Tag: Subtitles

ANATOMY OF A FALL – Review

Sandra Huller as Sandra and Samuel Theis as her husband Samuel, in ANATOMY OF A FALL. Courtesy of Neon

ANATOMY OF A FALL begins with a deadly fall but another kind of fall is much of the fascinating, emotionally searing story, starring Sandra Huller, who was so outstanding in TONI ERDMAN. Huller plays Sandra, the German wife of a French man, Samuel (Samuel Theis) who is killed in a deadly fall from an upper level of their remote Alpine chalet home, a fall that quickly becomes suspicious, with circumstances pointing to the wife. The couple have a son who may or may not be a witness to what happened – if there is indeed a crime. Questions and doubts abound in this excellent drama.

ANATOMY OF A FALL won director/writer Justine Triet the Palme d-Or at Cannes, wowing both audiences and critics, and creating considerable awards buzz. Director Justine Triet’s drama is a near perfect combination of police procedural, courtroom drama, and psychological relationship drama with a deep dive into an unraveling marriage and complex family dynamics. The cast is outstanding, the photography striking and storytelling gripping.

The film is French and the story takes place in the French Alps but the film is mostly in English, the language shared by the German wife and French husband, and spoken at home with their son, with some French and a little German with subtitles. But because of the rules for the Oscars, this excellent film is not France’s submission for the International Oscar due to the amount of English spoken versus French.

Regardless, it is an Oscar-worthy film, and an impressive example of how an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller film should be made.

In the film’s press notes, the director said that the idea of the film was to depict the downfall of the couple’s relationship, which we discover is teetering even before the fatal fall. References to the potential for a fall, physical or emotional, is everywhere.

From the beginning, with a shot of a ball bouncing down stairs, the photography emphasizes the steepness of the Alpine chalet home, giving us a sense that falling is an ever-present threat. Even the location of the house, perched on a mountain, reinforces this feeling of imminent falling.

The action begins with the German wife Sandra (Huller), an author, being interviewed in their home. Although the interview is why the young woman journalist is there, the author seems to keep delaying the interview’s start, asking questions about the interviewer, refilling her own wine glass and offering a glass to the interviewer, even though it is only mid-day. Eventually, the interview does start but as the interviewer switches on her digital recorder for her interview notes, loud music starts blaring from upstairs.

The author says it is her husband, who is listening to music while working on their attic, yet she makes no move to go and ask him to stop. After struggling for awhile to conduct the interview despite the noise, they finally give up and agree to meet another time, maybe in town. The author only looks slightly irritated, more sorry to lose the company than anything, while the interviewer is clearly frustrated, after having made a long trip.

The subtext that something else going on in this household is palpable, and our anticipation that something will happen as soon as the interviewer leaves is keen. Instead, the loud music continues and the camera’s focus turns to the couple’s son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), who leaves the house with his dog, for a walk in the snowy landscape.

When the boy returns, it is to find his father’s lifeless, blodd-spattered body, face down in the snow, just outside their home. He yells for his mother, who rushes out of the house to find the shocking scene. Emergency services are called, as well as the couple’s long-time friend Vincent.

From then on, there is a flurry of police and ambulances, with the couple’s long-time friend Vincent (Swann Arlaud), a lawyer, arriving for moral support and to act as a buffer between the woman and the investigators. The first question is what happened: was it an accidental fall, a suicide or, perhaps, murder? The evidence seems to point to something suspicious, and those suspicions quickly fall on the wife. What had been an emergency response becomes a crime scene investigation.

ANATOMY OF A FALL unfolds like a police procedural and then a courtroom drama, but the whole while, an interpersonal drama is unfolding, one that reveals the nature of their marriage and the family’s history as layers are peeled back. A key for us, the audience, is the presence of the lawyer friend, who to be on hand during the investigation and to help support his friend, moves into the remote mountain home. There, he both consuls the widow legally and provides emotional support, but allows the audience to have a narration of what is going on, physically and emotionally. The lawyer is an old friend of the couple, and his awareness of their shared history, gives us an entry the couple’s private lives we would not otherwise get. One of the things we learn is that their son is legally blind, which may have an impact on what he can tell about what happened before the fall.

