25 November 2022. By Neptune This has been a busy week for me due to a family arrival, many events and Thanksgiving thoughts (we certainly can be grateful being here in peaceful, well-run Switzerland!), so this week’s reviews will be brief. But as always, I shall try to lead you to the best in cinema… […]
FILM: RESTE UN PEU ***1/2
18 November 2022. By Neptune RESTE UN PEU ***1/2 (vo French) Gad Elmaleh is a popular French comedian and actor who with this second film as director has created quite a furore, even before its release. And the reason is that this tender comedy involving his family is actually about his wanting to convert […]
FILM: CALL JANE *** – 10 free tickets
By Neptune It is 1968 and a Chicago housewife is looking forward to having her baby until she finds out the birth will be seriously hazardous to her health. As a medical abortion is refused her by a panel of male doctors, she desperately looks for an alternative solution. She falls upon a group of […]
FILM: YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATE ***1/2
4 November 2022. By Neptune YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATE – (Vous n’aurez pas ma haine) ***1/2 (vo French) In November 2015, there were several terrorist attacks in one night at different venues in Paris that killed 130 people. The worst was at the Bataclan concert hall, where gunmen indiscriminately slaughtered 90 spectators. It […]
FILM: BOY FROM HEAVEN ****
28 October 2022. By Neptune BOY FROM HEAVEN (LA CONSPIRATION DU CAIRE) **** (vo Arabic) This gripping, eye-opener of a thriller, by the Swedish/Egyptian Tarik Saleh, takes you into the most important stronghold of Sunni Islamic theology, Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar University. Saleh’s spinning of this tale of both religious fervor and hypocrisy is impressive in […]
FILM: LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE – joyous entertainment
21 October 2022. By Neptune LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE (Enzo le Croco) *** There are films that simply make you happy, whatever their genre. This one, aimed mainly at adolescents and families, is one of those. Like the delightful “Paddington 2” or the sweet “Stuart Little”, its main character is an animated creature, whereas the rest […]
FILM: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT **** the ultimate anti-war message
14 October 2022. By Neptune ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT **** (vo German) All quiet on the western front/Im Westen Nichts Neues/A l’ouest, rien de nouveau. This is the classic based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel, ‘Im Westen nichts Neues’, remade anew and as powerful and brilliant as ever. Its first version, an […]
FILM: TICKET TO PARADISE *
7 October 2022. By Neptune TICKET TO PARADISE * Romcoms (romantic comedies) of old used to be brilliant gems streaming regularly out of Hollywood. Sharp, funny and unforgettable, they left a huge smile on one’s heart. There was the Clark Gable 1934 classic, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT; Greta Garbo’s glorious NINOTCHKA from 1939; Lubitsch’s tender […]
FILM: TRIANGLE OF SADNESS – stinging satire
30 September 2022. By Neptune TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (Sans Filtre) ***1/2 This Palme d’Or winner from Cannes 2022 is a scathing, uproarious denunciation of those who feel entitled in every way, whether it be for their beauty, money, position or know-how. Ruben Östlund, the already crowned Palme-winner at Cannes 2017 for “The Square”, once again […]
FILM: DON’T WORRY DARLING **
23 September 2022. By Neptune DON’T WORRY DARLING ** This was supposed to be an exciting film with young, trendy performers such as singer Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, and directed and acted by the upcoming Olivia Wilde. But somehow this colorful yet dystopian journey through Victory, a falsely idyllic community in the 1950s, just […]