All the posts by Stephen Farber
Stories about inspiring teachers have tantalized moviemakers and movie audiences since the era of Mr. Chips and Miss Dove. The latest incarnation, “The First Grader,” proved to be one of the biggest crowd-pleasers at last year’s Telluride Film Festival. While the arc of the story may be familiar, the setting and characters are fresh. Arthouse audiences are likely to discover and embrace the film.
“First Grader” is set in Kenya and recounts the true story of …
At every film festival, there’s at least one movie that slips in under the radar and ends up taking the crowds by surprise. In Telluride this year, the movies with all the early buzz were such high-profile titles as The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, and Black Swan. But one of the films that most impressed audiences was a French-Canadian film, Incendies, an unknown commodity when the festival started. It will not be a box office …
The time is January 1945, and food is scarce in Nazi-occupied Holland. 14-year-old Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier) is bored and dreaming of adventure, itching to play his part in the Resistance. He has an opportunity when he and a friend witness the shootdown of an RAF pilot who goes into hiding in the nearby forest. Michiel resolves to help the pilot escape, and as he gets more deeply involved in the Resistance, he places his family …
“Even the Rain”
2010 Moreno Films
Spain’s impressive Oscar entry thrives on Gael Garcia Bernal, liberal themes.
A Spanish film crew arrives in Bolivia to dish the dirt on Christopher Columbus and his exploitation of native Indian populations during his journeys to the New World. The director, Sebastian (Bernal), dreams of making an epic that will expose the imperialist sins of his ancestors. But while they are preparing their shoot, they suddenly confront contemporary South American politics.
A multinational …
Peter Weir is rightly regarded as one of the world’s master filmmakers, but he has not made a movie since 2003’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” which surely reflects the growing challenges for directors who choose to follow an uncompromising artistic path in today’s constricted cinematic universe. “The Way Back,” which had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, is a harrowing epic that will not be an easy sell, …
