A fascinating look from a Japanese point of view at the engineer responsible for Japan’s World War II airplanes. The view was ambivalent: Jiro was following his dream and didn’t seem concerned about where it led. The movie was matter-of-fact, acknowledging the disaster of the war, but not judgmental. The view was also sheer artistry: […]
This was a gritty, heart-stopping thriller, with twists and turns to the very end. It portrayed the harsh conditions Palestinians suffer under Israeli occupation, but that was the context of the movie, not its point. Whom can you trust, is all really fair in love and war, how far does friendship go – these were […]
If Nebraska was bleak, the Oklahoma of Osage County was bleaker, and hotter and the family more dysfunctional and meaner, in a deep, searing way. The film read as a play transported to the screen, not least because of the haunting echoes of the great American playwrights – O’Neill, Williams, Albee. Every line and every […]
1:45 was a long time to wait for Umberto Tozzi’s rendition of our favorite dance song. It was a thrilling moment to see Gloria shed her glasses and let loose to her eponymous tune, but there wasn’t much of interest that came before. She had a very pleasant smile and was good company and her […]
Expecting an Oscar-worthy, country-music-tinged dose of European realism, I found myself watching a 7-year-old girl die of cancer, her father lose his mind and her mother commit suicide. Where was the redeeming art? Despite their longing looks, there was a strange lack of chemistry between the lovers, and the director constantly bounced back-and-forth between the […]
I sat through 65 minutes without finding a scene that was either believable or likable. I once thought George Clooney could do no wrong, but here he’s done nothing right, from casting to acting to plot to tone. The famous actors, with the possible exception of Cate Blanchett, just play themselves and you wonder what […]
That only leaves Barbara, to which I have somewhat tentatively assigned the top spot on my list. It is not powerful, or surprising or innovative. But when I left the theater I felt I had seen an almost perfect movie.
Bruce Dern plays a Midwestern Lear in the role of a lifetime (I know, because I saw his other career highlights in a Film Festival tribute the next day) and June Squibb is an Oscar-worthy match for Jennifer Lawrence in an uncannily similar role; but what most intrigued me was the son, played uncomfortably by […]
Notes from the Tribute Evenings at the 2014 Santa Barbara International Film Festival January 30, David O. Russell: I didn’t “get” I Heart Huckabees when it came out, and apparently I wasn’t alone. David O. Russell seemed almost willing to disown it, saying his life was at a bad point when he directed it and […]
This had everything Quentin Tarantino could want in a movie – suspense, outrageous gore, great characters and humor everywhere – which is presumably why he calls it the best movie of the year. The plot contains just enough ambiguity to keep you guessing, and the shocker of an ending either explains it all or leaves […]
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