At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, patients were advised to wait. In the six years following the first recording of the AIDS outbreak in 1981, more than 40,000 people in the U.S. died while waiting. In response to the clamor for action on the AIDS crisis, then Vice President George…
Paul (Yvan Attal) is a portrait of dishevelment in the opening scene of Phillipe André’s interesting short, Delicate Gravity. Sitting in a Vietnamese restaurant, the pages of the book he’s translating splayed across the table, his hair unkempt, Paul tells us a lot before he even says a word. We’re introduced to the guy during…
Lives briefly intersect when a backpack is whisked off in a cab without its owner in Calcutta Taxi, a fast-paced picture about chance and the importance of perspective. Highly energized at every turn, the story begins with Canadian art student Adi Chaterji (Sunnie D’Souza) about to hunt down his missing backpack in the midst of…
The fate of a newborn baby is the central focus of the movingly melancholic drama Hatch, but the child essentially adopts the role of emotional McGuffin throughout a narrative that digs deeper in its adult exploration of responsibility. Eschewing sentimentality for a plaintive poignancy, writers Karl Goldblat and Christoph Kuschnig (who also directed) divide the…
Though Blue is the Warmest Color, winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, contains graphic depictions of sex, it is not a voyeuristic exercise but a complex, deeply intense film that elevates one young woman’s personal struggle into a drama of universal relevance. Adapted by Kechiche and Ghalia Lacroix from the…
There’s nothing more disappointing than a sequel that does not live up to the original film it came from, therefore, my cinematic experiences over the years dealing with such efforts have certainly been tragic. Yes, there have been second films that have equaled or surpassed the original (“The Empire Strikes Back,” “Superman 2,” “The Godfather:…
Philosopher Albert Camus said, “Good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.” Indeed, we have seen many examples in history of how ideology, no matter how well intentioned, can lead to disastrous consequences if not tempered with compassion and respect for the rights of the individual. We saw it in…