Through flashbacks to the couple together, including confrontations, we learn that things have been unraveling for awhile and why. These insightful scenes and conversations with the old friend, now her lawyer, alternate with the police investigation in the home, their interrogations, and crime scene recreations and later courtroom scenes.

In addition to the talks between the accused wife and her lawyer friend, we get scenes between the boy and a court-appointed advocate for him, who also keeps an eye on any attempt by the accused to influence what her son might say. There are, of course, scenes between mother and son, where she is solicitous and caring but also worried, both about how he will be affected by what has happened and what he may say or do with all that is happening.

ANATOMY OF A FALL is a film that always keeps you guessing. The woman appears dazed by what has happened and proclaims her innocence. In fact, she does not seem guilty to us but there are a lot of secrets about the couple’s relationship and a good amount of acrimony between them is revealed. Doubt creeps in, and we waver back and forth about whether we think she is guilty. We can’t rule out something that might have happened, maybe in the heat of the moment, but maybe more deliberate.

The effect is chilling but the film also makes a deep dive into the characters, revealing their past and their conflicted thoughts and emotions. This excellent film builds up a thriller tension as the investigation and trial unfold in parallel to its tense family drama, with deep insights into a failing marriage and complicated family relationships, all of which grabs and holds tight to our attention.

Sandra Huller is the amazing center of all this, delivering a powerful, multi-layered performance, while on screen nearly throughout. The other actors are excellent as well, particularly young Milo Machando Graner as their son Daniel, who undergoes a transformation as the secrets of his parents’ marriage are revealed. But the biggest acting burden falls to Huller. And she is supremely good, keeping us on our toes, revealing her character’s inner conflicts, her fears and anger, in creating this complex character.

ANATOMY OF A FALL is a title that might evokes another film, the classic ANATOMY OF A MURDER, a 1959 courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jimmy Stewart, but apart from being a courtroom drama (in part) with an accused central character, there is not a lot of overlap. In the case of ANATOMY OF A FALL, we follow the events of the fall from start to finish. Everything is in doubt, all characters may not be what they seem, and even whether a crime has occurred at alls is a mystery. It almost could have been called “anatomy of a marriage” but that does not cover it all either. One thing is certain in this fascinating drama is that there is more and more, as each layer is peeled back, in its riveting examination of relationships and events.

ANATOMY OF A FALL opens Friday, Oct 27, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

“Queens: Season 1” – TV Series Review

The cast of the Israeli TV series “Queens,” Season 1, on MHz Choice

The extent to which you may enjoy the Israeli TV series “Queens: Season 1″ depends on expectations from its Mafia-esque premise. All the men in one of the country’s crime families are killed at the beginning, except for one overlooked child, who may or may not have seen the shooter(s). The wives and daughters find themselves on the brink of losing all the wealth and power their husbands oversaw when rival families swoop in claiming debts to be honored and businesses to snatch from them. The women decide to defend their turf and family honor by trying to do what their men had done in running their illegal businesses.

For American audiences, the first analog that comes to mind is “The Sopranos,” with infighting among competing families and ambitious underlings. The closer comparison might be with “Queen of the South,” which some strong, determined women struggle to become drug cartel bosses against a variety of male obstacles. To get into this one, forget about those. The tone is significantly tamer.

First of all, “Queens” is considerably less violent and sexy than either of those domestic counterparts. There’s plenty of menace and moments of brutality but well short of the others’ body counts or displays of carnage. The other is that these women are truly feckless at succeeding their husbands, sons and brothers, resulting in their taking far more punishment than they dish out. For about half of the 11 hour-long episodes, they’re getting pummeled and losing territory, without getting their act together. There’s suspense in learning who was behind the mass execution of their men, and whether that surviving child will be another target or the key to ID-ing the perp(s). Suspects abound. Fortunately, the women’s lot shows more signs of hope emerging in the second half of the season.

