Silence brings Scorsese’s obsession with theology & suffering near miraculously to the surface

What is the worst thing you could do to yourself, and under what circumstance might such a thing be not only permitted but necessary?

This, in general terms, is the central question of Silence, a long-term passion project by Martin Scorsese and the latest of his works to tackle with the burden of religious conviction.…

Calvary is a profane, heartbreaking spiritual journey

 

There are plenty of filmmaking sibling duos out there – the Coen Brothers, the Dardenne brothers, the Wachowskis – but it’s rare for them to work completely independently of each other.

In 2008, playwright Martin McDonagh made his break into film with In Bruges, a dark comedy about two hitmen hiding out in the Medieval Flemish city; three years later, his brother John Michael McDonagh made his film debut in the form of The Guard, about a hedonistic but thoughtful Connemara constable.…

Life of Pi (or, Piscine’s Wager) is a minor miracle of cinema

 

The first time that Ang Lee’s Life of Pi truly seized my attention, it’s protagonist was skittering across the wind and rain-swept of cargo freighter, shouting to the turbulent heavens like some underage, subaltern Lear.

However, what Piscine Molitor Patel – named for a Parisian swimming pool – sees as God putting on a show is nevertheless deadly: we watch as, on the cargo deck below, we an unknown, faceless sailor is swept overboard by the invading sea.…