Chris and Don. This documentary about Christopher Isherwood and his partner Dan Bachardy, who was thirty years younger, is accomplished with emotional commitment, humor, subtle strength. The aging Don remembers and vivifies his late mentor and lover with affection and detail that recreates their interesting lives. (7/9/08)
My Winnipeg. Guy Maddin’s film about his native city is far from a stodgy album: it flashes and swirls through the city, past and present, through Maddin and his past there, in a kaleidoscopic burst that is more fascinating for what it is than what it says. (7/9/08)
Mongol. Sergei Bodrov, an exceptional Russian director, pours the early years of Genghis Khan into an epic of large dimensions and sustained power. Fierce action and immense vistas give it old-fashioned sweep seen through modern eyes. (6/25/08)
When Did You Last See Your Father? Colin Firth as a thirtyish man and Jim Broadbent as his caring but egotistical father enliven this somewhat familiar story, set in England. The pasts of the two main figures, well acted, interweave with the present quite movingly. (6/25/08)
--SK
By Stanley Kauffmann