The Rare Review - Movies, books, music and TV

Look God-Ward, Angel: The Movie, “Angels of Sin”

On March 14, 2026

In Robert Bresson‘s first feature film, Angels of Sin (1943), which I saw on YouTube, righteous behavior intersects with the worldly behavior of a desperate soul. Here, a zealous young nun, Anne-Marie (Renee Faure), tries to Christianly love a female ex-con (Jany Holt) taking refuge in Anne-Marie’s convent. Unknown to the convent sisters, she is there after having committed a murder.

Less oddly directed than Bresson’s later films, Angels is also less spiritually vivid and resonant, and is far from first-rate. It is a serious picture, though, and does well in showing the distinctive lives of nuns. To my mind, frankly, it is about the impossibility of saintliness (but not sacrifice), albeit we also infer from it that the devout life is a good life.

(In French with English subtitles)

Naughty Society: Renoir’s “The Rules of the Game”

By EarlD

On March 5, 2026

In General

Poster for ”La Règle du jeu, directed by Jean Renoir (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the late 1930s, film artist Jean Renoir was not happy with French society, which he exposed in La Regle du jeu (1939)—The Rules of the Game—as unserious and self-seeking and infernally adulterous. Curiously, class distinctions take a step back (both Christine and her chambermaid cheat on their husbands), but the camaraderie we see is usually limited to one’s own class. And yet this camaraderie, such as that between Christine and Genevieve de Marras, quickly departs, and certainly without it, there is mayhem.

For all this, The Rules of the Game is a “pleasant” movie (Renoir’s word, translated); it is pronouncedly comical. It is a classic, made so partly by some excellent acting. Marcel Dalio, for example, looks right as the Marquis Robert, but is also unerring with the character’s casual decadence and tired vigor. Mila Parely, another example, cleverly plays Genevieve, the marquis’s mistress, displaying a range of emotion as admirable as her poise. But why was Rules Renoir’s last great film?

(In French with English subtitles)

Celebrate? “The President’s Cake”

By EarlD

On February 28, 2026

In Movies

The President’s Cake (2025) takes place in the early 1990s, just after the first Gulf War. Said President is Saddam Hussein. Directed and scripted by Hasan Hadi, the film concerns poverty—and, to a lesser extent, the consequences of war—in Saddam’s Iraq. Baneen Ahmed Nayyef is compelling and touching as 9-year-old Lamia, required at school to bake tyrannical Saddam a birthday cake. But she and her grandmother may be unable to find and purchase ingredients for it, and in any case a more serious matter has arisen in that Granny has grown too old to properly care for Lamia.

The film’s narrative is well-written, absorbing. There is suspense in an unsettling scene where a sinister watch seller tries to lure Lamia into a room in which a movie is allegedly being shown. Technically accomplished, Cake offers smart cinematography (for a grave picture) by Tudor Vladimir Panduru and is effectively directed and edited. It is an outstanding work. I don’t care that it was a Cannes favorite, only that it is one of my favorites for ’25.

Mean Fanatics In “Infidel”

By EarlD

On February 24, 2026

In Movies

Filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh has a low opinion of Islamist militants. No wonder. In his 2019 action film Infidel, they kidnap and torture an American journalist (Jim Caviezel) after he publicly remarks that Jesus Christ is God. Nowrasteh’s disturbing The Stoning of Soraya M. is set in Iran; this movie is set in Cairo but involves Iranian terrorists. The director is of Iranian descent, and to him Iran is a dreadful, far-reaching enemy. . . Infidel has limited appeal, but I think it’s enjoyable. Caviezel is one among many spot-on actors here. It is, in addition, an un-preachy Christian film and entertainment.

Holofcener Again (Good), In 2023

By EarlD

On February 19, 2026

In Movies

It can be nice to hear lies about oneself, bad to hear incivility. In Nicole Holofcener‘s You Hurt My Feelings (2023), people certifiably hear both.

Herein: “A novelist’s longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband giving his honest reaction to her latest book” (imdb).

But Holofcener, who wrote and directed this comedy-drama, is not pretentious. She declines to make the “upending” worse than it actually would be and is intent to frequently amuse us. We do shake our heads over human behavior, though. Feelings is seamlessly made with appealing performances by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Arian Moayed and plenty of others. It’s better written, I believe, than the director’s Please Give. The film reminds us that human approval is not easily had; ah, but the piece easily has mine.