Inspired by Leon Uris' international bestseller, this film chronicles the rebirth of a people and the establishment of a nation in human drama. Paul Newman is Ari Ben Canaan. He manages to lead 600 Jews from the detention camps of Cyprus onto a large freighter bound for Palestine. But British forces soon learn of his plan and insist that he turn back. Undaunted, Ari and his passengers refuse to give up, risking their lives for the greater cause of Israeli independence. I was taken to see this film when it first came out. My grandmother took just me. When it was over, I still remember the experience of the film and its message, and feeling something awakening inside me. As I stood there, not completely understanding everything, I was speechless. It was as if an epiphany had exploded inside me. I never forgot this moment. A little girl in Evansville, Indiana. It was as foreign from my experience imaginable and yet as close and connecting as possible. Deep inside.
45 YEARS
The winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actress (Charlotte Rampling) and Best Actor (Tom Courtenay) at the Berlin International Film Festival, Andrew Haigh’s (Weekend, Looking) film is a moving, profound and superbly performed look at a marriage and its secrets. The story opens one week prior to Kate Mercer’s (Rampling) 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband (Courtenay). The body of his long-lost first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, five days later, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate. It was slow and careful. Rampling carried the entire film. She is a marvelous actress. Had I been alone, I may have left but as is, I stayed and I was glad that I did until the very end. Fine piece of film work.
The Bigamist, 1953
Edmond O'Brien. Joan Fontaine. The dilemma of a traveling salesman with a wife in SF and another in LA.
Night and Fog, 1955
A tour of Auschwitz intercut with archival footage from WWII Nazi death camps. This film is 30 minutes long. It has a dramatic voice over which is not necessary because the footage speaks for itself. It was interesting to see Auschwitz a decade after the war and today. (2016) Today, they allow no film cameras in and it has been made into a museum. Then, nature had moved in and everything was overgrown and full of weeds. This film was the first of its kind. Very powerful.
Brooklyn, 2015
Did you see Brooklyn? Do not miss it. I saw it 4 times and each time it was a wonderful and delicious treat. I never get tired of seeing it. I never want it to end. It is so well done. I spoke with the Director of the film. There is not one false note. Not one detail that required false sentimentality or artificial circumstance. There was a raw simple truthfulness that felt genuine and heartfelt and sincere. He did not use the ploy of her getting pregnant. He did not let the great singer, sing Danny Boy. This would have been manipulative and sentimental, using false tones to pull at your emotions. He did not employ contrived excuses to move forward the plot. There was a naturalness to it. It is a quiet Masterpiece. Every detail worked exquisitely. It is the Best Picture I saw in 2015. The most memorable.
TV: Testament of Youth, 1979
Cheryl Campbell. The finest and award winning BBC adaptation that I have ever seen. This and Foyle's War have been the two finest TV shows I have watched. This interpretation is a passionate, powerful and personal record of Brittain's experiences during WWI. It serves as a moving memorial to a lost generation. Brilliant and Outstanding.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Steve Martin. Michael Caine. Fabulous. One of the best funny films that I have ever seen. Laugh out loud kind of funny.
I have seen this several times and I never tire of it. Brilliantly acted.
South Riding
BBC. Winifred Holtly, best friend of Vera Brittain, wrote this best seller in the 1930's. It is a BBC adaptation. Crunched together with too many stories and sub-plots, it needed much more time to develop. It did not propel me to want to read the book.
I have seen this several times and I never tire of it. Brilliantly acted.
South Riding
BBC. Winifred Holtly, best friend of Vera Brittain, wrote this best seller in the 1930's. It is a BBC adaptation. Crunched together with too many stories and sub-plots, it needed much more time to develop. It did not propel me to want to read the book.
13 Hours in Benghazi
A chilling reenactment of this planned terrorist murder of our Ambassador and 3 CIA agents. Obama and Hillary's fingerprints are all over the film, like God in the story of Purim, without being mentioned, but their refusal to provide and send rescue help is unconscionable. A powerful and devastating film as they lied to all of us about a manufactured video.
This alone should indict them. It was deeply gratifying to read what you wrote today. I, too, saw this powerful and devastating documentary/reenactment film. It felt to me much like the Purim story in the Megilliah. In this book of Esther, God is not mentioned even once. But you feel his Hand and His presence throughout. This is where hope lies.
In opposite, horror and darkness can be viewed in 13 Hours. You feel the constant presence of Obama and Hillary, their lack of any response and direction, their manufactured video narrative story told to the parents of our four dead heroes making it even more heartbreaking. Because they were never mentioned, these two unconscionable figures loom large. Where were they? Their silence became defining. Their lies never ending. Throughout the film, I was forced to think about them. Their lack of action, their hiding behind their position and creating their lies, to make sure they won the election and that our enemies were on the run, became as horrific to me as watching the devastating planned, seemingly never ending attack in front.
