Himmat 

Middle school best friends reunite in middle age - Magalie is a chaotic free spirit “freeloader”, Blandine is a divorcée “sourpuss” with severe depression. The Palm Beach Film Festival opening night was glamorous for “Two Tickets to Greece”, the first screening of the French film in the United States.

It doesn’t offer an absolute answer for the dialectical ethical questions that emerged in search of justice but portrays the characters as living people beyond the identities of victims.

If the message here is that without a support system, grieving people turn into monsters, it’s not really well-delivered and may be flawed as a message itself.

‘Better Than Chocolate’ isn’t perfect, but it sure has charm! The characters are great. Some took longer to grow on me than others, but ultimately they’re all compelling! I appreciate how a select few help those around them to grow.

In Saudi Arabia, a little girl (Wadjda) is told she can't have a bike because she's a girl. Wadjda struggles to obtain a bicycle to race her friend, Abdullah, due to the gender inequality and cultural norms of Saudi Arabia.

“And I think to myself….what a wonderful world”. Louis Armstrong sang about this notion via his classic 1967 song, an ode to witnessing elements of our life that should be but some reminders of exactly what that concluding line of each verse indicates. Now we see our contemporary realities and, just being honest, it makes a sentiment like this seem SO overtly far away….perhaps even impossible….to accept or believe could be. It sounds harsh, but again, so much of what is occurring speaks not to beauty, but bedlam.