Film

Sunday Film Roundup (6/19/2016)

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Waltz With Bashir (2008)

Director:  Ari Folman

This is an Israeli animated film about the remembrances of veterans of the so-called “First Lebanon War” of the 1980s.  For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982.  The reasons for this are outside the scope of this review, but we can rudely summarize them by pointing to two objectives:  (1) installing a client regime in Beirut, and (2) destroying the PLO as an organization.  At that time, the PLO had basically formed a state-within-a-state in south Lebanon.

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Sunday Film Roundup (6/12/2016)

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Fires On The Plain (1959)

Director:  Kon Ichikawa

The year is 1945, and the setting is the (just barely) Japanese-occupied Philippines.  Japan has been losing the war and its army has been reduced by lack of supplies and manpower.  As things go from bad to worse, discipline breaks down too, and the army begins to resemble a gang of convicts more than a fighting force.  Soon it becomes a brutish fight for survival.

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Sunday Film Roundup (6/5/2016)

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Yes, I’m aware that it’s not yet Sunday.  But so what?  Why wait a day?  Here are some recommendations.

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A Few Recent Movies

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I watch a lot of movies.  You’d be surprised at the ways that movies can generate new ideas in you, or take you in new directions.  I haven’t written any film reviews in a while, so I thought this would be a good time to take a break from some of my more serious posts in recent days.  Here are my impressions on a handful of recent films.

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“Roadside Picnic”: The Insignificance Of Man

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The science fiction genre is filled–too filled–with stories about what might happen if extraterrestrials came into contact with human beings.  It is a favorite subject of writers, who use the theme to explore deeper truths about man and his place in the universe.  And this is all well and good.

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You Are The Captain Of Your Ship

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I recently saw again the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994), after not having seen it for a few years.  It’s always interesting to revisit certain classics (book, film, or work of art) as the years go by, and observe how your perceptions change.  I had a chance to read a little bit more about how the director, Frank Darabont, got the film made, and how it was not an immediate success.

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Grief As A Demonic Force: “The Babadook” (2014)

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Several years ago I had a client who needed some legal work done.  She was an educated and well-adjusted single mother of a young girl.  She was normal in every way.

And then something terrible happened.  Her daughter died suddenly from an unexpected illness.  And this sent the mother on a downward psychological spiral from which she was unable to escape.  The woman’s mother–a kindly but psychologically very strong woman in her 70s–was forced to care for her daughter, who went to pieces.

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