Opens March 6, 2009 at the Quad Cinema in New York City
Written and Directed by Alan Hruska
Starring: Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore, Quiz Show) , Brett Cullen (“Damages”, “Lost”), Zoe McLellan (“Dirty Sexy Money,” “JAG”), Jamey Sheridan (“Law and Order: Criminal Intent”), Cynthia Stevenson (“Dead Like Me”), David Thornton (“Law and Order: SVU,” The Notebook), Josh Pais (“Bronx is Burning,” “Law and Order,” Adventureland), , Jessica Hecht (Starting Out in the Evening, “Friends”), Alice Evans (102 Dalmations), , Damian Young (Unbreakable, Sex and the City: The Movie, “Californiafaction”), Derek Cecil (“The Beat,” “Gossip Girl”), Felix Solis (The International, “The Sopranos”), Sam Coppola (Saturday Night Fever, “The Wire”), Anna Khaja (Yes Man) and Amy Pietz (“Aliens in America,” “Caroline in the City”)
A full cast of many is always a good thing; it means work for men and women. But the subject matter of the film is suspect.
Who would want to see people after a ten year absence or worse, who wants others to see how they have aged, changed, most likely for the worst.
it is no surprise that the participants are a little nervous and on edge as they approach the board room of a corporation, simulated law film in this case, (but it could have been general motors in times past), to sit facing a group of people who thought they knew one another but maybe never did.
The Reunion is an entertaining and anxiety free viewing event for a reasonably priced night on the town that will leave you, less up tight, maybe even smiling.
Linda Zises
WBAI Women's Collective
Criticalwomen.net
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
eleven minutes: fashion in a flash or is it?
ELEVEN MINUTES
Opens Friday, February 20, 2008
At the Quad in NYC and on broadcast TV
Please visit: http://www.elevenminutes-jaymccarroll.com/ for additional information.
SYNOPSIS
It’s been a while since the sharp-witted Jay McCarroll was dubbed “the next great American designer” on season one of reality TV’s “Project Runway” and he’s anxious to finally show his first line of clothing.
His vision is to show his work on 42nd street at the Bryant Park eleven minute extravaganza that takes over public property to become the showcase of a world fashion industry that doesn't come as free entertainment It is a show limited, by invitation only.
SHE SAYS:
The importance of documentaries has been fully explored and presented for public scrutiny in recent films that expose the fashion industry; its limitations, its potential joys and its search for money and fame.
i can not cry for the winner or the loser of this artistic endeavor where people come together to work intensely under severe pressure to create mostly women fashion(men seem hell bent on their black suits, shirts, tie and collared shirts that scare most women into submission and many a man as well).
It is worse than a baseball or football player because those men don't dwell on the female form or dictate to women what they should wear in order to be "with it'. This is an industry where too much weight is disallowed, the cost of material renders the thinner the model, the better, less costly; where how you walk, which is never possible for the average women, is valued and where character is lost to the dictates of the female form and flow.
Not an authentic ounce of creativity in my humble opinion emerges from the depths of this film other than the creative effort of the film itself.
Jay McCarroll is real and he is funny and ultimately so very sad until he discovers that he is not the rising star-to-be that others have pumped him up to believe.
Eleven minutes of fame all circled around making money but the Puerto Rican parade has more to say about fashion than the parade of the wealthy few who dominate the "cat walk".
All that artistic work; the sewing, the music, the setting, the colors and fabrics be damned But the documentary should live on. it offers so much to feel good about our not being part of the eleven minute competition.
I say, women
Scrap the fashion industry. Take back the parks, Bryant Park, free for all New Yorkers and its millions of daily visitors.
Linda Z
WBAI Women's Collective
Criticalwomen.net
Thursday, July 31, 2008
films are not just for male viewers
why don't films that cater to women and their concerns, fantasies and way of living make money?
As long as Hollywood feels financially solvent with the kind of comic book extravaganza that viewers and movie goers are being swamp with this summer, women will not prevail Even children are doing better at the box office than women.
So many of the really good foreign films that don't feature extraordinary and expensive special effects for which Hollywood is famous and has never been out done, are the only films that seem to be part of the movie goers repertoire of films seen with the sole exception of The Documentaries..
or me this is a serious problem because i can not sit through the entire Batman film and not get bored even with its suurrb acting and I can't get myself to see spider man or superman. I am missing out on the "American heroes" the icons that make this country something less than it might otherwise be. i am out of the loop because I would rather see Tula's Marriage or the Visitor or any of the Michael Heneke's films including his latest Funny Games 2008.
