Jay D. Weissberg

The Berlin Film Festival kicked off its 75th anniversary edition February 13 with the opening-night world premiere screening of The Light, Tom Tykwer’s politically charged film that takes stock of German society in the first quarter of the 21st century. It starts 11 days of debuts including for…

Opening a film with a line of poetry is always a problematic way to start: the words are quickly forgotten once the visuals begin, making the verses far more meaningful were they before the final credits. In the case of Yunan, the words come from the Abbasid poet Al-Mutanabbi and they speak of…

One of the many peculiarities of recent U.S. cultural trends is the "over-55 community," gated havens for well-off retirees who embrace the idea of mono-generational living as an all-comforts interlude before Thanatos comes knocking. In Gabriel Mascaro's The Blue Trail, a gentle blend of delayed…

It turns out Marielle knows a whole lot, far too much for her parents' comfort. In fact, after suddenly developing telepathic abilities, Marielle knows everything her parents do and say, which needless to say isn't exactly a welcome development, either for her or her mom and dad. In his sophomore…