“I’ll be the face of love for you,” Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) tells a soon-to-be-executed murderer. The idea that a film can transcend (or sidestep) political ideologies has always been questioned, but the intertwining of the moral and the political has certainly been on Read More …
It seems hardly coincidental that two films on the life of children’s television host and ordained Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers were released in as many years. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), a feature starring Tom Hanks and directed by Marielle Heller, was nominated for the Read More …
Based on the eponymous historical novel by Jewish author Franz Werfel, Henry King’s beautifully made film stands head and shoulders over most religiously themed fare from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Werfel learned the story of Bernadette Soubirous—an illiterate teenager who in 1858 claimed to see visions Read More …
Appreciation coming. Directed by: Satyajit Ray Produced by: Satyajit Ray Written by: Tarashankar Banerjee Satyajit Ray Santi P. Choudhury Music by: Ustad Vilayat Khan Robin Majumdar Cinematography by: Subrata Mitra Editing by: Dulal Dutta Release Date: 1958 Running Time: 95 Language: Bengali, English Arts & Read More …
Though set in Texas, Tender Mercies is a poignant reflection on experiences and challenges that are universal. It moves unhurriedly through the struggle of a middle-aged man to understand why, even after he seemingly made every effort to ruin his life, God still blessed him. His struggle, Read More …
Like most movies out of classic Hollywood, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) was a group effort. The idea came from Samuel Goldwyn, the original treatment was a narrative poem by McKinley Kantor titled Glory for Me, and the film itself was directed by Read More …
We must decide to be human. In the People’s Square, before a great crowd of witnesses and in representing them, we must make the decision to be wholly human. Wim Wenders’ wonderful and dreamlike 1987 fantasy, Der Himmel über Berlin, portrays two angels observing the people Read More …
For as long as I have identified as Christian, those who write about Christianity and the arts or those who make “Christian” art have described the crossover artist as the goal of Christian art. That artist would be someone who identified as Christian and whose Read More …
L’Avventura (1960) has long been known as the first feature in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “alienation” trilogy, which includes La Notte (1961) and L’Eclisse (1962). Yet the term “alienation” is too simple and too succinct a descriptor; this film is about emotional, social, and spiritual enervation, about something nightmarish. The inhabitants of Read More …
Until very late in Yasujiro Ozu’s film Tokyo Story, there is no crisis more dramatic than some uncomfortable silences. So what is it that makes this film one of the most revered dramas ever crafted? It’s the simplest of stories: An elderly couple—Shukichi and Tomi—drop in Read More …