— by BEV QUESTAD — Red Pine is the nom de plume of Bill Porter who grew up in LA, the son of a wildly disturbed, abusive multimillionaire patron of the Kennedys, who owned at least 52 hotels. Bill was sent to boarding school beginning in the fourth grade, so his parents could have more [[...]
Author Archive
Review: All We Carry
— by BEV QUESTAD — “My father was murdered. I can never get that out of my mind.” It is spring, 2018. Magdiel, Mirna and their son, Joshua, are on the migrant caravan coming up from Honduras and headed for the US when they meet Cady Voge, filmmaker and journalist, who commits to film[...]
Bev’s 2023 Best Documentary List
— by BEV QUESTAD — There were 167 Oscar-qualified documentaries for 2023. I viewed about 70, using award nominations from various organizations and my own interests as a guide. Documentaries serve as my post-graduate education. They extend my knowledge in history, geography, politics, ph[...]
Review: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
— by BEV QUESTAD — Michael J. Fox is asked what it means to be still. Mentally or physically? Is it being non-productive and not creative? Is it being passive? Depressed? Does it mean being locked inside a body in a wheelchair? Parkinson’s Disease (PD) affects nerve cells in the brain.[...]
Review: American Dreamer
— by BEV QUESTAD — “What do we need to be happy? How far are we willing to go to get it? This is a human being’s daily dilemma,” asserts Dr. Phil Loder, an economics professor whose students hang on his every word. Move over Steve Martin! Peter Dinklage’s slapstick in “Amer[...]
Review: Just Getting By
— by BEV QUESTAD — Last Monday, I spent five hours preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner for 15 homeless at my church in Vancouver, Washington. We alternate providing dinners, breakfasts, and overnight housing with another church. By 7:30 p.m., the guests nestled in on fold-out matt[...]
Review: 20 Days in Mariupol
— by BEV QUESTAD — The city is still and quiet. Not a tree leaf moves, as if trying not to call attention to itself. At the border, a two-pronged attack, though denied, is methodically being organized. One will come from the north into Kyiv and the other, here, 35 miles from Russia in th[...]
Review: Rustin
— by BEV QUESTAD — Diversity, inspiration, compassion, and transformation are the guiding principles of Higher Ground (HG), the Obamas’ production company. Michelle Obama says, “I always believed in the power of storytelling to inspire us, to make us think differently about the w[...]
Review: Yellow
— by BEV QUESTAD — In a sea of blue burqas, only a cat runs free, scampering freely from rooftop to rooftop high above the fettered women below. This 12-minute exceptional documentary short was nominated for a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for best short doc. It begins by showing th[...]
Review: Beyond Utopia
— by BEV QUESTAD — Fording rivers, climbing mountains, circling in a jungle, and hiking in the dark to evade capture, this long circuitous odyssey from North Korea through China to South Korea is what lucky North Koreans can expect to endure. For the unlucky it is betrayal by the broker,[...]
Review: Four Daughters
— by BEV QUESTAD — It was 2015 when Barack Obama approved the bombing of an Islamic terrorist center in Libya. Here, Noureddine Chouchane, a militant commander connected to two deadly attacks in neighboring Tunisia, was killed. Surviving were his wife and his wife’s sister. “Four Dau[...]
Review: Nimona
— by BEV QUESTAD — Who’s bad, who’s good, and what’s the truth? These are life’s questions. But, as this film says, “If you want a happily ever after you are going to have to wait, because the monsters are always out there.” Isn’t that the truth? “Nimona” is an animatio[...]
Review: American Symphony
— by BEV QUESTAD — This raw, intimate documentary reveals the most creative, versatile and eclectic musician of our time, Jon Batiste. From exposure to his personality on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” I was expecting a laid-back, fun, light-hearted guy. But his story runs mor[...]