I left the theater enraged.
And their names were never mentioned.
My Life as A House, 2001
A sad and broken family and characters as they try and come together in building a house as the father is dying and as he tries to reconnect to his angry and acting out son. Kevin Kline is a marvelous actor. The one unforgettable scene is how he smashes his architectural constructions.
Room
Based on the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue, Room is a remarkable and touching exploration of the boundless love between a mother and her child. After 5-year-old Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and his Ma (Brie Larson, The Spectacular Now, Short Term 12) escape from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a thrilling discovery: the outside world. As he experiences all the joy, excitement and fear that this new adventure brings, he holds tight to the one thing that matters most of all—his special bond with his loving and devoted Ma. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actress (Larson), Director (Lenny Abrahamson) and Adapted Screenplay (Donoghue).Superb film with superb acting by the boy. Very well done. Oscar Animations
Don't miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Animated Short and more! Program includes: “Historia de un Oso (Bear Story)” (Chile), in which an old, lonesome bear tells the story of his life through a mechanical diorama; Pixar Animation Studios' “Sanjay’s Super Team” (USA), about a young, first-generation Indian-American boy whose love for western pop-culture comes into conflict with his father’s traditions; “We Can’t Live Without Cosmos” (Russia), in which two cosmonauts who are friends try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality; writer/director Don Hertzfeldt’s “World of Tomorrow” (USA), in which a little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future; and “Prologue” (UK), in which a small girl bears witness as warriors battle to death during the Spartan-Athenian wars of 2,400 years ago. Additional animated shorts will also be shown. (Note: “Prologue” contains mature content and will be shown last, so that parents and caregivers can usher children out of the theater if desired. Other shorts in the program are acceptable for kids of all ages.) My favorite by far was We Can't Live without Cosmos from Russia. It shows Brotherhood at its finest and loyalty and shared dreams and values and the true nature of friendship. It choked me up.
Live Action Shorts for The Oscars
Don't miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Live Action Short! Program includes: “Ave Maria” (Palestine/France/Germany), in which the silent routine of five Palestinian nuns living in the West Bank wilderness is disturbed when an Israeli settler family breaks down right outside the convent just as the Sabbath comes into effect; “Day One” (USA), depicting a new translator’s first day accompanying a U.S. Army unit as it searches for a local terrorist; “Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)” (Germany/Austria), about a divorced father who picks up his eight-year-old daughter Lea, as he does every second weekend, but she can‘t help feeling that something isn't right; “Shok” (Friend) (Kosovo/UK), in which the friendship of two boys is tested to its limit as they battle for survival during the Kosovo war; and “Stutterer” (UK/Ireland), the story of Greenwood, whose online girlfriend Ellie travels to London on the eve of their six-month anniversary to surprise him. This was the best collection of Shorts that I have seen in a long, long time. I loved them all. From the first, there were details that an uninformed audience would not understand. The reason that the Settlers could not use an Arab could was that it could be identified by its license plate. My favorite was Everything Will Be Okay. it kept up the suspense and tension to the very end. But, they were all superb and could all easily win for one reason or another. They all dealt with intimacy and relationship, conflict, loss and survival.
Trumbo.
Thank you so much for insisting I see it. Whether it was factual or not really did not affect the storyline or details or understanding of the time period and its impact on these brilliantly creative individuals, who gave us many of our classics. I loved the historical context. The period clothes and cars and pace. The movie was intelligent. It had excellent dialogue. The writing, like with Trumbo, moved the story along, instead of special affects which are used instead of dialogue, today. I found Trumbo difficult and relentless and brilliant and persevering and determined. He possessed that obsessive writing quality that Eugene O’Neil possessed. Putting writing over family and relationship. Writing at whatever cost. Writing because if not writing, one could not survive nor would one want to. It was that burning ambition, that understanding of why a writer is put on this earth, a writing at what ever cost, that pushed him through the fires of hell and allowed him to create the Masterpieces that he did. I found it an exceptionally well done film. I only had one small and insignificant complaint. There were four words using by his friend and himself. S—. F—. Amazing. Challenging. These words would never be used back in the day. Amazing did not mean what it means today and challenging was unheard of. The profanity of this time were not these two words. This is all contemporary. Back then it was Damn and Hell. Two words that we find rather tame but were regarded as bad as calling a black person the n word or a gay person the q word, today.
