Movies, Documentary, Drama
For those of us who like classical music, Shine is a real treat. The film chronicles the life of the piano child prodigy David Helfgott.Shine
Peter Murmann
Menu
Movies, Documentary, Drama
What a story amazing story from India! Rarely was I so moved. A five-year-old boy insists that his older brother take him to his secret night work. They sneak out their mother’s house but before long the little boy is too tired to continue on. So the older brother leaves the younger brother behind at a train station and tells him not to move until he is back. When the little brother wakes up and his older brother has not returned and he starts searching for his older brother.Lion
Movies, Documentary
The most fundamental reason one paints is in order to see. –Brett Whiteley I had never heard of the painter Bret Whiteley. A new documentary is a fantastic portrait of a superb talent who was born in 1939 and died much too young at the age of 53 in a motel room. Once again it was drugs that finished creative man. I felt sad for him but much sadder for his daughter. I highly recommend the film because Whiteley no doubt was an innovator in 20th century painting. Here you can see some of his works displayed: LinkWhiteley
Movies, Documentary, Drama
Sully has been nominated by many critics as a top film of the year. I knew why many critics loved the film. Sully rejects landing a plane that lost both engines safely on the Hudson River and saving the lives of all 155 passengers makes him a hero. He insists that he was just doing his job. He also insists that he was not doing the alone. There was his co-pilot, the crew, the emergency response team of NYC.Sully
Movies, Documentary, Drama
A couple of months ago, I watched the documentary on Jimi Hendrix Hear my Train Coming. Starting in his teenage years, Jimi was only interested in two things: his guitar and women with music clearly in first place. The film draws much on live performances where the genius of Hendrix becomes very clear. At the end of the film, we learn that the estate of Jimi Hendrix “commissioned” the documentary. Only then did it become clear that we are watching a sanitized version of Hendrix’s life. The man died from a drug overdose. But in an effort make Jimi appear as likable and charming as possible and increase for his estate sales from his music his death is portrayed more as an accident of someone how dabbled a bit in drugs. Miles Ahead takes a very different approach.Miles Ahead
Movies, Documentary
Stefan Zweig is one of my favorite German writers. I already reviewed on these pages the film Secret Burning based on his novel and his Chess novel. Both are fantastic. This film is about the life of Zweig. I knew how Zweig’s life ended but I had no idea of his years in Exile. Zweig was a Jew and he—unlike so many others who ended up in concentration camps—had the good sense to leave Austria and Germany shortly after the Nazis took power. The film covers his exile years. Its method is to pick out 5 episodes in a ten year period. Vor der Morgenröteis as poetic as Zweig’s work and it is a major accomplishment.
The performance of Josef Hader as Zweig is stunning.Vor der Morgenröte (Before the Red Sun rises again)
Movies, Documentary, Drama
Prince’s premature death prompted me to see Purple Rain for the first time. The film feels a bit like Flashdance. Incidentally, Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance was asked to play lead female role but declined. The plot is apparently based on Prince’s life but the main story is Prince’s talent. No plot can compete with his musical genius. The movie’s ending, where Prince shows off his musical talent, is worth seeing.Purple Rain