B- Family drama Written by Hirokazu Koreeda from a story by Ken Liu Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda Let's face it. We all know what families are about. Even the best of them involve fights, misunderstandings, secrets that occasionally bubble up, and are all held together with genuine love. That makes family dramas tricky. If one … Continue reading The Truth isn’t always what you want
Category: Drama
Drama
The Last Tree: From one mother to another
B- Coming of age drama Written and directed by Shola Amoo A young boy suffers through exceptionally difficult transitions early in this coming-of-age drama. He's thrown out of a loving and safe environment into one much more frightening and cruel. It's stomach-turning. You can see how this childhood turns the boy into the sort of … Continue reading The Last Tree: From one mother to another
Babyteeth, puppy love, & cancer
A Family drama Written by Rita Kalnejais Directed by Shannon Murphy Drugs, a wild boyfriend, and worst of all, cancer, take over a distressed family in this Australian drama. Babyteeth could have been a very mawkish weepy, trying to pull tears out of your eyes. Instead, the filmmakers treat its characters and situations on a … Continue reading Babyteeth, puppy love, & cancer
Tommaso
C psychological relationship drama Written and directed by Abel Ferrara Abel Ferrara's latest film doesn't quite do what it should (whatever that is). It's not horrible. It succeeds in making you worry about the confused protagonist. Several individual scenes work reasonably well, but the main character's slide into insanity (if that's what it is) feels … Continue reading Tommaso
Henry V times 2
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention… I can't read or listen to the prologue of William Shakespeare's Henry V without thinking that he was wishing he were writing a screenplay. He may have wondered if the stage could hold "The vasty fields of France?" Or if the … Continue reading Henry V times 2
The alleged Mick Travis trilogy…but mostly about O Lucky Man
When is a trilogy a trilogy, and when is it just three different movies? The Lord of the Rings is clearly a trilogy. John Ford's cavalry is just three westerns set amongst horse soldiers. The Criterion Channel is currently offering what they're calling Lindsay Anderson's Mick Travis Trilogy. The films: If…. (1968) O Lucky Man! … Continue reading The alleged Mick Travis trilogy…but mostly about O Lucky Man
This very bad marriage makes the protagonist want to Swallow
A- Drama/Thriller Written and directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis What makes a pregnant woman hurt herself so badly? Bit by bit - or perhaps I should say bite by bite - Hunter (Haley Bennett) physically tortures herself. She swallows things: a marble, a pin, a battery. It gets worse. Carlo Mirabella-Davis' fine drama shows at least … Continue reading This very bad marriage makes the protagonist want to Swallow
Depressing but necessary: Sorry We Missed You
A- Drama Written by Paul Laverty Directed by Ken Loach With a title like Sorry We Missed You, you'd expect a light, romantic comedy. Instead, you get something entirely different. Imagine a food that you absolutely hate, but you eat it anyway because it's good for you. That's like the experience of seeing Ken Loach's … Continue reading Depressing but necessary: Sorry We Missed You
Capital punishment hurts everybody in Clemency
A Drama Written & directed by Chinonye Chukwu How do you comfort the mother of a man about to be executed - especially when your job is to oversee the execution? The answer, inevitably, is "not well." The experience gets worse when the execution, by lethal injection, gets thoroughly botched and the condemned man suffers … Continue reading Capital punishment hurts everybody in Clemency
We need Just Mercy for the innocent
A- Courtroom drama Written by Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham, from the book by Bryan Stevenson Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton Can true justice prevail in a racist society? According to the people who made Just Mercy, it can, but it takes an angel - or at least a gifted, well-trained, intelligent, and altruistic … Continue reading We need Just Mercy for the innocent
