Foreign

“Worlds Apart” took me by surprise; its complexities, beauties, pain and pathos, resulting in a tapestry of love so vital, riveting, touching the astounding similarities, anomalies of a heart’s uncontrolled flight when pricked at the will of “Eros”, the Greek god of love; masterfully entwining three disparate couples with the harsh threads of Greece’s contemporary financial crisis and the delicate …

Two powerfully disturbing, provocative films centered on two twentieth-first century women, maneuvering successfully, in previously male populated arenas. “Elle” , “Michelle LeBlanc” (remarkable, brilliant Isabelle Hubert) runs a Video Game Company; she is violently raped in the first scene while her cat passively watches; she decides to discover the rapist using her own tools of detecting; shameless, empowered, her calculated, …

Get ready to make your predictions for this year’s Peneflix Annual Academy Awards Contest and win!! This year if you beat the predictions of Peneflix.com you can win $150! Keep your eyes out for the announcement of this year’s contest. Posting Soon!!

At fifty-one, Shah Rukh Khan is incandescently comfortable in his role as “King Khan”, his recent films have shown the breath of his talent and understanding of the human condition: subtly sensational as a physiatrist in “Dear Zindagi”, mesmerizing in a dual role as stalker/star in “Fan”; riveting as a good-hearted bootlegger, “Raees” in Gujarat, India; a state that adheres …

Loosely based on a traumatized German couple, Otto and Elise Hampel, who dually wage their solitary crusade against Hitler and the Nazi regime; referencing Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel, “Everyone Dies Alone”, his source culled from Gestapo files after the war; director Vincent Perez with actors Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson and Daniel Bruhl quietly and at times blandly, but ultimately compelling, …

Exodus 21:2. If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you six years; in the seventh year he is to go free, without paying anything. In Kazakh tradition you free your faithful eagle, after seven years of devotion, so the rest of their existence is at their own whim. Director Otto Bell, Cinematographer Simon Niblett and Sia’s song …

“La La Land” provided fabulous fodder for Jimmy Fallons’s  star-infused, opening number; redemptive program, erasing last years’ deadly dud! Acceptance awards by the winners were gracious, heartfelt and in some cases inspirational: Viola Davis wins the highest plaudits for her stunning, humble acknowledgment of her win as the Best Supporting Actress (“Fences”); Ryan Gosling’s (Best Actor Comedy/Musical) tribute to his …

Being somewhat selective, many films are beyond my pay grade: neck- slurping horror genre, hibernation/rejuvenation sagas, tales from the crypt. Here are the highlights and no lights of 2016. WINNERS:"EYE IN THE SKY""ZOOTOPIA""MIDNIGHT SPECIAL""KRISHA""THE JUNGLE BOOK""SING STREET""THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY""HELL OR HIGH WATER""KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS""LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP""CIEN ANOS DE PERDON""SULLY""A MAN CALLED OVE""M. S. DHONI: THE UNTOLD …

Director Aleksey Mizgirev’s “The Duelist” is a mesmerizing tale revolving around the art of “duelism” a knee-jerk, punitive resolution to a legitimate or illegitimate offence; ironically, a “sport” that required noble roots; poverty-stricken sods were not allowed the expediency of dispatching, in moments, one’s foe. You may hire a titled substitute if you are not inclined to precipitously savor the …

Director Cristi Puiu (“The Death of Mr. Lazarescu”) won the Silver Hugo Award for the Best Director of this highly unforgettable family saga. “Sieranevada” (misspelled, intentional poetic license), claustrophobic, tense, traumatic, intimate analysis of a family in flux. The film is flawed but its ambitious intentions succeed on a massive scale, especially in writing and direction. The patriarch has died …