Thank you so much for insisting I see it. Whether it was factual or not really did not affect the storyline or details or understanding of the time period and its impact on these brilliantly creative individuals, who gave us many of our classics. I loved the historical context. The period clothes and cars and pace. The movie was intelligent. It had excellent dialogue. The writing, like with Trumbo, moved the story along, instead of special affects which are used instead of dialogue, today. I found Trumbo difficult and relentless and brilliant and persevering and determined. He possessed that obsessive writing quality that Eugene O’Neil possessed. Putting writing over family and relationship. Writing at whatever cost. Writing because if not writing, one could not survive nor would one want to. It was that burning ambition, that understanding of why a writer is put on this earth, a writing at what ever cost, that pushed him through the fires of hell and allowed him to create the Masterpieces that he did. I found it an exceptionally well done film. I only had one small and insignificant complaint. There were four words using by his friend and himself. S—. F—. Amazing. Challenging. These words would never be used back in the day. Amazing did not mean what it means today and challenging was unheard of. The profanity of this time were not these two words. This is all contemporary. Back then it was Damn and Hell. Two words that we find rather tame but were regarded as bad as calling a black person the n word or a gay person the q word, today.
Cary told me that one of the things that influenced him to become a lawyer was the book Fear On Trial. The book was about the McCarthy Hearings and Hollywood.
Bridge of Spies
I am glad that I saw the movie but it was long at times and then picked up in the second hour. I loved their Arts and Crafts home. Their home was a dream home for me and I could not help but get distracted by this fabulous house! Not good! I found his wife poorly cast. She was a bit unbelievable. I could not believe a woman her age had the breasts she had. It was augmented which did not exist back then, unless one had had a mastectomy and even then, it was rarely done. She was also way to goodie goodie and it got on my nerves. All that being said, I love Tom Hanks. Always have. He possesses such integrity and honesty and is a good decent chap. He is someone with whom you can trust yourself with. He will not be disloyal or unfaithful or a user or a player. He is the type of man you would want your daughter to marry. Maybe this is why I have always been a fan of his characters. To me, this is what he projects. And, he did not fail in this movie either. I enjoy how Spielberg finds these obscure historical characters and brings back to life history from a small man’s role and his interaction with history. Think of Harry Jacobson. It is the same theme. We have been at that bridge and at Check Point Charley and it still looks like that to some degree! I enjoyed the film, Spielberg did not resort to many of his gimmicky tricks which I find off putting, and instead told a clean and actually very simple story over a week that carried tension and conflict and standing on principle and doing one’s job.
Grave of the Fireflies, 1998
Grave of the Fireflies, 1998
This masterpiece by the same Director who did Only Yesterday, created one of the most extraordinary pieces of animated film that I have seen. It won Best Picture in almost all categories. The two children were orphans of the firestorm, the the wanning days in Japan at the end of the war. Basted on the Director's retelling as a survivor, he is able to catch and depict the starvation and cruelty of war, of hunger and desperation, of loss and abandonment but how the brother never lost his protection toward and his love of his little sister. Devastating and unforgettable film.
Only Yesterday
This animation was fabulous. I actually got choked up! It is Japanese and goes back into time when she was 10 years old. Maayan would LOVE this movie, as too Ariel. Even Gila. It is also for adults. Like In and Out. Do not miss it. I hope to buy it if it comes out on DVD. But look for it. It is a must see. Everything is discreet. Most of the movie takes place when she is 10. It is Japanese. Make sure you see it without the subtitles. I loved it. And, stay until the very, very end. People left thinking it was over and it was not! And, they missed the conclusion!
It's 1982, and Taeko (Daisy Ridley) is 27 years old, unmarried, and has lived her whole life in Tokyo. She decides to visit her relatives in the countryside, and as the train travels through the night, memories flood back of her younger years: the first immature stirrings of romance, the onset of puberty, and the frustrations of math and boys. At the station she is met by young farmer Toshio (Dev Patel), and the encounters with him begin to reconnect her to forgotten longings. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Tae...more
Whisky Tango, Foxtrot
24 Days
The raw and tragic story and legacy of happy 23-year-old Ilan Halimi of France who was seduced and kidnapped and brutally tortured and maimed and left for dead for 24 days before he was found by the side of the road and ended up dying on the way to the hospital. It was a pure anti-Semitic act that was hushed up and incredibly mishandled by the police. It was the beginning of the horrors currently going on in Fance today.
A Girl in the River, 2015
The true story and documentary of an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who defies her family and refuses to marry the old man that her father had picked out for her, but instead married the boy she loved, and then who became targeted for death by her father and her uncle. They shot her in the head and threw her into the river and in a miracle she survived. You then see the court proceedings and how she has to ask for forgiveness to her father and uncle so that she can continue to live in the community.
