Audrey Kupferberg

In 1985 and 86, as 54-year-old filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky was dying of lung cancer, he managed to complete The Sacrifice, one of his finest works. Tarkovsky’s career began in his home country, the Soviet Union.

Of late, I have been enjoying the works of talented British actress, comic, writer, Joanna Scanlan. On TV, she can do it all. She won awards for her work on Getting On, a Britcom that ran from 2009 to 2012. She brightens any quiz shows on which she appears, such as Would I Lie to You? which is on Britbox and other sites, and she won a BAFTA for her lead performance in After Love from 2020.

Comic actor Will Ferrell met TV comedy writer Anthony Steele more than thirty years ago when the two worked on Saturday Night Live. Since then, their friendship has been strong. One day a couple years ago, Will received a letter from Harper Steele to inform her – not his but her, buddy that she has transitioned.

As part of this year’s Valentine's Day celebration, how about screening a few of the great classic romance films?

Emilia Perez is a film like no other. When I started to watch it, I gave up after ten minutes. This can’t be for me, I thought. It’s all flash. After a couple friends mentioned how exciting a film it is, I returned to Netflix to give it a second chance. So glad that I did!

David Lynch has passed. His films will live on for many years to come. From the short films of the late sixties and early seventies, including The Grandmother and The Amputee, to his breakout feature Eraserhead in 1977. From The Elephant Man, the brilliant Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, to Wild at Heart, Mulholland Drive to the TV version of Twin Peaks.

Conclave begins with a dead pope and the subsequent gathering of the college of Cardinals to elect a new pope. Cardinal Lawrence, played by Ralph Fiennes, is dean of the college and stands at the core of this sacred rite. If this description sounds like a religious drama, you wouldn’t be wrong, but you would be far from correct. Conclave is a fast-moving whirl of mysteries, a thriller filled with suspense.

Maria, Pablo Larrain’s lavish biopic of the last days of Maria Callas, and The Critic, a dark thriller about a fictional evil-minded London theater critic in the 1930s, are available for streaming. While it’s a treat to have two star-driven features for home viewing, both films are well-acted, look great, but are limited in appeal.

The newly-released documentary with the lengthy title “Martin Scorsese Presents Made in England, The Films of Powell and Pressburger” or sometimes simply called” Made in England”, is now available on disc from Cohen Media Group and for streaming on various sites.

Strong performances by an ensemble of black players and a moody, authentic atmosphere are the highlights of a new, energetic reworking of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson. As a newcomer to feature-length film directing, Malcolm Washington takes Wilson’s complicated, tiered plot and makes it clear, palatable, and very entertaining. He also is its co-writer along with Virgil Williams.