All Shall Be Well (Ray Yeung, Hong Kong, 2024) Recently screened at the London Film Festival October 2024 Review by Khalid Ali, Film and Media correspondent The opening scenes of All Shall Be Well encapsulate several of the key contributory factors for healthy ageing. Pat (Maggie Li Lin Lin) and Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) […]
Tag: film review
The Process of Healing from PTSD: Rebuilding and Sharing with the World
Love and Trouble (Amy Hardie, UK, 2024), premiered in Dokumentale Film Festival, Berlin October 2024. Review by Robert Abrams, Emeritus Professor, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York. Love and Trouble, a documentary film, portrays Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as it affects two protagonists: Kenneth, after repeated wartime experiences in combat; and Kerry, after an emotionally scarring […]
United in Grief
Review by Khalid Ali, film and media correspondent When the Light Breaks (Ljósbrot) (Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland, 2024) Showing at the LFF 16th and 17th October 2024 Research that explores the impact on adolescents of the sudden death of their peers is scarce.1 Rúnar Rúnarsson masterfully addresses this gap in ‘When the light breaks,’ […]
Deconstructing Empathy in Saudi Film ‘The Night Courier’ (Mandoob)
‘Mandoob’ (The Night Courier), Ali Kalthami, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2023 In UK cinemas from Friday 30th August 2024 Review by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent Empathy is a desirable quality in all healthcare professionals. In a seminal article Decety argues that educationalists and learners should start by approaching the sometimes-amorphous concept of ‘empathy’ […]
“How Much Would They Give for a Heart?”
Film Review by Robert Abrams, Emeritus Professor, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York ‘Dirty Difficult Dangerous’ (Wissam Charaf, Lebanon, 2023) Dirty Difficult Dangerous opens as Ahmed (Ziad Jallad), a young Syrian refugee, walks the streets of Beirut, calling out the Arabic refrain of “Iron! Copper! Batteries” in the hope of exchanging old metal parts for cash. […]
“Pennies from Heaven”: Resilience in the Time of Covid
‘Back Home’ (Sara Shazli, Egypt, 2021) Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Emeritus Professor, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York As with all good art, the film Back Home can offer rewards from more than one perspective, but to this viewer the film is chiefly the portrait of a resilient older man who employs self-deprecating […]
Tears on Tears: A Career Built on the Tragedies of Others
Tár (Todd Field, USA, 2022) Review by Franco Ferrarini, gastroenterologist, and film reviewer Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is a world-famous conductor. Her fame is not just due to her achieving the prestigious position of being the director of the Berlin Philharmonic, but also for being the first female chief conductor reaching this position. However, she […]
The Paradox of Memory
Film Review of Memory (Michel Franco, USA, 2023) by Dr Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent Film is on UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 23.2.2024, https://memoryfilm.uk/ Michel Franco, award-winning Mexican film director (figure 1), is a keen observer of the nature and dynamics of relationships between ailing patients and their paid carers. In ‘Chronic’ […]
In Dementia, Does Truth Matter?
Review of ‘I’m Not From Here (Yo No Soy de Aquί)’ Directed by Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zickte, Chile, 2016 Film Review by Robert Abrams, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York I’m Not From Here is an arresting short film directed by the Chilean team of Maite Alberdi and Giedre Zicte. […]
Fifty Years of Scary Scanners: Time to Exorcise a Movie Cliché?
Blog by Michael Jackson, Chair British Society for the History of Radiology (BSHR), and Arpan K Banerjee, Chair International Society for the History of Radiology (ISHRAD) This year, 2023, saw the passing of acclaimed movie director William Friedkin, whose films include The French Connection (1971), and Sorcerer (1977), and To live and die in LA […]