Monthly Archives: February 2011

THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Million Dollar Quartet’

By Ray Bennett LONDON – “Million Dollar Quartet” is a straightforward jukebox musical but since the music comes from Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records in the 1950s, it’s not your average jukebox. … Continue reading

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THEATRE REVIEW: Danny Boyle directs ‘Frankenstein’

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Fans of Danny Boyle’s movies such as “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” will not be surprised to learn that his return to the stage directing a new play at the National Theatre based on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Julie Gavras’s ‘Late Bloomers’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini (pictured) play a couple whose long marriage runs into the bumps caused by intimations of mortality in Julie Gavras’s lightweight “Late Bloomers” but while it’s pleasant to watch these two … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Jonathan Sagall’s ‘Lipstikka’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Canadian director Jonathan Sagall’s intriguing drama “Lipstikka” tells of two women whose memory of a dramatic incident when they were teenagers is markedly different and affects their lives in complicated ways. Set in London with … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: ‘The Terrorists’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Thunska Pansittivorakul’s documentary “The Terrorists” is a message picture about the way the government in Thailand persecutes and exploits minorities. Oh, here’s one now, a pretty young man who happens to be naked, soaping himself … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Paula Markowitch’s ‘The Prize’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – The cold, bleak seashore of Argentina in winter matches the powerfully lurking threat of fascism in Paula Markowitch’s autobiographical Competition film “The Prize” about a young mother and her infant daughter in hiding from nameless … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Michal Aviad’s ‘Invisible’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Two women linked only because they were victims of rape by the same man 20 years earlier meet by chance and reveal how the trauma continues to affect their lives in Israeli filmmaker Michal Aviad’s … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Ulrich Kohler’s ‘Sleeping Sickness’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Ulrich Kohler’s uneven Competition film “Sleeping Sickness” contrasts the relationship that two doctors – one a white German, the other a black Frenchmen – have with Africa but it lacks a clear point of view. … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Michel Ocelot’s ‘Tales of the Night’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Animation in silhouette makes for fine images and there are some nifty fables in French artist Michel Ocelot’s “Tales of the Night” (Les contes de la nuit) but the design necessarily lacks facial expression and … Continue reading

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BERLIN FILM REVIEW: Bela Tarr’s ‘The Turin Horse’

By Ray Bennett BERLIN – Hungarian director Bela Tarr’s somnolent drama “The Turin Horse” tells of an ageing father and his grown daughter who lead lives of relentless tedium in a shabby dwelling on a bleak and windswept plain. Towards … Continue reading

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