The film begins all Gothic Horror, moves to Cowboy high noon, which in this case is the middle of frozen German winter. There are spurs like stars with all the fixings, but the storyline? Wow! How do you remove incest from a village when you must kill all the people who keep it in place… […]

What if you wake up one day and find that your parents who you idolize, believe to be righteous and good, and whom you have obeyed your entire life, are really vicious murderers? Lore, and it’s a beautiful name for the condition the poor girl has, is the idealized picture of Nazi Youth. Young, blond, […]

I’m on a roll with Henry James stories that have been made into films, but I’m beginning to think Mr. James is a vampire. He places his deep and penetrating insight into rooms high and low, then watches the pulsing carotid artery of his various prey beating. They are living human morsels and he is […]

I had never seen this film, but was reading Henry Miller story, upon which it is based and then stumbled upon the DVD. A cyclone of gossip erupted around Peter Bogdanovich, the Director and Cybill Shepherd, his lead: Daisy. Yet, she is perfect casting. The picture was snubbed at the time, just like Daisy Miller […]

There are two films that should be seen back to back as examples of the Wise Fool. One is THE NASTY GIRL, the other; EUROPA (ZENTROPA, English title).  Both take on collusion by the german people during and after World War II. Both are Miramax, Weinstein brothers films. THE NASTY GIRL is based on a true story. […]

A new kind of film, sleek, uber-modern, innocent, using an old form; Magical Realism. It delights you. It begins with our two characters going to a French hotel. He’s a business executive on the verge of changing his whole life, she’s a maid cleaning up his and everyone else’s mess. Both feel devalued in their […]

What is the purpose of testosterone? That courageous question is the dangerous epicenter of this dramatic film. Jackie, a grown man, who lost his ability to create this hormone as a boy, (in one of the most unbelievable scenes ever recorded on film) struggles his whole life to answer that question. His answer, when it […]

This film is a Chinese box. Reality inside fiction. Fiction inside fantasy. Fantasy inside wish. A story nested inside many others, all “In the House”. A boy writes for his frustrated teacher about his real life… supposedly. The teacher makes the boy a protege, but critiques his story, which is the boy’s real life… maybe. […]

We owe Daniel Auteuil a great debt for Adapting, Directing and Acting in this little gem of a film. The story is simple. Two kids come of age in a fishing village in France, they play at love and marriage, mistaking it for a game. Then the boy leaves to follow his dream of adventure […]

What ending would you choose for this film? Should the audience stone to death Sicilian women? Filled with jealousy, religious hypocrisy, demonology, and the original scapegoating myth institutionalized, these women are ready to kill life and beauty to protect themselves from the truth. And what is the truth they so abhor? Puberty! The shocking moment […]