“If there’s family, there’s respect. If there’s respect, there’s honor. If there’s honor, there’s word. If there’s word, there’s peace.” Among the Wagúu people of northern Columbia, family is the basis for everything. If that is not cared for, step by step, all values will erode until society falls apart. In Birds of Passage, Columbia’s… [Read More]
Cold War – Smoldering Sorrow
“Love’s love and that’s that.” A pair of star-crossed lovers are the focus of Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Poland’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration. Set in the years following the Second World War, it moves back and forth between the Communist and Democratic worlds, but it is not the geopolitical situation that is… [Read More]
Capernaum – Chaos or Miracles
In production notes for the film, Labaki says the title comes from the French word “capharnaüm” which translates as “chaos”. She also notes that it is the name of a biblical city, which was “a place where miracles could happen.”
Shoplifters – A Twisted Family Tale
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Shoplifters is a part of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s examination of family’s place within society. This is a topic he has looked at from various angles in other films, notably Like Father, Like Son; Our Little Sister; Nobody Knows; and I Wish. (I recommend them all.)
Roma – A Loving Memory of Life
In a taped message before the screening of Roma at AFIFest, director Alfonso Cuarón noted that it was based on memories from his childhood in Mexico City in 1971, and called it “a love letter to the women who raised me.”
Wednesday at AFIFest 2018
In the theater before each screening at AFIFest 2018 Presented by Audi, there are slides about AFI that show sponsors and donors. Those are all very important. Those are the reasons AFIFest is free to the public. But there are also those not listed because there are so many of them—the volunteers. It takes lots… [Read More]
Saturday at AFIFest 2018
Films often bring the world to us in many different ways. We see other countries through the eyes of filmmakers who wish to share their cultures—both with love and with a critical eye.
In the Fade – Justice? Revenge?
Justice. Revenge. Are they the same? Are they even related? In the Fade from Fatih Akin is the story of a search for justice, and what happens when that justice is denied.
Summer 1993 – A Child’s Loss of Innocence
As Summer 1993 opens, children are playing in the street. One of them looks at six-year-old Frida (Laia Artegas), and asks, “Why aren’t you crying?” Is that part of the game or does Frida have reason to cry?
Thelma – Spooky Self-Discovery
While I’m not a fan of supernatural events in horror films, this film does an excellent job of building tension. This is a spooky story as it plays out.
