For all those cineastes who miss seeing work from the likes of Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett, and the rest of the “theatre of the absurd” gang, take heart. The new Israeli dark dramedy film “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” is a worthy semantics-laden candidate to warm the cockles of your heart.

The melodrama cleverly written and directed by the brother-sister team of Ronit Elkabertz and Shlomi Elkabertz introduces to non-Israeli audiences the complicated nature of its legal system concerning marriage and divorce. In theocracies, religious law trumps all varieties of civil law procedures that are common in most other countries. In Israel there is neither civil marriage nor civil divorce. Only rabbis can legitimize a marriage or a dissolution. But this dissolution is only possible with the full consent of the husband (oh,oh), and herein lies the story and plotline of the movie.

The film opens in a courtroom setting where Viviane Amsalem (Ronit Elkabertz) has been applying for a divorce from her husband Elisha (Sasson Gabai) for three years. She is represented by her lawyer Carmel Ben-Tovim (Menashe Noy), who presents her case and legal papers to a three rabbi tribunal led by head rabbi (Eli Gorenstein). These three gentlemen will eventually adjudicate Viviane’s petition

Needless to say, all parties are extremely frustrated after three years of continuances, and delays as all wait to bring closure to Viviane’s petition. Everyone that is, except Elisha, Viviane’s husband, who keeps saying No, I don’t want a divorce. The main sticking point is Elisha’s continuing refusal to agree to the divorce. He just keeps saying “no” every time the rabbinical court tries to bring an agreement to the proceedings. He has been placed in jail for contempt of court rulings, but each time when the case begins again, he merely says “No” and it’s back to square one. Under the law Elisha has more power than the rabbinical court.

Witnesses come and go and the trial keeps being delayed in order for the court and the parties involved “to agree” to Viviane’s petition. If you thought American lawyers were “continuance happy”, wait until you observe an Israeli rabbinical court in action. Semantics and Talmudic scholarly exchanges take place as the tribunal argue among themselves as to how to proceed. It’s an eye opening experience for Western cultured democracies.

The brilliant and incisive script borrows a page from the theatre of the absurd in laying out a simple, straightforward premise – a divorce petition – and then observes how the film’s characters attempt to untie the Gordian Knot situation the court and Viviane find themselves in.

The wonderful, understated, performances of Elkabertz and Gabai are what drives the film narrative. Thanks to the notoriety and success of the film, Israel may reexamine some of its country’s laws concerning marriage and divorce or dissolution.

According to sources close to the producers, “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem” could be in selected American theatres this summer. Bring your sense of humor and a lot of patience.

“Lucky Stiff”, a cute musical farce written by Lynn Ahrens; adapted from Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s stage book-musical “Lucky Stiff”, is delightfully and deftly directed by Christopher Ashley (Yes, that Chris Ashley who is also the artistic director of the prestigious La Jolla Playhouse).

The newly adapted movie version revolves, in short, around a young down-and-out, mousey British shoe salesman Harry Witherspoon (a winning performance by Dominic Marsh) who takes his dead American Uncle (a sedated (?) live actor who mustn’t make a false move played by Don Amendola) – a murdered Vegas casino manager to Monte Carlo – for the best time of his life, even though he’s dead. Shades of “Weekend at Bernie’s”.

If Harry fulfills his uncle’s request to the letter of a week of fun, dancing, gambling and sun – naturally, with lithe, bikini-clad young lovelies – Harry will inherit $ 6 million left to him. If he doesn’t, the money will go to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. Need I say more about the plot/synopsis? The fun is how they go about fulfilling all of the requirements and plot twists necessary to pull the job off, so to speak.

That delicious task falls to the creative mind of director Chris Ashley who is blessed with a wonderful cast of solid professional farceurs led by Jason Alexander as Dr. Vinnie Di Ruzzio; Pamela Shaw as Rita LaPorta Vinnie’s sister and lover to Harry’s Uncle; Nikki St. James as Annabel Glick, the love interest of Harry/Marsh; Juliet Mills as Miss Thorsby; and the late Dennis Farina, both of whom turn in little cameo gems.

