evening1 Reviews

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

"Young fool!"

[6/10 · 2 May 2025]

Whatever a person's upbringing, he is going to make mistakes. If lucky, he will learn from his errors, and become a mentor to the young who follow.

Such are the verities of life as viewed through this quiet meditation on teaching and choices.

There are wonderful performances here from Oh Yeong-su as a monk, and three other actors (including director Kim Ki-duk) portraying the boy and man whom he teaches.

A keen observer, the older man offers guidance at painful moments for his ward.

"Lust awakens the desire to possess," he says. "Sometimes we have to let go of things we like. What you like, others will like -- is it so unbearable for you?"

The wise man sets his pupil to an arduous task, advising, "As you carve out each character, drive the anger from your heart."

And when the young man holds on to his rage, the master beats him cruelly, demonstrating the futility of destructive emotion.

Panic has no place in the monk's world, and when the police arrive, he asks his student, "What are you doing? Keep cutting!"

The movie has its mysteries, leaving one questioning and striving to understand.

However, its setting -- a mingling of forest, mist, rock, and lake -- suggests we've captured a glimpse of the natural order of things.

History's Turning Points (1997–2002)

The Battle of Salamis: Strategy triumphs over numbers

[5/10 · 1 May 2025]

The Greeks won the Battle of Marathon, and 10 years later, Persia went back seeking vengeance on Athens.

Although the Persians captured Thermopylae in 480 BC, they returned shortly thereafter with hopes of vanquishing their cultured enemy.

With far fewer combatants, Athens was able to decisively defeat the Persians -- by luring them into a narrow strait at Salamis, where they rammed their bottlenecked ships and drowned many a screaming sailor.

This battle was a turning point in that it strengthened Athens's stature in the world, and the city-state went on to be a major influence on the Roman Empire and Western civilization itself.

Anna Lucasta (1958)

Eartha can't save this

[5/10 · 1 May 2025]

Eartha Kitt creates a strong presence in this film as a prostitute who tries to go straight.

But the rest of the movie is a flaky mishmash, never quite knowing what it wants to be -- Broadway play, TV sitcom, or cartoonish punch fest.

Anna had to walk the streets after her prudish father threw her out of the house for holding hands with a boy. Then one day, when the wealthy son of the father's friend comes to visit, the clan invites her back in hopes of marrying her off.

It's all very silly and contrived and we waste a lot of time listening to the family members squabble with one another, extremely tedious stuff.

Sammy Davis, Jr., plays a slick sailor who wants to hang out with Anna, but never tie the knot. He tries to convince Anna that she can't change her ways, and she'll always be a woman of the night. And then, inexplicably, he shows off some of his fancy footwork, like he's Sammy, performing in Vegas. There's that mishmash again.

Anna has a lot of trouble thinking for herself, and the movie ends ambiguously.

In all, a lot of strum und drang with very little payoff.

Wadjda (2012)

A man's world

[6/10 · 1 May 2025]

How awful it would be to always be told no, you can't, but if you were a boy, yes you could.

Such is the lot of Saudi 10-year-old Wadjda (Waad Mohammed), who wants nothing more than to be able to ride a bike with her friend, Abdullah, but is forbidden to do so by social norms and old wives' tales (i.e., "You won't be able to have children if you ride a bike").

This rare glimpse into Saudi city life is startling for the number of ways in which it portrays girls and women as oppressed.

Women are often sheathed head to toe in black (despite 100-degree temperatures), sometimes with only a slit for their eyes, they may not be able to drive cars, and they might be married off to an adult while still in grade school.

Wadjda's father seems to live somewhere else, and is contemplating marrying again because her mother (Reem Abdullah) hasn't borne him a son, and this leaves Mom in the cringe-worthy position of trying to look so pretty that the cad won't stray.

Wadjda is determined to raise 800 riyals to buy a bike, but she's thwarted at every turn. It's taboo for her to sell her handcrafted bracelets at school, despite the demand, and shopkeepers won't hawk her creations -- they can buy the same thing for cheaper in bulk from China.

