Media Things :: Categories >> Drama

This little play, Wallace Shawn's monologue of 112 pages, rocked me when I first encountered it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival sometime in the mid '90s. Perhaps I'll add some commentary later, but for now, try these links: A reading...

Full commentary on "The Fever"

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera this film features Daniel Day Lewis, Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin, the two women in their breakout performances. This was not a simple adaptation by any means. Kundera's text...

Full commentary on "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"

For me, the quintessential dramatic film. It's hard to believe the makers were writing the script as they shot it, making the result a likely triumph of editing. Crisp, meaningful dialog, every line of which moves the story forward. Laughs,...

Full commentary on "Casablanca"

The Vancouver International Film Festival annually commissions several promotional short films which are broadcast on television and shown before every festival screening. In 2003, the theme was "what if the characters in the film were actually living in the film?"...

Full commentary on "Dogville"

A fairly simple but beautifully shot and effective clash of cultures film. A bush pilot and his ailing Inuit passenger crash land in the high Arctic. Of course it is the Inuit girl's traditional living skills which save him from...

Full commentary on "The Snow Walker"

The latest from Robert Altman, of whom I am a reserved fan. Altman, when he's on, hits them out of the park, as he did with The Player but when he's off, as he was with Pret a Porter, he's...

Full commentary on "The Company"