I had the opportunity to chat briefly with both Ashley and Shaw concerning the making of the film during interviews at the PS Film Festival. Excerpts are from two separate interviews, one from Pam Shaw who explains how shy Dennis Farina was during the filming of their scenes. “He was such a warm sweet guy. Not the hard-boiled characters he played in dozens of TV and movie roles. “True, she continues, “he was a real-life Chicago Police Lieutenant before becoming a professional actor. But he was a well-liked colleague who will be sorely missed. I loved our scenes together.” In a moment of candor, her voice dropping a little lower, she says, “I have the privilege of sharing the last screen kiss with a wonderful actor, Dennis Farina.” Farina passed away not long after the film wrapped.

In Ashley’s brief interview, he explains how he was drawn to the project. As the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse near San Diego, Ashley has commissioned work from Ahrens and Flaherty in the past, and knew that Lynn was adapting their stage book-musical of the same name; preparing to craft the vehicle into a musical screenplay. “It was sent me and I’ve always loved the musicals of the 1960’s. I knew it would be a fun experience; light comedy/farce, with gorgeous costumes and a farcical plot by writers I know and respect, and I said Yes, Let’s do it”.

One doesn’t have to don a thinking cap in order to understand the improbable plotline of “Lucky Stiff” in order enjoy the music and lyrics cleverly interwoven as dialogue in the telling of the story. Just go with the flow and the high energy performances of the actors. “Lucky Stiff” will find itself in general release later this summer.

“Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains”, is a first in many categories for the emerging and fledgling movie industry of Kyrgzstan, in Central Asia. It took the vision of former Kyrgzstan politician Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, who harbored the desire from boyhood to become a motion picture director to take the plunge; leaving behind a successful career in Kyrgzstan political life, and strike out to become a film director.

Following a two-year post graduate course in screenwriting and directing in Moscow, Sher-Niyaz returned to his native Kyrgzstan, and founded the film production company Aitysh Film in 2006. For his debut as a director he chose to film the epic story of his country’s most iconic citizen, Kurmanjan Datka, a young village woman who rose from a tribal village to become the leader of her country during the middle 1800’s just as Imperial Russia was expanding its influence into central Asia and beyond.

His filmmaking colleagues were skeptical that such an epic film could made by any in-country production company. The story would be too sweeping and difficult to recreate on film; especially with the proposed limited budget of only $1.5 million available to capture the scope of the project. Undaunted by naysayers, Sher-Niyaz forged ahead shooting his historical movie over a two-year period requiring a seven month shooting schedule, with the majority of the filming taking place in the Kyrgzstan mountains during all type of weather conditions.

The result of efforts by almost 10,000 volunteers as extras and dozens of technical crews made the film the largest budgeted film that Kyrgzstan has produced. There are more than 50 speaking roles. The pay-off is a gorgeously photographed movie with pristine locations and settings with the sweep, style and excitement of Sher-Niyaz’s favorite director the great David Lean.

The story of Kurmanjan Datka is portrayed by four actors divided into four time frames. A young (5 year-old) who mystics and prophets predicted would become a great leader of her country. In the next section we follow the beautiful 23 year-old Elina Abai Kyzy who portrays the Kurmanjan becoming Datka or General or Leader of her country, the first woman in Asia to become a leader of a country. She lived to be 96 years-old.

It’s a story about the choices people make in life that drives the narrative, according to director Sher-Niyaz. I had the opportunity to briefly interview director Sher-Nivaz and his star of the film Elina Abai Kyzy during the PSIFF through a translator, although director Sher-Niyaz does speak some English.

The casting process, according to Sher-Niyaz “… involved more than 500 male actors for the speaking roles and 200 professional female actresses for the major roles covering the events in the Kurmanjan Datka’s life.” In the case of Elina Abai Kykz, the stunning-looking, raven-haired, statuesque beauty (almost six foot tall) this is her seventh film. The camera loves her and when she sits astride a horse and rides she cuts quite a striking eye-capturing figure, indeed. The action scenes involving her, soldiers, and battles scenes make for sharp and exciting camera work. I ask through the translator her if she is studying English to further her career. “That’s one of the first things I’m going to do when I get back home”, she replied. Not only is she beautiful and can act, she has a lovely modulated voice that sounds like golden honey when speaking. She definitely has a future in world cinema if she chooses to continue with her acting career. She has a new film project coming out in March of this year. I just hope she doesn’t abandon those English lessons in the meantime.

When I asked director Sher-Niyaz what is next on his schedule, he says “I’m thinking of making the Kurmanjan saga into a trilogy. There are so many facets to the Kumanjan Datka story, and each facet is a film story waiting to be told.” The Kyrgzstan film industry and the film“Kurmanjan Datka”, is an auspicious beginning on both accounts.

