18 June 2021. By Neptune PETER RABBIT 2 – The Runaway ** Doesn’t everyone love Peter Rabbit? We certainly did when the first one in this franchise was released in the spring of 2018, in those carefree pre-Covid years. I gave it ***1/2 then, and wrote this in the intro: “All is right with the […]
FILM: NOMADLAND **** fully deserves all of its awards
11 June 2021. “I’ll see you down the road”. That’s the credo of these people who live on the road, in vans and campers, as long as they are free to roam the land and settle momentarily where they want. They are the modern pioneers of another face of America, unknown to most of us. […]
FILM: LOS LOBOS – an unforgettable film
4 June 2021. By Neptune LOS LOBOS **** (Spanish/English) There are films that are so simple and human that they ignite an immediate connection in us. This tale of a Mexican mother and her two little boys who have come to America to find a better life takes us right into the squalid world of […]
FILM: THE FATHER **** exceptional
28 May 2021. By Neptune THE FATHER **** In this exceptional film, Anthony Hopkins embodies a seemingly fit father who is gradually falling towards dementia. He lives alone in a tastefully decorated London apartment which has been his home for years. He feels completely capable and does not want any nurse to live with him. […]
FILM: LUNANA – A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM ***1/2
21 May 2021. By Neptune One thinks of idyllic, “happiness-quotient” Bhutan as a peaceful, verdant, quite closed country of rural people. Well, this film shows how hip and world-conscious the young are in its capital, and why one of them wants to leave for the wider world. Bhutan does not make many films, but when […]
FILM: PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN – a vengeance film straight out of the pulse of the times
14 May 2021. By Neptune This week we have 3 troubling films that are nevertheless worthy of your time, and good for a discussion of their whys and wherefores… Is this a sign of our era – dark and polemic? Oh, for those lively, wonderful Italian Comedies of old, that are still continuing at the […]
FILM – ANOTHER ROUND
7 May 2021. By Neptune I tell you, the films are coming at us like a backlog avalanche! Such a pleasure to be seated in the dark again in a real movie theater, in front of a BIG screen. And our art house cinemas – the Scalas, the Nord-Sud, the Bio, the Cinelux – have […]
FILM: THE DISSIDENT **** – shakes to the core
30 April 2021. By Neptune THE DISSIDENT **** Once in awhile a film comes along that shakes one to the core. This documentary about the highly publicized 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, is such a one. It is both a tribute to a courageous man and a window into the outrageous […]
FILM: Cinemas open – here’s what’s showing
23 April 2021. By Neptune Oh, there is suddenly so much going on! Cinemas have opened, theatres and museums are open, some cafe terraces are opening, and it feels like a mini-revolution of liberty. People have been yearning for social contact and culture, and they are coming out in droves. And the weather has been […]
FILM – YALOM’S CURE – existential therapy presented by Swiss filmmaker
16 April 2021. By Neptune YALOM’S CURE **** An hour and 17 minutes of this documentary will leave you feeling as though you’ve been cleansed, rehabilitated and instructed by a healing guru. For free – or just the price of the movie ticket! The Swiss filmmaker Sabine Gisiger went over to California to interview Irvin […]