25 May 2018. So what was the culmination of the 71st edition of this grandest of all film festivals? I would say the satisfying ‘Palmares’ (awards) handed out by the high-caliber jury headed by the elegant and talented Australian actress, Cate Blanchett. It was indeed a competent jury, since four of its members were among […]
CANNES – Neptune reports from Cannes – part 2
Where do I begin in this second week? Too many films, too many events, so many encounters. But hey, this is Cannes and it’s like the whole world is happening here – beauty, emotions, anxieties, politics…it’s all here in a microcosm of life on this stretch of the French Riviera. So much to report, but […]
CANNES CANCAN – Neptune reports from Cannes – part 1
Ah, to be back again in Cannes – the Everest of film festivals – as mentioned so often before. It’s a thrill each year that I’ve been coming – since 1996 – and it never ceases to excite the voyeur in each of us attending. For it has it all – the most exciting films; […]
FILM: AMOUREUX DE MA FEMME – light-hearted French comedy
11 May 2018. AMOUREUX DE MA FEMME **1/2 (vo French) Do men really fantasize so vividly when confronted with a lovely young creature of the opposite sex? It’s certainly amusing to see it happening to this poor fellow – played by Daniel Auteuil, also director of the film – who is trying to juggle his […]
FILM: LEAN ON PETE – a film that stays in the heart
4 May 2018. LEAN ON PETE (La route sauvage) **** There are films that stay in the heart. This is one of them – a small gem of an Indy film. It’s about a teenager whose mother left him as a baby. His father tries to be there for him, but there are money problems, […]
Hemingway and Fitzgerald in Switzerland
Basel-based Irish writer Padraig Rooney, whose recent book The Gilded Chalet, explores Switzerland’s relationship with American, British and other expatriate authors, looks at Hemingway’s and Fitzgerald’s own encounters with the Lake Geneva region. The war was over and the French franc cheap: twenty-five to the US dollar in the mid-twenties. Ernest Hemingway first breezed into […]
FILM: 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE – a gripping portrait of a real airline hijack
27 April 2018. 7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE *** Here’s a gripping portrait of the hijacking of an Air France airliner in the summer of 1976 by two Palestinians and two German revolutionaries, which ended at the airport of Entebbe, Uganda. Seven days of high tension for the hundreds of hostages, the nervous hijackers, the Israeli […]
FIFOG – Festival International du Film Oriental de Genève – this weekend
This 13th edition is once again bringing a multitude of films from the Near and Middle East, including Iran, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and many other countries, to show the amazing diversity of cultures. This year, with about 100 films from 30 countries and some 80 guests, the festival is focusing on women’s issues and […]
FILM: GAME NIGHT – Things don’t turn out quite as planned…
20 April 2018. Great week! We’ve got a brilliant French comedy of errors, a touching Italian romance, and this amusing fun-and-games yarn that gets somewhat out of hand. So grab this chance for varied and quality entertainment in our multilingual city of Calvin. GAME NIGHT *** Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman make the perfect couple […]
FILM: ISLE OF DOGS – a quirky animated tale of dog exile
13 April 2018. ISLE OF DOGS ***1/2 If you’re a Wes Anderson fan (“The Royal Tenenbaums”, “The Darjeeling Limited”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), you’re going to love his latest work. Once again a quirky tale, this time he’s done it in animation with some of the most distinctive voices in show business – Bill Murray, […]