Among the protagonists we meet a diverse group of characters contributing fine performances, and a handful of particularly dastardly villains to create the requisite tensions. The matriarchal widow, Dori (Rita – the Israeli actress goes by that one name, like Cher), is rather strident and overbearing in her desperation to assert control and normalize their situation. Her daughter, Lizi (Dana Igvy), seems like the only one tough and focused enough to get them back to an acceptable position among their underworld colleagues and rivals. Others also have interesting story arcs, including a few surprises that maintain viewers’ interest.

So once you gear down for less adrenaline boosting than our series mentioned above, you wind up with an action and character drama that works pretty well. The bad news is that Season 1 ends on several cliffhanger plot points of unanswered questions and unresolved issues. The good news is that Season 2 already has aired in Israel, and will be released for streaming here within the next few months.

“Queens: Season 1,” mostly in Hebrew with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting on Sept. 19.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

Israeli TV series “Queens” on MHz Choice

GOLDA – Review

Helen Mirren as Golda Meir and Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger, in Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures’ GOLDA Photo credit: Sean Gleason, Courtesy of Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures

Helen Mirren portrays Golda Meir, Israel’s first women prime minister, during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in GOLDA. Internationally, Golda Meir is known as the “Iron Lady of Israel” and is an admired figure but she is more controversial in her home country of Israel. In the British historical drama GOLDA, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ and British scriptwriter Nicholas Martin aim to offer a fresh look at Golda Meir by focusing on her during the Yom Kippur War, when Israel found itself facing two invading armies, from Egypt in the Sinai and Syria in the Golan Heights.

Mirren plays Golda Meir in heavy makeup and prosthetics, transforming her appearenceappearance to more closely resemble the much-photographed Golda Meir and allow director Nativ to more easily include generous use of archival footage and even insert Mirren into some of those scenes. Mirren’s physical transformation is impressive enough to draw gasps, but some have criticized the makeup as restricting her performance, while others, including this writer, feel that Mirren still delivers an affecting performance, which some have called Oscar-worthy.

Adding to the controversy is that Helen Mirren is not Jewish, raising objections to “Jew face” casting. However, Israeli-American director Guy Nativ sought her out for this role, after she was first suggested by Golda Meir’s grandson Gideon Meir, who was a consultant on the drama. Mirren’s carefully-researched, restrained performance gives little room for criticism, and having an Israeli-born director, plus a strong supporting cast with many Israel and Jewish actors, also goes a ways towards softening the issue.

GOLDA is neither a true biopic nor is it a battlefield war epic, and people expecting either will be disappointed. Instead, it is a engrossing and tense, ticking-clock drama in which Helen Mirren gives a taut portrayal of Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War, which was an existential threat to Israel but ultimately led to the peace accord and recognition with Egypt.

Golda Meir was an Israeli national hero when she was chosen as Israel’s first (and so far only) woman prime minister but she was considered an interim choice because the sides could not agree on a choice. By any standard, Meir had a remarkable life, from her childhood in Ukraine under the Russia empire, to her family’s emigration to Milwaukee, to her decision as a young woman to move to Israel and fight in its war for independence. But GOLDA neither a full biography nor is it a full examination of the events of the Yom Yippur War, but a hybrid of the two that focuses on Golda Meir’s experience of that war.

The 1973 Yom Kippur War came not long after the Six Days War, where that quick victory left Israeli generals feeling overconfident. GOLDA opens with a brief montage of archival images and video to recap some early Israeli history, and then moves on to a post-Yom Kippur War hearing, where Prime Minister Golda Meir (Mirren) is being questioned by the Agranat commission about controversial decisions made during the war, which had high casualties on all sides.

The commission is used as a framing devise for Golda to tell her story of the war, from her perspective. That retelling begins with Prime Minister Golda Meir getting a report from the head of Mossad, Zvi Zamir (Israeli actor Rotem Keinan), about a source warning of an imminent attack by both Egypt and Syria, Israel’s neighbors to the south and north, a warning that comes in October just as Yom Kippur is approaching.

