LIES ARE REDEEMED IN THE DEBT In 1965, Mossad assigns Rachel Singer (played by Jessican Chastain), Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas) and David Peretz (Sam Worthington) to kidnap Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), the Surgeon of Birkenau in East Berlin. They succeed, but Vogel escapes. But the trio tells Israel that Rachel killed Vogel. In 1997, when […]

A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING LACKS A COMEDIAN Directed by Tom Tykwer, A Hologram for the King shows how Saudi Arabia is unbusinesslike. The screenwriter inserts several jokes, but they are not delivered by a comedian, and Boston business exec Alan (played by Tom Hanks), far too serious, finds a female companion who seeks company

KILL ZONE 2 IS THE LATEST KUNG FU CAPER The most important premise for yet another kung fu film is announced by the Hong Kong police chief early in Kill Zone 2, directed by Pou-Soi Cheang. He states that thousands of persons disappear without a trace each year. The reason appears to be a hunt

MONSTERS HAUNT MONEY MONSTER Who was responsible for that “glitch” in 2007 that caused the stock market to dip dramatically? We now know that heavy selling and caused a 70-minute time lag in calculating the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Index, and when a backup computer system was accessed, a sudden 200 point drop

Viva, directed by Patty Breathnach, takes place in La Habana, Cuba. The protagonist is 18-year-old Jesús (played by Héctor Medina). Jesús has lived alone in the apartment for several years since his mother’s death. He has not seen his father, who was imprisoned for murder when he was 3. To survive, he is a hairdresser

Sworn Virgin (Vergine giurata), directed by Laura Bispuri, offers a very unusual story. Two sisters, Lila (played by Dajana Selimaj) and adopted Hana (Alba Rohrwacher), are growing up in mountainous Albania. Their mother has died, so their father (Bruno Shllaku) is without a son to help with the arduous task of goat herding. Hana, however,

FRANCOFONIA EXPLAINS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAR AND THE LOUVRE A documentary with live stand-ins and film footage, Francofonia provides film footage of the Nazi takeover of Paris but also creates a film with story and action. Directed and voiced by Aleksandr Sokurov, the timeline jumps back and forth, creating some suspense about what will be

ELVIS & NIXON IS ABOUT A FARCE Thanks to the Nixon tapes, all sorts of scenes can be recreated for dramatic purposes, but director Liza Johnson had to make up the unrecorded event in Elvis & Nixon. One such scene occurred after 35-year-old Elvis Presley (played strangely by Michael Shannon) flew to Washington with a

HOSTILE BORDER CALLS TRUMP’S BLUFF What would happen if millions of Mexicans were forced to return to their country of origin, though they speak little or no Spanish? That’s the question soon posed in Hostile Border, directed by Michael Dwyer. Although entirely fictional, the film focuses on 22-year-old Claudia (played by Veronica Sixtos), who was

STEALING CARS REVEALS A DETENTION CAMP FOR BOYS Based on actual events, teenager Billy Wyatt (played by Emory Cohen, the spitting image of a young Johnny Depp), steals a car, police chase him, and he ends up in Burnville Camp for Boys. He is roughed up over and over again up by a guard for no reason