MEMOIR OF WAR AGONIZES ABOUT AGONY Directed by Emmanuel Finkiel, the film focuses on Marguerite Duras (played by Mélanie Thierry), whose husband Robert Antelme (Émmanuel Bourdieu) is arrested as a member of the French Resistance during World War II. Marguerite takes his clothes to the authorities so that he will have something to wear while incarcerated […]

FAHRENHEIT 11/9 ENCOURAGES PROTEST  Michael Moore goes negative in Fahrenheit 11/9, attacking Donald Trump, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and the Democratic establishment. Moore begins with the tears of Hillary Clinton supporters on election night 2016 contrasted with the sober expression of winner Donald Trump. Bill Clinton is lambasted for privatizing

CRAZY RICH ASIANS TELLS HOLLYWOOD MOGULS WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN MISSING For years, Asians and Asian Americans have struggled to prove their talents while Hollywood has often cast Caucasians in Asian roles. Now that era may be over, thanks to Crazy Rich Asians, directed by John M. Chu, based on the novel by Kevin Kwan. All actors

OPERATION FINALE PUTS EICHMANN UNDER PRESSURE  The film Operation Finale, directed by Chris Weitz, begins with titles indicating that 6 of the 10 million killed by Nazi Germany were Jews. Brief flashbacks to the Holocaust appear throughout the film. When the film begins, police in occupied Austria knock on the door of someone they believe is Adolf

THE BIOPICTHE CATCHER WAS A SPY IS FULL OF PUZZLES  After graduating in philology from Princeton, learning at least a dozen languages, Morris “Moe” Berg (played by Paul Rudd) decides to make a career as a catcher for major league baseball. That is the first puzzle, since he has the intelligence to make a career in

MARY SHELLEY FINDS WHY LOVE IS COMPLICATED Mary Shelley (played by Elle Fanning) wrote Frankenstein based on her experiences in the tiny free love community of Britain in the 1810s. She was the daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died a few days after Mary was born. Her father was the philosopher William Godwin (Stephen Dillane), who ran

BEIRUT EXPOSES NEGOTIATION PERFIDY In 1972, U.S. diplomat Mason Skiles (played Tom Hamm) hosts a lavish party at an estate overlooking Beirut (though filming is in Tangier, Morocco). Suddenly a CIA agent demands to collect his 13-year-old adopted son Karim (Yoau Saian Rosenberg) for questioning in regard to the role of his big brother, Abu Rajal

BYE BYE GERMANY EXPLAINS WHY 4,000 JEWISH REFUGEES STAYED IN GERMANY After World War II, some 7 million displaced persons were placed in 800 resettlement camps operated by the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Agency. Due to bombing, dislocation, political chaos, and starvation, many had no home to return to. Within the American occupation zone, as featured

THE DEATH OF STALIN IS SERIOUS . . . BUT LAUGHABLE? Leave it to an Italian director, Armando Iannucci, to make fun of one of the landmark events of the twentieth century—the death of Josef Stalin (played by Adrian McLoughlin). Although The Death of Stalin subtitles all members of Stalin’s cabinet (Politburo) as they make their appearance, the

THE DEATH OF STALIN IS SERIOUS . . . BUT LAUGHABLE? Leave it to an Italian director, Armando Iannucci, to make fun of one of the landmark events of the twentieth century—the death of Josef Stalin (played by Adrian McLoughlin). Although The Death of Stalin subtitles all members of Stalin’s cabinet (Politburo) as they make their appearance, the