Tag: Drama

  • Night Nurse (1931)

    Pulpy, violent and sexy (not necessarily in that order), Night Nurse presents a world seedy enough to make most noirs look like Disneyland by comparison. This Pre-Code gem is short, fast and slam-bang entertainment. Barbara Stanwyck stars as Lora Hart, a dedicated young nurse who lands work in a city hospital. There’s not much else…

  • Everlasting Moments (2008)

    At first blush, Everlasting Moments seems like a litany of art-house clichés. Set in early 20th century Sweden, its saga of a quiet, strong-willed woman and her lout of a husband sounds pretentious enough to starch a collar, but the film transcends the sum of its well-worn plot. The great Swedish director Jan Troell, whose works include…

  • Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

    Eleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson wants to be like other girls, but blending into anonymity isn’t easy when you’re brilliant. She shrinks when she makes perfect grades and is mortified when labeled a “brainiac.” Despite all her efforts, Akeelah is unable to fit in. The girl can’t help it; she’s smart. Her chief talent is a gift…

  • 2 Days in the Valley (1996)

    Too many moviegoers and critics initially dismissed 2 Days in the Valley as a Pulp Fiction knockoff, and today the movie might best be remembered for Charlize Theron in her big-screen debut as a statuesque gun moll. But this flick deserves better. Writer-director John Herzfeld‘s modest comic thriller bears a passing resemblance to Pulp Fiction,…

  • Chloe (2009)

    Chloe wants to be an erotic thriller. At least, that’s what I think it aims to be. It’s difficult to know for sure, what with its eroticism steeped in so much fussy pretensions. The movie is particularly disappointing coming from Atom Egoyan, the director behind the critically acclaimed Exotica (1994) and The Sweet Hereafter (1997).…

  • Sin Nombre (2009)

    The directorial debut of Cary Joji Fukunaga, Sin Nombre, is an early demonstration of the filmmaker’s gifts, revealing a lyricism and visual style that elevate the material well beyond melodrama. The Spanish-language film interweaves the stories of two young people who eventually cross paths. In Chiapas, Mexico, Casper (Edgar Flores) is not your typical hood.…

  • Calvary (2014)

    Brendan Gleeson exudes world-weariness as if it were a pheromone. Craggy and thick-bodied, his eyes hinting at untold sadness, he routinely makes a strong presence in most of his movies, no matter how modest the part. And he is at his dour best in Calvary, a tough, theologically minded film in which Gleeson portrays a…

  • The Believer (2011)

    The phrase “self-loathing Jew” is rife with provocative and unsettling meaning for Jews. For a people whose shared identity and history is partly tied to having endured persecution and injustice, some Jews might recoil from a sense of victimization that gnaws away at them even while remaining proud of their perseverance. Or maybe I’m wrong.…