REBEL: Story of Cuban woman who fought in the Civil War Voces series on PBS Friday, May 24, 2013 10PM ET (check local listings) Loreta Janeta Velasquez, born in Cuba in 1842, was one of an estimated 1000 women who disguised themselves as men to fight on both sides in the American Civil War. The “politics of national memory” marginalized and challenged her story from the time she published her story in 1876, “A Woman in Battle.” The book is still in print. This episode … [Read more...]
An Orthodox Hassidic Jewish family in Tel Aviv awaits the birth of the middle daughter Esther’s (Renana Raz) first child. When she goes into labor suddenly and dies giving birth, the family is distraught. Things grow tense when Esther’s husband Yochay (Yiftach Klein) announces he is moving to Belgium to marry again and Esther’s mother begins to pressure her youngest daughter, Shira (Haddas Yaron) to marry Yochay. But Shira is only 18, ten years younger than Yochay, and … [Read more...]
Canadian director and former child actress (Avonlea), Sarah Polley, has made an fascinating kind-of documentary about her family, and her parentage especially, in “The Stories We Tell.” From her mother Diane’s death when Sarah was eleven years old, rumors began to circulate that her biological father was not the father who raised her, Michael Polley. Over time Sarah decided to tell her story via a documentary film, even though some cast members are actors. She looks at the nature … [Read more...]
This French film won Best Screenplay at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, but I am not quite sure why. It tells the personal story of the filmmaker Olivier Assayas, a kind of semi-autobiography. It starts off well enough in a high school classroom in Paris 1971, when a teacher reads from Blaise Pascal: "Between us and Heaven or Hell there is only life, which is the frailest thing in the world." From then on, the film follows the main character, Gilles (Clément Métayer), an aspiring artist who … [Read more...]
On the day five friends graduate from college their hopes soar as high as their mortarboards. Ale’ (Erin Bethea) and Ethan (Shawn Caulin-Young) are brother and sister and are very close with Catherine (Kate Cobb), Ryder (Matthew Florida), Luke (T.J. Dalrymple). Bob (Eric Roberts) is dad to Ale’ and Ethan and he runs a grill where the young people hang out to talk about their plans. Catherine gets a job in finance but Ethan has to work at the grill because his plans for … [Read more...]
Hallmark Hall of Fame Sunday, April 21 ABC -check local listings Molly (Alexis Bledel) is a sweet, ditzy, waitress and college student in New Orleans on a first name basis with the traffic man who comes to take the boot off of her car over and over again. She is romantically challenged and shares an apartment with Jolene (Valery Azlynn) who constantly nags her to find a good man. Molly has college loans but is in a waiting pattern because she is expecting her portion of an inheritance … [Read more...]
On the 10th anniversary of the release of The Life of David Gale (SPOILERS FOLLOW), I wanted to revisit an essay I wrote about it when it was released. The film is a fictional story about a man who opposes the death penalty and ends up on death row for the rape and murder of a woman, his best friend, who works for an anti-death penalty organization. At that time many critics deemed David Gale to be a “heavy handed” message movie. Perhaps, but I think it opened a door to talk … [Read more...]
In 1993 Chris Nicola, a cave explorer from Queens, NY, was in western Ukraine to research his family tree. While there he decided to explore some the country’s famous Gypsum Giant caves that extend for about 77 miles underground. In fact, he was the first person to ever do so. Deep in one of the caves he came across some artifacts: a cup, a shoe, a comb, buttons, medicine bottles. He realized that these items belonged to someone, were part of someone’s life and started to ask questions. … [Read more...]
In John Sexton’s passionate book about the game of baseball, “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game: Seeing Beyond the Game” (Gotham/Penguin, 2013), he describes the mysticism of the game in perfectly accessible terms: “Baseball, as it turns out, can help us develop the capacity to see through to another, sacred space. Indeed, the more we come to appreciate the sport’s intricacies and evocative power, the clearer it is that it shares much with what we … [Read more...]
When writer/director Terrence Malick’s latest cinematic painting unfolds Neil (Ben Affleck) and Marina (Olga Kuryenko), playfully cross the causeway to Mont St. Michel at low tide. They visit the old monastery. Neil says nothing but Marina reflects on love and wonders what will come next. They go from France to Oklahoma, with Marina’s daughter, Tatiana (Tatiana Chiline). The house is new, empty, and though almost sterile, filled with light. Marina and Tatiana begin to adapt, but … [Read more...]
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