Foreign

A strange phenomena occurs while watching three to four films a day; similarities, idiosyncrasies, poetic ploys, resonate as they would not under normal viewing circumstances: smoking informs approximately 80% of the films, regardless of the country they represent; cell phones, despite the direness of living conditions, are a major tool of contemporary filmmakers (“Timbuktu”);  child stars are a prime, compelling ... Read More »

Accidentally, I ventured into this enchanting fantasy about a disillusioned psychiatrist, confronting the monotony of his everyday, vacuous  existence; compulsively organized, his home and patients, robotically relegated into slots of predictability. Simon Pegg is marvelous as the befuddled “shrink”; he exits his formal, prestigious English domain, travels the globe on an amorphous expedition, looking for answers to the elusive, inconclusive ... Read More »

Krakow is achingly, pristinely reminiscent of a city, imbued with the majesty of “Cross & Crown”; unscathed by the military might of WWII, the former capital of Poland, oozes with tales of religiosity and the monarchy; approximately 120 Churches testify to the endurance of the Catholic faith. The Church of Saint Peter & Saint Paul, funded by King Sigismund III ... Read More »

Three years ago I saw “And Europe Will Be Stunned” at the Venice Biennale; it is a remarkable installation by Israeli artist, Yael Bartana; three utopian, idealistic videos, the most potent segment features a young leader in a vacant Warsaw stadium,  pleading, urging three million Jews to return to Poland, a metaphor for the horrific outcome of WWII;   even more ... Read More »

Sadly, cannot even flirt with the intelligent, succinct 2010 “The Trip” starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, as themselves; their refreshing, hilarious, dramatic flair for impersonations; keenly exhibiting a sensational “gift of gab” and formidable, stylized improvisational acuity. It ranked as one of the smartest films of the 2010-11 season. Here we have stale leftovers, served in the scintillating, sublimely ... Read More »

On September 16th, Lauren Bacall would have been ninety years old; almost a century of viability, lusting and loving life, protected, enhanced by her inimitable intelligence and wit she was unequivocally the captain of her soul; archetypical woman of substance who did it her way; thrust into the lionizing limelight at nineteen (“To Have and Have Not”) she perpetually reiterated ... Read More »

“The brighter the light the darker the shadow”. No one defines this prescient observation more than Robin Williams; he lit up film and television with his raucous, insightful humor, impeccable timing, fluent, gifted improvisation; lurking behind this amicable, ingratiating facade was always the omnipresent albatross of depression; a disease as insidious as the most crippling cancer; voraciously devouring one’s spirit ... Read More »

Over two thousand years ago Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Calvary/Golgotha; more than two billion people believe he is God. He died between two thieves; crucifixion was the traditional means of capital punishment at the time. Brendan Glesson as “Father James” is miraculous; the map of mankind’s woes is etched on his weary, pained countenance; he has seen and ... Read More »

Frequently writers rely on “Webster or Oxford” to crush the roadblocks stymieing mental acuity, a cowardly crutch; but as I watched “Chinese Puzzle” laughing uproariously, surrounded by a modestly mute audience, surreptitiously looking at me, questioning my tenuous grip on reality; it struck me with tsunami velocity that “humor” is profoundly subjective.  So,  like a multitude before me, I checked ... Read More »

It is inconceivable that the profession you have yearned for, trained for, is in a moment, catastrophically revealed to be anathema to your origins.  Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s profoundly poignant and grippingly realistic portrait of two women, bound by blood, but living diametrically opposite, disparate existences; testifies to the monumental atrocities, residual effects perpetrated upon the blameless by the Nazi regime. ... Read More »