There are limits to freedom of expression when religion is insulted, Pope Francis has said in reference to the cartoons in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. However, he also pointed out that killing in God’s name is an “absurdity.”

Francis spoke to reporters on a flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines.

Answering questions on the Paris attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, he said that freedom of expression was a “fundamental human right” like freedom of religion, but it should be exercised “without giving offense,” the Catholic News Service reports.

“One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith,” Francis said, adding that every religion “has its dignity.”

The Pope said that one can react violently when being offended. He offered an example, referring to his trip planner saying that if his “great friend says a swear word against my mother, then he is going to get a punch. But it’s normal, it’s normal.”

However he added that “one cannot offend, make war, kill in the name of one’s own religion, that is, in the name of God.”

In the wake of the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices over its Prophet Muhammad caricatures, the satirical magazine published a record 3 million copies of its new edition Wednesday. The latest cover depicted the Prophet crying. Pope Francis was among other figures caricatured in the magazine.

The new cartoons triggered outrage among Muslims all over the world, and threats from radical Islamists.

READ MORE: ‘Act of war’: New Charlie Hebdo edition triggers Muslims’ anger, threats

In his annual foreign policy address to Vatican-based ambassadors on Monday, Pope Francis condemned the Paris attacks that killed 17 people last week.

He said they were the result of a “throwaway culture” where people and God are rejected outright.

The Pope denounced religious fundamentalism that inspired the perpetrators of the killings.

“Religious fundamentalism, even before it eliminates human beings by perpetrating horrendous killings, eliminates God himself, turning him into a mere ideological pretext,” he said.

Cheering crowds met Pope Francis in the capital, Manila, on Thursday as he began his first visit to Asia’s largest Catholic nation. Ahead of his visit, Manila launched one of the biggest security operations in years as previous pontiffs have been targets of assassination attempts during their visits to the country.

Francis told reporters during his flight to the Philippines that he had decided to canonize St. Joseph Vaz, a 17th- and 18th-century missionary to Sri Lanka, without going through the usual process, including verification of a second miracle attributed to the saint’s intercession.

War as a subject matter is a staple of the American film industry. And with good reason. War has always been a hard-core cash cow for business and for those who toil in its vineyards. That’s probably why we continue to find the genre on movie screens around the world. America, however, has experienced relatively few “wars” on its own soil, as compared to those of Europe. The scars of numerous regional conflicts and war run deep in Europe, a continent weary of war, especially after the horror that was WW II.

“Tangerines”, Estonia’s Official 2014 Oscar submission film that screened at the recent Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), intelligently, and sensitively written and directed by Zaza Urushadze lays out the hfolly of war using the 1992 Georgian vs. Chechen rebels.as the players in a war designed by others.

There have been Estonian settlements on the Caucasian Black Sea coast for over one hundred years. The conflict, however, forced the majority of Estonian to return to the country of their forefathers. What remained behind were ghost towns with just a handful of Estonians who refused to leave.

When a battle takes place near a rural village, Ivo (superbly played by Lembit Ulfsak) and his friend Margus (Elmo Nuganer) end up caring for two of the combatants who have been seriously wounded. Chechen mercenary Ahmed (menacingly played by Giorgi Nakashidze), and Georgian soldier Niko (portrayed by Mikheil Meskki) discover each other in Ivo’s house while recovering. Ivo soon realizes that housing deadly enemies is not easy. His solution is to calmly declare his home a diplomatic neutral zone, in order to force both of the opponents to survive.

A truce settles over the house as the fighters keep eyeing one another waiting for a chance to settle a score. In the meantime, a Chechen Rebel group on patrol stops at Ivo’s house to check on the recent battle damage. Both Ahmed and Niko say nothing to the rebel commander in charge. Ivo reassures the commander that everything is okay. Once the wounded soldiers recover, they’ll be on their way. And he and Margus can continue to harvest his tangerine crop and then they too, will be on their way out of the war zone.

That’s the long and short of this poignant, cautionary tale of survival under duress in a worn-torn part of the world. The film works most effectively thanks to the deft direction of writer Urushadze and to the excellent cast. I thinks it’s safe to say that the anti-war message of “Tangerines” will not diminish the impact of an intense, well-crafted war movie that, no doubt, will resonate with audiences everywhere.