20 October 2017. THE SQUARE ***1/2 An audacious social commentary at this year’s Cannes film festival, Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s film is a harsh reflection on the hypocrisy and idiocy of the art milieu. It also delves into the guilt complex of Northern Europeans vs. immigrants, and the arid state of instant, impersonal sex. The […]
FILM: BORG vs McENROE – better than any thriller
27 October 2017. BORG vs McENROE ***1/2 Whether you’re into tennis or not, this is a brilliant look at opposite characters, world-class competition and the confines of celebrity. Done by Danish director Janus Metz, it covers the crucial years in the early 1980s when Borg was the king of the courts and McEnroe was the […]
FILM: BORG vs McENROE – better than any thriller
27 October 2017. BORG vs McENROE ***1/2 Whether you’re into tennis or not, this is a brilliant look at opposite characters, world-class competition and the confines of celebrity. Done by Danish director Janus Metz, it covers the crucial years in the early 1980s when Borg was the king of the courts and McEnroe was the […]
FILM: AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL – a film that should be shown in US Congress
13 October 2017. Too many releases this week – so they are mini-reviews. AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL – Truth to Power **** Ex-vice-president Al Gore is back, this time with an even more convincing argument for solving global warming. He is passionate about saving our planet, and makes one want to follow his lead. This documentary […]
FILM: VICTORIA AND ABDUL – Touching on the cruelties of the British Empire
6 October 2017. A great deal of FINE cinema coming at you this week – get ready for a film marathon! VICTORIA AND ABDUL (Confident Royal) *** Here’s a tender biopic on Queen Victoria’s last years, made sweet by a young, charming Indian clerk. Stephen Frears, of such excellent and varied films as “My Beautiful […]
FILM: The young Karl Marx
29 September 2017. THE YOUNG KARL MARX **** (vo German, French, English) Haitian director Raoul Peck knows how to make films that move you and shake you to the core. As a political militant, he makes films about history, humanity and injustices that cause you to reflect and feel the larger truths with your gut, […]
FILM: LOVELESS – The present state of Russian society brilliantly exposed
22 September 2017. FAUTE D’AMOUR (NELYUBOV /LOVELESS) **** (vo Russian) The present state of Russian society is brilliantly exposed in this latest Andrey Zvyagintsev film, a grim but powerfully constructed tale of a destructive couple in the midst of a divorce who have no use for their poor 12-year old son. The mother is a […]
FILM: Insyriated – a film that places you in the middle of the Syrian tragedy
15 September 2017. INSYRIATED (UNE FAMILLE SYRIENNE) **** (vo Arab, English, French) A large, comfortable, well-decorated bourgeois apartment. A decent, obviously well-educated family with a mother, a younger woman with her husband and their baby, a few teenagers, a grandfather, and a young maid. But they seem tense and on edge. Terrible things are happening […]
FILM: Rules don’t apply – Back to the 50s and Howard Hughes
8 September 2017. RULES DON’T APPLY **1/2 Warren Beatty is back with a genteel, retro, romantic tale based around the late life of Howard Hughes. He not only directs this colorful melodrama but also plays the role of Hughes with gusto, humor and tenderness. Though I am not so sure about the correlation between Beatty’s […]
FILM: A French tale about an antisocial fellow and an Indian refugee
1 September 2017. 7 JOURS PAS PLUS (An Indian Tale) ***1/2 (vo French) There are films that remain in your heart, like “The Shop Around the Corner”, “Bagdad Café” or “The Station Agent”. You recall them and an instant smile comes across your face. This French tale, about an antisocial fellow who owns a hardware […]