What films are your favorite?
What would you want to see more of?
Our readership has written to us both on our email account(criticalwomen@gmail.com)and in the comment section of this blog. But we need to have more reader input to effect change in the industry.
Be a voice for women world wide who want more than American male super hero images on screen
Linda Z
WBAI Women's collective
As long as Hollywood feels financially solvent with the kind of comic book extravaganza that viewers and movie goers are being swamp with this summer, women will not prevail Even children are doing better at the box office than women.
So many of the really good foreign films that don't feature extraordinary and expensive special effects for which Hollywood is famous and has never been out done, are the only films that seem to be part of the movie goers repertoire of films seen with the sole exception of The Documentaries..
or me this is a serious problem because i can not sit through the entire Batman film and not get bored even with its suurrb acting and I can't get myself to see spider man or superman. I am missing out on the "American heroes" the icons that make this country something less than it might otherwise be. i am out of the loop because I would rather see Tula's Marriage or the Visitor or any of the Michael Heneke's films including his latest Funny Games 2008.
What films are your favorite?
What would you want to see more of?
Our readership has written to us both on our email account(criticalwomen@gmail.com)and in the comment section of this blog. But we need to have more reader input to effect change in the industry.
Be a voice for women world wide who want more than American male super hero images on screen
Linda Z
WBAI Women's collective
Friday, July 11, 2008
America the beautiful Darryl Robert
12 years old,, Gerren Taylor became a leading model and then a year later was cast aside .
America the Beautiful(2008)
Director: Darryl Robert
Writer Darryl Robert
In capturing Garren's story, Director Darryl Robert brings to our attention the miriad ways in which women's bodies and minds have become the rightful property of the corporate world where money reigns supreme and men dominate the decision making process that determines women's clothes, make up, plastic surgery, perfumes, and the fashion industry where beauty pageants came into popularity right after women won the right to vote.
Women's response to the societal mandate to be "beautiful" is to copy the bodies of the thinnest woman in the world, the "ultra thin" models. These models of note must be unhealthily thin to fit into the designer;s clothes. This all reduces down to money.
The bigger the model the more money it costs to drape her in costly material . One shot of Garrren wearing the skimpiest short shorts must have been super cheap for the designer rather than a full length dress, or a pants suit. We are talking in the tens of thousands of dollars,, just for the material of designer's choice.
Peer pressure is at odds with this skeletal image. The twelve year old girl has been taught to embrace and love Barbie dolls, the stick thin doll with "boob". Girls who feel driven to be "grown up" want boobs. This contradiction is highlighted in America the Beautiful. It is not just the cost to life and pocketbook that informs on what women think will make them beautiful but the peer pressure is intense particularly for the adolescent. These same forces inform on the plastic surgery, depicted in all its grueling moments but also the source of the modern day anorexic or bulimic teenagers and adult who think thin is good, when in fact for them it is deadly.
Garren's mother's solution to this problem of beauty in the eyes of the world(no boobs, curves , bumps) versus beauty in the eyes of her peers, was to remove Garren from peer pressure.. She took Garren out of school and provided home schooling.
Garrren's mother is one person in the Documentary that I felt Mr. Robert did not depict with an even understated tone that he used with everyone else. .Garren;'s mother is a single mom. She is Black and a likely candidate for welfare as is Garren. financial security is what this is all about. Not education that might or might not lead to future well being, but money: a cushion for those times when Garren will be an adult and on her own.
Money is what drives Garren's mother And that is what the White educated Principal in Garren's school failed to understand. There is a definite culture gap that being Black in America, being female without a man to support and help in rearing of children Darryl brings to the screen as a silent undercurrent that will ring loud and clear to those who identify with this courageous, driven single mom who stepped into the world of the rich and famous without a road map in hand nor a supporting arm to lean on.
One of the most delightful moments was watching Garren wash the dishes after dinner. She was excellent super competent at this chore. Her actions were so real and natural I felt hypnotized like I was there with Darryl, having finished a lovely dinner provided by this child/girl and now getting down to the business of the day, (or was it night) having her talk to me , to you, to the camera as she washed the dishes.
What a wonderful person, what a delightful girl. At the end of the film when she was so unhappy I wanted to reach into the screen and give her a warm loving hug.