Unfortunately, this same Mossad source has warned of an attack earlier in the year, which never took place. so Meir knows defense minister Moshe Dayan (Israeli actor Rami Heuberger) will be skeptical. When she meets with her military advisors, all men, they show her little respect, barely remembering to stand for her as they would for any prime minister. Overconfident after the success of the Six Day War, the generals mostly dismiss the idea of an attack during the high holy days, even though Meir warns is a perfect time for one. Military intelligence head Eli Zeira (Israeli actor Dvir Benedek) assures her that their secret listening system will warn them of any attack well in advance, even despite the holiday. He’s wrong.

The film is packed with famous figures of Israeli history, and the cast includes Israel stars Lior Ashkenazi as General David “Dado” Elazar and Ohad Knoller as a young Ariel Sharon, while Liev Schreiber plays U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The acting is strong but nuanced throughout, but the drama is more emotionally restrained than explosive.

While billed as a “political thriller,” GOLDA lacks the pulse-pounding pace of a thriller. Instead, it is more a tense, involving drama, as we follow Golda Meir closely as she copes with war on two fronts, a team of over-confident all-male generals who are shocked when their forces are at first overwhelmed, and her own anguish over war casualties. The sexism of the era is present, as the men who are supposed to serve her as prime minister often fail to even stand when she enters, as they have done for every other prime minister, but the film does not dwell on this. Instead the focus is on Golda Meir’s skill as a leader and decision-maker, despite her lack of military experience, and her anguish at the war’s loss of life, losses she records day by day in a notebook.

Mirren’s Golda is a chain-smoking, flinty character with a sharp political mind and cunning skill in manipulating the men who surround her and anticipating the plans of her enemies. At the time, Golda Meir was 76 years old and suffering from cancer, something depicted in a few scenes. She was in poor physical shape, so travel to the war zone was largely not possible, which means this war-time story largely takes place in Golda Meir’s office, the hallways and bunkers where Meir and her generals discussed military actions and listened to radio reports from the two fronts.

Watching the grandmotherly figure navigate the politics of the strong male personalities in the room with a flinty strength, while making decisive, smart strategic military decisions despite her lack of soldierly training, is inspiring, and one of the highlights of Mirren’s performance. Away from the meetings, we see the more haunted and personal side of Golda.

Among the film’s best moments are when Golda Meir charms and cajoles Kissinger into providing aid for Israel, despite the Watergate scandal unfolding at the same time. They talk by phone and then Kissinger visits Israel to talk in-person with Meir. Meir feeds Kissinger borscht, and then gets to work. Schreiber’s Kissinger cautions her ” “Madame Prime Minister, in terms of our work together, I think it is important to remember I am first an American, second I am Secretary of State, and third I am a Jew.” Golda Meir replies “You forget that in Israel, we read from left to right.” It provides a rare moment of lightness and humor in the drama.

The carefully-researched film recreates the period look. While much of the drama takes place in smoke-filled rooms and half-lit hallways, Nativ captures the horror of the war with clips of archival footage and actual audience recordings of battlefield exchanges. There is also frequent use of other archival footage, including some with the real Golda Meir, and some where Mirren is inserted into the archival image. The film works hard to accurately recreate Golda Meir’s clothes, appearance and smoking, as well as the look of her office and other spaces where the story unfolds, with the help of Meir’s grandson Gideon as a consultant.

The personal side of Meir comes out mostly in her scenes with her personal assistant and friend, Lou Kaddar (French actress Camille Cottin), which are warm and sometimes depict her defiance or moments of doubt. The soundtrack is tense, often with a percussive character and metallic, strident bells. The film concludes with the perfect choice of Leonard Cohen’s song “Who By Fire,” which he wrote after visiting Israeli troops during this war.

GOLDA, in English and Hebrew with English subtitles, opens Friday, Aug. 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters nationally.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BAD CITY – Review

Hitoshi Ozawa (center, white hair) as Torada, in BAD CITY. Courtesy of WellGoUSA

The subtitled Japanese crime flick, BAD CITY, delivers the goods on two essential counts – an atypically complex plot with a handful of switches and double-crosses, building to an adrenaline-satisfying series of hard-nosed fight sequences. This is the second feature from director Kensuke Sonomora, after nearly 20 years of steady stunt work, including many gigs as stunt coordinator or action director. Experience shows, as this film seems more cohesive and focused than his first crime drama, HYDRA, while still dishing out the mayhem that motivates most potential viewers.