When Wadjda devotes herself to studying the Koran in hopes of winning a 1,000-riyal prize, she's ambushed into donating the cash to "our brethren in Palestine" by dour headmistress Ms. Hussa (Aud), who at every turn presses for conformity and threatens expulsion.

The schoolmarm is scornful when Wadjda announces her bicycle plan and sneers, "Your stupid behavior will haunt you forever!"

In the end, Wadjda's mother drops her plan to buy a sexy dress and opts for the bike, apparently willing to risk opprobrium to nourish her daughter's soul.

I enjoyed being able to glimpse something of Saudi life, if only through this somewhat depressive lens.

The Donut King (2020)

"I just want to see them successful"

[6/10 · 1 May 2025]

There was no doubt in Ted Ngoi's mind about where he wanted to go from a refugee camp in Thailand -- the United States, to pursue the American Dream.

And that the born entrepreneur did, working tirelessly to establish a chain of 70 shops in California selling donuts -- that "quintessential American food" -- and sponsoring scores of fellow Cambodian refugees wanting their own toehold in the land of opportunity.

Born in 1941, Ted was an army major when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge ravaged his homeland, and "we lived in hell." He'd have been executed if he hadn't been able to flee the revolutionaries, who forced millions to leave the cities for labor camps, and murdered the educated class.

Ted attained great personal wealth (estimated at $20 million) through his tireless efforts, and documentarian Alice Gu provides photos of him hobnobbing with presidents.

But it all came crashing down for the dynamo when he discovered the gaming tables of nearby Los Vegas. He eventually went bankrupt and lost his childhood sweetheart.

"It's hard to believe he allowed that to happen when he came to this country with nothing," an observer opines.

Indeed, interviewed extensively in this film, resilient Ted doesn't shy from the truth, and we're told that he'd "say hi to everyone, and express his remorse."

You go, guy, and thanks for the deliciously creative donut varieties that have followed in your wake nationwide!

An Unquiet Mind (2025)

"Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness"

[5/10 · 1 May 2025]

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder -- "a disease of doubt" -- can involve so much more than frequent handwashing or checking the stove too many times.

This documentary sensitively explores a disorder of thought and behavior that can be torturous, particularly for sufferers who don't know about treatment or delay it.

Director Rachel Immaraj introduces several people who suffered to the point they questioned their trustworthiness, contemplated suicide, and went into hospitals.

"I was two people at all times," says a woman who battled OCD while trying to safely raise children. "When you don't know what you're capable of...you might start to think, 'Maybe I shouldn't be here'."

OCD created an unbearable habitat in her mind, she said, and "You can't escape your own brain...You lose your sense of reality -- you feel trapped, like you just have to end it."

Luckily, there are effective treatments for OCD -- "a way to rewrite these stories" -- and the mom says her hospitalization opened a path to recovery. These days, she calls herself an "OCD thriver."

This documentary is so successful at conjuring the pain of OCD that it can be difficult to watch, and at times it feels too long. But it's very informative. I was fortunate to attend its first-ever screening at a branch of the New York Public Library during the recent Reelabilities Film Festival.

Battles BC: Judgement Day at Marathon (2009) Season 1, Episode 8

Creators of democracy vanquish world's premier fighting force

[6/10 · 30 April 2025]

Some 26 miles from Athens, unspeakable carnage broke out on the plains of Marathon.

The Persians brought 20,000 soldiers, compared to the city-state's 10,000, but the Greeks had a territorial advantage, along with stronger shields and more deadly spears.

Eventually, Athens' warriors pushed the invaders back to the sea, where hundreds drowned. In all, more than 6,000 Persians perished in the battle, compared to fewer than 200 on the other side -- each of whom is commemorated in a sculpture at the Parthenon, erected in praise of the goddess Athena for a victory against all odds.

This program is vividly illustrated by commentary from military experts, and animated battle sequences, making for an informative exploration of a conflict whose consequences reverberate to this day, in ongoing struggles betwixt East and West.

The Giant of Marathon (1959)

Entertaining enough

[5/10 · 29 April 2025]

This fictional account of the Battle of Marathon didn't teach me much about the fight, but it offers some good battle scenes and decent-enough writing in spots.

