The Dentist as Observer – in Egypt
Alaa al Aswany, author of the remarkable novel, “The Yacoubian Building,” from which a very good 2006 film was made, …
Category Archives: Movies
Walter Mitty, Super Hero
Arghh! I am one of those apparently odd people who think that if an idea is developed for one medium …
Wolf of Wall Street — Glorifying Psychopaths
In an open letter to Martin Scorsese and Leonard DiCaprio the daughter of the man DiCaprio plays in the film …
“The Italian” — Sweetness and Sorrow from Russia
I don’t know how The Italian, a 2005 Russian movie directed by Andrey Kravchuk, got on my list. Likely I …
Shun Li and the Poet — a Gem from Italy
It’s not hard to convince us to see a movie filmed in Italy, or by or about its people. Even …
Noam Chomsky – In Anime
You don’t have to read a lot of Noam Chomsky to get an idea of the muscle of his mind. …
Nebraska: Another American Family
I don’t know how Nebraskans will feel about Alexander Payne‘s new movie, Nebraska but for one who has driven across …
Philomena: A Mother’s Ache in Ireland
I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to see Philomena, Stephen Frears latest movie. An hour and a half of suffering, …
Water — A Film of India’s Widows
Water is the third of Indo-Canadian director, Deepa Mehta‘s Elements trilogy of women in India. Fire was produced in 1996, …
The Secret of the Grain — the Couscous of Love
Abdel Kechiche is getting a lot of press these weeks for his daring love story of two woman, daringly shown, …
Torn — A Movie that tears many ways
When an American film opens with two attractive people in an American style house canoodling in Urdu you suspect you’ve …
We Steal Secrets — The WikiLeaks Documentary
I haven’t seen The Fifth Estate, Bill Condon’s commercial version of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks yet but last night I …