Disgraced police captain Torada (Hitoshi Ozawa) is granted parole by an idealistic prosecutor to go after the city’s most powerful tycoon/criminal, Gojo (Lily Franky), who’d just been undeservedly acquitted on racketeering charges. Gojo’s tentacles reach high into every branch of government and law enforcement, making regular attempts to nail him futile. So Torada is put in charge of an off-the-books force of a few trusted detectives to finish the job. The plot centers around a major construction project Goro is pushing that will displace many citizens in favor of a sprawling resort casino. That involves one or more Yakuza families and the local branch of the Korean Mafia.

It takes some concentration to follow the story, as many players turn out differently than they begin, or seem. There are several fights scattered through the first 80 minutes, with much greater time allotted to character and plot development. Ozawa anchors the proceedings with the world-weary gravitas of a Takeshi Kitano; or more familiarly for most U.S. audiences, an unsmiling 60-ish Gene Hackman or Brian Dennehy. His landing in jail for what some believe was a frame-up, also landed him afoul of the Koreans, since he supposedly killed the son of the dragon lady running that organization.

But all of that is prelude to Sonomora’s payoff purpose. The last 25 minutes are filled with gritty, fast-paced battles among the various factions in the tangle of conflicts. As in HYDRA, there are few guns. The damage is inflicted mostly with fists, baseball bats and occasional blades. Stunt performances are stunning in the mass encounters, as well as in a bunch of exciting one-on-ones. No wire-work or CGI enhancements. Minimizing the background music highlights the audio of every strike and all the times people are hurled against a floor or wall. That element is comparable to the impressive stunt fighting I’ve relished in many recent Korean action flicks.

When you’re looking for relatively realistic action (nobody could *really* take that many punches and keep going), with a bit more of a mental component than average, this one’s a solid choice.

BAD CITY, in Japanese with English subtitles, is available digitally on-demand starting Tuesday, Aug. 1, and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray starting on Sept. 19.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

MAN FROM ROME – Review

Richard Armitage as Father Quart, in THE MAN FROM ROME. Courtesy of Screen Media

If you’re craving a DA VINCI CODE sort of movie but don’t want to concentrate quite that hard, THE MAN FROM ROME may be your answer. The plot, penned by Adrian Bol, Beth Bollinger and Gretchen Cowan, is very Dan Brownian but shorter and with fewer moving pieces and locations. Hunky Richard Armitage stars as a Vatican troubleshooting priest who we quickly understand to be the Church’s go-to guy for dangerous missions. Not so much for gruesome cleanups like Harvey Keitel’s memorable Mr. Wolf, in PULP FICTION but where there’s a problem, Armitage’s Father Quart is reliable for a solution. The film opens with his being bummed about someone he was unable to protect on a recent job. Not his fault but guilt lingers, regardless.

Switch to the Vatican’s computer center. The Pope’s (Franco Nero) computer is being hacked by an unknown tech whiz who can breeze through a lot of firewalls. The goal is to get his attention and ask him to prevent a beautiful old church in Seville, Spain, from being demolished to make room for a massive new real estate development. The driving force behind the construction is a sleazy banker (Rodolfo Sancho) who has compromised other interested parties with a panoply of dirty tactics. His almost ex-wife (the gorgeous Amaia Salamanca) is the hereditary owner of the land and his most ardent opponent, dedicated to maintaining their legacy.

Sancho’s methods of pushing the deal include blackmail, bribery and possibly a murder or two. Armitage is sent there to protect the image of the Church, which already has more than enough scandals, and to check out the deaths, and then advise on whether keeping the lovely old church is worth more than the whopping payday the sale would yield.

There’s considerable suspense in to what lengths the developers will go to, and how Armitage will handle them, including several physical exchanges. The bad guys have moles within the local police and Vatican inner circle, leaving our hero with few allies he can trust in the face of danger. The greed and corruption story plays out efficiently under the direction of Sergio Dow in a relatively low budget version of Tom Hanks’ similar sojourns based on Brown’s novels. The institution isn’t painted as evil but that’s not the same as finding some of its leaders more human than humane, and much less holy.

