For years the U.S. will be either disrespected or hated in most parts of the world for its abandonment of American civilians and Afghan allies in Afghanistan. It will be seen as shockingly weak. And the overall weakness that is there, for various reasons, will drive numerous Americans to despise the Biden administration.

The venerable Bruce Beresford directed the excellent Tender Mercies and Mister Johnson, but knows he made a mistake in concocting King David (1985), a film about the biblical sovereign. An episodic drag, it features a David (Richard Gere) who never proves spiritual—or charismatic—enough, and fails to make many points about his life, such as his longing for Bathsheba, rightly explicit.

Some notable acting beams its way to us, but the voiceover narration adds nothing to KD, which, by the way, is not entirely faithful to the Old Testament text. Further, the only powerful scenes in the film are the violent ones. As I said, Beresford knows the movie is a failure. There are barely any grounds for seeing it.

A 1994 film, Intersection, seems like a modern French picture, does it not? That’s because it is an American remake of a modern French picture, and I would respect it more if it was an original product. It is, even so, a handsome-looking item put together by some talented people. Mark Rydell directed well enough, though he ought to have kept the film from getting soap-operaish. But the scene with a car crash at an intersection is pretty strong, and a couple of other scenes are too.

Richard Gere is exactly right as an architect separated from his wife because of his love for another woman. Sharon Stone gives the wife, Sally, a cool sensitivity and a certain fortitude. Lolita Davidovich is precisely what we would expect to see in an amiable, secular-minded woman, the architect’s mistress. Martin Landau is also absolutely fine.

Intersection shows us the breakthrough of romantic love, whether or not it should break through. Too, it is about death and the personal illusions that sometimes follow. It is a touching version of Les choices de la vie.

A film by Scott Teems, The Quarry (2020) tells a flimsy story about a lawbreaking man (Shea Whigham) who inadvertently kills an alcoholic preacher and then assumes his identity.

Finely, sensitively directed and terrifically acted, the picture summons to the mind the question: Does one person’s forgiveness of another (for something evil) make actual sense? Then again, one of the themes here is the human need for divine or cosmic forgiveness. It seems necessary. Another explored theme is the soul’s clinging (the Bible would call it the flesh’s clinging) to what is wrong, no matter who or what is ruined.

Whigham’s performance is impeccable, and Michael Shannon is a knowing thespian par excellence. Catalina Sandino Moreno‘s acting is an understated pleasure, and Bobby Soto is compelling. Adapted from a novel, The Quarry is fundamentally religious, but in need of a better screenplay,

A film by Scott Teems, The Quarry (2020) tells a flimsy story about a lawbreaking man (Shea Whigham) who inadvertently kills an alcoholic preacher and then assumes his identity.

Finely, sensitively directed and terrifically acted, the picture summons to the mind the question: Does one person’s forgiveness of another (for something evil) make actual sense? Then again, one of the themes here is the human need for divine or cosmic forgiveness. It seems necessary. Another explored theme is the soul’s clinging (the Bible would call it the flesh’s clinging) to what is wrong, no matter who or what is ruined.

Whigham’s performance is impeccable, and Michael Shannon is a knowing thespian par excellence. Catalina Sandino Moreno‘s acting is an understated pleasure, and Bobby Soto is compelling. Adapted from a novel, The Quarry is fundamentally religious, but in need of a better screenplay,