The true story and documentary of an 18-year-old Pakistani girl who defies her family and refuses to marry the old man that her father had picked out for her, but instead married the boy she loved, and then who became targeted for death by her father and her uncle. They shot her in the head and threw her into the river and in a miracle she survived. You then see the court proceedings and how she has to ask for forgiveness to her father and uncle so that she can continue to live in the community.
The Wave, 2011
German. A popular high school teacher devises an experiment that will explain what totalitarianism is and how it works. What begins with harmless notions about discipline and community builds into a real moment: The Wave. Within days, The Wave's uniformly attired students begin ostracizing and threatening others, and violence boils just below the surface. Sensing danger, the tach decides to break off the experiment. But, it may be too late. The Wave has taken on a life of its own and is out of control. Based on a true story, The Wave chillingly shows just how easily the seeds of fascism can be sown. The movie was somewhat superficial. It was as if I had read the script and knew how everything was going to turn out. Good. But, not great.
Miracles From Heaven
Jennifer Gardner does a superb job acting as a mother of three daughters and a loving husband with a comfortable wealthy enough farm house. The youngest, 10-year-old, with whom she loves the most, suddenly gets sick. Going from doctor to doctor, with no avail, told that nothing is wrong, she perseveres relentlessly until she finally gets the diagnosis she seeks, a tragic one, but at least she gets one. The miracle is that after failing to respond to experimental treatments, that death is down the road sooner than later, Anna falls through a tree, falling 30 feet, lands on her head and it takes hours and hours for the fireman to retrieve her. Her parents pray by the tree. There is no concussion. No broken bones. No broken spine. No paralysis. Nothing. But, she is suddenly healed and speaks of the vision she experience where she stepped outside of her body and was in heaven while she was down there. Miraculously, she is all well. And, has continued to be so. It is a faith driven movie that will play in the Bible Belt very well. It held my interest. I identified with the mother and imagined what my mother must have gone through when I was so sick as a child.
I See The Light
The legendary Hank Williams was an iconic, influential country singer and songwriter of the 1940s and early 50s whose meteoric rise and fall, including his death at age 29, has become part of American folklore. Tom Hiddleston (Crimson Peak, Thor, Only Lovers Left Alive) gives a knockout performance—and sings—in this new biographical drama written and directed by Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius), based on the acclaimed book by Colin Escott. I Saw the Light examines Williams’ tormented creative genius and the turbulent domestic life that inspired him to write some of his best-known songs. By literally going back in time, you see Hank as he was, living his life on his terms, battling his demons and ultimately creating music for the ages. Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) co-stars as Williams’s feisty wife Audrey, an ambitious and passionate woman. Atmospheric cinematography provided by Dante Spinotti (L.A. Confidential). There was an undramatic quality to it, an even pace that did not measure the personal and emotional damage and demon driven Williams that he put upon other people. Why didn't he use birth control!? He was a angry, womanizer, alcoholic who was a genius at writing country western music. There was something missing in the film.
Wit, 2001
Director, Mike Nichols. Emma Thompson. Audra McDonald. Margaret Edison's Pulitzer Prize winner play about an English John Donne Professor who is dying with ovarian cancer. The acting is phenomenal. The writing sublime. The musical score majestic. I cried. This was a remarkable movie but not for everyone and one which should be seen alone and inside the privacy of your own soul.
Bessie, 2015
HBO. Queen Latifah. Bryan Greenberg. Singer Bessie Smith, 1894-1937, rises from poverty roots in Tennessee to become the Empress of the Blues and is one of the most successful recording artists of the 1920's. It is the usual litany of too much violence, drinking, bi-sexuality, dancing. The hard life to be able to sing the blues. I saw it twice.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
This is the long-awaited follow-up to the highest-grossing romantic comedy of all time. Written by Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), who stars alongside the entire returning cast of favorites, the film reveals a Portokalos family secret that will bring the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding. Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee, writer/director of Waking Ned Devine) directs this new chapter of the story. I found the film predictable and boring and reminded me of the Iranian families. I fell asleep. Repeats never work. The daughter was gorgeous and to me, stole the film.
And now Brooklyn!
"I finally saw Brooklyn and just loved it. The courtship and entire first half were luminous and utterly charming. The second half I found more confusing. Did you read the novel and if so, what is the back story on Rose? it seemed so odd to me that she wouldn’t have been married. She was just stunning. And had she been ill because it didn’t make sense that she would die just like that, such an avid golfer that she was. Also, up until close to the end, we get the impression our protagonist is going to stay in Ireland with the new beau after all. But then, the encounter with the narrow minded shop owner convinces her that there is no place for her in the village anymore and she longs for the freedom of the US. I couldn’t imagine leaving my mother like that without at least some attempt to convince her to come to America. I just really felt for the mom, the stoic one, disconnected from her daughter.”