Though unrated at the time of this review, expect a film that would fall somewhere between a hard PG-13 and a soft R. A fair portion of the audience will be glad that Armitage has shirtless moments; a comparable number will be bummed that Salamanca doesn’t. There’s not nearly enough mayhem to call this a guy flick but there’s a sufficient amount of action to keep the adrenaline flowing as events unfold.

MAN FROM ROME, in English and Italian with English subtitles, opens in theaters and streaming on demand on Friday, June 30.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Monterossi” – TV series review

Fabrizio Bentivoglio as Carlo Monterossi, in Italian TV’s “Monterossi – The Series.” Courtesy of MHz Choice

Italian TV gives us “Monterossi – The Series,” an unusual light-crime package. Lead character Carlo Monterossi (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is the creator of a highly popular, sleazy tabloid series called “Crazy Love.” He’s disgusted by the voyeuristic monster they’ve unleashed on the public, and desperately wants out. His agent and the producers are doing all they can to keep him on board. That bit of conflict suddenly shifts to Carlo’s back burner when a masked guy with a gun comes to the door to kill him. Fortunately, the gunman misses. Otherwise, the series either would have just been a short, or they’d have needed a new star and title. You’ll be quite pleased to have spent the time getting to know the eponymous gent we’re given.



The 2022 season’s six 45-minute episodes are equally split between two miniseries, turning our mild-mannered hero into a sleuth for separate sets of crimes. The scripts are well-written but it’s Bentivoglio’s charm that makes it all work as effectively as it does. There’s some wry humor in the undertones, largely from the business about the show he’s trying to escape and the pressures to do otherwise. Cops are a relatively small factor, unlike the many series pairing one with an amateur (usually reluctantly for either or both). Instead, Monterossi pursues his solutions with a couple of young recruits (Martina Sammarco, Luca Nucera) from the TV series’ staff, starting with trying to figure out why the attacker left a jar containing someone’s finger on his steps, and who it belonged to.

Both sets of cases become surprisingly complex, with multiple players and possibilities swirling throughout. The first seems to have mushroomed from dirty tactics in a real-estate deal; the other begins with the killing of a car dealer who’d catered to a star-studded clientele. The scripts artfully blend the crimes with Monterossi’s love-hate relationship for the show he now regrets, including ways to slyly use the latter to assist in solving the former. In Monterossi, Bentivoglio has inhabited a character with plenty of cozy appeal, somewhat akin to France’s retired judge Mongeville (in a show previously reviewed here), and worthy of as long a run as Jessica Fletcher enjoyed on our side of the Atlantic.

“Monterrosi – The Series,” mostly in Italian with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting on June 6.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

“Petra” – TV Series Review

Paola Cortellesi as Petra, in the Italian crime drama “Petra.” Courtesy of MHzChoice

The title of “Petra” refers to the name of the lead character in this Italian procedural TV series, Petra Delicado (Paola Cortellesi). She’s a lawyer who became a cop, though more of a desk jockey than a case-working detective. When circumstances in her Genoa department thrust her into the field for a series of ritualized rapes, she rises to the challenge, despite having almost no discernible personality, as further evidenced by her drab gray apartment with stacks of unpacked boxes to match. Even so, tough and smart is a good place to start. She’s paired with an older, street-wise subordinate, Antonio (Andrea Pennachi), who is as reactive to the emotional elements of their work as she is averse.

In the first two of the eight episodes comprising this miniseries made available for review, the pair deal with crimes and a raft of personal issues, including romantic prospects for both – not with each other. The 90-minute stories are well-written, with more stimulation for the intellect than the gut, as moments of cop-on-perp action are sparse and brief. But the direction includes lovely shots of the city and area, including some aerial views in several transition scenes that are more artistic than usual for TV productions. Same for the cool, tone-setting animations before the opening titles.

It’s hard to project how the other six episodes will turn out from this limited sample but so far, the stories are solid and the characters are becoming more interesting, individually and as a team, as they progress. Petra’s name is oddly – and likely not by coincidence – oxymoronic, since it loosely means something like “fragile rock.” That encompasses her flat affect which suggests the high-functioning end of the Autism spectrum, with an underlying vulnerability that is likely to continue thawing as we learn more of the backstories for her and Antonio. Both leads do well in establishing flawed, human-scale protagonists we can root for.

