religion

Birds of Passage

In a different year, “Birds of Passage,” along with a myriad of other mildly interesting foreign film submissions would have been sure bets for the Oscar lineup. However, the bar for foreign films has been raised extraordinary high now thanks to Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma.” Colombia’s submission to the 91st Academy Awards didn’t make the nominee roster, […]

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Cocote

There is little that works about “Cocote,” the Dominican Republic’s submission to the 91st Academy Awards. The most obvious shortfall is how the film is technically assembled. It begins in letterbox (full screen) format, which in itself is not that uncommon, Jonah Hill’s “Mid 90’s” and Poland’s foreign entry “Cold War” both utilize the format. However,

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Menashe

It’s easy to see what writer, director, and cinematographer Joshua Z Weinstein was attempting here. Weinstein is neither a member of the Haredi community nor does he speak the Yiddish language. Yes, the film is in subtitles. Menashe (me-na-sha) takes the structure of a film you have seen before, where a single father can’t get

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