The Rescue, directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, is a nailbiter that focuses on 12 preteen Thai soccer athletes and their coach (who play themselves in the film). In 2018, they were exploring caves in Tham Luang near Chiang Rai, Thailand, until they became trapped about 2.5 miles from the entry point as […]
Adventures of a Mathematician, directed by Thor Klein,is a biopic of Stan Ulam (played by Philippe Tlokinski), whose mathematics worked out the formula to produce the atomic bomb at Los Alamos during World War II. Although Klaus Fuchs, Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller are better known members of the Manhattan Project and are indeed featured
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DOCUDRAMAS SOMETIMES ARE SUSPENSFUL Adventures of a Mathematician, directed by Thor Klein, is a biopic of Stan Ulam (played by Philippe Tlokinski), whose mathematics worked out the formula to produce the atomic bomb at Los Alamos during World War II. Although Klaus Fuchs, Robert Oppenheimer, and Edward Teller are better known members of the
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WIFE OF A SPY EXPOSES A WAR CRIME In early 1940, importer/exporter Yusaku Fukuhara (played by Issey Takahashi) goes from Kobe to Manchuria with his nephew, Fumio Takeshita (Ryôta Bandô). Manchuria, then controlled by Japan, was a place where purchases could be made at lower prices than in rationed Japan—or so he
Blue Bayou features fictional Antonio LeBlanc (played by director Justin Chon), who was adopted from Korea by a Louisiana Caucasian family at age 3. During the film he faces many challenge and almost reaches the point of suicide several times. Later in the story, filmviewers learn that his adoptive parents evidently could not accommodate him
Minari features a Korean immigrant family in Arkansas during the 1980s; the husband tries to become a farmer with little success in the first year but he promises to try again in the following year.
BLUE BAYOU IS THE SADDEST FILM EVER MADE Two recent films demonstrate difficulties that Korean immigrants experience in the United States. Minari features a Korean immigrant family in Arkansas during the 1980s; the husband tries to become a farmer with little success in the first year but he promises to try again in the following
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WHICH IS WORSE—2012 or 2016? The feature film 2012 was a bit of science fiction, predicting the end of the world. The documentary 2016 is a hatchet job by conservative Dinesh D’Souza who pretends that he was originally mesmerized by Barack Obama, found him to be a mystery once in office, then did some research
WHO WAS ON TRIAL IN AMERICAN TRAITOR? An American citizen named Mildred Gilliars (played by Meadow Williams) was in Germany when World War II began, hoping to became a famous actress. Approached by radio program director Max Otto Koischwitz (Carsten Norgaard) one day in 1941, he presents her with an extraordinary opportunity—work as a high-profile