This week, the theaters feature three historical dramas, the best being the suspenseful German Barbara. In No, Gael Garcia Bernal stars as the regular guy who brainstormed the guerrilla advertising campaign that dethroned Chilean dictator Pinochet. Emperor, with Tommy Lee Jones as Gen. Douglas MacArthur leading the American occupation of Japan, is historical but plodding.
The documentary The Gatekeepers is centered around interviews with all six surviving former chiefs of Shin Bet, Israel’s super-secret internal security force; these are hard ass guys who share a surprising perspective on the efficacy of Israel’s war on terror. The documentary
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God is now playing on HBO; it explores the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover-up of priest abuse from a Wisconsin parish to the top of the Vatican (and I mean the top). I admire Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Side Effects, starring Rooney Mara, Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
San Jose’s Cinequest Film Festival is over, and for a wrap-up, see my CINEQUEST 2013 page.
You can read descriptions and view trailers of upcoming films at Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
My DVD/Stream of the week is, fittingly, the Italian comedy We Have a Pope, especially in a double feature with Mea Maxima Culpa.
I usually don’t think of Dustin Hoffman as a comic actor, but some of his performances have been brilliantly funny, including Tootsie, Little Big Man and the essential The Graduate. Turner Classic Movies will be broadcasting those three films tomorrow night, March 16.