— by BEV QUESTAD — In a time of increasing economic fears, the words of the hero in “Le Havre” are a sad commentary about his position as a shoeshine man: “There are better professions, but besides shepherds, it’s closest to the people and the last to respect The Sermon on th[...]
Author Archive
Under Review: ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Life at times is cruel and unjust. Raul Ruiz delivers this message in his gorgeous film with period extravagance and beauty. Life stories of passion and grief are recounted by the characters, explaining what happened in their surprisingly interconnected lives in Lisbon[...]
Under Review: ‘The Chef of South Polar’ (aka Nankyoku ryôrinin)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Eight Japanese men in the prime of their lives are sent to a desolate outpost deep in Antarctica for 414 days. Their job is to mine ice cores that document climate change through the last 300,000 years. But 414 days is a long time. Sometimes the sun never sets and [&he[...]
Under Review: ‘Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie’
— by BEV QUESTAD — “It kind of feels like kind of a rap of what I’ve been doing. It really is a nice completion. I can just go home and die now.” That’s what David Suzuki says about his 2009 lecture at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. However, at 73, Suzuki is [&h[...]
Under Review: ‘Ruhr’
— by BEV QUESTAD — From time to time, I see art and I am blown away — Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, Mindy Weisel, William Thompson — my mesmerized subconscious overflows. Other times I just don’t get it and I contact my artist friends and demand, “How does this constitut[...]
Under Review: ‘Crazy Wisdom’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Forty-one years ago, a friend of mine said that a true IQ test would be on how well we can hide our insanity. For Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, whom this film is all about, the potential paradox of crazy wisdom and his embrace of it may cause the viewer[...]
Under Review: ‘Film Socialisme’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Foaming surf as a cruise ship glides through gray seas – a lithe bikini-clad young woman swimming underwater in the ship’s pool – a white-dressed woman slamming repeatedly into a window, ignored by the patrons chatting in the warm interior, inexplicably c[...]
Under Review: ‘The Rules of the Game’ (aka ‘La Regle du Jeu’)
— by BEV QUESTAD — There is not just an Arab discontent swirling in the winds. There is also a pervasive International Spring going on with the Occupy Wall Street movement. So it is altogether appropriate that on the Park Blocks of a make-shift tent city of protest in Portland, Ore., the[...]
Under Review: ‘Zanzibar Musical Club’
— by BEV QUESTAD — I watched this film the first time without knowing anything about it. Big Mistake. Before you are able to appreciate it fully, you must know three bits of crucial information. “Zanzibar Music Club” is one of the last films in the Northwest Film Center’s Reel [...]
Under Review: ‘Sing Your Song’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Harry Belafonte became an icon while at the same time a victim of rampant, incomprehensible American racism. Whether it was in Las Vegas or in the south, Belafonte, like other Black entertainers, didn’t have access to the front door of the theater he headlined. As he[...]
Under Review: ‘George Harrison: Living in the Material World’
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Material World” invades your conscious and subconscious, your memory and your present, and your mind and heart. It is an intimate encounter with a plucky, quiet guy who, through his music, took the world on a journey searching for alternative forms of musical[...]
Under Review: ‘The River Why’
— by BEV QUESTAD — “I understand the way fish think,” is what Gus says as he describes his life story, a convoluted fable about life and its analogy to fishing. Gus’s father, William Hurt, is an affected published author and his mother, Kathleen Quinlan, is the rough feminist fishe[...]
Under Review: ‘Where Soldiers Come From’
— by BEV QUESTAD — The landscape of northern Michigan is bleak and cold. Jobs are scarce and people are just scraping by in wooden houses that long ago needed repainting. This is ripe ground for enlistment. A boy cynically remarks, “What else is there to do?” Led by Cole, three frien[...]
Under Review: ‘Guzaarish’
— by BEV QUESTAD — I loved this film. Presented with lush colors and textures with an ancient mansion on verdant grounds in Goa, India, I was captivated. The accompanying story, deep and moving, evokes great respect and a lot of questions. This is my last film review written from Banglad[...]