Movie Review: "The Grand Seduction"

This Canadian movie is about the tiny dying Canadian fishing village Tickle Cove. This isolated village is desperately trying to attract a recycling factory. The factory will not locate there unless there is a full time physician. By hook or by crook, the town leader, Murray French, is determined to land both the factory and physician. A young recently minted urbane plastic surgeon is caught with cocaine in an airport and is able to avoid legal action if he agrees to spend one month in Tickle Cove. This film in fact is a situational comedy. The setting is sumptuous. The plot is well thought out. Enough time is allowed during the movie for adequate story and character development

Movie Review "Ida"

This Polish black and white movie is about Anna, a young Polish girl who is on the verge of taking her final vows to be a Roman Catholic nun in 1962 Poland. Her Mother Superior informs her that she has one surviving relative- an aunt who is a ranking member of the Polish communist party. Her aunt is a hard living, hard drinking middle aged childless Jewess. Anna discovers that almost everyone, save the aunt, were murdered during the war. The remainder of the movie involves the search for what really happened to her family and the direction of her life. The cinematography is unusual. Besides being black and white, the format is actually “tall screen” rather than the usual wide screen. All lines are subtitled, but sparse. The plot and filmography stands almost alone without dialog. One of the better films of the season.