Category Archives: Film
Film review: Elena
Dear Dad A late-blooming romantic affair from Andrei Zvyagintsev was never going to be a heartwarming love story of the happily-ever-after variety. Nor would we want it to be. Armed with a penetrating eye for social (and political) observations that he … Continue reading
Film review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Dear Dad In an efficient sequence at the beginning of his delightful film, the director John Madden depicts the frustrations among Westerners in their increasingly outsourcing world. Newly-widowed Evelyn (Judi Dench), eager to be tech-savvy, is exasperated when a heavily-accented telecommunications call centre staff insists … Continue reading
Film review: The Women on the 6th Floor
Dear Dad It is 1962 in Paris. Long-time housekeeper of the Joubert’s household, Germaine (Michele Gleizer), leaves her employment of 18 years in tears and fury. She is disgusted by Suzanne’s (Sandrine Kiberlain) disrespect for her late mother-in-law, callously throwing out her … Continue reading
Film review: Incendies
Dear Dad How often has one decried that your closest friend may be your worst traitor and the family, your greatest tormentor? Despite the facetious way in which this lament is so frequently used, flippancy and bathos are certainly not the currency in Denis Villeneuve’s Academy Award nominated … Continue reading
Film review: My Afternoons with Margueritte
Dear Dad Through My Afternoons with Margueritte, director Jean Becker had hoped to reaffirm that the written word can enrich minds and transform lives — if its French title La tête en friche (A Fallow Mind) and story denouement are anything to go by. Even … Continue reading
Film review: In a Better World
Dear Dad In a Better World, forgiveness triumphs over vengeance — albeit not before a struggle. Yet, in that world, forgiveness does not always win peace and vengeance sometimes seems moral. These dual themes envelope this year’s Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language … Continue reading
Film review: Biutiful
Dear Dad Biutiful is beautiful. Yes — in a mis-spelt and fraught, but very real way. For it is about a father’s love for his children and his magical reunion with his dead father. Dedicated by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu to his own father, this production … Continue reading
Film review: Black Swan
Dear Dad Black Swan opens with a pas de deux between a white swan and (a symbol of) death; it ends with a pas de deux between a white swan and death. The former is a dream; the latter is not — or … Continue reading
Film review: another year
Dear Dad The weary tone of drudgery implicit in the title, another year, permeates the multi-layered fabric of this slow-paced film. The drama focuses on life’s inexorable march towards its twilight years. It resonates with honest depictions of physical decline and loneliness. The impact of this immensely powerful work … Continue reading
Film review: Sarah’s Key
Dear Dad Sarah’s Key unlocks the overpowering stench of anti-semitism and the shrill horrors of the Holocaust. The film seeks to explain the lifelong wounds on the afflicted and the indelible scars its posterity inherited. No less, also, it is a stark reminder of French … Continue reading