Why didn't Darryl do that for me? It would have been the right, the perfect ending to an almost perfect film
There is so much to learn, to discuss, to think about and talk about and to feel in America the Beautiful. Don't let it escape without seeing it. America the Beautiful 2008. See it. at the theater or rent it for home viewing with family.
Linda Z
Rotten-tomatoes Vine Witches Brew
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Commentary on film: Jim Morrison and Hunter s. Thompson
The destruction of a nation,:
When the main character in a film commits suicide this is not an incidental event. Suicide informs on the nature of the subject as well as the state of the society in which the person lives.
One should not dismiss the action of self annihilation with a simply, well, he was sick or it was inevitable, without going back into the history of the victim to learn the origins of this deadly act. What in the person's life would lead to their premature demise done with a sane mind and a willing body?
The original sociological explanation advanced by the Father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim, was that suicide is a violent act against the self. But upon closer examination, it is clear this explanation is self serving. It blames the act on the victim and gives the motive of violence as well. But is suicide a violent act against the self or is it more to the point to say that the survivors of the act, the close friends and family members are the ones who feel violence towards the actor, the person who has deserted the ship of life, leaving the rest of us poor souls to carry on.
This is an important question for the film director,and producer to answer before making a film that focuses world attention on the personality of a suicidal victim. If the act is done with a weak mind, a mind that is living in a drug filled or psychotic state where reality, reason and meaning no longer apply to the person's judgement, then the suicidal act has a different meaning than it has when the person who does the deed is of sound mental capacity.
Jim Morrison of the Rolling Stone fame, is the most frequented grave site in all of France. He was an extraordinary hero and the film on his life was a testament to his life and death. While i watched it I couldn't wait for the agony of living to be over, finished: a tortured existence extinguished. In taking his own life, Jim Morrison did not effect a violent act of self destruction. To the contrary, he saved his sense of self, that was doomed to further torment by ending lis life.
The same is true of Dr.Hunter S Thompson who could not tolerate a simple life. There was nothing that informed on his capacity to go into a quiet space to recover and be replenished through self contemplation. To the contrary , The thought of being without constant stimulation, without a public to confuse and stimulate every moment was intolerable for Hunter. So much so, that he chose to end his life in the wake of just such a peaceful family moment, When, for someone else, all seemed right in the world. for Hunter to be calm, loved, and appreciated by his personal fold was deadly.
If the actor of the suicidal act is actually saving his soul, preserving his ego and sense of self, how can we fault or punish him for this act. It is a moment when we can see with a clarity not otherwise obvious who the person was and how it came to be that the only course, the way of the future, was no future at all.
With this in mind i urge movie makers and audience to appreciate the icons who could not continue to live beyond a specified moment. With their act of annihilation they offer insight into who they were and where we are and that is a gift we should use to understand, who we are and what the world in which we live is all about.
When a discharged solder kills himself, that is a moment to pause, to reflect, to cry and to know, why. War does more than destroy and maim the body, It reeks havoc on the mind and makes the men and women who go off to serve their country, inoperative citizens. One step away from suicide.
What film past or present takes on this delicate subject: the destruction of a nation, one person at a time.
Linda Zises
When the main character in a film commits suicide this is not an incidental event. Suicide informs on the nature of the subject as well as the state of the society in which the person lives.
One should not dismiss the action of self annihilation with a simply, well, he was sick or it was inevitable, without going back into the history of the victim to learn the origins of this deadly act. What in the person's life would lead to their premature demise done with a sane mind and a willing body?
The original sociological explanation advanced by the Father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim, was that suicide is a violent act against the self. But upon closer examination, it is clear this explanation is self serving. It blames the act on the victim and gives the motive of violence as well. But is suicide a violent act against the self or is it more to the point to say that the survivors of the act, the close friends and family members are the ones who feel violence towards the actor, the person who has deserted the ship of life, leaving the rest of us poor souls to carry on.
This is an important question for the film director,and producer to answer before making a film that focuses world attention on the personality of a suicidal victim. If the act is done with a weak mind, a mind that is living in a drug filled or psychotic state where reality, reason and meaning no longer apply to the person's judgement, then the suicidal act has a different meaning than it has when the person who does the deed is of sound mental capacity.
