GENERATION P REVEALS THE FIRST DECADE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION When Generation P begins, Russians are content taking sunbaths at a seaside resort. Everyone is secure with a job and a residence. Then Boris Yeltsin pulls Russia out of the Soviet Union. Economic and social chaos follow. The hero of the film, Babylen Tatarsky (played […]
WON’T BACK DOWN IS NOT FRONT AND CENTER ABOUT SOLUTIONS Compulsory public education began in part to serve the demands for literate workers in the early industrial revolution. Nowadays, the presumed purpose is to provide a path to social mobility in a country with much less social mobility than was once the case. Those for
ARBITRAGE PORTRAYS THE NARCISSISM OF A BILLIONAIRE Prospective filmviewers may expect to learn a little more about the craft of arbitrage in a film of the same title. Instead, 50-year-old billionaire Robert Miller (played by Richard Gere) has many irons in the fire. He took out a loan that he cannot pay back. He is
THE MASTER DEMONSTRATES HOW A CULT CAN DEVELOP It is 1950. Freddie Quell (played by Joaquin Phoenix), recently discharged as a naval sergeant, has undiagnosed post-traumatic stress syndrome and seeks to drown his stress with alcohol until he runs into Lancaster Todd (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), who has developed a therapy that might help
The Campaign, directed by Jay Roach, pits Cam Brady (played by Will Ferrell) against Marty Huggins (played by Zach Galifianakis), vying for victory in a Republican primary election for a Congressional seat in North Carolina. The aim of the film is to expose corruption in American politics today, especially the way in which moneyed interests
After the Wizard, directed by the screenwriter Hugh Gross, is presumed to be a sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s story of 1900, which had a profound political meaning at the time. After all, Baum wrote thirteen sequels. But neither adults nor children will enjoy Gross’s nonsequitur nonsequel. Whereas
China Heavyweight (Qian chui bai lian), directed by Yung Chang, starts from 1979, when the People’s Republic of China first allowed the sport of boxing. (Previously, boxing was considered a decadent Western sport.) Similar to the United States, the less advantaged take up the sport as a way to advance themselves. But there the similarity
Farewell, My Queen (Les adieus à la reine), directed by Benoit Jacquot, appears to focus on Queen Marie Antoinette (played by Diane Kruger) but actually develops the character of fictional Léa Seydoux (played by Sidonie Laborde), who is the queen’s story reader. But there is not much to develop, as she does whatever she is
Sacrifice (Zhao shi gu er), directed by Chen Kaige, takes filmviewers back to the era of feudal China, when struggles for power occurred at the provincial level. The film, also known as The Flowers of War, is based on an opera from 583 bce. When the film begins, military leader Tu-Angu (played by Wang Xueqi)
POLISSE MAY ARREST YOUR ATTENTION Although most Parisians would not enjoy experiencing what is presented in Polisse, the film nevertheless won a Jury award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. Directed by Maïwenn (who also plays a cop, Mélissa), several child abuse cases are presented one after another, featuring victims, pedophiles, and the police