Fifty years ago, the goddess of film criticism, Pauline Kael, called Norman Jewison?s Fiddler on the Roof ?the most powerful movie musical ever made.? I wouldn?t dream of disputing that assessment. To be sure, Fiddler is not only among the most powerful musicals, but...
In the Finnish film Hatching, from director Hanna Bergholm, a girl from a seemingly perfect home looks for love in an unusual source, but it leads into a very dark and destructive place. It?s part horror film, part coming-of-age story, and part magical realism. Twelve...
Food and sex are among our greatest pleasures. At times, they are intimately linked, especially in films. Sexual Drive? from director Yoshida K?ta, is built around the connection of sensuality the two share. It is part thriller, part sex comedy, and culinary...
?He?s still the most popular athlete in Los Angeles, and that?s saying something.? There is just something about Earvin ?Magic? Johnson that make you want to like him. Maybe it?s the smile that lights the whole world. Maybe it?s the way he can either put the ball in...
?Even rebels need a place to come home to.? Because the teenage years are a bridge between childhood and adulthood, they have attracted storytellers. Coast, from directors Jessica Hester and Derek Schweickart, is the most recent coming-of-age story, this one with a...
To what extent do non-human animals experience life? Do they have emotions like ours? Do they suffer in the kinds of life we assign to them? Do they enjoy the what we do for or to them? In Andrea Arnold?s documentary Cow, we follow the life of a dairy cow over a...
Charles Murray?s The Devil You Know openly invokes the biblical story of Cain and Abel to consider what it means to be one?s brother?s keeper. It is the story of a close-knit family that faces being torn apart by the struggle between brothers about truth and secrets....
In Jonas Bak?s Wood and Water, we are plunged into a woman?s solitude and loneliness?even in one of the most vibrant cities in the world. The film is not really built around plot, but rather the emotional journey of seeking a connection. Anke (played by the director?s...
?We are hospitable people?but Bulgaria belongs to Bulgarians.? What does it mean to welcome the stranger? It seems to be a lost value in the world today. Ivaylo Hristov?s Fear shows that xenophobia is present in Bulgaria, but we know this is not something that is...