Beyond-hunky Steve Reeves plays Phillipides, the herculean athlete who leads Athens to victory over Darius and the Persians.

I wanted to learn something about the 490 BC conflict after stumbling across "The World's Worst Military Disasters" in a thrift shop.

This swords-and-sandals flick distracts us from the battleground with a romantic subplot featuring Mylene Demongeot as Andromeda, looking much like a young Brigette Bardot with not much to do other than to look gorgeous.

The real Phillipides is known to history as an amazing runner who carried messages between Athens and its rival, Sparta, 125 miles away, dying, in the end, from exhaustion.

For a puzzling artistic rendition of the super-sprinter, see Wikipedia for the painting by his name by Luc-Olivier Merson (1869).

I can't help but wonder what erudite painting authority Sister Wendy would have said about the oddly graphic artwork.

The Telltale Heart (1928)

"Crime always avenges itself"

[6/10 · 27 April 2025]

In that most horrifying of scenarios, a madman steals into a home in the wee hours, and kills someone -- for no reason other than he must.

This brief film, only 20 minutes long, tells us that crime won't pay -- the homicide artist sets his own trap.

Tension grows as the murderer hallucinates heartbeats, his head syncopating wildly to the rhythm, against an expressionistic backdrop mirroring the chaos in his mind.

I was moved to watch this short, made almost 100 years ago, while viewing the American Masters program "Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive."

Poe is unique in that his life is as interesting as some of his stories.

The Waltons: The Foundling (1972) Season 1, Episode 1

Friendly, decent people

[6/10 · 27 April 2025]

I was a 16-year-old city girl in Pittsburgh when this series premiered, and I wouldn't have thought of watching a show like this. My loss!

I was reminded of "The Waltons" while re-viewing "Ordinary People" of 1980, whose troubled young protagonist found inspiration in this series' John Boy.

"John Boy would have said something about the way he felt," Conrad tells his therapist.

I'm glad I checked out Season 1, Episode 1 for a glimpse of what he meant.

The Waltons are a truly delightful clan, unfailingly decent to one another, helpful, playful, and caring. Walking around barefoot, or riding in a dusty jalopy, they exhibit none of the sarcasm or cynicism of our age. What a breath of fresh air!

I see that the series, which aired from 1972 to 1981, is available on amazon prime. It's nice to know such people of integrity are just a click away, if I'd ever like some down-home, decent folk as company.

John Boy, played by Richard Thomas, is indeed an impressive young man, and an aspiring poet, to boot.

I was once wooed by a charming fellow who wrote poetry, but he lacked the stellar characteristics of John Boy -- bravery, persistence, curiosity, warmth.

A most delightful discovery!

Ordinary People (1980)

"Don't hold back!"

[6/10 · 26 April 2025]

When this movie came out, I wouldn't have taken the time to go see it -- too serious, too talky, too downbeat. At 24, I was too busy starting a career and having fun.

I'm 68 now, and I was reminded of this thoughtful work by psychologist Danny Wedding's book "Movies and Mental Illness," which lists "OP" among films with sympathetic portrayals of people with mental-health problems and the professionals who treat them. After having viewed "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957) and "David and Lisa" (1962), I thought I'd take a look.

Here we get to know an affluent Connecticut family going through the motions of life after losing their son and brother in a sailing accident. The death of a bright light has left younger brother Conrad (Timothy Hutton) riven with guilt, father Calvin (Donald Sutherland) smiling through his pain, and mom Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) brittle and fixated on appearances, telling everyone what they should do rather than "indulging" them.

In an impressive directorial debut, Robert Redford demonstrates how talking through trauma, in therapy, can start the process of healing. Judd Hirsch does well as compassionate, unfailingly real psychologist Dr. Berger.

TV's "The Waltons" character "John Boy would have said something about the way he felt," Conrad tells the doctor, as his defenses start to melt away.

For therapy to work, one has to pick up the phone and go. And that's something closed-off Beth won't do. She'd rather take a trip to Houston, or anywhere, really, than talk about what she feels: "Don't try to change me -- I don't want any more changes in my life!"

