Light has not always stood for reason, or for the power of the mind. All the tropes that became common during the Hellenistic era and Neoplatonic thought, and that were later recycled during the Enlightenment (when celebration was allotted to all things Greek) had a common ancestor. Light, before that, used to stand simply for…
Looks can be deceiving. Whatever has your attention is usually caused by a sexy surface that absorbs your mind, body, and soul. For some viewers, that sexy surface is the charismatic presence of a blue-eyed, slick-haired Hollywood leading man. For me, it was the characteristics of what seemed to be a really good movie and…
There’s no place like home . . . unless you’re someone who tries to deny your own when you need it the most. That’s the conundrum in which we find George Hammond, an aging nomadic man, who’s seemingly unaware of his own bleak reality as he tries to survive in the cold and vast streets…
The laser-like focus afforded by a compact running time is used to intensely impactful use in Phil Sheerin’s North, a 20-minute short about a teen boy wrestling with the inevitability of his ailing mother’s impending death. It’s rough subject matter, bleak and tragic, the kind of thing that would tempt many filmmakers to tug at…
A long time ago in a business meeting far far away, Clint Eastwood was offered the role of James Bond. He turned it down because he believed that Bond should only be played by an Englishman (Albert Broccoli obviously thought an Australian would do as George Lazenby was ultimately chosen as Sean Connery’s replacement). Eastwood,…
Perhaps naming a motion picture Truth is opening the door to criticism over the real validity of its contents — more so when the film is based on true events and events that are still relevant in the public conscious, no less. But regardless of some of its debatable content, James Vanderbilt’s directorial debut admirably…
One of the main reasons why words are so fascinating is because they can house inside mutually exclusive meanings. They are the embodiment of freedom, for they can harbor opposite significations while keeping their expressive powers intact. This is the case of the Amharic word difret. On the one hand, this word embodies the very…