Jim Morrison of the Rolling Stone fame, is the most frequented grave site in all of France. He was an extraordinary hero and the film on his life was a testament to his life and death. While i watched it I couldn't wait for the agony of living to be over, finished: a tortured existence extinguished. In taking his own life, Jim Morrison did not effect a violent act of self destruction. To the contrary, he saved his sense of self, that was doomed to further torment by ending lis life.
The same is true of Dr.Hunter S Thompson who could not tolerate a simple life. There was nothing that informed on his capacity to go into a quiet space to recover and be replenished through self contemplation. To the contrary , The thought of being without constant stimulation, without a public to confuse and stimulate every moment was intolerable for Hunter. So much so, that he chose to end his life in the wake of just such a peaceful family moment, When, for someone else, all seemed right in the world. for Hunter to be calm, loved, and appreciated by his personal fold was deadly.
If the actor of the suicidal act is actually saving his soul, preserving his ego and sense of self, how can we fault or punish him for this act. It is a moment when we can see with a clarity not otherwise obvious who the person was and how it came to be that the only course, the way of the future, was no future at all.
With this in mind i urge movie makers and audience to appreciate the icons who could not continue to live beyond a specified moment. With their act of annihilation they offer insight into who they were and where we are and that is a gift we should use to understand, who we are and what the world in which we live is all about.
When a discharged solder kills himself, that is a moment to pause, to reflect, to cry and to know, why. War does more than destroy and maim the body, It reeks havoc on the mind and makes the men and women who go off to serve their country, inoperative citizens. One step away from suicide.
What film past or present takes on this delicate subject: the destruction of a nation, one person at a time.
Linda Zises
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Sex in the City 2008
Sex in the City is not just for women It s for women and men who have a sense of humor and are not afraid to let this emotion triumph even in these dismal, almost terrifying times of economic, political and military unrest.
The unrealistic plot, the flamboyant customs, the ultra high heels that destroy the legs they are designed to show off to their best advantage and the frivolous nature of the interaction of these famous women known to many from their half hour television program of the same name, is worth seeing but only if you take with you a sense of the absurd and the understanding that no one knows better than the creators of this film that what they are seeking and what you are buying is pure fun.
Why not laugh and enjoy this two hour film? I say see it, smile, and then walk home how ever far that might be. That’s the best recipe I can offer to savor the moment precious fun filled experience of Sex in the City without having to contend with another hike in the price of gas, or bread.
Linda Zises
WBAI Women’s Collective
Criticalwomen @blogspot.com
The unrealistic plot, the flamboyant customs, the ultra high heels that destroy the legs they are designed to show off to their best advantage and the frivolous nature of the interaction of these famous women known to many from their half hour television program of the same name, is worth seeing but only if you take with you a sense of the absurd and the understanding that no one knows better than the creators of this film that what they are seeking and what you are buying is pure fun.
Why not laugh and enjoy this two hour film? I say see it, smile, and then walk home how ever far that might be. That’s the best recipe I can offer to savor the moment precious fun filled experience of Sex in the City without having to contend with another hike in the price of gas, or bread.
Linda Zises
WBAI Women’s Collective
Criticalwomen @blogspot.com
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
top films of June 2008
There is a disproportionate number of horror films being serve up to the willing public this June
Film often reflects what is not covered in the News, The documentaries bring us current events or past events worth contemplating today. Fantasy films that rise to the top reflect the emotional state, the private emotional lives that beg to be addressed.
Film is a healing source, a pleasurable one, done to a public, to be enjoyed privately
With that in mind, this trend towards horror films, is alarming. I have not personally seen any of them and hope that I continue to successfully avoid this experience of adult viewing however the trend, not the quality of production is what concerns me.
These films serve the same function as "rides' at Coney Island or disney world or whatever "amusement park' is in your vicinity.
The rides are precursors of emotional experiences yet to happen or a reflection on the emotional experience that is currently dominate in your life. Specifically fear.
We are living in a time of free floating anxiety stimulated by the radical change in weather that is uprooting the lives and domiciles of formerly secured abodes and ways of life. And the perpetual War without cause or an invisible undefinable cause begging for limit by definition. the menacing "terrorist" is always on our minds. it is a War against an enigmatic enemy located not just in Iraq but throughout the world. And the remedy of Collective punishment prevails.We are all in the line of fire.
We are living in terrifying times and how to we continue to live as if we are on the same ordianry course of existance that has been know for year upon year and assumed to be ever lasting?