The performances here are uniformly strong, including a luminescent Elizabeth McGovern as fellow choir member Jeannine, who appreciates Conrad when others think him crazy, Dinah Manoff as a friend from the psychiatric hospital who tragically left too soon, and M. Emmet Walsh as concrete-minded swim coach Salan, receptacle of society's ignorance about psychological issues.

This movie takes us back to the timeless theme of looks being deceptive. The Jarretts live in a picture-perfect setting, with stately homes, trees turning color in the fall, and quiet streets.

But, as a character from another film so memorably put it, "Pretty ain't nuthin'."

Horses: Madness at Sea: A Horrifying True Story (2022 Podcast Episode)

Rather than wondering all his life, "What if?"

[5/10 · 25 April 2025]

The story of Donald Crowhurst is as interesting a discovery as that of its creator.

Michael Claisse reconstructs the effort of Englishman Crowhurst -- "just a guy," and not a professional sailor -- to race around the world solo in a hand-built trimaran, with the dream of claiming a $70,000 prize and international fame.

It doesn't end well, and Claisse illustrates the tragic saga with scribbly pen sketches, crudely daubed paintings, and even a bit of home movie, all coming together in a puzzling and compelling portrait.

Crowhurst's boat wasn't up to the ordeal -- its very hull split in half -- but he couldn't bring himself to admit defeat. Fearing financial ruin and humiliation, he didn't return to land when he could have. And one day likely in 1970 -- I was comfortably attending high school in Pittsburgh at the time -- his vessel was found, but his body never was.

Alas, the wayward husband and father of four did leave a legacy of sorts -- "dreams greater than his ability."

Decisive Battles: Ramses II (2004) Season 1, Episode 12

"Make speed" -- Ancient meets cutting-edge

[5/10 · 23 April 2025]

I stumbled across this battle in a book I found in a thrift shop, "The World's Worst Military Disasters," and was eager to improve my grasp of the engagement by seeing it acted out.

This series offers an interesting hybrid by pairing commentary from Egypt experts with reenactments in the style of video games. I found the animation to be effective indeed, feeling tension as the scene was set for war. My only quibble is that it's explained a little too fast. I'm a woman in my 60s unused to gaming, so I had to hustle a bit to keep up.

Not a problem! So here we had two near-East fighting forces, Egypt and the Hittites, about to battle it out for dominance in 1274 BC. In one corner is the newly ascended, impetuous young pharaoh Ramses II. He's pitted against Hittite king Mutawalli for dominance of Kadesh, a settlement at the crossroads of trade routes.

Each side had thousands of chariots, and tens of thousands of well-armed troops.

The animation effectively shows how chariots wreaked damage by plowing into companies of fighting men, just mowing them down, while arrows raining down on military units felled both man and steed.

The battle for Kadesh, won ultimately by Egypt, was one of the earliest ever recorded for posterity, depicted in wall carvings at the Ramesseum, across from modern-day Luxor.

The internet tells me the edifice is open 24/7 where it will be 110 degrees tomorrow.

Ancient Egyptians: The Battle of Megiddo (2003) Season 1, Episode 1

Intellectually stimulating

[6/10 · 21 April 2025]

When the world's two most powerful armies came together in battle on May 19, 1458 BC, a scribe was there to take it all down, and his account -- carved in hieroglyphs at the Temple of Karnak -- might be the first example ever of war correspondence.

Rebel Syrian warlords, long resentful of Egypt's imperialism, tried to capitalize on the power shift when young Thutmosis III became pharaoh. Their gambit backfired. Although lacking in war experience, King Thut had superior generals, along with command of an elite corps of professional Nubian soldiers.

For Egypt to prevail, virtually every male of fighting age became subject to conscription, a situation personalized here in the story of a married teenage farmer yanked from his home along the Nile to join the ranks of foot soldiers bound for a distant desert fighting ground.

A victorious commander had a lot to gain from excelling on the battlefield, and could rise through the ranks of society, we're told, but "the most a peasant can hope for is to get back to his village alive."

