Kumare is a riveting documentary that unfortunately does not achieve what it sets out to conquer. The filmmaker does not believe in organized religion. Or rather, he loathes self-help gurus that end up creating cult-like followers, aggrandizing their leaders. The filmmaker is unique in how he perceives the West’s gradual wholesale rejection of its religion, and its migration toward Eastern....

Does anyone really know what they are doing? Are those who seem to have a handle on things only kidding themselves? The Giant Mechanical Man does not try to answer this question specifically. It paints a picture of two 30 somethings who are aimless, literally wandering through life. It is hinted that their aimlessness is at least contributed to their existentialism about their meaning in the....

Sometimes, a film tries too hard to be a film. Smoke has dialogue that is incredibly stiff. It makes one wonder if this was a screenplay adaptation of a play or a novel. But it isn’t. The dialogue is simply trying to be what it thinks dialogue in a film is.   The drama too is too self-conscious. Characters do not actually reveal themselves in a natural and organic way. How can they....