Children love to be afraid., They start with hide and seek and go on to the Rides, the Cyclone, the mini bumper cars. All these rides allow the terrifying experiences in life and our responsive fear to get experienced in a controlled setting.
Personally, I'd rather go on a ride then see the Hulk or the Panda attacked or the Happening.
But maybe that's because I'm a woman and these big men protrayed in all their glory never resonated with me. It's the real man I fear but i have spent a life time living with that fear. Have you?
This is an interactive blog.
your response is welcomed.
Linda Zises
criticalwomen@blogspot.com
ROTTEN TOMATOES:The Vine: WITCHES BREW
Film often reflects what is not covered in the News, The documentaries bring us current events or past events worth contemplating today. Fantasy films that rise to the top reflect the emotional state, the private emotional lives that beg to be addressed.
Film is a healing source, a pleasurable one, done to a public, to be enjoyed privately
With that in mind, this trend towards horror films, is alarming. I have not personally seen any of them and hope that I continue to successfully avoid this experience of adult viewing however the trend, not the quality of production is what concerns me.
These films serve the same function as "rides' at Coney Island or disney world or whatever "amusement park' is in your vicinity.
The rides are precursors of emotional experiences yet to happen or a reflection on the emotional experience that is currently dominate in your life. Specifically fear.
We are living in a time of free floating anxiety stimulated by the radical change in weather that is uprooting the lives and domiciles of formerly secured abodes and ways of life. And the perpetual War without cause or an invisible undefinable cause begging for limit by definition. the menacing "terrorist" is always on our minds. it is a War against an enigmatic enemy located not just in Iraq but throughout the world. And the remedy of Collective punishment prevails.We are all in the line of fire.
We are living in terrifying times and how to we continue to live as if we are on the same ordianry course of existance that has been know for year upon year and assumed to be ever lasting?
Children love to be afraid., They start with hide and seek and go on to the Rides, the Cyclone, the mini bumper cars. All these rides allow the terrifying experiences in life and our responsive fear to get experienced in a controlled setting.
Personally, I'd rather go on a ride then see the Hulk or the Panda attacked or the Happening.
But maybe that's because I'm a woman and these big men protrayed in all their glory never resonated with me. It's the real man I fear but i have spent a life time living with that fear. Have you?
This is an interactive blog.
your response is welcomed.
Linda Zises
criticalwomen@blogspot.com
ROTTEN TOMATOES:The Vine: WITCHES BREW
Monday, June 16, 2008
HBO Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Mini biography
Roman Polanski's parents returned to Poland from France just two years before the World War II began: both were taken later to concentration camps where his mother eventually died. Young Roman managed to escape the ghetto and learned to survive wandering through the Polish countryside and living with the different Catholic families. Though local people usually ignored cinemas where mostly German films were shown, Polanski seemed not very much concerned about patriotism and frequently went to the movies. In 1945, he reunited with his father who sent him to technical school, but young Polanski seemed to have already made his choice._In the 1950s, he took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda's Pokolenie (1955) before studying at the Lodz Film School. His early shorts such as Dwaj ludzie z szafa (1958), Gros et le maigre, Le (1961), and Ssaki (1963) showed his taste for black humor and interest in bizarre human relationships. His feature debut, Nóz w wodzie (1962), was the first Polish post-war film not associated with the war theme. Though being already a major Polish filmmaker, Polanski yet chose to leave the country and headed to France. Being down-and-out in Paris, he befriended young scriptwriter, Gérard Brach, who eventually became his long-time collaborator. The next two films, Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-sac (1966), made in England and co-written by Brach, won respectively Silver and Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festivals.__In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the infamous Manson gang in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again appeared with a US release of Chinatown (1974). It seemed the beginning of the promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the statutory rape of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from America to avoid prison.__After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his work became intermittent and rarely approached the level of his better known films. The director also stretched his talents to include occasional work in theatre. He still likes to act in the films of other directors, sometimes with interesting results as it was in Pura formalità, Una (1994). IMDb Mini Biography By: Yuri German
Commentary:
Roman Polanski, writer, producer, actor, director of the most famous, most watched films of the century. A giant in the film industry for whom one feels the ravages of the assault on his character by the law enforcement agencies. The disgust, the condemnation of an intellectual/artistic genius trickles down into the minds and gossip mongrels par excellent.