“Petra,” mostly in Italian with English subtitles, streams all eight episodes on MHzChoice starting Nov. 8.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

EMERGENCY DECLARATION – Review

Nam-gil Kim as Hyun-soo, in EMERGENCY DECLARATION. Courtesy of WellGo USA

I should start by declaring I’m no fan of “disaster movies,” which usually play out as melodramas, rather than thrillers. They always start with introductions to an assortment of strangers about to find themselves in a shared peril. That is intended to personalize the macrocosm of the threat, so we’ll care about the potential victims – root for some, hate some others – theoretically making “who will survive?” a grabber, regardless of the nature of their common menace. When you put them in a confined space – like an airplane or ship at sea – claustrophobia adds another dimension to the emotional strings being tugged.

So my praise for this subtitled Korean thriller, EMERGENCY DECLARATION, which runs contrary to form, making it more of an achievement by the producers. A weird guy who we soon learn is a disgraced biologist boards the most crowded commercial flight he can find departing Seoul, Korea, on this fateful day. He’s carrying a highly toxic, fast-acting virus to unleash upon the handful of travelers we meet before takeoff, and the rest of his captive audience. Growing sickness and panic ensue, as they must.  

The plight of the passengers is complicated by several factors that are exceptionally well-written for the genre, thanks to writer/director Jae-rim Han. Is there an effective anti-toxin? Can it be delivered in time to save at least some of them? If not, it is safe to let the plane land anywhere? The flight’s intended destination was Honolulu. But as word of the pandemic threat it carries spreads globally, no government is willing to risk exposure for its citizens. The title is a phrase pilots would use to compel any airport to immediately clear a runway for them, since disaster is certain if they don’t land ASAP.

Describing the plot further would be a disservice. The array of actions within the plane are the stuff of good dramatic tension. But what really makes this film compelling is its depiction of all the aspects of activity on the ground among the affected countries. This script effectively covers the gamut from corporate greed to politics, to law enforcement to the impact of internet connectivity, keeping everyone inside and beyond the plane amazingly current on each unfolding development. As director, Jae-rim Han provides enough action to leap the claustrophobia hurdle, with plenty of suspense elements coming from those on the ground who variably help, hinder or frustrate the optimal resolution – whatever that may be.   

Those who share my general disdain for the genre (mine started when they all seemed to include overacting by Shelley Winters), or shun subtitled fare, should consider keeping more of an open mind. You just might find this one a worthy exception.

EMERGENCY DECLARATION, in Korean with English subtitles. opens Friday, Aug. 12, in select theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

FIRE OF LOVE – Review

Volcanologists and filmmakers Maurice and Katia Krafft studying an erupting volcanoes, in the documentary FIRE OF LOVE. Courtesy of National Geographic Films.

Volcanoes and love often paired in romantic imagery but FIRE OF LOVE documents a real case of volcanic love, that of married volcanologists Katia and Maurice Kraft, who loved volcanoes, and each other, more than anything.

Even if you have never heard their names, you have likely seen their work, as their breath-taking film footage and still photos of volcanoes erupting have been used countless times in films, as well as appearing in their own documentaries. The couple initially shot the footage as a way to capture complex phenomenon for later scientific analysis, but because they got so close and were so skilled as photographers, the images are astounding, even works of art, in their own right.

The Kraffts have been the subjects of other documentaries, including Werner Herzog’s INTO THE INFERNO. Sara Dosa’s documentary has fabulous photography and a moving story about these ground -breaking scientists, who were also surprisingly charismatic, but takes a more reflective, poetic tone, with narration by Miranda July, about their remarkable, startling life together. It is an approach that works well with the Kraffts’ dramatic footage of erupting volcanoes, with Sara Dosa’s finely-honed editing. Dosa came across some of the Kraffts footage while working on another documentary, and was so taken with it, that she tracked down more and had it digitized for this documentary.

