
Frederic Eger is nominated for Best Director (2017) to the Wolves Independent International Film Awards (WIIFA) for Quantum Earth, and, Best Idea (2017) to the Mediterranean Film Festival (MedFF) for Quantum Earth. Quantum Earth is nominated for Best Online Show/Series (2017) to the Login Conferences Awards and National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI).
Holds a BA in History from the University Paris I - Sorbonne (1997), and a, Certificate in Producing from the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television Professional Program (2002).
Reviews
Sisters (2006)
The bloody stabbing and the scalpel absurdity at the end creates a superficial yet childish gore without showing what is at stake for these characters.
Sister
This remake of the 1973 Brian DePalma horror classic is far less interesting than the original. Festival co-director Julien Fonfrede promoted the screening as the film's North American premiere while, in fact, it was previously shown at the Sitges Film Festival. Despite the marketing faux pas, the film caught this reviewer's interest as a remake of a DePalma film.
The story centers around Siamese twins who, as adults, must face surgery to live in health. Physiological disorders place their health in jeopardy and a severe psychological disorder of one results in an evil act. DePalma's film focuses on Danielle (Margot Kidder), a young woman who apparently murders her date, and Grace (Jennifer Salt), a nosy reporter who sees the whole thing. Things get strange when it is revealed that Danielle is a Siamese twin, and her nasty twin sister may have something to do with the murder.
This remake lacks engaging characters, which is not to blame the acting but the directing. Stephen Rea as the psychiatrist Dr. Lacan and Lou Doillon as the "slave" Angelique give themselves completely to the performances and keep you connected, but that's about it. Character arcs are weakly resolved and therefore so is the drama of being a Siamese twin. The plot's dramatic story is not explored in depth and is unfortunately not saved by the murder subplot.
Lou Doillon's acting is perfect�she handles the schizophrenic role of Angelique/Annabelle with a perfect blend of charm, vulnerability and complete wackiness. She took over from Asia Argento who was initially cast as Angelique/Annabelle but dropped out at the last minute. Shooting took place in North Carolina and Vancouver, British Columbia and explains the Canadian money used in the birthday cake purchase scene.
The bloody stabbing and the scalpel absurdity at the end creates a superficial yet childish gore without showing what is at stake for these characters. When the last shot which is the same as the opening sequence fades to black, moviegoers leave without an emotional connection to what just happened. The entire film seems to be a pretext to practice directing skills for director Douglas Buck. Apparently the director, impatient to launch his film career, settled for redoing a classic horror film.
While the film is good enough for general distribution, one would think that with the amount of dollars committed to the project, the final product would have had more depth of character.
Sister Directed by Douglas Buck
Lou Doillon, Stephen Rea, Chloe Sevigny, William B. Davis, Gabrielle Rose, Talia Williams, Erica Van Briel, Dallas Roberts, Michael Curluck and Dylan Basu
A Story of Brothers (2006)
Film critic Frederic Eger interviewed independent filmmaker Michael Pycher during the Montreal Young Cuts Film Festival in August, 2006.
Filmmaking is Hot and Rainy in Florida Interview with Director Michael Pycher By Frederic Eger Special to The Epoch Times Nov 28, 2006 Film critic Frederic Eger interviewed independent filmmaker Michael Pycher during the Montreal Young Cuts Film Festival in August, 2006.
The Epoch Times: This August your film premiered at the 2006 Montreal Young Cuts Film Festival. It's a drama about two brothers, one handicapped and the other a basketball player. One brother is killed defending the honor of the other. As a graduate of the film program at Florida State University, have you personally witnessed this level of violence among teenagers and young adults?
Michael Pycher: I've never actually witnessed it with my own eyes, but I grew up in South Florida in not a bad area. Just by going to a public school one occasionally hears stories about people you knew in elementary school who were shot. And this makes an impression on you and, as soon as you hear about it, you change from feeling safe and cozy in your neighborhood to feeling paranoid and living in chaos on a daily basis.
Even if this happens only once or twice that this friend or that friend people you knew as a child, people you grew up with are murdered, it really has an impact on your perception of life.
ET: How did this storyline emerge?
MP: It came from my high school experience. There were twin brothers. I knew one of them who was completely healthy. He was a very good looking guy, very popular, had a lot of friends. He was a social guy. But his brother... actually I didn't even know he had a brother until one day a kid came up to him and he basically ignored him and pushed him away. It came out later this kid was his twin brother. So from the buzz around school, the story was that this twin brother was disabled from a tragic event during birth.
So there, I told myself, there is an interesting story to be made about the unique and exclusive relationship between these twin brothers, between one brother who is healthy having the life he wants and the other one who is handicapped and disabled. That left an impression on me and I always remembered that story. Then, when I had to direct my thesis film at Florida State University, something triggered my memory of these two brothers.
Although the relationship of the two brothers in the film is different from the relationship of those two brothers, I still wanted to incorporate parts of their reality that I had heard and have the healthier brother being not only protective but being the tormentor of the younger and unhealthy brother.