Along the way, we observe the quarter-mastering of a massive war machine, including the best of modern technology for fighters of higher rank, from bows of imported elm or birch bound with fish-bladder glue, and ivory-tipped arrows, to chariots -- those "lightweight war machines bringing speed and surprise to the battlefield." Grunts were armed with sharpened knives, axes, and spears.

As it turned out, Egypt's forces vanquished the rebels, but Thutmosis was chagrined that his men didn't capture Megiddo itself, opting instead to rob enemy dead of rings and other booty. Pharaoh opted to starve the Megiddans out, with the result that seven months later, warlords handed their children over as hostages -- to be murdered if the rebels ever raised arms against Egypt again.

An intriguing element in this program is translation of some of the Karnak war coverage, along with other accounts from papyrus scrolls that also have survived the ages.

The Children of an Lac (1980 TV Movie)

"Why dead, Madame Ngai?"

[7/10 · 20 April 2025]

Here is the amazing, based-on-real-life story of an actress who did a lot of good outside of Hollywood.

Ina Balin was unmarried and in her 40s when she embarked upon adopting an orphan from Vietnam, placing herself at great risk by going to Saigon in April 1975 as the Viet Cong were closing in on the city.

Ms. Balin plays herself in this atmospheric drama, along with Shirley Jones as Betty Tinsley, who had coordinated adoption efforts with the An Lac orphanage for 14 years. Ms. Jones shines here as a loving woman who knows how to be tough and practical when necessary. Also very impressive is Beulah Quo, playing indomitable orphanage director Mme. Ngai.

We learn here that Mme. Ngai was on a VC "kill list" because some of the children she housed from the North allegedly were not orphans. (This touchy point is raised, but not elucidated in the movie.)

Mme. Ngai's elemental interactions with the kids are powerful, such as when she explains to tragic young Than, who saw his mother shot, and escaped with just a basketful of chicks, that "war is hard to understand."

This movie includes moving performances by many of the children at the facility, kids forced to grow up fast in the crossfire of a war no one wanted.

I wouldn't have known about this production had I not stumbled across Ms. Balin in the Paul Newman melodrama "From the Terrace" (1960), and read about her backstory on Wikipedia. It's interesting to me that Ms. Tinsley was a native of Pittsburgh, my adopted hometown, as was Shirley Jones.

I also learned on the internet that Ms. Balin, who died at only 52 a decade after this movie was released, adopted three young people from Vietnam, including Nguyet, a half-black teen whom Ms. Balin believed could face particular retribution in a Communist takeover.

There is a very chilling sequence in this film, wherein older children who had been ready to evacuate were barred from doing so by the South Vietnamese government, which said boys over 10 were needed to fight for their country, while girls that age were required for the nation's future. I had flashbacks to selections by the Nazis, as older kids peeled off their taped nametags when made to stay behind.

An interesting element in this film is its use of language. Rather than having local people speak Vietnamese, necessitating subtitles, late director John Llewellyn Moxey had Vietnamese cast members employ pidgin English. (This felt jarring at first, but I got used to it.)

This is a truly beautiful film. God bless the givers like Ms. Balin, Ms. Tinsley, and Mme. Ngai.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Beautiful musing on connection

[6/10 · 17 April 2025]

A moving story of a fatherless boy and the film projectionist who mentors and inspires him.

There are wonderful performances here by Salvatore Cascio as young Toto and Philippe Noiret as Alfredo.

It's all set against life in a small Sicilian town, where the lone movie house is the heartbeat of the community.

We watch Toto grow up to be an idealistic teenager (Marco Leonardi) who falls in love at first sight with a privileged young lady (Agnese Nana) who suffers him to stand outside her home, Romeo-like, nightly for a year before granting him a kiss.

As understanding an ear as Alfredo provides, he doesn't seem hopeful of success, saying of Man, "If he loves, he suffers. It's a dead-end street."

Toto's ardent love affair ends abruptly when Elena's wealthy family whisks her off to college in Palermo, leaving him never quite able to recapture true passion.

