— by BEV QUESTAD — “We are all just visitors here to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to grow, to love – and then we go home.” ~ Aboriginal Proverb Challenged by industrialization, environmental toxicity, drugs, alcohol and social [...]
Author Archive
Review: Kooky (aka Kuky se vrací)
— by BEV QUESTAD — “We’ve all lost something. A person, a thing which meant the world to us, perhaps a place that no longer exists, or a time that’s passed — but what if we could have it back?” These are the words that begin this adorable little film about a[...]
Review: One Mile Above (aka Kora)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Who in the world would want to bike 1,200 miles up into the world’s highest elevations where icy roads give no mercy to little bikes with no snow tires? The scariest moments are the free-fall downhill coasts when there is so little control. A rock, an ice slick, anot[...]
Review: Fifi Howls from Happiness
— by BEV QUESTAD — Born in 1931 in Iran, Bahman Mohassess studied in and later permanently relocated to Rome. He says, “In this slim, vast uterus known as Rome I began to work and to live. A city whose population squirms in an eternal coitus, whose alleys are stained with the sperm of [...]
Review: Honeymoon (aka Líbánky)
— by BEV QUESTAD — This beautiful Czech film begins with gentle, romantic music, a wedding and a short car caravan through a pastoral Czechoslovakian countryside to a small reception at the family farm. A beautiful bride is in the arms of a self-confident, dashing, amorous groom. The onl[...]
Interview: Filmmaker John Alan Simon
— by BEV QUESTAD — Philip K. Dick, dead by a stroke at age 53 in 1982, was early in his career reduced to buying horse meat, sold for dogs, in order to survive. Now revered as one of the great sci-fi writers of all time, with his work mined for ideas to turn into […][...]
Radio Free Albemuth: Official Trailer
— by BEV QUESTAD — Featuring Alanis Morissette, this sci-fi film is centered on a good-natured young man in the ’80s who has a beautiful wife, a dedicated best friend, a job in the family record store and a seeming idyllic life. However, this is all disturbed one night when he wake[...]
Review: Two Raging Grannies
— by BEV QUESTAD — Shirley Morrison, now 92 years old, has a history of speaking her mind, asking the important questions and being jailed over 12 times. Hinda Kipnis, age 85 (b. 1929), is known for her protest parodies and contrarian New York-bred point of view. A glorious Norwegian, H[...]
Review: Ida
— by BEV QUESTAD — Mother Superior calls Ida to her office. Ida is informed that she must visit her mother’s sister before she takes her final vows. Ida didn’t know she had any relatives, much less an aunt. Ida had been left with a priest who had placed her as an infant at th[...]
Review: Seeds of Time
— by BEV QUESTAD — “The way in which we are feeding the current population is not sustainable. Twelve of the hottest 15 years have taken place in the last 16 years. …We’re really in a race against time. We need to mobilize before it’s too late. We’re gonna pay a price if we don[...]
Korengal: Trailer
— 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[...]
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[...]