Tag Archives: Real-life figure

Mary Queen of Scots (2018) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A tale of two queens

“Mary Queen of Scots” initially seems to have all the right ingredients for a compelling period drama. While it has two talented actresses at its center, it is also equipped with commendable technical aspects including authentic period atmosphere, so I … Continue reading →

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Free Solo (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Climbing up a rock alone – without rope

Watching Oscar-nominated documentary film “Free Solo”, which also won the People’s Choice documentary award when it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in last year, was a pretty terrifying experience to me due to my longtime fear of … Continue reading →

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At Eternity’s Gate (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Van Gogh’s last few years

Julian Schnabel’s latest film “At Eternity’s Gate” looks around the last few years of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), who was surely one of the greatest painters in the 19th Europe but unfortunately did not receive much attention during his rather … Continue reading →

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Becoming Astrid (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Before she becomes a writer

Swedish film “Becoming Astrid” focuses on the early years of Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), a Swedish writer who has been known well for her many famous children’s book series such the one featuring Pipi Longstocking. I must confess that I am … Continue reading →

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Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Her brilliant criminal writing career

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” tells us an amusing real-life crime story of Lee Israel, a washed-out biographer who resorted to forging letters of a number of famous figures when she happened to hit the bottom of her life and … Continue reading →

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Fyre Fraud (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): Another recent documentary film on the Fyre Festival

It was a curious experience for me to watch Hulu documentary film “Fyre Fraud”, which presents an unbelievably absurd story about the Fyre Festival fraud case in 2017. Not long after it was released in last week, another documentary film … Continue reading →

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A Private War (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Driven to front line

“A Private War”, the first feature film directed by documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman, looks into the life and career of Marie Colvin (1956-2012), an American journalist who devoted herself to her risky jobs till her unfortunate death in 2012. While … Continue reading →

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Fyre (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): Absurd and devastating

To be frank with you, I did not know much about the Fyre Festival incident in 2017 before watching Netflix documentary film “Fyre”, which gives us a close look on how absurd and devastating that unbelievable case of fraud was … Continue reading →

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Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): An intimate and dynamic portrait of M.I.A.

Documentary film “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.”, which received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in last year, is an intimate and dynamic portrait of one renowned female musician who is not only … Continue reading →

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Blaze (2018) ☆☆☆(3/4): Inside Blaze Foley

Ethan Hawke’s “Blaze” is as melancholic and poignant as you can expect from a movie based on the life and career of a rather obscure real-life country musician. While thankfully free of genre conventions and clichés, the movie freely rolls … Continue reading →

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