Tag Archives: RKS 2024 Film

RKS 2024 Film: “Evil Does Not Exist”: A Puzzling Name for This Film!

The most recent Ryusuke Hamaguchi film entitled “Evil Does Not Exist” is a puzzling one considering evil is omnipresent in the film. The best I can devise here is that there is an absence of evil in nature but interpose man with nature and evil is inescapable. Debate it if you wish but has RyusukeContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Evil Does Not Exist”: A Puzzling Name for This Film!”

RKS 2024 Film: HOTDOCS 2024: “Silent Trees”: A Minefield to Somewhat Normalcy

Sixteen-year-old Runa fled ISIS controlled Kurdistan with her parents and four younger brothers. Trapped in a forest between Belarus and Poland her mother is felled by hypothermia and later dies in a Polish hospital. The family had spent 18 days in a frozen forest attempting to enter Poland. The Polish government had previously retaliated againstContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: HOTDOCS 2024: “Silent Trees”: A Minefield to Somewhat Normalcy”

RKS 2024 Film: Hot Docs 2024: “A Photographic Memory”

Should I simply refer to the American documentary “A Photographic Memory” as rich, eerie, extensive, thorough, melancholic, uplifting and intriguing? Or might I say it is going to be remembered as one of the best Hot Docs 2024 documentaries? Considering the enormous sums I am paid to review films, the mind-boggling swag bags that flowContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: Hot Docs 2024: “A Photographic Memory””

RKS 2024 Film: “Jeanne du Barry”: Grandiose, Pomp and Circumstance but Somewhat Vacuous: Poor Yawny Depp

It’s hard to pan a film with such lavish wardrobe in a Versailles setting. I have been to Versailles twice and it is certainly indicative of grandeur and wealth but with “Jeanne du Barry” populate it with rich period costumes of the era of Louis XV it is worth the price of admission to seeContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Jeanne du Barry”: Grandiose, Pomp and Circumstance but Somewhat Vacuous: Poor Yawny Depp”

RKS 2024 Film: “Sweetland”: Time to Recognize a New Canadian Film Classic: The Sea Giveth the Governments Taketh

“Sweetland” is based on Michael Crummey’s novel of the same name. The Fisheries Household Resettlement Programme administered by the Canadian federal government and Newfoundland provincial government offered somewhat meagre payments for inhabitants of remote outports to relocate to “economic centres of development”. Did economic theory destroy and mutilate the fabric of historic Newfoundland? To receiveContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Sweetland”: Time to Recognize a New Canadian Film Classic: The Sea Giveth the Governments Taketh”

RKS 2024 Film: “Before I Change My Mind”: Enough Well Done Ambiguities to Choke a Horse

Robin (Vaughn Murrae) a junior teen arrives from Spokane, Washington to the Canadian province of Alberta with his somewhat geeky computer dad, Dan (Matthew Rankin). Robin experiences a flashback now and then about his past particularly his mother. The meaning of the flashbacks might constitute a moviegoer’s delight. Add to this ambiguity is Dan’s aversionContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Before I Change My Mind”: Enough Well Done Ambiguities to Choke a Horse”

RKS 2024 FILM: HOT DOCS: “The Ride Ahead”: Determination, Grit and Suffering

In “The Ride Ahead” expect a massive dose of suffering and genetic injustice alleviated, if not conquered, by a strong spirit resentful of being talked down to armoured by a boundless will to overcome obstacles facing severely handicapped Samuel afflicted with GNA01 Neurodevelopmental Disorder a progressive disorder so rare that there are a mere hundredsContinue reading “RKS 2024 FILM: HOT DOCS: “The Ride Ahead”: Determination, Grit and Suffering”

RKS 2024 Film: HOT DOCS 2024: “American Cats: The Good, Bad And The Cuddly”: Calling All Cat Activists and Cat Lovers

True confessions. I am not a cat lover. I am a “dog person”. Once upon a time I was cornered by a Quebecois cat and kept prisoner for a few hours. I suppose that cat sensed my at best “indifferent” attitude toward cats. I might share that story with you one day. Then I metContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: HOT DOCS 2024: “American Cats: The Good, Bad And The Cuddly”: Calling All Cat Activists and Cat Lovers”

RKS 2024 Film: “New Life”: The Brutality of Good Intentions or the Evil of “Good”

Jessica Murdock (Hayley Erin) all bloodied is running through the woods as if someone is pursuing her piquing your curiosity. Why is she running and why is she bloodied? Who is pursuing her? One of her flashbacks has her locked in some makeshift detention centre. This is getting heavier by the moment. Then that ladyContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “New Life”: The Brutality of Good Intentions or the Evil of “Good””

RKS 2024 Film: “Wild Goat Surf”: Joanna Andrade Dreams but Down and Out in Penticton

Rell “Goat” Anderson (Shaylea Martin) is a thirteen-year-old surfer chick obsessed with becoming a great surfer although her summer of 2003 trailer park life in Penticton, British Columbia’s beautiful Okanagan is not progressing well for her. Goat has the look, the garb and attitude of a skateboarder a la Avril Lavigne’s “Skater Boy”. One problemContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Wild Goat Surf”: Joanna Andrade Dreams but Down and Out in Penticton”