Rose. Rose was very ill which she hid from her sister because she knew her sister would never leave and she knew that her sister had to get out of Ireland if she ever wanted to live her own life. She maintained a healthy appearance but she was dying inside herself. (Think Nora Ephron) This is probably why she never married. She knew she was sick. I do not think that she died just like that. I did not read the book but I imagine that it was over a period of time, but they shortened it in the movie for the sake of moving forward with the narrative of her sister’s (Ronan) life. ( can never remember the characters name!)
When Ronan returns to Ireland, she plays out the fantasy of what if, what if she stays in her village and lives the life that this new suitor offers her. They both shared the same background, family, class. She would have a comfortable and secure life. It is the road traveled. Not the road untraveled. He became she when they were together. He could not stop talking for example, like she could not stop talking when she was with her American boyfriend. It was she that he found so attractive, she had come from America and had lived already a much bigger life than he! She was a challenge and a way out of his own predictable life. He was not interested in her before she left. But when she met her old boss, she was suddenly confronted with reality and not with the fantasy, of just why she hated the village, why she longed to escape, why she knew she could not live there for the rest of her life. It was this confrontation, this smashing up against the reality with the fantasy that propelled her to return to America.
Regarding her mother. Her mother was actually the most unreal character of all to me. There was something too stoic. Maybe she wasn’t Jewish! But, you knew in the future, that she would come to visit, that once the shock of her daughter not returning sunk in, that in time, she would probably move to America. As there was nothing left for her in Ireland but sad and lonely memories. And, once the grand children, well that would move her across the ocean. But that was about the future. So this was my take on it!
An Eye in The Sky
In the tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller Eye in the Sky, Helen Mirren stars as Colonel Katherine Powell, a U.K.-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intel, Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing and the mission escalates from “capture” to “kill.” But as American pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is about to engage, a nine-year-old girl enters the kill zone, triggering an international dispute reaching the highest levels of U.S. and British government over the moral, political and personal implications of modern warfare. Also starring Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Iain Glen and Phoebe Fox, Eye in the Sky is directed by Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition, Ender’s Game). I found the movie boring. It does not seem believable that you have the top evil people all in a house together, a suicide factory and bomber ready to go out and kill eight people, and so many are draying because there will be one child who will be collateral damage. Israel fights their wards like this and I think that it is ridiculous. Boring.
Beware, My Lovely, 1952
Ida Lupino. Robert Ryan
A widow's impulsive decision to hire a handyman's deadly results when it is discovered he is mentally unstable and extremely paranoid and soon targets his destructive behavior at her. It was not realistic that he would not have raped her or murdered her like he did the first woman where he worked and which opened the film.
The Fast and The Furious, 1954
John Ireland. Dorothy Malone. A wrongly convicted man braks out of jail and takes a young female auto racer hostage at a lonely roadside diner, and the two of them speed off in her custom race car as they try to elude the law. Boring.
Bethlehem, 2015
It was truly a remarkable film, as hopeless and impacted as it made me feel. My only suggestion is that I wished you had not brought up Omar. No one had seen the film in order to compare it and the class was about Bethlehem, not Omar. But the discussion seemed to be mostly about Omar. We became sidetracked. Every time that an Israeli got hit, hurt or shot, my heart sank. I felt it in my gut. Especially our lead man. I felt the hatred, lack of anything in the Arab lives, except killing Jews, the corrupt leaders, the gangs upon other gangs, the power for turf and monies and power, was revealed with great clarity in this film of Arab life. I wish there had been discussion regarding this portrayal. This was accurate and true. The resources, the time and energy and years developed in Israel by Israelis to combat this constant on-going, never-ending exhausting, life threatening situation takes a toll on everyone. This too was revealed by this conflict. Great film. Great choice. I am so grateful that I saw it.
Love & Friendship
Love & Friendship
Set in the 1790s, earlier than most Jane Austen tales, Love & Friendship concerns beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) who has come to Churchill, the estate of her in-laws, to wait out colorful rumors about her dalliances circulating through polite society. Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and for her daughter. In doing so she attracts the simultaneous attentions of the young, handsome Reginald DeCourcy, the rich and silly Sir James Martin and the divinely handsome, but married, Lord Manwaring, complicating matters severely. After a series of dramatic turns at Churchill, Lady Susan finally risks destruction when her jealous rival, Lady Lucy Manwaring (Jenn Murray), arrives in London to make a shocking revelation, leading to the denouement of denouements. An adaptation of young Austen's comic novella Lady Susan, Love & Friendship also stars Chloë Sevigny and Stephen Fry (Wilde) and is directed and co-written by Whit Stillman (The Last Days of Disco, Metropolitan, Barcelona). Witty and clever. Full of biting humor and subterfuge, only Austen could create such dialogue or insight into human nature and fragility and foibles and manipulations and intrigue. Absolutely delightful.
