Tokyo! is a trilogy of short films that is intended to shed light on the largest city in Japan. The first segment, Interior Design (directed by Michel Gondry), shows the difficulty of moving to the city, finding a parking place, and landing a job. The third minifilm, Hikikomori (directed by Bong Joon-ho), focuses on someone with social anxiety. What is […]
PIRATE RADIO DEPICTS BRITAIN ALIVE WITH POP MUSIC IN 1966 In 1966, pop music flowered, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and other artists from Britain. However, BBC refused to play the music because the government believed that those who heard the music were lowering standards, not just in music but also in coiffure and
AMELIA PORTRAYS A PUBLICITY HOUND DYING IN OBSCURITY Amelia Earhart died somewhere between New Guinea and Howland Island during 1937. The biopic Amelia, directed by Mira Nair, explains that she (played by Hilary Swank) has a passion to fly but no money to pursue that career until she runs into George Putnam (played by Richard
PRECIOUS FEATURES A REJECTED CHILD WHO MAKES GOOD At the beginning of Precious (played by Gabourey Sidibe), the schoolchild Precious is booted from school because the authorities believe that her overweight condition is a sign that she is pregnant. She then goes to an alternative school, where the teacher asks students to verbalize, both out
THE MESSENGER TELEGRAMS WHAT BUSH & CHENEY AVOIDED–AND OBAMA’S DILEMMA Prior to the Iraq War, telegrams notified the next of kin (NOK) of deaths in war. Now, two uniformed soldiers of the Casualty Notification Service quickly contact a NOK as soon as the death has been confirmed because otherwise the press will be the first
A SERIOUS MAN SHOULD BE TAKEN, WELL, SERIOUSLY—BUT THERE IS TRAGICOMEDY, TOO The title of the film A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is what a rabbi says in praise of a deceased gentleman at a funeral. The year is 1967. Professor Larry Gopnik (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) is teaching, grading papers,
MICHAEL MOORE’S CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY REVIVES THE SECOND BILL OF RIGHTS An exposé of the causes of the current economic crisis, the main agenda of Capitalism: A Love Story is to plug for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights, which Moore believes could have avoided Wall Street’s coup of the American government that
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AMREEKA DEPICTS PALESTINIAN IMMIGRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES A mother and son on the West Bank have long dreamed of life in Amreeka (the Arabic word for America). One day they receive approval to immigrate, thanks to a lottery drawing, but the letter arrives close to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Muna Farah
IN THE LOOP DEFECATES ON TWO AWARD-WINNING TELEVISION SERIES The British television comedy series Yes, Minister (1980-1984) and its successor Yes, Prime Minister (1986-1987) is a masterpiece of political satire that exposes how the British bureaucracy runs the government. A cowriter, Jonathan Lynn, later tried his hand at satirizing and exposing American politics by directing