Netflix and Beyond

“Inebriate of air am I, and debauchee of dew”, aphrodisiac choices of Emily Dickinson; I favor movies, popcorn and hot dogs; satiated, spent and ready for a “program”, although in my case, could never be “anonymous”  For two weeks I have indulged at the gluttonous level my insatiable lust for film; thirty films, and five pounds later I am comforted …

DEKH INDIAN CIRCUS; India, THREE & 1/2 STARS!!! How refreshing to sit through a film where everyone remains fully clothed for its entirety; a family film, dealing with issues that all can empathize with. Warm, charming, compelling story of a mother taking her two children to a circus, an initiation into the practical world, fraught with pain, glory and gripping …

IF NOT US, WHO; Germany, FOUR STARS!!!! Incredible investigation into the creation of a revolutionary. Based upon the RAF (Red Army Faction, Germany 1960-70’s). This quasi -documentary concentrates on the lives of Bernward Vesper, Gudrun Ensslin, and Andreas Baader; intelligent writers whose idealism morphs into violence, and to their  ultimate demise. Original footage of the devastation, protests, politics of the …

THE MOLE; Poland, FOUR STARS!!!! Loyalty, love, disillusionment, intrigue are the ingredients that comprise this succinct, finely- wrought, luminously performed film revolving around the birth of solidarity in Poland.   BONSAI; Chile/France, TWO STARS!! Stunning beginning, never attains supernova status, but fizzles with the same intensity. Proust is howling in his sarcophagus at this pathetic rendition of “Remembrance of Things …

WOMAN IN THE FIFTH; United Kingdom, ONE &1/2 STARS! Murky, meandering miasma of failed, faulty filmmaking. Ethan Hawke earns a star for his passable accomplishments in the French language. Kristin Scott Thomas’s talents are wasted in this dreary, foggy psychological thriller.   RETURN TICKET; China/Taiwan, 2 & 1/2 STARS!! Quiet, sweet, contemplative, sporadically humorous tale of migrant workers in Shanghai …

L. A. RAEVEN: BEYOND THE IMAGE; Netherlands, 2 &1/2 STARS!! Interesting but at times problematic documentary about twin sisters, both artists (Lisbeth & Angelique Raeven) living, working,  eating, thinking in tandem. A unique premise, but unfortunately an unsatisfying, disquieting conclusion. PATANG (THE KITE); India, FOUR & 1/2 STARS!!!! A superior film by Chicago director, Prashat Bhargava, highlighting a two day …

TICKET TO PARADISE, Cuba; THREE STARS!!! Well acted slice of incredible, but true conditions of young people facing insurmountable odds; devoid of options. Depressing but pivotally realistic.   HIS MOTHER’S EYES, France; FOUR STARS!!!! Even with its flaws, I loved this film of beautiful people, with not-so-beautiful souls. Catherine Deneuve is a French icon.   BOL; Pakistan; FOUR STARS!!!! Here …

To this point, after 6 films, 6 boxes of popcorn, 6 hot dogs and barely 6 hours of sleep (in 2 days) I have decided to give simple “sees” and “skips”; will review in depth when my life does not belong to AMC 21! GANDU, (India); 0 STARS! I was one of the few who stayed for the entire painful, …

Shakespeare, “Julius Caesar”: Act 1, scene 2: Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music cry “Caesar”.              Speak, Caesar is turn’d to hear. Soothsayer: Beware the Ides of March. Caesar: What man is that? Brutus: a soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of march.   “Governor Mike …

One does not choose whom to love; the heart is without doors and to a certain extent always bleeding, pulsating, uncontrollable with a “mind” and an emotional language unique unto itself. “My Afternoons with Margueritte”  is an enchanting, compelling tale of two disparate souls, lonely, meeting on a park bench in a small French village. “Germain” depicted by a massively …