TWO FILMS FOCUS ON HOW POOR CHILDREN SEE THE WORLD Do filmviewers need to see another film in which a white man brings black boys to the Promised Land? Paramount Pictures, which produces many films focusing on African Americans, evidently thinks so.Based on a true story, as recounted in Daniel Coyle’s Hardball: A Season in […]
Political Film Review #114 Read More »
THAI VOLLEYBALL TEAM TRIUMPHS IN THE IRON LADIES In 1996 a mostly gay Thai volleyball team, the first of its kind, won the national amateur championship. The Iron Ladies (Sa-ree-lex), a film based on the story with clips from some of the games as credits roll, won Audience Awards for best feature film in the
Political Film Review #113 Read More »
COLUMBINE DELAYS A FILM THAT PERHAPS EXPLAINS THE ATMOSPHERE FOR THE MASSACRE O, based on Shakespeare’s Othello with some passages from the Verdi opera, takes place in Palmetto Grove Academy, a prep school in Charleston, South Carolina. The Othello is African American Odin James (played by Mekhi Phifer), a star basketball player on scholarship who
GUNFIRE DROWNS OUT THE PLATITUDES OF POLITICIANS IN COLOMBIA Our Lady of the Assassins (La Virgen de los Sicarios) focuses on Fernando (played by Germán Jaramillo) , who was born in Medellín, Colombia, when it was a peaceful if boring farming community. His literary talents took him to Europe, where presumably he lived a full
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GUNFIRE DROWNS OUT THE PLATITUDES OF POLITICIANS IN COLOMBIA Our Lady of the Assassins (La Virgen de los Sicarios) focuses on Fernando (played by Germán Jaramillo) , who was born in Medellín, Colombia, when it was a peaceful if boring farming community. His literary talents took him to Europe, where presumably he lived a full
Political Film Review #112 Read More »
2001 VERSION FAILS TO APE THE SUCCESS OF THE EARLIER PLANET OF THE APES In 1968, Planet of the Apes emerged as one of the most profound films of all times, raising issues about racial discrimination and nuclear war. Now a retake (not a remake) with a roughly similar plot and a unique surprise ending,
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BORN UNDER LIBRA EXPOSES IRAN’S MORAL MINEFIELD Born Under Libra, directed by Ahmad Reza Darvish, is the latest of several films from Iran that focus on the absurdity of Khomeni-era restrictions in general and the plight of women in particular. Mahtab Peyman (played by Mitra Hajjar) attends a distinguished private university in Tehran where her
BORN UNDER LIBRA EXPOSES IRAN’S MORAL MINEFIELD Born Under Libra, directed by Ahmad Reza Darvish, is the latest of several films from Iran that focus on the absurdity of Khomeni-era restrictions in general and the plight of women in particular. Mahtab Peyman (played by Mitra Hajjar) attends a distinguished private university in Tehran where her
Political Film Review #111 Read More »
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CODDLES PARENTS WHO ABUSE ADOPTED CHILDREN Director Stanley Kubrick wanted filmviewers to leave a cinema with profound questions, not answers. When he started Artificial Intelligence, he again had existential puzzles in mind, but he did not live to finish the project. Steven Spielberg, with whom he communicated about Artificial Intelligence, then took over
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CODDLES PARENTS WHO ABUSE ADOPTED CHILDREN Director Stanley Kubrick wanted filmviewers to leave a cinema with profound questions, not answers. When he started Artificial Intelligence, he again had existential puzzles in mind, but he did not live to finish the project. Steven Spielberg, with whom he communicated about Artificial Intelligence, then took over
Political Film Review #110 Read More »