Category: Reviews: N-P

The Names of Love is a delightful French riff on Annie Hall in which the son of a Jewish Holocaust survivor (Jacques Gamblin) falls hard for the daughter of a refugee from Algeria (Sara Forestier). Very sexy (very French!), with wacky humor that is ultimately serious in intent. Since Annie Hall is still Woody Allen’s Best of… Continue reading THE NAMES OF LOVE

 Two Yemenite youth barely out of their teens gravitate to Bin Laden’s orbit. By the late 90”s one (al Bahri) is OBL’s bodyguard & the other (Hamdan) is OBL’s driver.  Skip ahead to 2008: al Bahri”s a cab driver in Sana’a; Hamdan’s stuck in Gitmo. Fascinating parallel storylines with daily life in both places captured… Continue reading THE OATH (2010)

Click HERE to read DF review as a pdf file. Mel Brooks literally dances on Hitler’s grave in this hilarious musical about a faded Broadway impresario (Lane) looking to make millions from a surefire flop. Alas the camera is cruel to baby-faced Broderick as the accountant turned butterfly, but the supporting cast (many from the… Continue reading PRODUCERS, THE (2005)

Kid born with Down’s Syndrome loses Mom to cancer in early childhood, but it’s OK because everyone loves him. Filmmakers ask NO hard questions (e.g., does anyone in this family work for a living?), & all the uplift feels manufactured for the cameras. Impossible not to cry during Bar Mitzvah scenes, but Oy! Rating =… Continue reading PRAYING WITH LIOR

Compelling personal story about a young woman coming of age during the Iranian revolution. Wonderfully-expressive animation based on writer/director Satrapi”s first-person graphic novel. Aesthetically elegant with fasciating insights into one of the major cultural upheavals of our lifetimes. Click HERE for FF2 haiku.

Charming fable about a rich girl burdened by a family curse (Ricci) who finds love despite the demands of her intrusive mother (O’Hara). Dinklage provides perfect counterpoint as a newspaper man also learning that appearances can be deceiving. Kudos also to McAvoy & Witherspoon as well as screenwriter Leslie Caveny. Click HERE for FF2 haiku.

NYC doc director just happens to be working in LA when the Twin Towers are attacked on 9/11. Afraid of what she will find back home, she decides to drive cross-country to give herself time to “adjust” before facing the reality head-on. Along the way, she converses with countless “average Americans” with varying POVs. Click… Continue reading PARALLEL LINES

Too twee for Jan. Not (yet) seen by Rich. Click HERE for FF2 haiku.

Luminous Mili Avital stars as an El-Al flight attendant struggling to reunite a small Chinese boy with his missing mother. Menahemi creates a ornery role for Waxman, so that some comic relief prevents her poignant dramedy from getting too icky as widow & orphan bond despite cultures, languages & time zones. Click HERE for FF2… Continue reading NOODLE

SPLIT DECISION: Two NJ high school students in bad relationships find each other in an all night search for their favorite band. Jan sensed just enough warmth in Nick (Cera) & Nora (Dennings) to forgive the endless binge drinking & purging “jokes,” & boring drive arounds, but Rich saw nothing here worth recommending. Click HERE… Continue reading NICK & NORA’S INFINITE PLAYLIST

Award-winning documentarian (Nina Davenport) gets stuck in the middle when cultural misunderstandings derail Iraqi student’s internship on an American movie set. Many truths about the war in Iraq are revealed thru this microcosm, but Davenport’s compelling narrative also carries huge moral & epistemological weight well beyond current headlines.  Click here for FF2 haiku.

SPLIT DECISION: Jan was absolutely overcome by the end of this passionate epic about young lovers separated by the Berlin Wall in 1961. Alas, the more she sobbed, the more Rich laughed. For Jan, this film’s an expert dramatization of the thesis “the personal is political.” To Rich, it’s melodrama. More on THE PROMISE.

