5 August 2016. ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES *** One angry Goddess is intimidating, but seven of them?! With all the rapes and injustices going on in India against women, how could these young, liberated women not be angry? Indian director Pan Nalin of the sublime “Samsara” is back with this joyous, colorful yet socially pertinent and necessary […]
Film: Money Monster – Clooney in a thriller about the haves and have-nots
10 June 2016. 3 to see, and 3 to miss. MONEY MONSTER **1/2 Director Jody Foster has gone commercial in this yarn about a hostage-taking on a financial TV show. Underlying the tensions on the set is the eternal quandary between the haves and the have- nots. And she’s thrown in stars such as George Clooney […]
More from Cannes – 2016 film festival winners
27 May 2016. 2016 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS Last week I gave you the facts and numbers, and some of my favorite films from the festival. Now let me end it with snippets of views and emotions. As mentioned before, Cannes is a professional festival, impossible for the unaccredited to enter the “bunker”, as the […]
Film: Woody Allen at his best – tinsel town in the 1930s
13 May 2016. CAFE SOCIETY **** Is there a yearning in the corner of Woody Allen’s heart? In fact, don’t we all have a secret longing buried deep in our hearts? That’s the magic of Woody’s genius, when he gets it just right. He touches our emotions, connecting with each of us, with a lightness, […]
Film: Brooklyn – a love story about a girl who emigrates alone
15 March 2016. BROOKLYN **** A fine romantic film is a rarity, and here is such a pearl. Underlying the romance is the more meaty tale of a young girl emigrating alone to America from her home in Ireland in the early 1950s, with all the turmoil that such a move entails: the fears of a […]
Film: Spotlight – exposing a coverup of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
26 February 2016. SPOTLIGHT **** Whatever your background, belief or religion, you will be shaken by this gripping, true account of tenacious newspaper reporting. It’s about the Boston Globe revealing in 2001-2002 the extent of the decades-long coverup of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Countless priests in the Boston area were molesting innocent children and […]
Film: Hail Caesar! The latest from the Coen brothers
19 February 2016. HAIL CAESAR! **1/2 Oh dear, I was so looking forward to another great Coen brothers film after seeing the hilarious trailer. But unfortunately it was not to be. Like Woody Allen, the super-talented brothers can’t win ’em all… and this has none of the coherence or brilliance of O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, […]
Film pick: Chocolat – the true story of a black circus performer in 1800s France
12 February 2016. CHOCOLAT **1/2 (vo French) This bittersweet tale is based on the true story of a black circus performer in the France of the late 1800s. It features Omar Sy of “Les Intouchables”, and James Thierree, a grandson of Charlie Chaplin who has an uncanny resemblance to the famed comic. Actor/director Roschdy Zem has […]
Film review: The Revenant – a must despite very difficult to watch violence
THE REVENANT *** (vo English) Here is another tale of nature, but this one is about the incredible endurance and survival instincts of one man in a mercilessly harsh environment. Viciously mauled by a massive bear, betrayed by his companions and left for dead, he then becomes hell bent on revenge. Brilliantly filmed by the […]
Film review: The Danish girl – a story of a man turning into a woman
22 January 2016. THE DANISH GIRL **** (vo English) “What did I do to deserve such love?” – that is the refrain that threads through this story about a couple going through the turmoils of the husband feeling entrapped in his male body. It all starts off as a sort of forbidden game between two […]