Netflix and Beyond

India is a study of contrasts, contradictions, consolidating archival directives and contemporary norms; it is a patriarchal society where women perpetually soar, bamboozle gender expectations; warriors, doctors, scientists, judges even a Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi), they dominate in any field they tackle. But lurking, tainting myriads of marriages, whether “arranged” or “love” is the subservient, submissive role a woman is …

Kristin Stewart has the mettle that gives this “fair to middlin” biopic of Jean Seberg (1938-1979) a backbone of anemic strength; surrounded by platitudinous performances: Jack O’Connell, Vince Vaughn, Colm Meaney; half-baked-writing, diaphanous dialogue, divulging the appalling tactics of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, its autocrat.  As “Saint Joan” (1957) Seberg was an instant teenage supernova; 1960’s “Breathless” sealed her …

Loosely based reality series focusing on the United States involvement in the recruitment of Nazi scientists after the second world war and their elimination by Nazi hunters, in 1977, New York; disturbingly flawed, transitionally defective, but keenly acted by a number of the protagonists: Al Pacino is dynamic as “Meyer Offerman”, a Holocaust survivor, meting vigilante justice to the profoundly …

Jack London’s (1876-1916) paradigmatic novella is more in vogue today than when it was written in 1903; anthropomorphic “Buck”, a metaphor for shedding one’s inhibitions, rising and besting life’s provocations, realizing one’s ingrained potential. “The Call of the Wild” is beautiful; luscious, undulating mountainous terrain of Yukon, British Colombia, is breath-taking, daunting in scope; digitalization in tandem with hypnotic cinematography …

Poland’s Catholic population is approximately 88%; Catholicism informs their lives, behavior, decision-making, asserting its supremacy, domination, channeling its tenets in all avenues of the individual’s existence. Polish director Jan Komasa and writer Mateusz Pacewicz  with searing, intense uniqueness  address the bifurcation of the man and the priest: the man, “Daniel” (outrageously beautiful Bartosz Bielenia) a juvenile delinquent with a bent …

Director Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor” is blatantly honest in its depiction of the elitist microcosm known as the Cosa Nostra/Mafia: intransigent rules are enforced by its familial corps; extinction to those whose choices, actions go against the aged manifesto, a code of conduct, silence “omerta”; so keen is their elimination process, collateral damage is minimal. Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000) was the …

Swedish director, Ruben Ostlund’s 2014 “Force Majeure”, was a darling of worldwide Film Festivals; I did not care for it: excessive teeth-brushing, massive character manipulation, superfluous, annoying minor roles; that being stated, is was colossally superior to “Downhill”, directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s homogenized version; actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell cannot rescue it from well-deserved anonymity. Redundancy, repetitiveness …

Vindication has never felt so rewarding; for years I have suffered defeat, going with my gut, shunning the odds, my head and heart in sync; faring better than I imagined, I recognized the brilliant uniqueness of “Parasite” with my first encounter, on a myriad of levels, the film soars beyond assumptions: Biblical,  Shakespearian, mythological, Darwinian; Goethe stated “Before you…there are …

This Bollywood film, directed by Mohit Suri, is a stunner; magical leads with electrifying chemistry (Aditya Roy Kapur, “Advait” and Disha Patani, “Sara”); plaintive musical score; titillating twists, testing the most intuitive of movie sleuths; it salivates with unrestricted love scenes, prevalent drugs and prostitution; not-so-subtle impotency; revenge served violently, justifiably, icily cold; untoward “coppers”, legitimacy camouflaging malevolent iniquities; Anil …

                                                                                              Director Kitty Green capitalizes on the Harvey Weinstein sexual predator saga that the …