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Reviews
The Patent Scam (2017)
A clear warning about dangerous scam running amok
The documentary exposes the real scam of patent trolls. I would say, most or even all IT companies are under the threat of the patent troll lawyers, without even realizing that.
The documentary identifies real lawyers and web sites - which are fully functional as of today, June 29, 2021.
There is no simple remedy from that threat, because the lawyers use loopholes in the law, rather than breaking the law.
Watch the movie, google Patent Trolls and get basic info on what to do when you get their letters.
3 Seconds Divorce (2018)
A review of a practice of instant divorce in India's Muslim community
A story of one woman, whose husband divorced her with an instant divorce, and the fight she started to get that instant divorce practice banned.
The Boss (2016)
A nice comedy
Just a nice comedy for a good laugh.
The absurdity of known things shown certain scenes is remarkable. Brilliant sarcasm is entertaining.
Hello Goodbye (2008)
Immigration to Israel by the view of a French family
"Hello Goodbye" is a movie about a well-to-do and established French family of assimilated Jews. Alain Gaash is Jewish but not circumcised, and married to Gisèle, who converted to Judaism in order to marry him. His mother is no less ignorant about Judaism.
When their son decides to marry a Christian woman in a Church, the family loses the last piece of their Jewish identity - the progeny of their son will not be Jewish.
Tired of commercialism and looking to find new meaning of life, the couple decides to emigrate to Israel. Gisèle needs to crash the car given to her by Alain to show the seriousness of her intentions.
The movie shows quite well Israeli environment. Skilled crooks co-exist together with kind and generous families, ready to share with the newcomers the scarce goods they have themselves. The line of people bringing to Gaashes various household items is a very touching moment.
Gisèle finds someone who calls himself a "Rabbi" - may be a rare case of a Reform Rabbi, or, more likely, just a fake. This "Rabbi", while throwing high theological concepts to a newcomer who is not ready to comprehend them is just a show-off, who goes for mixed dancing forbidden by the Jewish law, smokes weed and doesn't mind having an affair with a married woman, which is prohibited even stricter. But Gisèle intuitively understands that the "Rabbi" is a joke and does not fall for him.
Another important episode in Alain's life is a circumcision. Many adults coming to Israel undertake it. The movies erroneously claims that no anesthesia is allowed during the procedure.
Alain finds a job as a car washer, rather than a doctor. This change affected so many immigrants to Israel. There are stories of cleaning ladies in the Knesset saving lives due to their training as doctors, and security guards solve famous Math tasks, earning various prizes and awards. Alain goes through that route as well.
Without re-telling the whole movie, the final scene is devoted to the dilemma: to stay in Israel with inferior job on inferior pay under inferior circumstances, or to return to France and to regain the prosperity and familiar conditions.
At the end, Alain and Gisèle decide to stay in Israel, like many others. What keeps them there, the warmth of many Israelis, the built-in optimism so explicitly felt in the country, a hope for a better future or the instinctive love Jews may feel for The Land of Israel - we may only guess. But they stay.
This movie is not a French comedy, and neither it is a thriller. It is a movie where serious philosophical picture is hidden behind tiny comedies and dramas. I think the movie is grossly under-rated. Enjoy it!
Sabah (2005)
Everybody dancing?
I expected this movie to start where it ended: How do the Arab Muslim family and the Arab Muslim community react on intermarriage of a Muslim girl to a Christian/Atheist father. Such marriages are forbidden in Islam, because the children of such marriages are not considered Muslims.
In lands governed by Islamists, both the boy and the girl would risk to be killed. If lucky, they could get lashes, or be thrown to jail. These sad stories are neither rare, nor new, and hardly make into news.
The real question is the TRUE reaction of Canadian Arab community: will they ostracize the brother, as he is the only one who really wants to be a part of it? Does brother want to ignore the native community for the sake of joining the wide Canadian society? Or, Stephen just converted to Islam under the guidance of the "Islam for Dummies" and that solved the puzzle? The movie did not provide answers for any of these questions.
Ken Park (2002)
Excellent movies about teenagers tragedies
The movie is about teenagers, in essence still being kids, trying to cope with serious problems of their surrounding by engaging in sex. The lack of basic love, respect and understanding push kids to each other, and the only thing that can give them warmth is sex.
Abuse of Shawn by his girlfriend's mother. Abusive father, a drunkard and a bum, sexually attacking another boy. Crazy father, seeing only his dead wife in his daughter and preventing the new events from coming into their lives.
It is a great movie, and it is a pity that only sexual scenes came on the radar of the people in charge.
I gave it 10 out of 10.
El otro (2007)
Psyhological drama
This is a deeply psychological drama, free from any action. Slow movement with separate episodes forming a puzzle.
Subtly and from various episodes, the movie constructs a picture of a man, who at some point was abandoned by his mom, and his dad became and remains his only real affection. The son barely speaks to his mom. The affection father - son is mutual and exclusive for anybody else, even for girlfriends/wife. Some females do appear in the picture, but they do not have his love extended to them, even after intimacies take place.
The father is sick, and the son is emotionally engrossed into the thinking of death. He runs away from an evening in the bar. He comes to the funeral of a stranger he met on the bus to see how it looks like to be dead. He rents hotel rooms under the names of deceased men, and nobody comes to question him - because those men are already forgotten! He still wants to fight death, even when the dying person is an old lady, not particularly attractive while unconsciously spread on her bed in her underwear. The hero is disgusted by the view, but performs CPR and saves her life.
The final exchange - a small number of words - serves as a key to the whole movie.