Clash By Night, 1952
Barbara Stanwyck. Paul Douglas. A woman grows torn between her husband and his friend, a l;local movie projectionist. Despite entertaining thoughts of leaving her husband she is dissuaded by her knowledge of his volatile temper and loosing her baby daughter.
Born To Be Bad, 1950
Joan Fontaine Zackary Scott. Paul Ryan. A manipulative gold digger sets her sights on a wealthy man who's already engaged, ignoring the advances of a writer who loves her despite her despicable flaws. Fontaine has terrible posture and is not all that pretty. What was her allure? I notice in all these old films, there seems to be very little chemistry among the characters.
Dheepan
Dheepan is a Tamil freedom fighter, a Tiger. In Sri Lanka, the Civil War is reaching its end, and defeat is near. Dheepan decides to flee, taking with him two strangers – a woman and a little girl – hoping that they will make it easier for him to claim asylum in Europe. Arriving in Paris, the ‘family’ moves from one temporary home to another until Dheepan finds work as the caretaker of a run-down housing block in the suburbs. He works to build a new life and a real home for his ‘wife’ and his ‘daughter,’ but the daily violence he confronts quickly reopens his war wounds, and Dheepan is forced to reconnect with his warrior’s instincts to protect the people he hopes will become his true family. Why am I so bored by these predictable films that have choice in which direction the Director wants to take the film? PC beyond. These movies win the Cannes Palm D'Or. It was boring actually and I walked out.
The Marrying Kind, 1952
Judy Holiday. Aldo Ray. A middle class couple stand in divorce court, asked to review their marriage and how it went wrong. The story is told with both human and drama and sadness in the ensuing flashbacks. It was a wonderful film. Holiday had to live with an angry hot head and she made the most of it. It was a simple movie of simple people, but it carried much weight and lessons to be learned and understood.
About Mrs. Leslie, 1954
Shirley Boot. Robert Ryan. A woman recalls her back-street love affair with a famous married politician/industrialist. The whole movie was miscast because of Shirley Boot. She looked like a middle aged grandmother, with zero sex appeal or desire. Their love affair simply did not work for me. Or them!
Sunset Song
Sunset Song is Terence Davies’ intimate epic of hope, tragedy and love at the dawning of the Great War. A young woman’s endurance against the hardships of rural Scottish life is based on the novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, told with gritty poetic realism by Britain’s greatest living auteur. The film takes place during the early years of the twentieth century, with the conflicts and choices a young woman experiences reflecting the struggle between tradition and change; a struggle that continues to resonate today.
Set in a rural community, Sunset Song is driven by the young heroine Chris and her intense passion for life, for the unsettling Ewan and for the unforgiving land. The First World War reaches out from afar, bringing the modern world to bear on the community in the harshest possible way, yet in a final moment of grace, Chris endures, now a woman of remarkable strength who is able to draw from the ancient land in looking to the future. Sunset Song is at once epic in emotional scale and deeply romantic at its core, given power by Terence Davies’ unflinching poetic realism. The movie went on too long. Some of the transitions, especially in the later half, were way too disconnected and took too many leaps. I felt the main character did not look 16-18. She looked as if she was in her mid 20's! Had I known she was younger, her passivity and fear would have made more sense. The monster her husband became, also demanded a leap of faith. The transition was too stark and his PTS too severe. So there were weaknesses but over all I enjoy it immensely.
Me Before You
Sometimes you find love where you least expect it. Louisa ‘Lou’ Clark (Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”) lives in a quaint town in the English countryside. With no clear direction in her life, the quirky and creative 26-year-old goes from one job to the next in order to help her tight-knit family make ends meet. Her normally cheery outlook is put to the test, however, when she faces her newest career challenge. Taking a job at the local castle, she becomes caregiver and companion to Will Traynor (Sam Claflin, The Hunger Games), a wealthy young banker who became wheelchair-bound in an accident two years prior, and whose whole world changed dramatically in the blink of an eye. No longer the adventurous soul he once was, the now cynical Will has all but given up. That is, until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living. Screenplay by Jojo Moyes, based on her critically acclaimed, bestselling novel. This was a marvelous unexpected film. The acting, especially, Sam Claflin, was superb. I was brought to tears many times throughout the film. And, I trust my tears! It was well done, without sentiment and overdone. It touched and highlighted many issues. I thought it was wonderful.