And where do we stand on this issue:
It came before us with Woody Allen another giant in the film industry who married his seemingly too young lover. For Roman Polanski his sexual interaction with a minor is still an issue all these many years later.
Here we are watching his story unfold on the Home Box Office documentary that brings those times and those issues into clear view. Roman was so attractive with such intense sexuality that the thought of doing something wrong just because there for this master of the chase after women (always more women to conquer) is not the personification of his illness but of the sickness that reigns in our country.
Yes, it is the rare man who hasn’t sought a woman for her body, knowing full well that she would never be his sustained love relationship/interest in life. This is applauded in our society and yet the woman who gives into the man, who is overcome by his cunning, his effort to seduce is considered “undesirable”.
How far have we come from this restrictive and prejudicial stance the double standard. As one watches the film is there a feeling of disgust for Roman Polanski or horror at how he is being treated.? Does success too often bread contempt and assault for couses unbeknownst to the genius. How far astry from the norm is a genius and how do they fare in this restrictive country. Not well, I fear. Not well.
I recommend everyone see this film, embrace our individual feelings about his alleged Pedophilia and the ills of our society. This is a chance to see life through the behavior of a not too hungry man but a man so separated from the humble pie we all eat that he didn’t imagine the consequences of yet another conquest.
The victim was a thirteen year old girl physically going on twenty-one and where were her parents, her protective shields. Did they not know her maturity was a problem? Did they not work with her, give her the fundamental knowledge to adjust normally to her premature physical development?
This is not a defense of Roman Polanski but a review of the documentary now being shown on HBO. But since the two seem so forcefully linked, the review of the production and the subject matter, my stance, my reaction to the subject becomes a testimony to the strength of the documentary.
A must see moment from the past that informs forcefully on the present.
See it, if you can.
Linda Zises
Mini biography
Roman Polanski's parents returned to Poland from France just two years before the World War II began: both were taken later to concentration camps where his mother eventually died. Young Roman managed to escape the ghetto and learned to survive wandering through the Polish countryside and living with the different Catholic families. Though local people usually ignored cinemas where mostly German films were shown, Polanski seemed not very much concerned about patriotism and frequently went to the movies. In 1945, he reunited with his father who sent him to technical school, but young Polanski seemed to have already made his choice._In the 1950s, he took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda's Pokolenie (1955) before studying at the Lodz Film School. His early shorts such as Dwaj ludzie z szafa (1958), Gros et le maigre, Le (1961), and Ssaki (1963) showed his taste for black humor and interest in bizarre human relationships. His feature debut, Nóz w wodzie (1962), was the first Polish post-war film not associated with the war theme. Though being already a major Polish filmmaker, Polanski yet chose to leave the country and headed to France. Being down-and-out in Paris, he befriended young scriptwriter, Gérard Brach, who eventually became his long-time collaborator. The next two films, Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-sac (1966), made in England and co-written by Brach, won respectively Silver and Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festivals.__In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the infamous Manson gang in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again appeared with a US release of Chinatown (1974). It seemed the beginning of the promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the statutory rape of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from America to avoid prison.__After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his work became intermittent and rarely approached the level of his better known films. The director also stretched his talents to include occasional work in theatre. He still likes to act in the films of other directors, sometimes with interesting results as it was in Pura formalità, Una (1994). IMDb Mini Biography By: Yuri German
Commentary:
Roman Polanski, writer, producer, actor, director of the most famous, most watched films of the century. A giant in the film industry for whom one feels the ravages of the assault on his character by the law enforcement agencies. The disgust, the condemnation of an intellectual/artistic genius trickles down into the minds and gossip mongrels par excellent.
And where do we stand on this issue:
It came before us with Woody Allen another giant in the film industry who married his seemingly too young lover. For Roman Polanski his sexual interaction with a minor is still an issue all these many years later.
Here we are watching his story unfold on the Home Box Office documentary that brings those times and those issues into clear view. Roman was so attractive with such intense sexuality that the thought of doing something wrong just because there for this master of the chase after women (always more women to conquer) is not the personification of his illness but of the sickness that reigns in our country.
Yes, it is the rare man who hasn’t sought a woman for her body, knowing full well that she would never be his sustained love relationship/interest in life. This is applauded in our society and yet the woman who gives into the man, who is overcome by his cunning, his effort to seduce is considered “undesirable”.
