— by BEV QUESTAD — The fabulously diversified Portland International Film Festival has been extended to Feb. 27. An example of one of PIFF’s exquisite foreign films is the picturesque Chinese blockbuster by Feng Xiaogang. Known as China’s Steven Spielberg, he uses a unique screen[...]
Archive for February, 2017
Starless Dreams: Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — Award-winning director Mehrdad Oskouei was given access to an incarceration facility for girls 18 and under in Iran. Gently asking them why they were there and what their hopes for the future were, he discovers a greater societal transgression than the girls’ crimes.[...]
Raising Bertie: First Clip
— by BEV QUESTAD — Thought-provoking as well as deeply disturbing, this slice of North Carolinian life for the working poor makes a case for at least one intervention – by Vivian Saunders. Fueled by love and a sense of responsibility, Saunders is a source of common strength for Bertie [...]
Nakom: Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — The Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) wins another 10/10 with “Nakom,” a story about a young man, remarkably played by Jacob Ayanaba, with drive, initiative and intelligence who has the choice to take over his father’s farm or proceed on his university [...]
Heidi: Festival Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — With her spunky nature, the title character of Alain Gsponer’s new version of “Heidi” uncannily represents our time. Though picturesquely set in the 1880s, this new rendition of an old classic celebrates the child, curiosity, learning and following dreams – no [...]
The Son of Joseph: Official UK Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — Vincent (Victor Ezenfis), a teenage boy consumed with an identity crisis, learns who his father is. Then he has a key made to fit his bio-contributor’s office where he hides under a divan. In revulsion at the immorality he witnesses and in long-burning resentment for[...]
The Distinguished Citizen: Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — Excelente! This Oscar nominee from Argentina for best foreign film is brimming with insight about the human condition. Daniel Mantovani (Oscar Martínez), an Argentinian ex-pat, is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. A bit like Bob Dylan, he thinks he won’t go. B[...]
The Ornithologist: Teaser
— by BEV QUESTAD — This year’s Portland International Film Festival features an odd entry from Portugal’s Joao Pedro Rodrigues. “The Ornithologist” is as weird as its screeching music. Set in the scenic grandeur of mountainous Portugal, a bird watcher (Paul Hamy) gets frustra[...]
A Quiet Passion: Festival Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — The biographical story of Emily Dickinson, “A Quiet Passion” is one of the 166 films being shown Feb. 9 to 25 as part of the 40th annual Portland International Film Festival. Cynthia Nixon excels as Dickinson and deserves tremendous credit for her performance in Te[...]
Review: The Draft and the Vietnam Generation
— by BEV QUESTAD — Here are a couple hypothetical questions for you. If this were 1968 and you were of draft age, would you volunteer to fight in Vietnam? If you were of conscription age today, would you volunteer to fight in Syria or any other country our President might send our army? [...]
Review: Solitary: Inside Red Onion State Prison
— by RON WILKINSON — “Solitary” by filmmaker Kristi Jacobson (“A Place at the Table”) is one of the most eerie and troubling films you will ever see. The prison itself is a nether world of locked boxes with almost no visual access. Each pod is a cacophony of yells and banging com[...]
Review: Road to the Well
— by RON WILKINSON — Frank (Laurence Fuller) is having a tough time finishing his PhD thesis. Things don’t get any better when he finds his boss screwing his girlfriend in the office break room. Nobody else in his workplace seems to think anything of it but Frank is bothered. He needs [...]
Review: A Month of Sundays
— by BEV QUESTAD — “A Month of Sundays” is a slo-mo blossom unfurling its developing petals into an eventual multi-layered, delicately shaded glorious bloom of uncommon beauty. Writer-director Matthew Saville has delivered this fragrant corsage set in a cinematic environment [...]
Review: Antarctica: Ice and Sky
— by RON WILKINSON — It is hard to imagine anyone not being thrilled to sit on an ice floe in the pristine Antarctic and have penguins file past you, casually diving into the ice-slushy water for an afternoon meal. Watching this movie, it is hard not to feel sad knowing that this kind of[...]