Beyond ‘Happily Ever After’
Hollywood has always been preoccupied with that most exciting, most mercurial of human emotions: romantic love. There’s nothing particularly surprising about this obsession, of course: Filmmakers have long been drawn to those moments when human emotions run highest and most transparent, and if that isn’t a textbook definition of eros, I don’t know what is. … Read more
Remembering Tom Dillon
One would be hard-pressed to find a man better suited to the task he had been given than Thomas E. Dillon. The students at his beloved Thomas Aquinas College, where he served as president for almost 20 years, were blessedly unaware of the incredible pressures Dr. Dillon bore day-in and day-out; still, they all recognized … Read more
Of God and Guests
Every now and then, I come across a film of such unexpected charm and emotional power that I find myself compelled to recommend it to anyone and everyone who will listen. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made … Read more
Growing Pains
There are a few times in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian when the Pevensie children have trouble getting their heads around the changed landscape of Narnia. Having spent a year back in England as adolescents, they return to Narnia to find that 1,300 years of history have passed, and their skills are needed … Read more
The Skinhead and the Priest
It would be difficult to find a man who has had a more dramatic impact on his nation’s recent cinematic reputation than Danish writer and director Anders Thomas Jensen. From his early days writing for Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg’s Dogme 95 movement of the 1990s (founded to rectify the perceived stagnation in modern … Read more
What Price Perfection?
Filmmaker Andrew Niccol, probably best known for his role as the writer of The Truman Show, likes to describe his stories as “films set about five minutes in the future.” And while some movies claim to have been snatched from today’s headlines, few would suggest that they are the headlines of tomorrow. Â Consider God’s … Read more
The Boiler House Saint
Russian film director Pavel Lungin is perhaps most famous for his bleak, gritty dramas about the despair of post-Communist Russia, earning him a reputation as a fan favorite at film festivals around the world. His most recent film, Ostrov (The Island), was named the closing picture at the 2006 Venice Film Festival, nominated for a Grand Jury … Read more