Peter Murmann

I had not seen the poster for the film because otherwise I would have noticed that Two Lovers is not about two people.  During the film you realize it is about at least 3, possible 4 people, who are trying to figure out who they want to be with. We all know that this is [Read More]

Pedro Almadovar surprises you again with Broken Embraces. Unlike Woody Allen who now makes the same movie over and over again, Almadovar in all his recent films has broken new ground in his quest to lay bare before our eyes the variety in the human experience.  During the first hour I wondered where the film [Read More]

When the economy took off in the 1950s, Germany experienced severe labor shortages.  So employer unions and politicians hatched the idea to import guest workers from Turkey and other southern European countries.  By the middle 1970s these “guest workers” were allowed to bring their families to Germany and settle there permanently. Today,  about 3.5 million [Read More]

I knew nothing about the plot of Boys Don’t Cry. But somehow the title was so familiar. It must be a famous movie. For the past year or so I have been participating in a video rental service that sends me in a new film from my wish list whenever I send the previous one [Read More]

Lord of the Flies is not entertainment in the popular sense of the word. It places high demands on the viewer. Think of it as going to a museum whose paintings are challenging for the senses;  or going to the theater to see a modern piece like Waiting for Godod.  A group of British children [Read More]

Think back to the terrifying moment when you gave your first public speech. You may be a great storyteller when surrounded but friends and family. But now you step onto the podium looking out to an audience of strangers who are all focused on you starting your speech. Your mouth is getting dry, your tongue [Read More]

Do novelists and poets change the world or do simply please and entertain us? I suspect that the best novelists sense the early signs of a new mood and outlook. If truly gifted, they are able to put in words and stories such a new outlook, infect the rest of us with it, and thereby [Read More]