The Subject Of Divorce And How It Plays On Screen
Divorce is an ugly word. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that such break-ups are amicable and amenable. Even if the parties agree that the relationship must end, there are always hard feelings, resentments, and difficult reckonings. Divorce does, however, almost always make for gripping and endlessly fascinating drama onscreen. Stories of divorce have made […]
What Makes Gangster Stories So Endlessly Fascinating?
With The Irishman, Martin Scorsese has once again made a gangster movie that’s earning big box office bucks and capturing a ton of Oscar buzz. Cinema fans love the genre, going back to the early 1930s when stars like James Cagney (The Public Enemy) and Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar) made films about the underworld […]
“Marriage Story” Chronicles Characters Who Grow Through the Travails of Divorce
Noah Baumbach is exceedingly clever. In his latest film Marriage Story the filmmaker not only confounds expectations, starting with a title that could actually be entitled “Divorce Story,” but he usurps our filmgoer presumptions all the way through. He sets up his dueling partners even-handedly to make it difficult for the audience to take sides. Baumbach keeps […]
Characters Drive the Fast-Moving Story in “Ford v Ferrari”
Ostensibly, the new film Ford v Ferrari is all about the true story of how the Ford Motor Company set out to best Enzo Ferrari’s prowess at Le Mans in 1966 through the help of two racing professionals, but at the end of the day, the film is really about pride. The pride of American manufacturing, […]
Martin Scorsese Meditates on Age and Regret in “The Irishman”
Much has been made about the technology director Martin Scorsese used in The Irishman to de-age stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. Indeed, it is a marvel, if not a distraction at first, to see the decades digitally erased off of the stars, but it actually helps the idea of the film […]
