— by BEV QUESTAD — A snow-white fuzzy donkey is lovingly cared for in a small rustic corral. It is lucky to have enough food and water. Daily its owner hitches the donkey up to a flat-bed cart and rides around the remains of a dusty town, picking up and dropping off strangers and their [[...]
Author Archive
Review: Santosh
— by BEV QUESTAD — Santosh’s young husband, a second-year policeman noted for his integrity, is mercilessly killed in a riot he was called to quell. When Santosh goes to the station to collect his belongings, she learns she can inherit his position with the same salary. While this posi[...]
Review: No Other Land
— by BEV QUESTAD — “I’m five years old. My first memory. A light woke me up. This was my father’s first arrest.” Basel, now 28, carries the one weapon he is allowed – a camera. He marches up to the enemy expelling people from family homes, owned since the early 1800s, before th[...]
Review: Oh, Canada
— by BEV QUESTAD — I thought I would take a break from heavy film watching and enjoy a movie with dashing Richard Gere as lead in “Oh, Canada.” Frying pan into the fire. This film is as complex, studied and deep as they come. Gere is masterful as a dying man, Leonard Fife, who [&hell[...]
Review: The Bibi Files
— by BEV QUESTAD — The siren’s luring call of power and riches blinds her victims into crashing against her jutting rocks. In 2023, before the October Hamas attack, Israeli investigative police tapes incriminating Bibi Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, were secretly handed to Alex G[...]
Review: Armand
— by BEV QUESTAD — “We have to be tolerant of everything now.” “Yeah, we can’t say or do anything.” “There’s a difference between tolerance and irresponsibility.” An incident has occurred, and the school wonders how to handle it. The child’s mother, a rather recent wido[...]
Review: Remembering Gene Wilder
— by BEV QUESTAD — “I didn’t think Jerry Silverman had the right ring to it. I wanted to be … wilder.” So began the career of much-loved Gene Wilder, actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. Ron Frank’s loving tribute to Wilder is executive produced by Wilder’s friends, Leonard[...]
Review: A Case for Love
— by BEV QUESTAD — In the beginning, a lovely woman reports her victimization. At one point, she explains how her skin was coming off because her mother had her repeatedly washing the floor with bleach. Growing up thinking she was supposed to please others, she ended up prostituting, add[...]
Review: Lead and Copper
— by BEV QUESTAD — It took me a long time to get through this one and a half hour movie because I repetitively stopped the film and took down important notes. But it wasn’t until the end that I took in an intake of breath. Then I took two screen shots and rushed them […][...]
Review: Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
— by BEV QUESTAD — This film by new Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Thien An will have you pondering, throughout the film, about what the title might mean. “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” takes place in Vietnam during a lot of overcast, rainy skies. It begins with a silly big-headed sport[...]
Review: Facing the Wind
— by BEV QUESTAD — What do you do when your spouse changes from the vibrant intelligent man you fell in love with to someone who doesn’t always know who you are? The bottom-line question is this: What does a wife do when she has a career and her husband needs 24/7 care? Have you [&hell[...]
Review: The Old Oak
— by BEV QUESTAD — “When you eat together you stick together.” I’m musing over this old adage used in “The Old Oak” as I’m on my way to Bangladesh for the 11th time. There is a stark chasm between those who have plenty and are safe and those who are suffering with their lives[...]
Review: The Dead Don’t Hurt
— by BEV QUESTAD — This film is a tour de force in dramatization, headed up by charismatic Viggo Mortensen and inner strength phenome Vicky Krieps. The entire cast takes you inside the times and minds of people trying to survive in hardscrabble southwest America during the time of the Ci[...]
Review: Man and Witch
— by BEV QUESTAD — Talking animals, castles, hobbit-like scenery, wizards, witches and popular music are all in “Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps,” a delightful fairytale for the 21st century. The Contented Kingdom has lost its descriptor with the invasion of the [...]