Black Swan is dark, difficult, nuanced, intense, and strong. Searching the performer’s heart, the film finds joy and confusion, confidence and fear, passion and reserve, freedom and bondage, competitiveness and timidness. At the same time, Black Swan …more »»
Film Talks Tagged ‘Drama’
The Blind Side (2009)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — February 20, 2010
As a true story, the strength of The Blind Side is that it could have been embellished oh so much, but it was not. I suspect that no film adaptation of a true story is ever 100% factual, and I expect that’s the case …more »»
Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — June 7, 2010
Smart, funny, satirical, and engaging in its exploration of art and artists, Bullets Over Broadway is an excellent piece of work by director Woody Allen. Centering around the funding, preparation, and staging of a Broadway play, the film …more »»
Cloud Atlas (2012)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — November 11, 2012
Loosely weaving many lives together over a period of perhaps 500 years or more, Cloud Atlas explores the interconnectedness and interdependencies of our lives. Across past, present, and future, the film presents varying embodiments of …more »»
Cold Souls (2009)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — September 7, 2009
Cold Souls is great as a light yet insightful exploration of the nature of the soul and its relationship to us as humans. Paul Giamatti is rehearsing for the lead in Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya. The problem is, …more »»
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — March 27, 2011
What drives a wayward son to be wayward? What is waywardness, really? Cool Hand Luke hides these questions in every frame, and it’s not always clear who is the wayward one. This uncertainty gives the film a broad and deep question-richness that sets us nicely into a mode of …more »»
Coriolanus (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — March 22, 2012
Without a doubt, Coriolanus is Shakespeare done well. Intense and engaging, the film uses the play’s original language and cities but sets it in modern times, reducing the historical …more »»
The Descendants (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 16, 2011
Witty and gentle, unfolding at a closely measured pace, The Descendants moves through a chaotic but in the end lovely cohort of relationships wrestling with misdeeds, transgressions, wounds, and flaws, mixing tenderness and aggravation to explore how we might find heart in the middle …more »»
Django Unchained (2012)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 29, 2012
Slavery was (and is) a horrible thing, and Django Unchained explores 1800s USA slavery with unblinking intensity, insightful juxtapositions, and indulgent relish. It’s this last bit that …more »»
Doubt (2008)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — November 6, 2009
The simple title Doubt captures the film’s exploration well. The story deals with certainty and doubt around certain events, but the film evokes an exploration of doubt that runs deeper than the story. But, whether one engages at the story level or …more »»
Doubt (2008)
(After viewing)
by Randy Heffner — November 6, 2009
Doubt reinforced for me the dangers of prematurely moving into a position of certainty. In the film, the core issue of doubt versus certainty revolves around facts of this world — whether or not Father Flynn did or did not do certain things. Yet …more »»
Drive (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — October 1, 2011
The trailers for Drive promise an action flick full of intensity and fast driving. There is indeed plenty of intensity and also some very good driving. There are some very bad bad guys, and great peril of life and limb. If that’s all one wants in a film, …more »»
An Education (2009)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — February 8, 2010
Funny, clever, poignant, painful, and redemptive, An Education puts us in the position of a teenage British school girl finding direction in life. If being serious about life is important, where is the place …more »»
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — January 29, 2012
A father’s unique and creative care for his son, which is at the center of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, carries profound power of hope and healing — even when the father can’t be there. The film embodies this power strongly in its …more »»
The Fighter (2010)
(Before viewing)
by Randy Heffner — December 28, 2010
While it’s true that The Fighter tells a familiar sounding story — boxer overcomes odds — still it finds important underexplored territory. Mixing scenes of trust, betrayal, family pressure, family pride, manipulation, forgiveness, fear, failure, …more »»
