Satoshi Kon’s TOKYO GODFATHERS, like his MILLENIUM ACTRESS, proves again animation’s spectacular dramatic and artistic potential. From an unlikely story Satoshi weaves a dramatic and humorous tale that soars above cliché and treacly melodrama.
All in Emotional
Joseph Sargent's "Something The Lord Made"
Very few movies accurately depict either research-based advances in life-saving surgery OR the deadeningly real impacts of racism on life, mind, and spirit. To see these two themes intertwined with such ferocious dramatic impact in a film is nothing short of amazing. Yet here it is.
Powell & Pressburger's A CANTERBURY TALE
I admit to being somewhat of an Anglophile, so I was prepared to like A Canterbury Tale as delivered by the crisply produced Criterion DVD.
Shona Auerbach's DEAR FRANKIE
The story sounds like it could be a treacly tear jerker, but it’s not.
Steven Soderbergh's SOLARIS
The film superbly rendered on this DVD bears repeated watching. All aspects are masterfully done. It is an adult, literate, and intelligent film that swings back and forth between intellectual challenge, mystery, and wrenching emotion. The music and visuals are stunning.
Yasujiro Ozu's FLOATING WEEDS
This 1959 film follows a down on its luck troupe of actors as they visit a small Japanese seaside village in the late 1950’s to perform popular plays on a small community stage.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
This 1928 silent film is emotionally wrenching. We follow a fictionalized account of the “trial” of Joan of Arc by an English-controlled religious court. The “trial” spans a day leading up to her being burned at the stake.
Shohei Imamura's DR. AKAGI
In the closing days of World War II, family doctor Akagi runs (literally) from patient to patient in a small Japanese seaside village and discovers an alarming increase in hepatitis among his increasingly war-weary patients. He seeks a cure but the government is more interested in preparing for The Final Battle as the war draws inevitably to a close. He enlists the support of a diverse collection of friends including a morphine addicted surgeon, a hedonistic monk, and a young recovering prostitute who inevitably falls in love with him.