Galloping thru plotlines with no time for complications or context, screenwriter Deborah Moggach turns Jane Austen’s masterpiece into conventional romantic comedy with coltish Knightley as Lizzy & MacFadyen as her love-struck Darcy. Bingleys, Collinses, & Gardiners barely register; sisters meld into one. Nevertheless, when speaking Austen’s words, Lizzy is indestructible. More on PRIDE & PREJUDICE… Continue reading Film Review: PRIDE & PREJUDICE (2005)

Director Jane Campion’s take on Henry James. Nicole Kidman does a fine job in the difficult role of Isabel Archer & Barbara Hershey received a Supporting Actress nomination as her foil. But John Malkovich is a bit too creepy, making it hard to believe that Isabel would ever marry him. More on THE PORTRAIT OF… Continue reading Film Review: THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

Don’t be put off by the slow-moving pace of this biopic: Harris & Harden bring intensity & clarity to their performances as painter Jackson Pollock & his artist/wife Lee Krasner, tactfully illuminating their relationship. Arch performances by Tambor (influential critic Clem Greenberg) & Madigan (patroness Peggy Gugenheim). Stays with you! More on POLLOCK.

Likeable cast sells high octane adventure. Swayze plays the heavy – an enigmatic, new age surfer god. Reeves is an injured football hero, turned FBI undercover rookie. Busey is his mentor & Petty is his surfing coach. Premium ride straight through to the credits. More on POINT BREAK.

Originally aired in the US on the PBS series “Wide Angle,” doc follows 8 Arab widows living in a town in northern Israel who obtain micro-loan to start a pickle factory. With no formal training & almost no community support, the women struggle as entrepreneurs, as mothers & as friends. More on PICKLES.

An early shot of Janis Joplin performing at a fundraiser establishes the precise historical moment this drama is set – the point at which the wall between “public” and “private” was breached, & “nice people” were suddenly faced with new personal choices at once exhilarating & terrifying. Provocative time capsule treasure! More on PETULIA.

Miller (daughter of famous playwright Arthur Miller) has written & directed this adaptation of three of her own short stories. While each “chapter” is interesting, the effect is uneven. Miller’s best in the story about the woman from circumstances most like her own (Posey). Shot on digital video — raw & gritty. More on PERSONAL… Continue reading Film Review: PERSONAL VELOCITY

SPLIT DECISION: Jan loves this dramedy set in Miami’s Cuban immigrant community, whereas Rich feels jerked around by shifts in tone. Wealthy landowner (Molina) is finally released after ~ 20 years in a Cuban prison. Bureaucratic mix-up keeps him “married” to Tomei, instead of reunited with beloved wife (Huston) & daughter. More on THE PEREZ… Continue reading Film Review: THE PEREZ FAMILY

Heart-breaking film stars an Israeli teenager (Ivgy) in a symbiotic relationship with her mother, a depressed prostitute. Or (Hebrew for “Treasure”) is desperate to help her mother (Elkabetz) escape from “the oldest profession,” but Ruthie’s trajectory is too strong, & eventually overwhelms Or’s best intentions. Stunning debut by director Yedaya.  More on OR.

Nice Jewish girl (Aguilera) falls in love with nice Palestinian boy (Toledo), & hillarious consequences ensue when she brings him home to meet her family. Because it”s set in Madrid, film can play out itself out as a screwball comedy without risk of bloodshed. Ugly words pop like exploding balloons & their venom dissipates. More… Continue reading Film Review: ONLY HUMAN

2004 Indie Spirit Award candidate follows 3 NJ girls who meet in a juvenile detention center. Once they”re released, they each try to stay straight, but the streets are mean & prospects grim. Excellent performances; heart-breaking intensity. More on ON THE OUTS.

First-person narrative in the style of Terrence Malick. A girl on the edge of adulthood tells a story she only half understands, with expert cinematography & a spare, eloquent score filling in the emotional gaps. Allen & Elliot are her parents. True-Frost plays the stranger who completes their offbeat family. More on OFF THE MAP.

German lawyer from a prosperous Jewish family flees to rural Kenya in the late ‘30s. The story’s limited by the perspective of his daughter, five when she arrives & begins her narration. Resonance depends on audience knowledge of the Holocaust, including things the family itself wouldn’t know until year later. More on NOWHERE IN AFRICA

Disappointing depiction of gap between porn purveyors & their consumers. Bettie (Mol) is a wholesome innocent; her attempts to become a “serious actress” are doomed so she throws all her creativity into her “scenes.” None of it arouses her, but what does? Beautiful surfaces, but Harron captures no inner light. More on THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE… Continue reading Film Review: THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE

Story told here is so important we wanted this film to be perfect; it isn’t but it’s damn good! Superlative cast provides an intimate depiction of a small community under the stress of fundamental change, but the courtroom scenes, when Josie (Theron) finally sues for sexual harassment, are too canned. (***FOR MORE FROM JAN SEE… Continue reading Film Review: NORTH COUNTRY