— by BEV QUESTAD — Aaron Sorkin, writer/director beloved for “West Wing,” gets two rotten apples from me for his recent film, “Being the Ricardos.” Admittedly his mission was ambitious, taking us into one panicked week of artistic conflict, political crisis and personal betrayal [...]
Author Archive
Review: Passing
— by BEV QUESTAD — “All of us are just passing for something or other, aren’t we?” Irene muses rhetorically. As the crack in her ceiling spreads out, the howling wind gets stronger and snow begins to fall. The exquisite cinematography enhances this important story about race and id[...]
Review: Simple as Water
— by BEV QUESTAD — Yasmin stands on the cement walkway at a sea port in Athens with her four children. They are chasing a balloon and each other. She carefully monitors them and then herds them into their tent under the freeway overpass. Here she gets out her cell phone and lets them see[...]
Review: The Real Charlie Chaplin
— by BEV QUESTAD — The great irony is that Charlie Chaplin and his films were received enthusiastically and sympathetically before WWII and as communistic and unpatriotic after. Initially wildly popular throughout the world, “The Real Charlie Chaplin” details the man behind his chara[...]
Review: The Rossellinis
— by BEV QUESTAD — Roberto Rossellini was a famous director in Italy, but in the end, it is the haunting “Casablanca” star Ingrid Bergman, whom he married in 1950, that made his personal life international news and this film, “The Rossellinis,” mandatory viewing. Roberto Rosselli[...]
Review: Pig
— by BEV QUESTAD — Robin Feld (Nicolas Cage) and his delightful hairy pig are living in a rustic cabin in the Mt. Hood forest where bushy ferns and moist dirt hide truffles that grow in the root systems of the tall Douglas fir trees. Oregon truffles can sell for $600 to 5,000 a pound. [&[...]
Review: Gaza Mon Amour
— by BEV QUESTAD — This could be a sweet story of a 60-year-old bachelor who is smitten by a woman around his age. He attempts to court her, but doesn’t really know what to do except wear too much men’s cologne. Endearingly shy, their stilted encounters and attempts to communicate fa[...]
Review: Adventures of a Mathematician
— by BEV QUESTAD — “The Adventures of a Mathematician” is based on the autobiography of a Polish-Jewish scientist, Stanislaw Ulam, who refused to go to that fateful atomic test in the hot July desert south of Los Alamos in 1945. Already arguing with Edward Teller regarding the feasib[...]
Review: Storm Lake
— by BEV QUESTAD — I want to sit across the table from Art Cullen at the Better Day Cafe in Storm Lake, Iowa. I want to talk about the danger of news deserts, the difficulties of investigative journalism, and what he thinks about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for president. I also want to hav[...]
Review: Ascension (aka 登楼叹)
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Foreign position with dorm living, air conditioning and $2.99 per hour! You can sit. Easiest work you can find – making new phone products!” announces a job recruiter at an employment station in China. Jessica Kingdon, a Chinese-American director/producer, h[...]
Review: Fathom
— by BEV QUESTAD — Can whales replicate sounds we introduce electronically? Could an electronic device mimic whale speech and eventually get involved in a conversation? “Fathom” documents the communication efforts of two separate studies, one in Alaska and one in French Polynesia. Dr[...]
Review: The Song of the Butterflies
— by BEV QUESTAD — Where do the souls of the bodies of those enslaved, cruelly treated and slaughtered go? Is there a gentle reward for a life so savagely ended? “The Song of the Butterflies” takes us on a voyage with Rember Yahuarcani into the teeming, dark Amazon region, where he h[...]
Review: The Viewing Booth
— by BEV QUESTAD — When a college student, Maia, views a film clip of a boy around 6 years old apprehended by one policeman and then kicked by another, she cannot just describe this as an incident in itself. She presupposes a context, guessing about what must have happened first so that [...]
Review: Cancer; The Integrative Perspective
— by BEV QUESTAD — Just as the intelligent world was desperately waiting for a vaccination for COVID, those enduring cancer, genetic disorders and neurologic diseases also have been desperately wanting effective treatment to end their suffering. Nathan Crane thinks he may have an answer.[...]