Tag: Sharlene Versfeld

Cosa Nostra and the art of waiting

CENTURIES OF ITALIAN vendetta and the true story of Tommaso Buscetta, a lynchpin of the Sicilian mafia, who famously called upon the law in his bid to turn informant, falls under the loupe of director Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor. This is a work nothing short of brilliant. It […]

Brothers in love

WHEN A GREAT classic is slipped between the covers of a festival of contemporary film, you may approach it with the eye of a novel ready to embrace its nuances and romances. But you also may wish to switch gear to reflect on its epic greatness and philosophic […]

What Mona must carry

WHEN YOU ARE pushed so far from your comfort levels that a voice from your belly cries out with everything you’re worth and reforms you, it’s a kind of rebirth. You may have witnessed this in John Logan’s searing play Red about Mark Rothko. You will rediscover this […]

Men who are worth your tears

HE COMES INTO the 60th birthday party of his sister Solange, like a violent bull in a proverbial China shop, armed with a gift everyone knows he could not afford. The guests fear and hate him. He has an aggressive almost non-verbal approach which prickles your empathy. This […]

Greta’s value

THE STORY (SO far) of Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is biblical in its hugeness and in the power that the voice of a youngster can have on how the world turns. On paper, Nathan Grossman’s I am Greta could be the biggest jewel in the crown of this […]

Ground control to astro mom

WHAT DO YOU tell your small daughter when you are a brilliant engineer and astronaut, and the opportunity of a lifetime comes your way? Of course, being the mother (not father) to said eight-year-old, throws the whole monster of generations of sexism to the fore. This is what […]

Holy lies, cold truths and black bread

It is 1948 and Lithuania is caught between the tail end of Hitler’s cruelty and the as yet unrevealed horror Stalin’s slippery promises. Unte (Marius Povlias Elijas Martynenko), with his sultry, almost androgynous yet somewhat mongoloid features is the ponderously gentle central protagonist. He’s a son, yet not […]

Portrait of granny, with crows

“YOU ARE THE cause of all the problems in this society, and we are going to kill you.” This is the gist of the kind of letters to which Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s compelling Kenyan documentary The Letter refers. Featured on this year’s Durban International Film Festival, […]