God works in mysterious ways, or so goes the premise in the piquant comedy, THE LIZARD, a film that makes me seriously wonder if Frank Capra is alive and well and working in Iran. Our hero is Reza (Parviz Parastui in a wonderfully deadpan performance), a petty thief known as The Lizard. It’s a nickname… Read More »
DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE
The subject matter of this intimate documentary belies its breezy title, a title imposed, of course, by the commissioning editors with an eye towards its marketing potential. Made by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini, it shows the casual brutality inflicted upon women in a country that views independent females with suspicion and, perhaps, even fear. Mir… Read More »
IRAQ — THE UNTOLD STORIES
Mike Shiley’s IRAQ: THE UNTOLD STORIES shows just that. This self-proclaimed non-journalist, Shiley reports on things that the professional journalists working in Iraq wouldn’t, or couldn’t, discover. He’s a genial host, talking directly to the camera between three-minute clips of the footage he shot, expanding on his experiences in Iraq, experiences that range from the… Read More »
ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED (Erleuchtung garantiert )
Two Germans, lost, homeless and penniless, forced to live by their wits in the urban wilderness of Tokyo makes for an interesting stop along the path to enlightenment in Doris Dorries film ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED. How they got there and what will happen next is nothing so much as a gently comic updating of the old saying,… Read More »
HIMALAYA (L’ENFANCE D’UN CHEF)
When Eric Valli first traveled the Dolpo Valley of Nepal, which may be with the exception of the Easter Islands, the most remote inhabited area on earth, he was struck by more than the stark and powerful beauty of the terrain. He was enthralled by the mountain people he met, their strength, their openness and most of… Read More »
MANA — BEYOND BELIEF
The concept at the heart of MANA: BEYOND BELIEF is defined at the outset of film. A Maori explains the power of objects, both inherent and that with which people imbue them. From the cherry blossoms of Japan that draw avid viewers and drunken, all-night partying to the mystique of a freakishly large tuna. It… Read More »
WINDHORSE
Someone once said that one murder is a tragedy, a million murders is a statistic. Thats the reason Academy Award-winning documentarian Paul Wagners first feature film, WINDHORSE, about the plight of the Tibetan people under Chinese occupation is so moving. He looks at the effect of that occupation on one family, and, by extension, the entire culture.… Read More »
PROTOCOLS OF ZION
It is no surprise to learn that there are still people who believe in the PROTOCOLS OF ZION, the long discredited document outlining a Jewish plot for world domination written by Czarist secret police to fulfill an agenda that disappeared with the royal family. Nor is it a surprise that a Nazi mail-order concern can’t… Read More »
TUVALU
TUVALU is that rarest of rare cinematic gems. It is truly like nothing else and yet its originality has everything to do with telling the story and nothing whatsoever with shock value or self-conscious posturing on the part of its creator, Veit Helmer. First of all, theres no dialogue, as such, in this surreal comedy… Read More »
THE BRIDGE
Eric Steel’s documentary THE BRIDGE is strong stuff, taking as it does the taboos of both death and of suicide and focusing on them without flinching. Almost the first image on screen is that of an anonymous someone stepping over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge and while the world goes on around him,… Read More »
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