The movie is based on a book written by Stephen Hawking’s ex-wife who relates their years together. I loved the movie but thought there was probably much more detail in the book so I ordered it from the library. Eddie Redmayne, the actor who played Hawking, won an academy award for his performance.
I didn’t like the movie nearly as much as Pat did; he raved about it to friends but I thought it was okay but not great. It was nice to see Michael Keaton again but the plot line didn’t move me. An actor, who played the super hero Birdman for many years, tries to come to terms with aging and his loss of the limelight as he struggles to move his career to the theatre.
I only knew the basics regarding the civil rights movement in the States, and I didn’t remember that Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize. The movie focuses on Martin Luther King’s march from Selma to Montgomery to protest the lack of voting rights for African-Americans. The story takes us through the planning stages of the march, multiple meetings with the President, the attack on the marchers as they cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and finally, their triumphant and legal march into Montgomery.
February 22, 2015
The last movie on the last day of the festival was a feature-length animation that involved over 30,000 drawings. The filmmaker delves into her family history and uncovers a number of cases of suicide and mental illness, beginning with her grandmother. While exploring these cases we get a brief history of Latvia and the Soviet medical system. Although the subject matter is dark, I thought her words were a good portrayal of the pain that is suffered by people living with depression.