Genius
The debut feature from Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage (former artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse) is a stirring drama about the complex friendship and transformative professional relationship between world-renowned book editor Maxwell Perkins (who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) and larger-than-life literary giant Thomas Wolfe. Genius stars Colin Firth as Perkins, Jude Law as Wolfe, Nicole Kidman as Aline Bernstein (a costume designer sharing a tumultuous relationship with Wolfe), Laura Linney as Louise Perkins (Max's wife and a talented playwright), Guy Pearce as Fitzgerald and Dominic West as Hemingway. Based on the biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg. Beautifully acted and kept amazingly authentic to the characters, except for Nicole Kidman, who cannot act and was utterly miscast, everything about the film was richly done and the dialogue was wonderful to listen to. It was an old fashioned film. They did omit Wolf's family with 3 daughters that he abandoned. And Berstein was a mother figure to Wolf, over a decade older than him, obsessed by him, really opened all doors to him and was a brash, harsh, New York, typical Jewish woman. Perkins came from a stately, old family which they did not stress too much either. But over all the film was excellent.
Hunt For The Wilderpeople
In this wildly funny and endearing comedy from director/co-writer Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Boy), defiant city kid Ricky (Julian Dennison), raised on hip-hop and foster care, gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside. He quickly finds himself at home with his new foster family: the loving Aunt Bella (Rima Te Wiata), the cantankerous Uncle Hec (Sam Neill) and a dog named Tupac. When a tragedy strikes that threatens to ship Ricky to another home, both he and Hec go on the run in the bush. As a national manhunt ensues, the newly branded outlaws must face their options: go out in a blaze of glory or overcome their differences and survive as a family.
Read an Exclusive Filmmaker Letter from director/co-writer Taika Waititi
This was a wildly entertaining and poignant and marvelous acting by the young boy Ricky Baker. I absolutely loved the film. The boy was terrific and when he spoke afterwards he carried such humor and poise and articulation and entertainment. He was exceptional! The movie was warm and the scenery wonderful. I simply loved the film.
The Blue Dahlia, 1946
Veronica Lake. Alan Ladd. A returning WW2 veteran tries to prove he is innocent of murdering his cheating wife and gets help from a mysterious and alluring femme fatale who happens to be the wife of the victim's lover. It is filled with tough guys and tough gals and quite dated. I found it interesting that the living room furniture decorum was set up exactly like ours, but with a different decade.
Septembers of Shiraz
Septembers of Shiraz is the harrowing story of a secular Jewish family in Iran as they fight for their lives immediately following the 1979 revolution. Directed by Wayne Blair and featuring powerful performances by Academy Award ® winner Adrien Brody, and Academy Award ®nominees Salma Hayek-Pinault and Shohreh Aghdashloo, Septembers of Shiraz illustrates the impact of political upheaval on ordinary people and gives us an incisive examination of a troubled moment in history. Septembers of Shiraz is adapted by screenwriter Hanna Weg from Dalia Sofer's bestselling novel. I found the movie particularly disturbing because of the torture which I hate to witness. I found the wife tough and brave and though Brody found his moxie and stood up to the evil, it was not actually believable because he was in such a weakened state. The movie was dark visually and the Iranians acted no differently than the Nazi's in WW2.Captain Fantastic
Captain Fantastic is a charmingly eccentric, sweet and funny look at an unconventional family living deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings, The Road) stars as Ben, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education. After the death of his absent wife, he is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, beginning a journey that challenges his idea of what it means to be a parent. Winner of the Un Certain Regard award for directing at Cannes Film Festival, this heart-wrenching drama from writer/director Matt Ross also stars Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn, Annalise Basso, George MacKay, Ann Dowd, Samantha Isler and Nicholas Hamilton. It was more complicated than what it appeared in the previews. I was afraid it was a PC film but it was not. I found Mortensen cold as a father and I felt someone else would have been better cast.
The Innocents
Warsaw, December 1945: the Second World War is finally over and Mathilde (Lou de Laâge, L’attesa), a young French Red Cross doctor, is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. A panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night, unwilling to speak with the Polish doctors, begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent. What she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy. A non-believer, Mathilde enters the sisters’ fiercely private world, dictated by the rituals of their order and the strict Rev. Mother (Agata Kulesza, Ida). Fearing the shame of exposure, the hostility of the new anti-Catholic Communist government, and facing an unprecedented crisis of faith, the nuns increasingly turn to Mathilde as their belief and traditions clash with harsh realities. A powerful and moving drama directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel, Gemma Bovery). (Fully subtitled) It was boring and I fell asleep and honestly did not care all that much about the nuns and their rapes.
