The film captures an unusual coming-of-age story based in Sri Lanka, where the Tamils and the Sinhalese are at war with one another, a schism that reflects the one in families who firmly believe in dichotomous categorization of sexuality, making any other manifestation illegal. Arjie (played by Nand and Ingram as younger and older) seems to […]
There are significant twists in this crime drama, but a fair amount of time is spent in figuring out who characters are. Like many horror films, the filmmakers keep you wondering and guessing, and in this case, that’s most of the movie. The reasons given are always that it’s too dangerous to be given details. No spoiler—this is
Another Round…as in another round of alcohol. A group of four teachers at a Danish gymnasium going through bouts of alienation—especially one, Martin (Mikkelsen. The other three, spearheaded by the psychology professor, Nikolaj (Millang), decide to embark on an experiment aimed to get them out of the doldrums. The hypothesis of this unorthodox study derived from Norwegian psychiatrist
How pleasant it is to spend time under the water, seeing all the exotic creatures and being gently rocked by the view expertly captured by Roger Horrocks, Craig Foster’s narrating voice, and the gentle music of Kevin Smuts. This is a work of both art and of craft in its consolidation of all the elements it
This is a story written by writer/director Darius Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines), and has all the emotional pull of his previous films. Sound of Metal is co-written and directed by Darius Marder—his frequent collaborator. Their films invariably have such substance it’s always a special treat to see them—not a treat in the sense
In a rather tangled two-part plot, writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine explores some version of the “life imitates art” juxtaposition. To illustrate his point he uses a recurring image of the main character in a meditative position surrounded by nature. The first scenario is presented with certain actors in certain roles followed by those same actors and characters
Mayor. A noble politician—one seldom seen perhaps. But here we have the mayor of Ramallah, Musa Hadid, trying to steer his Palestinian city through what Palestinians would say is illegal Israeli settlements and incursions into their territory, particularly recently, under Netanyahu. The Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Jerusalum have been occupied by Israel since 1967. Jerusalem is a
Maybe, partly, with all that is worrisome going on in our world today, I wasn’t quite in the spirit of Christmas when I viewed Christmas on the Square. But as much as I’ve always loved Dolly Parton, there is just too much sweetness in this movie. The music, choreography, sets, and acting are all first-rate, but the predictable
Although this is an interesting story, The Last Vermeer is uneven in its presentation and inserts events in the script that seem to be intended simply to make the film more exciting to the current generation. John Orloff (pen name, James McGee) wrote the script about a character named Han van Meergren who sold forged Vermeer paintings to
A documentary by Alex Gibney features a psychiatrist who has tried for years to convince the legal profession that the death penalty should not be used on those who have serious psychopathology because those people are missing the controls that keep the rest of us from doing heinous acts. Her basic question has been, “What keeps