— by BEV QUESTAD — So we finally have it in an innocent documentary about a young girl interested in astronomy. “If you do something wrong I’ll kill you. I swear to God. Whether it’s my own daughter or my sister’s. I mean it.” Dialogues like this are just one reason for the imp[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: The Canal
— by RON WILKINSON — Film archivist David (Rupert Evans) smells a rat. Maybe it is that his wife, Alice (Hannah, Hoekstra) seems distracted by her business associate, Alex (Carl Shaaban), and seems to be pulling away from David. That could be because she is having an affair with Alex. Th[...]
Review: The Decent One (Der Anständige)
— by RON WILKINSON — “The Decent One,” Vanessa Lapa’s riveting documentary (co-written with Ori Weisbrod) reveling the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler is, if nothing else, a remarkable collection of archival footage. Although some (most?) of this footage has been seen be[...]
Review: Citizenfour
— by RON WILKINSON — Almost a year and a half after filmmaker Laura Poitras’ and journalist Glenn Greenwald first met with whistle-blower Edward Snowden, his name has become a household word. Snowden contacted Poitras and asked her to be a part of that historic meeting from the fir[...]
Review: The Blue Room (aka La chambre bleue)
— by RON WILKINSON — Directed and written by Mathieu Amalric (co-written by leading lady Stéphanie Cléau), “The Blue Room” is superficially a cautionary tale about marital infidelity and, on a deeper level, a psychological study in promises made, and implied. Based on Georges Simen[...]
Review: Private Violence
— by BEV QUESTAD — The most quizzical thing about women who are being abused is their reticence to get out of their situation. Some people think it’s because they are poor and dependent upon the man. “Where else can they go to support their children?” we wonder. But in this film, t[...]
Review: Big Men
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Is there some society that you know that doesn’t run on greed?” Executive produced by Brad Pitt, “Big Men” opens with this question. It also tells the true story, with impressive access and documentation, about a little Texas company that finds oil in Ghana.[...]
Review: Purgatorio
— by RON WILKINSON — “Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border” — Rodrigo Reyes’ simmering treatise on the human condition in the worst of all worlds — starts from the beginning. Children laugh and play, full of good intentions and dreams of the fu[...]
Review: Fishing Without Nets
— by RON WILKINSON — Writer/director Cutter Hodierne took home the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2014 Sundance Festival for “Fishing Without Nets,” a gutsy inside look at desperation, despair and deliverance. Inevitably, comparisons will be made to Paul Greengrass’ 20[...]
Review: The Green Prince
— by RON WILKINSON — It is unusual, but not unheard of, for a young Palestinian to be recruited by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence machine to provide inside information on Hamas. So there is little amazing in the 2010 ABC News story that Mosab Hassan Yousef, “The Green Prince,” work[...]
Review: Last Days in Vietnam
— by RON WILKINSON — In 1975, both American and the Republic of South Vietnam were struggling, against the odds, to bring peace with dignity to Southeast Asia. The Paris Peace accords of two years’ earlier had established a framework of commitment and cooperation to end the war. In 197[...]
Review: Rocks in My Pockets
— by BEV QUESTAD — In “Rocks in my Pockets,” writer/director/animator Signe Baumane investigates a familial trail of five suicides and her own dark challenge. Coincidentally, as soon as I finished watching this film, a respected friend messaged me that his Nepali colleague, with a wi[...]
Review: The Skeleton Twins
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 40th Seattle International Film Festival, Craig Johnson directs “Saturday Night Live” alums Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as estranged twins reuniting after 10 years of silence. “The Skeleton Twins” starts off with the twins simultan[...]
Review: Song of the New Earth
— by BEV QUESTAD — Tom Kenyon is a sound healer who does not expect anyone to believe his story. He has even investigated the possibility that his visions, voices and experiences might be signs of mental illness. But what is universally agreed upon is that Tom Kenyon is extraordinary and[...]