Capharnaum director Nadine Labaki, Zain Alrafeea during filming. Nadine Labaki‘s Capharnaum will win the Palme d’Or because of (a) the humanist-compassionate theme and (b) the director is female. The statements and actions of the Cate Blanchett-led jury indciates they’re almost certainly looking to give the top prize to a woman-directed film. Before Capharnaum came along … Read more
Nadine Labaki‘s Capernaum (Sony Pictures Classics, 12.14) is about a 12 year-old Lebanese kid (and a small-framed one at that, making him look eight or nine) going through hard-knocks destitution on the streets of Beirut. Does it get you emotionally to watch a raw verite depiction of a parent-less, penniless kid struggle to survive while … Read more
I’m starting late, but today’s schedule includes (a) a hotel-room interview with director Nadine Labaki, whose brilliant Capernaum (showing at TIFF) everyone flipped over in Cannes four months ago; (b) a 4 pm screening of Paul Greengrass‘s 22 July at the Elgin, (c) the big Sony Classics dinner at Morton’s, and (d) a 9:30 pm … Read more
I wouldn’t call Spike Lee‘s BlacKkKlansman a “black comedy,” as the Wiki page maintains — I would call it a more or less straightforward ’70s police procedural flecked with ironic humor here and there. And yet a partly humorous approach is clearly indicated in the just-revealed poster art (i.e., hood + soul comb + black … Read more