Indeed, as beautiful as life can be, it is marked by terrible loss, this movie seems to say, and we observe with some horror as Alfredo falls victim to burning strips of film, left blind in the conventional sense but wiser ("Now that I've lost my sight, I see better").

Alfredo considers how God made the world in several days, and, "with all due respect to the Lord," he says, "I'd have made it better...In all modesty, I'd have taken longer."

"Life isn't like in the movies," he tells Toto. "Life is much harder."

Tragedy has left him more philosophical. He's different when Toto visits him after his military service, rarely going out or conversing with others.

"You know how it is -- sooner or later, the time comes," he observes. "Whether you talk or don't talk, it's the same thing, so you might as well shut up."

The film includes alluring clips from European cinema, leaving one curious to view such classics as "La Terra Trema."

A Complete Unknown (2024)

Great music, but way too long

[6/10 · 15 April 2025]

This biopic is best at its start, as we observe how "Bobby" was discovered by Pete Seeger in the hospital room of Woody Guthrie.

Twenty-year-old Robert Zimmerman from Minnesota had made a pilgrimage to the fabled folk singer, who was disabled with Huntington's disease but still knew a phenom when he saw one.

It all takes place against a backdrop of dramatic world events, from the Cuban missile crisis to President Kennedy's assassination.

Timothée Chalamet is very good in the role of Dylan, who, after starting out as a quietly introspective acoustic guitarist, evolved into a hipster queasy about fame and willing to flout industry expectations.

Also doing well here is Elle Fanning as Dylan's homegirl, Sylvie, who was tortured by the palpable stage chemistry between Dylan and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). I also enjoyed Edward Norton as a banjo-toting Seeger, instrumental to propelling Dylan from obscurity. I loved finding out that Johnny Cash was a Dylan fan, but the actor cast to play him doesn't resemble him at all, a distracting minor detail.

The music in this film is unfailingly wonderful, but, for me, the story bogged down within an hour and a half, as we tag along with a brooding charts-topper who seems to lack any social connection of depth but never forgets his hero Woody.

At 84, Dylan may still be performing, living the timeless lyrics from "It's Alright, Ma": "He not busy being born is busy dying."

From the Terrace (1960)

Marital miseries

[4/10 · 13 April 2025]

Nothing comes across more clearly in this mishmash of a melodrama than the fact that Paul Newman was one drop-dead, gorgeous guy.

I must have spent half the film musing on that point -- testament, perhaps, to the tepid interest of the rest of the production. Adding to problems was my sense that I was viewing a crudely edited version of the movie, one lacking such elements as the wedding of David (Newman) and Mary (Joanne Woodward), and the demise of his embittered father (Leon Ames).

Our protagonist is a Navy veteran of World War II who seems deeply depressed. Undoubtedly his family roots had an impact, but we learn nothing about his experience overseas. He's super-sexy in his courtship of Mary, but blind to the blonde's vapidity. After much sturm und drang with her, he again falls in love at first sight, this time with a brunette of some depth (Ina Balint).

Released in 1960, when I was just four, this film reflects loosening morals at the cusp of the sexual revolution, and there's something poignant in that.

The story hails from John O'Hara, who grew up in the Pennsylvania setting of the film. I'd guess the novel offers better characterization than we find here, and maybe I'll seek it out.

For now, I'm remembering my days as a reporter for the Collegian at Penn State, where I once wrote a feature about the library's rare books wing, which contains a reassemblage of O'Hara's office.

I won't long remember this film, but that unique little sanctum in my home state will remain with me.

The Joycean Society (2013)

English majors, all grown up

[6/10 · 8 April 2025]

Where does a logophile go to find other people who love words, and savor talking about them?

Easy, if you're in Zurich, Switzerland -- the James Joyce Foundation's drop-in groups for discussion of the Irish literature great's more puzzling works.

It took me awhile to ease in to this quiet little documentary from Doria Garcia, but before too long I realized I was right in my element, as an erstwhile English major who still loves learning and looking things up.

