‘Rojo’ is an unconventional, smoldering slow burn

“Rojo” – It’s 1975 in Argentina.  Looking back at history, but looking forward within writer/director Benjamin Naishtat’s film, a right-wing coup will overthrow Argentina’s President Isabel Peron in a move called the “National Reorganization Process” in March 1976. So, in 1975, the country’s politics are uncertain, but life still goes on.  Adults work.  Kids learn in school.  Families enjoy harmony and also fall into disagreements.  Households pay their mortgages. Couples go out to dinner. It’s a lovely early evening, and Claudio (Dario Grandinetti) – a prominent lawyer who everyone in…

Veterans Day double-feature that faces PTSD in the 21st century

In honor of our veterans, AHFW recommends two sobering films that may have slipped past you in the theatres.  These pictures cope with post-traumatic stress disorder in the 21st century, and they are both available on Amazon Prime. “Thank You for Your Service” (2017) – Three young Iraq War veterans and friends return home to Kansas, but realize that they carried invisible, cerebral scars back from the Middle East.  Director Jason Hall and actors Miles Teller, Beulah Koale, and Joe Cole raise PSTD awareness in 2017 with their grounded, heartbreaking…

‘Jojo Rabbit’ successfully walks a comedic and emotional tightrope

“Jojo Rabbit” –  Taika Waititi is an immensely talented and creative actor, writer and director, but he needs to add tightrope walker to his resume, because he pulls off an impossible balancing act with his new film “Jojo Rabbit”. Set in Germany during the last throes of WWII, Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), 10, is a devoted member of the Hitler Youth, but he discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their home, which throws his little fanatical mind for a loop. On the surface,…