Category Archives: Reviews

LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: Filippos Tsitos’s ‘Plato’s Academy’

Posted on August 22, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – Intelligent, warm and very funny, Filippos Tsitos’s “Akadimia Platonos” (Plato’s Academy) is a small tale of a proudly nationalistic Greek man who discovers that he might actually be Albanian, a situation that causes trouble … Continue reading →

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LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: Xiaolu Guo’s ‘She, a Chinese’

Posted on August 21, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – Chinese filmmaker Xiaolu Guo’s “She, a Chinese” is an absorbing character study of a young woman from rural China who makes her way to the big city and then to England in a journey … Continue reading →

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LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: ‘Julia’s Disappearance’

Posted on August 19, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – Sophisticated and insightful, Christoph Schaub’s “Julia’s Disappearance” is a romantic comedy about getting older that should charm grownup audiences keen for some wry laughs without sentimentality. The film won the public award after its … Continue reading →

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LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: Valerie Donzelli’s ‘The Queen of Hearts’

Posted on August 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – “The Queen of Hearts” (La Reine des Pommes) is a frothy but lame Parisian sex farce about a young woman who cannot get over being dumped by her boyfriend and so sets out to … Continue reading →

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LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: Ho Yuhang’s ‘At the End of Daybreak’

Posted on August 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – Malaysian director Ho Yuhang composes some arresting images in “At the End of Daybreak,” his film of two youngsters who discover that their society’s rules leave little room for youthful mistakes. A cautionary tale … Continue reading →

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LOCARNO FILM REVIEW: Babak Jalali’s ‘Frontier Blues’

Posted on August 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LOCARNO, Switzerland – Intended to offer a droll portrait of eccentric characters living in the northern region of Iran next to the Turkmenistan border, Babak Jalali’s “Frontier Blues” will test the patience of audiences waiting for anything … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: Rachel Weisz in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’

Posted on July 29, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – A knockout performance by Rachel Weisz as Blanche DuBois is the main reason to see “A Streetcar Named Desire,” running at London’s Donmar Warehouse through October 3. But the production has many other riches. Tony-winning … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: Ronald Harwood’s ‘Taking Sides’, ‘Collaboration’

Posted on July 1, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – British playwright Ronald Harwood’s 1995 play “Taking Sides” and his latest, “Collaboration,” presented in tandem at the Duchess Theatre in London’s West End, each deal with people trapped in the quagmire of Nazi Germany and … Continue reading →

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Magic and mischief in Ron Base’s novel, ‘The Strange’

Posted on June 18, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Few writers know Hollywood better than my Canadian friend Ron Base. As a reporter, film critic, magazine writer, screenwriter and novelist, he has explored the magic of the movies in many ways. But Toronto-based Base … Continue reading →

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TV REVIEW: James Nesbitt in BBC Iraq drama, ‘Occupation’

Posted on June 16, 2009 by admin

  By Ray Bennett LONDON – James Nesbitt has come a long way since he first attracted notice in ITV’s “Cold Feet” in 1987 and he shows that he’s become a fine actor in “Occupation”, a three-part drama about British soldiers … Continue reading →

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