This year's Mill Valley Film Festival closed Sunday. I caught two narrative films there. I loved them both. Both films will get theatrical releases in the near future. A Capernaum Children living in poverty have to do for themselves in this heartbreaking story of love and the lack of love. Twelve-year-old Zain sues his parents for … Continue reading Lebanon & Beale Street: Closing Day of the Mill Valley Film Festival
The West meets Islam on the Mill Valley Film Festival’s penultimate day
I saw three films Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival - all at the Rafael. Two were narratives, one was a documentary. All three dealt with the line between Islam and the West. A- Northern WindThis essentially serious film offers flashes of humor while studying the universality of working-class struggle. Two blue-collar men, who … Continue reading The West meets Islam on the Mill Valley Film Festival’s penultimate day
What’s Screening: October 12 – 18
We've got old movies: Dial M for Murder, The Leopard, Cabaret, and a series of very early films directed by women. We've got recent movies: The Hate U Give, The Happy Prince, and The Martian. We've got movies for Deadheads and the living dead. And we have seven - that's right - seven film festivals. … Continue reading What’s Screening: October 12 – 18
Comedy Weekdays at the Mill Valley Film Festival
I saw one Mill Valley Film Festival screening on Monday, and another two on Wednesday. Oddly, not a single documentary. Even odder, all three movies were comedies - a genre generally considered too frivolous for film festivals. In the order I saw them: A- Seder Masochism Nina Paley created this blasphemous and hilarious adult animation … Continue reading Comedy Weekdays at the Mill Valley Film Festival
The Hate U Give comes back to you
A- Drama Written by Audrey Wells, from a novel by Angie Thomas Directed by George Tillman Jr. Of this year's many impressive films about the African-American experience, The Hate U Give must be the most thematically ambitious. It covers police brutality, inner-city neighborhoods, being black in an overwhelmingly white school, drug dealing, black-on-black violence, demonstrations, riots, … Continue reading The Hate U Give comes back to you
The Happy Prince & the very sad story
C- Period drama Written & directed by Rupert Everett Opens Friday Many assume that if a movie focuses on very unhappy people wallowing in their many past mistakes, it must be a great film. This is especially true if the photography is conventionally beautiful, the cast British, and the main character an actual historical figure. Many … Continue reading The Happy Prince & the very sad story
Bias & Hate: Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival
I went to Mill Valley yesterday for the Mill Valley Film Festival (I usually go to the Rafael). I saw two films, one documentary and one narrative, and both about prejudice. B+ Bias Everyone, even the least racist and sexist among us, have implicit biases - the prejudices you don't even know you have. Even computer … Continue reading Bias & Hate: Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival
