‘Dagenham’: a period piece that is still all too relevant
On the surface, the new British drama “Made in Dagenham” looks like a somewhat quaint period drama about the dawn of modern workplace feminism in 1968 England. The delightful Sally Hawkins (of the 2008...
View Article‘Of Gods and Men’: austere terror in a monastery
Xavier Beauvois’ film “Of Gods and Men” was the official French submission in last year’s foreign language film Oscar race, but the panel that picks the five nominations left this one off the list. The...
View Article‘Damsels’: the wacky alternate universe of Whit Stillman
Is it another remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” in which the pods are taking over a college campus? Or, a recycling of “The Stepford Wives” set in academia? Those were just a couple of the...
View ArticleRent it now: a great actor’s finest hour (so far)
Since Brendan Gleeson didn’t garner any end-of-2011 acting honors for “The Guard,” I don’t know what the titanic Irish actor has to do to get a bunch of trophies on his shelf. The ex-teacher has become...
View ArticleRent it now: what makes three great guitarists tick
There is a tendency in rock journalism — and rock documentary filmmaking — to focus on personalities and bad behavior at the expense of the music. “It Might Get Loud” (Sony Pictures Classics) is a...
View Article‘The Piano Teacher’: the daring genius of Isabelle Huppert
The artistic connection between Austrian director Michael Haneke and the French actress Isabelle Huppert has been a perfect creative marriage. The icy, unsparing filmmaker and one of the world’s most...
View ArticleRent it now: a Canadian gem about school life
The French-Canadian drama “Monsieur Lazhar” was one of the four foreign language films that lost to “A Separation” in the Oscar race in 2012, but it’s a beautiful little picture about students and...
View Article‘Renoir’: gorgeous biopic about father & son artists
Substance and style mesh perfectly in the new French film “Renoir” about the painter Auguste at the end of his life and his son Jean just before he became a great filmmaker. Writer-director Gilles...
View Article‘Hey Bartender’: somewhere Studs Terkel is smiling
The new documentary from director Douglas Tirola and producer Susan Bedusa, “Hey Bartender,” has a straightforward question powering it — Who are those people who spend their nights serving us drinks,...
View Article‘The Past’: leaving an old life behind you
The French-Iranian film “Le Passe”/“The Past” was shut out of the Oscar derby on Thursday — just a day before Sony Pictures Classics widened its limited release — but this is a very powerful picture...
View Article‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’: Alain Resnais classic restored
It will be my pleasure to introduce a screening of the recent restoration of Alain Resnais’ 1959 art house classic, “Hiroshima Mon Amour” Thursday night at the Avon Theatre Film Center in Stamford. The...
View Article‘Best of Enemies’ launches Hearst movie meet-up
It will be my pleasure tonight to host the first movie meet-up – “Movie and a Martini” — that is part of the new S magazine that will be launched in the four Hearst Connecticut newspapers on Sept. 27....
View Article‘Patels’: Indian-American culture clash
The engaging documentary “Meet the Patels” takes us inside an Indian-American family in which the older generation is trying to hold onto its ethnic heritage at the same time that the children have...
View ArticleGene Wilder – a good neighbor in Stamford
We were very lucky that the great actor (and writer) Gene Wilder chose to spend his retirement years in Stamford rather than in Los Angeles or New York City. After he stopped making movies, Wilder...
View ArticleFocus on French Cinema locks in dates
Just as we head into the deep freeze of winter comes the welcome announcement that the dates for the annual Focus on French Cinema festival have been set for next spring. We can all look forward to...
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