It’s wonderful to watch movies from other countries. You get a taste of a different way of life. The Mostly British Film Festival takes you out of North America, without dropping your eyes to know what the people on the screen are saying.
The festival runs 27 films from February 15 to 22. Here are four of them.
A- Peter O’Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba, Vogue, Friday, February 16, 3:00pm
You learn a lot about Peter O’Toole in this documentary. But you learn much more about the British theater. Kenneth Branagh, Anthony Hopkins, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, and Stephen Fry tell stories about acting in theater and film. He was not just a brilliant actor, but a generous one. O’Toole was also a generous drinker.
B+ Lie of the Land, Vogue, Sunday, February 18, 3:30pm
Irish Spotlight! Here’s a movie that keeps your toes curled. An aging couple in rural Ireland consider stopping farm life. The wife doesn’t trust banks, and so they keep their money at home. A man comes to the house and, because this is a movie, you know he’s just too smooth. Soon this horrible criminal goes after their money and then their lives.
B+ My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, Vogue, Monday, February 19, 2:300pm
, British actor Alistair McGowan gives an exceptional Hitchcock imitation in this entertaining documentary. The film tells us how Hitchcock explains the making of his films. We get to watch clips from Hitchcock’s movies while the impersonator explains about how “he” made the movies. Not only is it not Hitchcock speaking, but it is not always Hitchcock’s words. Director Mark Cousins wrote the monologue that McGowan spoke. I left wanting to watch Strangers on a Train again.
Note: This film was first screened in the Bay Area at the SFFilm Festival.
C+ What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Vogue, Monday, February 19, 7:00pm
First things first: There is nothing about Tina Turner in this movie. This comedy of manners has very little laughs. Set mostly in London, it follows a large Muslim family that believes in arranged marriages. Zoe, a prizewinning documentary filmmaker, covers her best (male) friend’s wedding. But it’s way too obvious who is going to get hitched. Emma Thompson plays Zoe’s mother.
Bayflicks 
As for “knowing what people are saying”, maybe you haven’t spent much time watching Britbox. DJ and I, after watching all 12 seasons of “Vera”, are now watching “Shetland”, and we’ve reached the point, we think, at which we can understand (pronounced “oondahstan”), maybe, half of what they’re saying. Great, well written, drama, though.