“For a long time after the war I was afraid of the sky, even of raising my head towards the sky. I was afraid of seeing plowed-up earth. But the rooks already walked calmly over it. The birds quickly forgot the war” — Svetlana Alexievich, “The Unwomanly Face of War” During World War II, the…
“And it feels like it’s so long till morning” — Kate Rusby, “Until Morning” While many holocaust survivors openly express rage and uncontrolled bitterness towards their persecutors, other survivors display only an emotional deadness and a pervasive feeling of being alone and scared. In the movie “Fateless,” Gyuri, a young man sent to Buchenwald, moves…
“The real voyage of discovery lies in not seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes” — Marcel Proust The innocence of children has been one of the main themes of Iranian cinema in recent years. Films such as Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven,” Abbas Kiarostami’s “Where is the Friend’s Home?” and Jafar Panahi’s “The…
Life is difficult and complicated in Dekel Berenson’s intimate short Anna, about a titular single mother (Svetlana Barandich) who longs to provide a better life for herself and her teenage daughter Alina (Anastasia Vyazovskaya). In their little Ukrainian village, Anna works at a meat-processing plant, wiling away the hours and returning home to find her…
The Beatles are one of the most iconic, influential and beloved musicians, or indeed creative artists, of all time. As well as producing such bestselling albums as “The White Album,” “Abbey Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the Fab Four have been the subject of films, books, museums and anecdotes. They put Liverpool…
“From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring.” — J.R.R. Tolkien A chronicle of a relationship that is no longer nurturing, The Souvenir follows Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne, “I Am Love”), a young film student in London during the 1980s as she navigates to adulthood through a minefield…
Weddings are to romantic comedies what CGI-heavy final acts are to the superhero genre. They’re the place where emotions culminate, heartfelt speeches are delivered, and true love (almost) always wins out. Part of the reason they’re a natural fit is that these are the days that we start planning from a young age. I can…
