Blix Not Bombs
It’s a clash between generations as young filmmaker Greta Stocklassa meets veteran diplomat Hans Blix, now in his late 90s but still sharp. Blix handled many crises throughout his long…
Oslo
In 1993, two Norwegian diplomats (Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott), who are also married, talk Palestinian and Israeli representatives into secret negotiations. This adaptation of the play may lose some of…
I Am Curious (Blue)
Director Vilgot Sjöman divided his I Am Curious project into two movies. This follow-up to Yellow continues in the same vein, with a fictitious romance and a socialist examination of…
I Am Curious: Too Sexy for U.S. Customs
Börje Ahlstedt and Lena Nyman. Photo: Sandrew When this film reached the United States in the late 1960s, there was controversy. U.S. Customs had the film impounded and it remained…
A Very English Scandal
In 1961, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) has a romantic affair with a troubled young man, Norman (Ben Whishaw); as Thorpe’s political career takes off, Norman gets back in…
No
In 1988, dictator Augusto Pinochet allows the people of Chile to vote on the future of his regime; ad man René Saavedra (Gael García Bernal) is hired by the opposition…
Argo: The Great Escape
Photo: Warner In my reviews of Persepolis (2007) and A Separation (2011), I wrote that those films offer a well-needed opportunity to understand Iran. Argo, however, is not that type…
The King’s Speech: Royal Pains
Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Photo: The Weinstein Company After watching this brilliant drama, I knew I had to consult YouTube for the speech King George VI made after Britain's…
The Queen and I: Behind a Monarch’s Veil
Queen Farah and Nahid Persson Sarvestani. Photo: SVT Nahid Persson Sarvestani grew up in the town of Shiraz, Iran in the 1960s and ’70s. Life was simple, but as a…
In the Loop: My Way or the Fucking Highway
Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini. Photo: BBC Film Every mild-mannered leader needs a brutal enforcer, a man prepared to walk over corpses to achieve goals. President Barack Obama has Rahm…