Foreign

WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (IN THEATRES) Naomi Ackie (Houston), Stanley Tucci (Clive Davis, record producer) and Ashton Sanders (husband, Bobby Brown) cannot salvage, what should have been a dynamic biopic, from mediocrity. Her blistering rise, from the age of nineteen to her tragic demise at forty-eight, was infused with impending gloom: nasty parenting, drug enabling husband, doomed …

Auteur Jerzy Skolimowski at eighty-four endows film lovers a divinely consummate movie experience; inspired by Robert Bresson’s 1966 “Au Hasard Balthazar”; “EO” (compilation of six donkeys) follows an unscripted path, through the eyes of a donkey, whose odyssey opens the minds and sensitivities of all who view it. From the onset, EO stoically accepts his/her fate; as an observer, from …

I love foreign films; possibly because of the riveting concentration needed to follow the narrative or maybe because I lust after cultures different from my own, cultures that add to the elasticity of my brain, expand my imaginative landscape and enhance my existence. “Lost Illusions” (winner of 7 categories at 2022 Cesar Awards including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Xavier …

“BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER” Overcoming palpable hesitancy, not imagining a “Black Panther” without the epochal Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020), but at the insistence of my youngest and astronomically smart friend, I went; it was every bit as superlative as described and redolently reverential to the deceased actor. Pungently powerful as the technical effects, cinematography, acting acuity, the underlying message of strength …

If for no other reason, seek out this film to see Colin Farrell’s transformative performance; he is mesmerizing, stupefying as “Padraic”, living a secluded life on the fictional island of Inisherin, off the Irish coast; Padraic, a farmer, borderline “daff”, content living with his sister, “Siobhan” (sensitive Kerry Condon) and interacting daily with “Colm” (phenomenal Branden Gleeson) his closest friend; …

Writer Erich Maria Remarque’s (1898-1970) iconic novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1929) film depiction is positively outstanding, compellingly watchable and one of the finest productions on television today; riveting to the point of exhaustion, German director Edward Berger vivisects the naivety of teenagers rallying around the “flag”, ignorant of the hideousness of the battleground; and the immediate, crushing …

Special kudos to Artistic Director Mimi Plauche and Managing Director Vivian Teng for the most innovative and well- run Festival in years. After viewing close to thirty films (not my personal best) here are a few filmic treasures: DOCUMENTARIES:  ALL THE BEAUTY AND BLOODSHED Directed by Laura Poitras tells photographer Nan Goldin’s journey from addiction to a formidable force in slaying the reputation of …

THE GREAT SILENCE             (DENMARK)  Director Katrine Brocks, gifts attendees of the Festival one of the most intrinsically intimate portraits of pain, both physical and psychological, on the screen; filmed within the confines of a convent, interspersed with flashbacks; “Sister Alma”, about to take her final vows, must confront the hubris seething between she and …

The contemporary themes striding stunningly through the Festival have captivated me throughout; some beg comparisons: MONICA (ITALY) & PALOMA (BRAZIL & PORTUGAL) Years ago, after reading Jeffrey Eugenides’s overpowering, deep-rooted “Middlesex”, gaining an understanding and insight into those whose bodies were unmatched with their respective genders. Education, respect and sensitivity are required in compassionate acceptance of what does not fall …

Midway through this stunning, scintillating, elucidating filmic journey, saturated with individuals, the “other” struggling with the “norm”, fighting for an identity within their personal parameters, despite cultural intransigence. Commencing with director Steve James’ documentary:  A COMPASSIONATE SPY Theodore Hall (1925-1999), prodigious, who at eighteen and a senior at Harvard was recruited by the government to help develop the atomic bomb …