Movies: Puzzle, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Cakemaker

Puzzle

This is a fresh intimate look as the family characters one by one reveal their heartfelt aspirations to one another.  It is also about two jigsaw puzzle buffs that accidentally find each other and join a puzzle club competition.

Once again, here is a film that blazes its own trail.  And again, it’s the script and acting that makes the story work.  Irfan Khan (his full name is Saahabzaade Irfan Ali Khan) plays an affluent competitive puzzle enthusist.  Kelly Macdonald plays the family wife and mother.  David Denman is the family father.  Austin Abrams plays the son Gabe and Bubba Weileris his brother Ziggy.

We won’t reveal any more as it might say too much.  Let’s simply say this film is unique.

Audiences and critics liked this film.  So did we.  It is rated R for language.  It is listed as a Drama with a run time of 103 minutes.  We feel this film is suitable for viewers 14 and older.

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Let’s get directly to the point.  This film is about gay conversion therapies on teenagers and/or young adults.  It’s actually hard to believe such places still exist.  Why not electric shock therapy or blood letting?!  Let’s face the facts, these places continue to exist because some part of our society still believes homosexuality is a treatable condition and can “be fixed”.

In this movie set in 1993, two high school girls are discovered in the back of a car on prom night.  Teenager Cameron is sent away to a remote conversion therapy camp where those in charge assume a strict religious coersion along with a program of self hatred and humiliation as the catalysts for reform towards “normal behavior.”

The acting helps redeem the concept flaws.  Excellent performances by several younger actors include Chloe Grace Moretz as Cameron Post.  Sasha Lane plays Jane as fellow inmate along with Forrest Goodluck, Quinn Shephard, Emily Skeggs and Christopher Dylan White.

While enjoying a Grand Jury Award at Sundance, this film has been in limited release.  The film is not rated.  It is listed as a Drama with a run time of 90 minutes.

While much of this story is difficult to watch, it is well produced and is a good example of the “evolution of sexual therapy” still in use today.

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The Cakemaker

We were so glad this film was still in the theaters upon our return from Wisconsin.  Thank you San Francisco movie goers whose attendance kept this film around just a bit longer than usual.

It is a well crafted, bitter sweet film about a German baker from Berlin who falls in love with an Israeli businessman during his repeated trips to Berlin.  The baker tries to contact the businessman to no avail.  The baker learns from his friends office he died suddenly in a car accident.

Grief stricken, the baker travels to Jerusalem to learn more about his friend’s life.  He discovers the grieving wife at her small pastry shop.  Soon they become friends and the shop flourishes with new pastries from the baker.

It is a heart wrenching story about love, loss, discovery, acceptance, trust and grief.  The cast is small: Tim Kalkhof is exceptional as the baker.  Sarah Adler is the widow.  Roy Miller is the businessman.  Zohar Shtrauss is Sarah’s Uncle.  There are a handful of other characters rounding out the cast.

This film is not rated.  It is listed as a Drama.  We think this film is suitable for mature moviegoers over 14.  The run time is 105 minutes.  English, Hebrew and German with English subtitles.

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