Robert K Stephen (CSW)

RKS 2024 Film: “Only the River Flows”: A Murder Investigation Takes Centre Stage

If you are an aficionado of murder mysteries you will enjoy the film. A twist of clues with no obvious viewer conclusions to be made. If you enjoy film noir there is almost enough stylistically here to merit slotting the film into that genre. If you enjoy symbolism in film and subtle political criticism itContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Only the River Flows”: A Murder Investigation Takes Centre Stage”

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Listen to Who’s Talking”: Yes, Greeks Can Make Romcoms

Looking for something bright, breezy and humorous? Look no further than “Listen to Who’s Talking” a Greek feature film playing at the Greek International Film Festival Tour 1-31October24 in 11 Canadian cities. Buried under the covers or dreamt up by my film weary mind is the concept of mindfulness meditation possibly present in the film.Continue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Listen to Who’s Talking”: Yes, Greeks Can Make Romcoms”

The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?

The Greek film “Kapetan Mihalis” is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel “Freedom or Death” chronicling the struggle of Cretans for independence in their Ottoman occupied Crete in the late 19th century. To transform this epic novel onto the screen requires guts! “Tampering” with a national treasure is risky business. However the filmmakers here haveContinue reading “The 4th Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Kapetan Mihalis”: Can a Greek Classic Modernist Novel Survive the Big Screen?”

RKS Literature: Can Scars of the Mind Ever Heal? (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“One writes of scars healed, a loose parallel to the pathology of the skin, but there is no such thing in the life of an individual. There are open wounds, shrunk sometimes to the size of a pin-prick but wounds still. The marks of suffering are more comparable to the loss of a finger, orContinue reading “RKS Literature: Can Scars of the Mind Ever Heal? (F. Scott Fitzgerald)”

RKS Literature: American Royalty (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

“They were an American ducal family without a title-the very name written on a hotel register, signed to an introduction, used in a difficult situation, caused a psychological metamorphosis in people, and in return this change had crystallized her own sense of position. She knew these facts from the English, who had known them forContinue reading “RKS Literature: American Royalty (F. Scott Fitzgerald)”

RKS 2024 Wine: A Babu Reserva from Portugal’s Tejo Appellation: Another Purchase at Your Own Risk?

I tried the 2018 Babu Reserva and it fared so poorly I used the mercy rule and did not give it a numerical score instead stating, “purchase at your own risk”. I am sure that when RKS Wine speaks with such unflattering remarks a team of blending specialists descended on the winery to fix theContinue reading “RKS 2024 Wine: A Babu Reserva from Portugal’s Tejo Appellation: Another Purchase at Your Own Risk?”

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Behind the Haystacks”: Reality Trumps the Façade

If you travel through farmland you often see haystacks. They can be domed, square or circular and pleasing to look at, almost artistic. Behind the perfect structure what is hiding? In “Behind the Haystacks” could it be that the haystack is the public persona and the private person is what hides behind the haystack. ItsContinue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Behind the Haystacks”: Reality Trumps the Façade”

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Sgt. Fruit Fly”: A Very Greek Take on Teenage Life

You might think this just might be one of those teen movies you would watch in North America. Think again. The themes of bullying, fitting in and adolescent sexuality are covered in “Sgt. Fruit Fly” but with a hard-edged Greek tinge that make the movie truly appealing to the 15 plus teenage crowd and adults.Continue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “Sgt. Fruit Fly”: A Very Greek Take on Teenage Life”

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Last Taxi Driver”: The Thin Red Line Between Obsession and Mental Illness

The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) presents “The Last Taxi Driver”. Admit it you are already thinking of the classic Scorsese 1976 Film “Taxi Driver”. Thomas (Kostas Koronaios) is an Athenian taxi driver who replaces the violence of Travis Bickle with a quieter and creepier form of violence. He is a stalker.Continue reading “The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada): “The Last Taxi Driver”: The Thin Red Line Between Obsession and Mental Illness”

RKS 2024 Film: “The Secret Art of Human Flight”: Psychiatry and Reality vs. Dreams and Fantasy

Ben Grady (Grant Rosenmeyer) has lost his 31-year-old wife Sarah. He had left the house to pick up some mac n cheese and upon returning 30 minutes later she was dead. Ben is in deep grief. He sits like a zombie wrapped in a blanket including in front of his house for three successive days.Continue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “The Secret Art of Human Flight”: Psychiatry and Reality vs. Dreams and Fantasy”