How far have we come from this restrictive and prejudicial stance the double standard. As one watches the film is there a feeling of disgust for Roman Polanski or horror at how he is being treated.? Does success too often bread contempt and assault for couses unbeknownst to the genius. How far astry from the norm is a genius and how do they fare in this restrictive country. Not well, I fear. Not well.
I recommend everyone see this film, embrace our individual feelings about his alleged Pedophilia and the ills of our society. This is a chance to see life through the behavior of a not too hungry man but a man so separated from the humble pie we all eat that he didn’t imagine the consequences of yet another conquest.
The victim was a thirteen year old girl physically going on twenty-one and where were her parents, her protective shields. Did they not know her maturity was a problem? Did they not work with her, give her the fundamental knowledge to adjust normally to her premature physical development?
This is not a defense of Roman Polanski but a review of the documentary now being shown on HBO. But since the two seem so forcefully linked, the review of the production and the subject matter, my stance, my reaction to the subject becomes a testimony to the strength of the documentary.
A must see moment from the past that informs forcefully on the present.
See it, if you can.
Linda Zises
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Year of the Fish:
The Year of The Fish:( A lost generation captured, devoured, preserved)
David Kaplan
Director, Editor, Writer
Plot: A Cinderella story set in New York City's Chinatown, Year of the Fish is a classic tale retold through the eyes of a young woman struggling to find a new life in the United States.
With many films it isn’t clear where the inspiration for the film came from But with The Year of the Fish, the subject is so disturbing that we know where the need to make this film originates. It is the uncomfortable reality of a part of New York City where the Chinese live their lives so separate from the Americans that it is uncomfortable to walk the streets, partake of their food, their services while subliminally aware of how different they are from us, their American customers.
David Kaplan responds to this tangible experience by mixing up fantasy and reality and doing it not just with content but by his method of interspersing cartoon figures and scenes with the real , the familiar scenes and real actors.
The identifiable image of the Fish,( and it was just the Chinese year of the Fish), reflected in the visual look of the people’s faces is clever but somewhat distracting. It seems that David Kaplan’s intent is to use the Cinderella tale to tell us all that we are fish swimming in a fish tank that we are outgrowing (because of our obesity) and soon we will be swimming in an ocean, a captive humanity waiting to be devoured and rescued, our cleaned bones to be placed in some God awful museum for preservation of a lost species.
The over riding technique of this film, the juxtaposing of cartoon figures with real live people and scenes doesn’t encourage the emotional impact the film might otherwise have. This is a very serious, scary film when one contemplates the world according to David Kaplan’s recreation of today and of tomorrow, if there is one.
I recommend this film because it is unique, and because it has something important to say even though the actors, the characters are one dimensional good and bad and Cinderella is a fantasy I never truly embraced. For women Cinderella in rags or richness is not someone I aspire to be.
Linda Z
David Kaplan
Director, Editor, Writer
Plot: A Cinderella story set in New York City's Chinatown, Year of the Fish is a classic tale retold through the eyes of a young woman struggling to find a new life in the United States.
With many films it isn’t clear where the inspiration for the film came from But with The Year of the Fish, the subject is so disturbing that we know where the need to make this film originates. It is the uncomfortable reality of a part of New York City where the Chinese live their lives so separate from the Americans that it is uncomfortable to walk the streets, partake of their food, their services while subliminally aware of how different they are from us, their American customers.
David Kaplan responds to this tangible experience by mixing up fantasy and reality and doing it not just with content but by his method of interspersing cartoon figures and scenes with the real , the familiar scenes and real actors.
The identifiable image of the Fish,( and it was just the Chinese year of the Fish), reflected in the visual look of the people’s faces is clever but somewhat distracting. It seems that David Kaplan’s intent is to use the Cinderella tale to tell us all that we are fish swimming in a fish tank that we are outgrowing (because of our obesity) and soon we will be swimming in an ocean, a captive humanity waiting to be devoured and rescued, our cleaned bones to be placed in some God awful museum for preservation of a lost species.
The over riding technique of this film, the juxtaposing of cartoon figures with real live people and scenes doesn’t encourage the emotional impact the film might otherwise have. This is a very serious, scary film when one contemplates the world according to David Kaplan’s recreation of today and of tomorrow, if there is one.
I recommend this film because it is unique, and because it has something important to say even though the actors, the characters are one dimensional good and bad and Cinderella is a fantasy I never truly embraced. For women Cinderella in rags or richness is not someone I aspire to be.
Linda Z
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