— by BEV QUESTAD — Soldiers are penned up in a sand-bagged lookout on a hillside overlooking the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. They are ordered out on daily sorties where they are shot at either coming or going. They are the bait. Enemy fire reveals where the adversary is. This is Seba[...]
Author Archive
Review: Blueberry Soup
— by BEV QUESTAD — Blueberry soup, often served cold on New Year’s Day, is high in anti-oxidants. Tradition says it cleanses and purifies the system. Hopefully, this metaphor will eventually prove an accurate description for the ground-breaking constitutional experiment in Iceland. In [...]
Review: Half of a Yellow Sun
— by BEV QUESTAD — In the beginning, two beautiful women are dining at a stately dinner in their luxurious family home. In a seeming eyeblink, they are caught in the tightening vise of a desperate civil war. This is a harrowing story of imperialism and the now-familiar pattern of events [...]
Jimi: All is By My Side: Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — If you would like to experience a resurrected Jimi Hendrix, it’s possible. The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is presenting John Ridley’s “Jimi: All is By My Side” at its magical opening night gala on May 15, 2014. Ridley’s film is a shocking biop[...]
Review: Ich Hunger
— by BEV QUESTAD — Wild Creature meets Tinkerbell in pastoral faux Germany during a murder investigation. Beginning with a deep “Ommmm” beset with cacophonous sounds, “Ich Hunger” delivers an expressionist tableau of foolery and macabre. Experimental camera tricks abound, especia[...]
Review: Noah
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Noah” is a remarkable interpretation of The Great Flood and a fitting choice to open during Lent, a time of repentance and ultimate rebirth. It is all about dying and rising. We sleep, we wake. We fail, try again, and rise. Nature abounds in this cycle and it is t[...]
2014 PIFF Results
— by BEV QUESTAD — The 2014 Portland International Film Festival (PIFF) Alaska Airlines Audience Awards have been announced. This year PIFF screened 104 features and 24 shorts from countries around the world. A few were nominees for the 2014 Oscars, but most you’ve never heard of. Do I[...]
Review: Remote Area Medical
— by BEV QUESTAD — Screened at the 2014 Portland International Film Festival, “Remote Area Medical” (RAM) is a Doctors Without Borders kind of international medical/dental/optical service. Volunteers go in for a three-day weekend and serve everyone who shows up. Its inaugural mission[...]
Review: The Autobiography of Karl Krogstad
— by BEV QUESTAD — Reminiscent of Steve Allen’s bizarre comedy of the 1960s, the wacko, surreal Karl Krogstad has created a film about himself. It is a little narcissistic, but so chalked up with images, metaphors and color, that audiences will either hurt from two solid hours of broad[...]
Review: Ilo Ilo
— by BEV QUESTAD — Dennis the Menace meets Mary Poppins in Singapore. Well, Dennis is spot-on but the sweet Filipino young lady who comes to be a servant in this household has her hands full. Set in Singapore circa 1997 during an economic crisis, Teresa is the new household maid (played [...]
Review: Ernest and Celestine
— by BEV QUESTAD — A cute little mouse, Celestine, wants to be an artist, not a dentist like expected. Mice, you know, are partial to their crucial incisors and value the health of their teeth. Therefore their society is built around the dental arts, including procuring spare incisors fr[...]
Review: Village at the End of the World
— by BEV QUESTAD — Though the sun shines, biting wind brushes through the air, icebergs loom like monoliths from the bay, and temperatures don’t get too far beyond freezing. This is Sequinnerpoq, the summer season when the sun shines. The little Inuit fishing village, Niaqornat, nestle[...]
Review: Just a Sigh
— by BEV QUESTAD — Working out an interpretation of Blaise Pascal’s theme on happiness, filmmaker Jérome Bonnell gives us 24 hours, beginning and ending with a ride on a train. Gabriel Byrne is perfectly cast as the interesting older man. Coming in from England to Paris for the funera[...]
Review: A World Not Ours
— by BEV QUESTAD — Screened at this year’s Portland International Film Festival, “A World Not Ours” was Lebanon’s entry into the 2014 Oscar competition for best film in a Foreign Language. It’s all about the 64-year-old Ain El Helweh refugee camp for Palestinians in southern Le[...]