Foreign

Commencing with an elegant pairing of a stag and doe; roaming in pure, redolent silence, caressed by nature’s virgin splendor, an Adam and Eve joined forever in a solitude so magnificent and profound, it aches. Writer/director Ildiko Enyeid then poll vaults the viewer to a slaughterhouse where bovine beauties meet their bloody fate; wrenching cries, soulful eyes plead for mercy; …

Director Ziad Doueiri challenges viewers to choose sides between two, decent, hardworking individuals: “Tony Hanna” (Adel Karam) a Lebanese Christian, garage owner and Yassar Salameh (Kamel El Basha) a displaced Palestinian, foreman of a construction crew; a smashed drain pipe is the vehicle that escalates into a lesson which stems from the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War. Here, tempestuously, ideologies collide, …

As I peruse other critics best and worst films I feel fortunate that, because of my pay grade, have rarely seen many of the “worst”; no matter the product, each year there are enough quality films, that in retrospect my passion  is satiated. Granted I have not seen, “The Post”, “Phantom Thread” “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”.  So here …

Audiences have recently been satiated with a myriad of “Winston Churchill” depictions: John Lithgow,”The Crown”, Brian Cox,”Churchill”, Michael Gambon,”Churchill’s Secret”, but not one can compete with Gary Oldman’s dazzling, intuitive interpretation of a man who changed the course of history. Director Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour” brilliantly concentrates on Churchill’s initiation as England’s Prime Minister; it is 1940, Hitler with blitzkrieg …

Winner of Cannes highest accolade, Palme d’ Or,  Swedish director (“Force Majeure”) Ruben Ostlund’s “The Square” is staggering in its execution; expectations, never realized; pungent metaphors; it’s only flaw, colossal ambition.  Sensual, “imperially slim”, Claes Bang depicts “Christian”, as a charmingly caddish director of a Swedish contemporary museum; spewing innocuous, “art-speak” pervasive in today’s artsy, rarefied vacuum; “Anne”, an American …

Rarely do you see a movie that restores complete faith in the transformative element of film, so profoundly imaginative, spiritual, elevating one’s soul and psyche to the realm of “the starry night”; watching this staggeringly beautiful film I experienced wonderment, awe and joy; greatness, love and genuine happiness,  basking in its ingenuity. Sharing, with directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, …

Because you have asked, at the halfway point, here are a few of my favorites:   “THE SQUARE” (SWEDEN, GERMANY, FRANCE). A magnificent, controversial commentary on today’s art world. Will inspire conversations for lovers and detractors on what constitutes and legitimizes an artwork.   “THE CAKEMAKER” (ISRAEL, GERMANY). There are not enough adjectives to describe this achingly poignant love story; …

Expectations almost instantly squashed, “Victoria & Abdul” is dimensionless, flat and eminently superficial. Dame Judi Dench can imbue the “queenly” into any character and Victoria (1819-1901) is no exception (her second go as the indomitable monarch); but the story of her infatuation and overwhelming attachment for Indian, Muslim “Abdul” (sophomoric Ali Fazal) as a servant, turned teacher “Munshi” is flimsily …

Director Gurinder Chadha blesses audiences with a pivotal portrait of British partition of India, 1947; simply, elegantly the “Viceroy’s House” sheds enlightenment on the monumental task faced by Lord Mountbatten (stuffy but appropriate, Hugh Bonneville), the last Viceroy of India, and his wife, Lady Edwina Mountbatten (remarkable Gillian Anderson). Most of the British forces had departed, leaving a hotbed of …

“If it is given me to save a life, all thanks.  But it is also within my power to take a life”. Hippocratic Oath.   Baltasar Kormakur accomplishes a remarkable feat of directing himself in this stunning thriller set in the frigid, gloriously pristine landscape of Reykjavik, Iceland; “Finnur” (Kormakur) a renown heart surgeon, has a seemingly perfect life, blessed …