Front Cover
A love story between two gay Chinese young men. What made the story interesting was the Chinese cultural angle. Otherwise, there was no way in hell I would ever go and see this gay film.
Cafe Society
Set in the 1930s, writer/director Woody Allen’s bittersweet romance follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love, and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life. Bobby’s colorful Bronx family features his relentlessly bickering parents Rose (Jeannie Berlin) and Marty (Ken Stott); his casually amoral gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll); his good-hearted teacher sister Evelyn (Sari Lennick); and his egghead brother-in-law Leonard (Stephen Kunken). Seeking more out of life, Bobby flees his father’s jewelry store for Hollywood, where he works for his high-powered agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell), and soon falls for Phil’s charming assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). When he asks her to marry him and move to New York, she is tempted, but things do not go as smoothly as planned. With Café Society—a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age—Allen conjures up a 1930s world that has passed to tell a deeply romantic tale of dreams that never die. A poignant, bitter-sweet comedy with some wonderful one liners that only Allen can write. At 78, he is pure genius.
The Kind Words
This quirky and wry dramedy follows three Jewish Israeli siblings – Dorona and brothers Netanel and Shai – who, in the wake of their mother’s death, learn the man who raised them is not their biological father. The revelation sends them on a road trip from Israel across France to discover the truth about their real dad. The sixth feature from writer-director Shemi Zarhin explores an unraveling family secret and the bittersweet journey of self-discovery that follows. The film was OK. I struggled with it. There were major flaws. The sister was so angry, and treated her husband so meanly, that at times I wondered why he put up with her abuse. She was one furious woman. It is kitchy and silly and it tried to touch on serious issues of fatherhood and parenting and identity and most of all secrets. The secrets everyone carried and the resentment when they appeared and had to be dealt with through denial and fury and anger and betrayal.
Warsaw, December 1945: the Second World War is finally over and Mathilde (Lou de Laâge, L’attesa), a young French Red Cross doctor, is treating the last of the French survivors of the German camps. A panicked Benedictine nun appears at the clinic one night, unwilling to speak with the Polish doctors, begging Mathilde to follow her back to the convent. What she finds there is shocking: a holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy. A non-believer, Mathilde enters the sisters’ fiercely private world, dictated by the rituals of their order and the strict Rev. Mother (Agata Kulesza, Ida). Fearing the shame of exposure, the hostility of the new anti-Catholic Communist government, and facing an unprecedented crisis of faith, the nuns increasingly turn to Mathilde as their belief and traditions clash with harsh realities. A powerful and moving drama directed by Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel, Gemma Bovery). (Fully subtitled) It was boring and I fell asleep and honestly did not care all that much about the nuns and their rapes.
Front Cover
A love story between two gay Chinese young men. What made the story interesting was the Chinese cultural angle. Otherwise, there was no way in hell I would ever go and see this gay film.
Cafe Society
Set in the 1930s, writer/director Woody Allen’s bittersweet romance follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love, and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life. Bobby’s colorful Bronx family features his relentlessly bickering parents Rose (Jeannie Berlin) and Marty (Ken Stott); his casually amoral gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll); his good-hearted teacher sister Evelyn (Sari Lennick); and his egghead brother-in-law Leonard (Stephen Kunken). Seeking more out of life, Bobby flees his father’s jewelry store for Hollywood, where he works for his high-powered agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell), and soon falls for Phil’s charming assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). When he asks her to marry him and move to New York, she is tempted, but things do not go as smoothly as planned. With Café Society—a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age—Allen conjures up a 1930s world that has passed to tell a deeply romantic tale of dreams that never die. A poignant, bitter-sweet comedy with some wonderful one liners that only Allen can write. At 78, he is pure genius.
The Kind Words
This quirky and wry dramedy follows three Jewish Israeli siblings – Dorona and brothers Netanel and Shai – who, in the wake of their mother’s death, learn the man who raised them is not their biological father. The revelation sends them on a road trip from Israel across France to discover the truth about their real dad. The sixth feature from writer-director Shemi Zarhin explores an unraveling family secret and the bittersweet journey of self-discovery that follows. The film was OK. I struggled with it. There were major flaws. The sister was so angry, and treated her husband so meanly, that at times I wondered why he put up with her abuse. She was one furious woman. It is kitchy and silly and it tried to touch on serious issues of fatherhood and parenting and identity and most of all secrets. The secrets everyone carried and the resentment when they appeared and had to be dealt with through denial and fury and anger and betrayal.
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