poverty

It is unlikely you will see a bleaker movie than”Santosh,” the outstanding feature directorial debut of documentarian Sandhya Suri. Opening this Pandora’s Box filled with poverty, racism, caste hatred, corruption and governmental incompetence is gut wrenching because it goes beyond the horror of everyday life in rural India telling the journey of young widow Santosh […]

When watching a filmed version, whether good or bad, of a popular or beloved novel, there are several things one needs to do. First, drop all expectations. Some things work on screen, others don’t. Directors and adapters have their own agendas, sometimes enhancing and often detracting from the underlying material. The resurgence of the mini- […]

“Paris Police 1905” is the sequel to “Paris Police 1900” and almost as juicy. Like the original series, many of the characters are based on real people. Louis Lépine, head of the Paris police, was tasked with bringing order to the streets, excising corruption from the ranks and bringing the police into the twentieth century […]

TV New, Now and Soon So many shows, so little time. Some of these new series you will have already heard about and maybe even seen; others are about to appear with or without fanfare. All of these are Canadian so the content comes with a slight accent, eh? It’s cheaper to buy ready-made and […]

“Agatha Christie’s Criminal Games: The 70s”  The third season of this fun French adaptation of Agatha Christie short stories and novellas has arrived and it’s a delight. Setting these 10 episodes in the era of gogo boots, miniskirts, leather jackets and polyester shirts, Flore Kosinetz, Hélène Lombard and others have had a field day in […]

“Based on a True Story” – Story, in any case “Based on a True Story” is a dark comedy that pokes fun at podcasts and the public’s penchant for gore, thrills, chills and mayhem. Following the adventures of Ava and Nathan, LA westsiders whose aspirations haven’t quite made it over the first hurdle. Ava, a […]

“Primo,” is a coming of age comedy based on the life of Shea Serrano, a former middle school science teacher, humorist and journalist mining his own experiences. A native of San Antonio, “Primo” is centered there with a laser focus on Rafa Gonzales, an underperforming high schooler whose test scores belie his casual attitude toward […]

Under the category of “truth is stranger than fiction,” “Stolen Youth,” the story of the cult of ex-con Larry Ray, defies even that category.  A group of eight Sarah Lawrence students bonded their freshman year in 2009. They had all worked very hard to get into this prestigious New York college. Several were on full […]

“Welcome to Chippendales,” the salacious and sordid account of the now-iconic role-reversal strip club should be better than it is. A compelling story filled with larger than life characters and a stranger than fiction true crime tale is somehow lacking a core. I’ve been struggling to put my finger on why such an outrageous true […]

He’s a geek, she’s beautiful, and the third thinks he’s cool. Welcome to the world of “Cheeky Business,” the new French series created by Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud and Armand Robin about the Minitel Revolution. It’s France in the 80s, the end of the conservative Giscard D’Estaing presidency and the cusp of the Socialist tsunami of François […]

Based on a series of books by Jirô Asada, written for television by Shin’ichi Hisamatsu, and expertly directed with style by Masaki Nishiura, “Kinpika” is a Japanese limited series to be savored. It is about a disgruntled and cynical retired detective who assembles an unsanctioned trio of convicted criminals and gives them free reign to […]