In A Story of Brothers the older healthy brother, Clay, puts the younger disabled brother, Donnie, in an uncomfortable situation. Donnie wants to look up to Clay and just wants to be like Clay, just like the brothers I knew in high school. But Doug is looking up to someone he should not probably look up to. Since I also love basketball, I added it as one of the central elements of the story. A Story Of Brothers is directed by Michael Pycher, with Ryan Causey (Donnie), Sam Roberts (Clay), Jocelyn Scott (Sandy) Runtime: 8 min 21 sec
Citadel (2006)
On the contrary, he explains the why and the how his and his wife's family like any family have suffered from the absurdity of war. A beautiful film.
The Citadel
Atom Egoyan selected the Montreal New Cinema Festival to present what could have just been some home video footage taken from his private library. He calls it a documentary, "a journal, an essay." No matter what it is, Atom Egoyan and his wife, Arsinee Khanjian, were there to introduce their film and host a Q&A with an audience of festival attendees.
After 28 years of living in Canada, Mr. Egoyan and his wife travelled to Lebanon's West Beirut where he and his wife, both Armenian Christians, grew up. Mr. Egoyan declares the resulting video footage/chronicle to be a gift to his son about the war-torn country he emigrated from.
With a tremendous sense of humor and irony, Mr. Egoyan plays tour guide as if he were reporting on the Tour de France. We discover a modest family house where spirituality and Christian symbols are part of everyday life.
When driving from East Beirut populated by mostly Christians to West Beirut populated by Muslims, Mr. Egoyan reflects on the "cult" of suicide bombers whose photographs hang on pillars throughout a city whose residents consider themselves direct descendants of the Phoenicians.
By producing such a documentary, Atom Egoyan could have easily fallen into the pitfall of producing a film that declares "Look how bad these Israelis are!" On the contrary, he explains the why and the how his and his wife's family like any family have suffered from the absurdity of war. A beautiful film.
The Citadel Written, Directed & Produced by Atom Egoyan
With Atom Egoyan (Himself), Arsinee Khanjian (Herself)
Runtime: 93 min
Linda Linda Linda (2005)
This film was an attempt at mainstream Japanese film but ends up as a time-consuming exercise about uninteresting characters.
Linda Linda Linda
Drummer Kyoto (Aki Maeda), guitarist Kei (Yu Kashii) and bassist Nozumi (Shiori Sekine) must recruit a new lead singer on short notice for the high-school rock festival. A Korean exchange student, Son (Doona Bae), is a last-minute pick even though her Japanese is not perfect. They rehearse, and rehearse, and rehearse night and day until the singer starts singing correctly in Japanese.
Almost oversleeping in the rehearsal room before the concert, the exhausted/burnt-out quartet nearly misses its fifteen minutes of fame at this "so-important-end-of-term-rock-festival." In a pouring rain, they make it to the concert at the last minute�everything is last minute in this film!�and the crowd goes wildly hysterical to the title song�one could assume some inspirational song of the director's teenage years. The one good thing about Linda Linda Linda is the cinematography. But besides that... Um...
According to some sources, Nobuhiro Yamashita made his reputation directing comedies. This film was an attempt at mainstream Japanese film but ends up as a time-consuming exercise about uninteresting characters. Why producers spent their money on a film with no story... write to me if you have the answer. With effort, this reviewer stayed until the end. I noted that some in the Asian audience laughed during scenes. Must have been a private joke because I didn't get it.
Linda Linda Linda Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita
With Aki Maeda, Yu Kashii, Shiori Sekine & Doona Bae
Runtime: 114 min
Rampage (2006)
My #1 pick of the Festival of New Cinema is the new Georges Gittoes documentary, Rampage,
Reviewer Frederic Eger has selected his top picks to critique.
Rampage
My #1 pick of the Festival of New Cinema is the new Georges Gittoes documentary, Rampage, about the Lovett brothers, Denzell (Himself), Elliott (Himself), and Marcus (Himself), who live in "The Brown Sub" of Miami, Florida. This is an area "on the other side of " Miami Beach where the rich folks live.
A viewer's first thought upon sitting down to watch might be: "Oh, come on another story about those poor African-Americans victimizing themselves." Not the case. George Gittoes explores the nature and level of violence that African-Americans experience on a daily basis and makes a comparison with the violence a U.S. soldier experiences in Iraq.
Elliott Lovett plays a soldier returning from Iraq to visit his family. The entire family are talented rappers, especially Marcus and Denzel. Mr. Gittoes' film witnesses a family tragedy and feels some responsibility: "That's the problem when you shoot a documentary�you're talking about real lives. The jealousy that generated the documentary, following Lovett's daily lives, might be the cause of Marcus' death."
The documentary was shot with shoulder and hand cameras and confirms the suffering of African-Americans in 2006. The editing, photography, music and all aesthetic choices gives the viewer the impression that you are with these kids, and you sympathize with them and you tell yourself: "This is unbelievable; this is happening today in one of the supposedly most civilized and rich countries of the world�the United States of America."
One of Australia's foremost figurative painters, Georges Gittoes literally uses the camera like a paint brush. With a compassionate humanity and truthful reporting, he tells the story of the Lovett family. From beginning to end, the film will open your eyes to realities that you may already know but that the film will confirm about black folk in the ghettos.
Rampage Written, directed and produced by Georges Gittoes
With Denzell Lovett (Himself,) Elliott Lovett (Himself,) Marcus Lovett (Himself)