Political Film Review #34

THREE FILMS FOCUS ON HOW INDIVIDUALS COPE WITH DISABILITY AND DISEASE Patch Adams, At First Sight, and Hilary and Jackie are among the most profound recently released films. All three provide important insights about how stress adversely affects health and are based on true stories. Patch Adams begins in a mental institution, where the protagonist […]

Political Film Review #34 Read More »

Political Film Review #33

POLITICAL FILM SOCIETY MEMBERS VOTE TO NARROW LIST OF NOMINEES One of the rules of thePolitical Film Society is that there can be only five nominees per category each year. In 1998, seven films were pre-nominated for promoting political consciousness of the desirability of settling conflicts peacefully. Accordingly, members may now vote to narrow the

Political Film Review #33 Read More »

The Winslow Boy

Historically-based films generally have a solid character, as the scriptwriters and actors try to be authentic. Just before World War I, a 13-year-old schoolboy was expelled from a British military school after being accused of theft and forgery, but when he insisted on his innocence, his banker father sacrificed all to gain an acquittal, thereby

The Winslow Boy Read More »

True Crime

Clint Eastwood has not given up acting as an eccentric do-gooder who gets the job done even if nobody respects him. In True Crime, in the role of aging Oakland newspaper reporter Steve Everett, he saves Frank Beachum, a black man (played by Isaiah Washington) from the gas chamber by discovering clues ignored by the police

True Crime Read More »

Trick

Gay-oriented films tend to present problems, sometimes very profound, mixed with tension-release comedy. In Trick, directed by Jim Fall, the problem seems quite simple—that Gabriel (played by Christian Campbell) meets Mark (played by John Paul Pitoc), the two want to have sex, but they are unable to have sex all night, and therein lies the effort

Trick Read More »

Trash

In Trash, which had a premier screening in Hollywood on June 24, youthful director/writer Mark Anthony Galluzzo, has attempted to bring assorted true events of the area near Ocala, Florida, to the screen in order to show the difficulties that poor Whites face in a part of the South where economic opportunities are limited. The tagline

Trash Read More »

Train of Life

It is 1941. If the Nazis are coming to a small village somewhere in Czechoslovakia, should the Jews calmly await their fate? In Train of Life, a French film (“Train de Vie”) directed by Radu Mihaileanu, the village idiot Shlomo (played by Lionel Abelanski) has an idea: The townspeople should buy a train and ride to

Train of Life Read More »

The Thirteenth Floor

The Thirteenth Floor Belief in reincarnation satisfies a longing for immortality, or at least a feel that we can do better in the next life. Similarly, older people often look back upon their life as a time of missed opportunities; if only we could relive the past and make different choices, we might have found

The Thirteenth Floor Read More »

Temporary Girl

A large number of persons, especially women, work on a temporary basis. We are familiar with substitute teachers and extras in films as temporary jobs, but the bulk of the “temps” are office workers. In Temporary Girl, codirected and written by Lisa Kotin and Johnny C. White, Jr., we view why temps exist and how they

Temporary Girl Read More »

Scroll to Top