Here we meet a group of mostly older men armed with immeasurable patience, sharpened pencils, and dogeared copies of "Finnegan's Wake," all taking turns reading aloud from the beyond-obscure, linguistically rich text, offering up ideas or associations to all manner of word, neologism, literary reference, or non-sequitur.

"'Pedicel' is the main stalk of a flower," one man says. "It must mean something else here."

"What was the reason for the word choice, or did Joyce simply like the words?" asks another.

Yet another inquiring mind points out that the names Joyce and Freud share the same etymological roots, both pertaining to enjoyment.

It's nice to know that there still are intellectually curious adults in our world -- and outside of academia, yet. The discussions offer a workout for the mind, and comradery.

As one humble participant puts it, this is "a therapy group for people not very successful in life, like me...Culture is a kind of substitute for pleasures that are denied to many of us..."

Fittingly for these role models of erudition, they end their session with several minutes of silence.

I love the idea of these groups, and that they've been going strong for decades, and can even be accessed today via the internet.

My own experience with Joyce has been a little choppy. I tried "Ulysses" a few years ago, but couldn't get into it.

I did very much enjoy viewing John Huston's "The Dead" of 1987.

The Mission (2023)

"A fine line between faith and madness"

[6/10 · 5 April 2025]

More than anything, this seems a tragedy of parenthood.

John Chau's father made it through China's Cultural Revolution to America, giving this country's freedom to the three beautiful children he would have.

There was nothing anyone could have done to dissuade the deeply devout and adventurous John from approaching forbidden North Sentinel Island with his message of the Gospel.

As a parent of sons myself, I very much sympathize with John's father's pain at not having been able to affect the young man's course.

The words of Kahlil Gibran, about children, return to a viewer:

"They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, (and) though they are with you, yet they belong not to you."

A gifted writer, John's father takes the occasion of his son's death by bow and arrow to channel his grief into words, providing some of the more moving commentary in this film. John's "determination was like an arrow mounted on a tightly pulled bow string..."

We also hear from others who have approached the Andaman Islands and researched or written about them, and about other missionaries to indigenous lands around the world who sometimes paid the ultimate price for their zeal.

I'm reminded of the tragedy of Michael Rockefeller, who in 1961 disappeared in the Asmat region of Dutch New Guinea, while collecting art from Native peoples there.

In both cases, the isolated tribes had been hurt by previous contact with Westerners, and idealistic bearers of gifts were likely met with lethal force.

The North Sentinelese don't want contact with the outside world, and, however well-intentioned, visitors who "cross that boundary...are saying, 'Your prohibition means nothing to us,'" opines an expert in the documentary.

Some things just aren't meant to be. But what child wants to accept that message from a parent?

The French Connection (1971)

Exciting

[7/10 · 3 April 2025]

Here's a stellar performance by Gene Hackman, set against a backdrop of New York at its never-grittier.

The plot is difficult to follow at times, but it doesn't matter with such wonderful casting and characterization.

Headlining is Hackman as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, a narc who stops at nothing to get his prey. He shows a very ugly side when roughing up habitués of a bar, but there's depth to a cop who welcomes a chase. The iconic pursuit scene of this film will likely never be outdone in the annals of cinema.

We also meet Fernando Rey as Charnier, an international drug kingpin who keeps his hands clean, shucking an oyster straight out of the Mediterranean or enjoying fine food at Cipriani's. Pursued by Popeye, he never breaks a sweat.

Michel Bozzuffi, playing Charnier's hitman, is another story, finding frenzied comeuppance on the "el" stairs.

This movie came out when I was 15, and I first saw it years ago. Re-viewing it, I was on the edge of my seat.

Rest in peace, Gene (1930-2025). Lovers of the movies won't forget you!

The Burmese Harp (1956)

War's waste: "It's unanimous -- we'll fight to the death!"

[7/10 · 1 April 2025]

A brave soldier volunteers for a dangerous, perhaps suicidal mission, and survives, with life-changing insights.

The lone survivor of a devastating shootout, Mizushima (Shoji Yasui) is transformed through his ordeal. Unable to return to his Imperial Japanese Army unit, he dons a Buddhist monk's robes and takes it on himself to bury corpses of his landsmen strewn across the Burmese countryside.

