A pretty good historical war film overall about an admirable and brave Christian conscientious objector who didn’t carry a gun but who won the Medal of Honor in the European Theater of WWII by saving 75 wounded men as a medic. Good film, great story.
A good horror film overall about two refugees living with the ghosts of their past, even as they settle into a new home, which seems very welcoming but harbors some dark secrets they would rather ignore. Almost gave up on it part way through but glad I finished it.
A gorgeous, suspenseful, wonderfully-gory show about the origins of the Tokugawa Shogunate, staring the accomplished Hiroyuki Sanada and the beautiful, composed and dignified Anna Sawai. Stunning scenery, costume design and performances. Strong recommend.
Been doing a weekly virtual film night with a friend from Modesto but who moved out of town. It’s nice to stay in contact with old friends, even those that you lose touch with for a bit.
Tonight we watched a pretty good Danish film. Review below:
A complex, historical film about a pioneering and indefatigable Danish Captain who perseveres through trial and tribulation but in the end realizes love, and the people that make the world meaningful, are what really count. Great Mads Mikkelsen performance.
So I plan on writing more about this soon, but here’s a teaser:
Just a phenomenal film. Wonderful, intense performances, and a great plot. A man becomes an oil driller, exploits those around him, pursues the American Dream and sees it to its lonely end. All while the film explores the manifold and competing aspects of this American spirit.
A good, shorter, Kelly Reichardt sliver-of-American-experience film about two old friends reconnecting on a trip to the wilderness, sharing in memories, meditating on their different lives and experiences and opining on the future.
An older film, but just phenomenal: Peter O’ Toole as the famed Lawrence of Arabia, a British officer who assisted migratory Arab tribes in their fight against the Turks in aspirations to become their own nation.
A pretty good South Korean mystery horror film. A strange man enters a town, bringing darkness and disorder with him. As the townsfolk inexplicably sicken and begin to murder one another, one police officer works to solve the mystery to save his own family from the same fate.
A morbid, poignant film that depicts the domestic life of the family of Rudolf Hoss, an SS commandant of Auschwitz, and the bizarre and tragic juxtaposition of their relative comfort and bliss with the monstrous terror being visited on so many just on the other side of the wall. A competitor for best foreign film at the Academy Awards, and a winner of the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film festival.
A surreal, psychological drama by Ingmar Bergman that is not bad. A nurse tends to an actress afflicted by an unknown condition but herself becomes afflicted, struggling with pain, betrayal, regret, helplessness, anxiety and loneliness, as the line between self and other blurs.
Bearer of Pity 