The documentary is titled FIRE OF LOVE but could almost also be called “love of fire” as volcanoes was their shared passion. Both were French, with Maurice from the Alsace region. Both Katia and Maurice were obsessed with volcanoes from childhood so when the two met it seemed like fate. They quickly fell in love and married, but decided from the start not to have children, perhaps thinking about the perilous work they planned on doing which risked orphaning any offspring.

Despite their shared love of volcanoes, they differed in their temperaments, their scientific focus and the roles each took differed as they worked side-by-side to study volcanoes. Katia’s degree was in physics and chemistry, while Maurice studied geology, which meant they had complementary scientific skills. They decided early that the best way to study them was by recording visually what was happening, which meant learning film-making techniques in challenging, dangerous situations. Both were bold and fearless in their work but Maurice was the greater risk-taker, while Katia was more cautious and methodical. Yet she had to go where Maurice went, in part to keep an eye on him.

The Kraffts strove to be the first on site of an erupting volcano and usually were, which gained them the respect of fellow volcanologists. To fund their work, the Kraffts produced books and films of the volcanoes, and toured speaking about their work. The couple included themselves in their documentaries, which added a level of human interest that contributed to their films success.

The Kraffts’ research led to a better to understanding of volcanoes and a new way to classifying them. They spent most of their career studying one kind of eruption, the type that erupts with a continuous flow of lava. Yet it is the other kind, the type that erupt suddenly with an explosion of gas and a pyroclastic flow, that is most deadly. In the documentary, the Kraffts refer to these as red and black, with the latter being the more dangerous kind. At one point, the Kraffts felt an need to research this more deadly, unpredictable volcano, and it was while studying one in Japan that they died.

The insightful, moving documentary FIRE OF LOVE is filled with the Kraffts’ fiery and beautiful images, as well as images and a wealth of information on the groundbreaking work and remarkable lives of this scientific couple.

FIRE OF LOVE, partly in French with English subtitles, opens Friday, July 29, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

GIRLS TO BUY – Review

A scene from the Polish drama GIRLS TO BUY. Courtesy of VMI Worldwide

The lurid title and poster for GIRLS TO BUY, a mostly-subtitled Polish dramatic film, are rather misleading. This tale about sex workers is less erotic than suspenseful, playing out a lot closer to a SCARFACE than to an EYES WIDE SHUT. The screen is filled with attractive women in alluring attire but there’s relatively little sex and nudity, compared to what one might expect from the subject being explored.

For those still interested, the action begins in 1999. Our protagonist, Emi (Paulina Galazka), wants to break into the high-end escort business, rather than spend her life like her mom – running a small drab shop in a small drab village. She finds a mentor with a gorgeous daughter already in the biz and hits the ground running.

Emi may look like a naive country girl but her brains and ambition take her quickly to the playgrounds of the rich and jaded around Europe’s luxury venues, and beyond. She recruits plenty of women with similar ambitions and becomes a major provider of specialized entertainment. Dorota (Katarzyna Figura), the maternal figure who enabled Emi’s ascent, starts resenting her protege’s higher level of success, becoming more of a problem than a colleague. The customers who pay lavishly for their pleasures gradually grow more demanding and less kind to the ladies.

The women are gorgeous, as are the sets and scenery, as we watch them party hard on luxury yachts or in posh hotels and incredible mansions. The trade appears glamorous and lucrative for most of the film before turning darker. Paulina Galazka has the looks and emotional range for major stardom.

Had the story remained light and playful, it could have been titled HOW I MET MY MADAM. But it’s based on a compilation of the real experiences of Eastern European sex workers, and the 2018 novel “Girls from Dubai” by Piotr Krysiak, showing both the appeal and downside of that realm of employment, ultimately more depressing than titillating. Since the message is mainly a warning to young women lured to the appearance of glamour in the trade, the credits start with some alarming stats about sex work and trafficking. Overall, it’s a strong, compelling film, once you’ve adjusted your expectations to eye candy in a serious drama rather than soft-core porn.

GIRLS TO BUY, mostly in Polish with English subtitles, opens Friday, July 15 in select theaters and video on demand.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars