Author Archive for: Bob Marshall
Entries by Bob Marshall
His Three Daughters – 6
A wonderfully acted character study of three screwed-up sisters who await their father’s death just as we await a plot. Instead of a resolution, or even some character development, however unlikely, we are given a final scene that is either Magical Realism, a projection of someone’s inner thoughts or the director’s cop-out. With only one […]
Juror #2 – 7
A parade of moral dilemmas kept us hanging and thinking until the end, and beyond, as the Clint Eastwood film held off providing any answers at all. As in almost every courtroom drama, this realism-loving ex-lawyer found many “I-don’t-think-so’s” as the action proceeded, but the essential question of how to get to “justice” came through. […]
The Apprentice – 8
A remarkable, riveting portrait of New York City in the ’70s as a set for the young Donald Trump and his mentor, Roy Cohn. The acting by Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan was a step beyond perfect, and the way they portrayed the rise of Trump and fall of Cohn as intersecting axes was breathtaking. […]
All We Imagine As Light – 6
This decidedly naturalistic film went off the rails near the end, and I’m not sure what track it was on before that. It seemed to raise a dozen issues about city life, health care, women’s roles, religions, corporate bullying, sisterhood, love, Indian culture in general, but none went anywhere, nor were the characters particularly interesting. […]
Santosh – 7
A culturally rich police procedural that gives a glimpse of everything you might want to know, or not know, about India for the common man. Director Sandhya Suri comes from documentaries and it shows in the realism of the people, places and events. The story plays like one of the better TV series we watch–e.g., […]
Vermiglio – 6
Beautifully framed and film story of a large family in a remote village in the Italian Alps toward the end of WWII. Except for the presence of a paterfamilias who looked like Sam Elliot, everything could have come from an Italian movie of the 1950s or ’60s. Its lack of originality produced a lack of […]
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat – 6
Less a documentary than an Impressionist, or more accurately Cubist, study of colonialism, with the (Belgian) Congo as its subject and American racism in the wings. Snippets of Black jazz greats, bold headlines and memorable archival footage, especially of the U.N., paint a rather condemnatory portrait of big power politics, business interests and Cold War […]
Emilia Perez – 8
An audacious petit-opera from director Jacques Audiard, with four leading ladies, engaging singing and a message about human potential. All this in a setting reminiscent of Narcos. Zoe Saldana is winning awards, Selena Gomez is terrific, but it is Karla Sofia Gascon that does the real acting. The story has improbabilities, like every opera, but the […]
Lee – 4
There is more nicotine than subtlety in this retrospective recounting of Lee Miller’s career as a wartime photographer. When every scene is high drama, none are. Kate Winslet trundles from one confrontation to another with enough overacting expressiveness to make Ralph Fiennes in Conclave seem restrained. But worst, probably, is that her character is neither sympathetic […]
© Copyright 2019 Robert Marshall | All Rights Reserved.