Drama, Movies

Grapes of Wrath

by:
One reason why people see the same film in very different ways is that we filter it through our past experiences and hopes for the future. Grapes of Wrath, made in 1940, documents the hardship of one family that can no longer make a living on the depleted soil of Oklahoma and leaves the Dust image [Read More]
Books, Fiction

The Tale of the 1002nd Night

by:
This tale is magnificient. Roth became famous for his novels Job and Radetzky March. For the contemporary reader Radetzky March is tedious. The slow decline of the Austrian Empire by itself can no longer hold our attention without connecting it to a larger, more universal story. The Tale of the 1002nd Night, in contrast, feels image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

A Streetcar Named Desire

by:
In contrast to On the Waterfront (1954), this film—also directed by Elia Kazan— feels dated although it is only three years older than On the Waterfront. Brando’s acting is not at fault. It is impeccable. The film has the timeless theme of the battle between men and women. But it is so much grounded in image [Read More]
Comedy, Movies

Election

by:
Unlike his later masterpieces About Schmidt and Sideways, this film lacks existential gravity. Instead of directing it as a comedy, Payne should have cast it as a drama with comic scenes. This is the style he uses in his later movies. But you can see already here Payne’s immense ability to bring onto the screen image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Kinsey

by:
Kinsey is quilt-like, stringing together scenes that are crafted with brillance and others that are poorly conceived and enacted. I wish the writer-director had spent a little more time removing the occasional second rate material from the film. What makes the movie charming is our amazement about how far western society has travelled in only image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

The Bourne Surpremacy

by:
This is one the best action based dramas I have seen in a long time. The sequel is dramatically better than the first film in the franchise, The Bourne Identity. Call it a James Bond movie for the adult mind.  007 is not a real human being and his employer, the British secret service, image [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Sideways

by:
Some time ago I came to the conclusion that film is the highest art form for it can combine all means of communication: words, pictures and music. It comes closest to how we actually experience life and in the hands of a competent director, movies can make you forget completely your own reality for two image [Read More]