Mizushima asks ageless questions -- "Why must the world suffer such misery?" as he goes about his duties. "Our work is simply to ease the suffering of the world," he concludes, and to "create peace by my own example."

This quietly told tale shows Westerners "the other side of the story," from the perspective of our erstwhile enemy, recalling a similarly moving anti-war film elucidating the German viewpoint, "All Quiet on the Western Front" of 1930.

Leonard Cohen: Live in Dublin (2014)

"Let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone"

[6/10 · 30 March 2025]

Leonard Cohen's dusky voice brings me back to simpler times, offering respite from the coarseness of today's world.

I enjoyed reacquainting myself with his moody philosophies in this lovely showcase of familiar songs going back to the Sixties.

Recorded, impressively, when Leonard was 81, two years from his death, this concert offers a meditative, appreciative Leonard in fedora and bolo tie, intensely focused yet seeming a little weary for the wear, even calling himself elderly at one point.

Leonard's backup performers are particularly good, and I thought I heard echoes of klezmer from the violinist, a whispered homage to Leonard's beginnings in an Orthodox Jewish family in Canada.

Tower of London (1962)

"Damn you -- stay dead!" -- Richard III channels MacBeth

[4/10 · 30 March 2025]

I am slogging through this out of curiosity about the evil king's ignominious end. Will he echo words of his Shakespearean alter ego, "My kingdom for a horse"?

Vincent Price overacts in this weird hybrid of a Shakespearean tragedy and schlocky horror tale. Everyone Richard kills comes back to haunt him, a twist that is interesting the first time around but gets old quick.

One thing I'll say for this low-budget trip back to medieval times -- the ladies' headwear is exquisite! Love those cones and flowing scarves. I'll check back when this stinker is over to let you know whether Richard utters the stunning last words.

No, he doesn't.

Other things we do get are rather gruesome scenes of torture that blessedly don't last long.

Playing Frisbee in North Korea (2018)

Troubling picture

[5/10 · 28 March 2025]

I agree with a previous reviewer that any glimpse into North Korea is interesting.

Filmmaker Savannah Washington was part of a 10-member group of tourists allowed to cross into the northern reaches of the Hermit Kingdom for a highly orchestrated look at what goes on in a nation where most people still lack electricity.

We see a lot of drab, concrete architecture, women seemingly filling potholes at 5:15 AM, propaganda slogans in bright-red characters posted everywhere, the occasional ox-borne cart trundling down a street, and picture-perfect schoolchildren performing with hula hoops and dance.

Ms. Washington notes that she was warned not to film anything without permission -- "We must keep to the schedule," a minder warned -- but controls seemingly were relaxed toward the end of her trip, when the foreign visitors tossed a Frisbee around with local folks (who, I hoped, didn't later get arrested for it).

"It doesn't take much for one's actions to be considered a crime" in the country, it's noted.

The film is peppered with comment from experts on ironically named DRNK (Democratic Republic of North Korea), from college profs to a woman who was imprisoned for nine years but somehow defected to tell about it. (It's unclear whether Ms. Washington is the interviewer in such segments, or if the talking heads come courtesy of previously recorded productions.)

In one instance, we're told that North Koreans are "very busy," devoting inordinate time to such basics as securing food and water, while also having to be available for civic chores involving anything from the aforementioned street repairs to participation in massive, costumed demonstrations, all of which can be "quite onerous on your time" -- undoubtedly quite an understatement.

We learn along the way about Korea's years under Japanese control, and about how current leader Kim Jong Un's grandfather is revered as a hero for his self-sacrifice in the guerilla war that brought autonomy. We're told that North Korea claims it won the Korean War, and about how flooding and famine in the mid-1990s -- which the regime blamed on the United States -- claimed more than a million lives. A little-known aftereffect of the fall of the Soviet Union, North Korea's primary sponsor for decades, was the loss of that vital pipeline for food and fuel.

Helpfully, for viewers who'd like to learn more or assist, this documentary identifies such organizations as Helping Hands Korea, and Good Friends, both of which can be reached online.