Stating that history is determined by the struggle between the ruling classes (the exploiters) and the oppressed classes (the exploited), nineteenth century German philosopher Karl Marx blamed poverty and starvation on the evils of capitalist society and declared that class conflict could only be ended by the overthrow of capitalism and the building of a…
Sometime in the 1990s, somewhere in Toronto, in the scuzzy Gemini Motel, a prostitute is raped. She becomes pregnant. Overcome with grief, she kills herself. Cut to 23 years later, and it seems the baby survived. Helen (Alanna LeVierge, “Mia and Me” TV series) is at a loss in the world. She’s drawn to the…
There is nothing remotely foreign about the well-known martial artist/action star Jackie Chan, as he has been kicking butt and taking numbers (mainly in humorous fashion) for nearly 50 years. Undoubtedly skillful and infectiously impish throughout his illustrious career in action cinema, Chan — whether in wild playful mode or pensive yet penetrating form —…
With the film Tiger Girl, writer/director Jakob Lass (“Love Steaks”) deals out a sharply cut, strangely mesmerizing, buddy movie. Set in an unnamed German city, we follow a pair of streetwise Frälueins, who boisterously dispatch any and all bystanders that dare get in their way. Awkward good-girl Maggie (Maria-Victoria Dragus, “The White Ribbon”) begins training…
“It was too directly bound to its own anguish to be anything other than a cry of negation; carrying within itself, the seeds of its own destruction.” In August 1966, Mason Williams hurled a Royal typewriter from the open window of a Buick Le Sabre speeding down Highway 91 outside Las Vegas. Patrick Blackwell photographed…
“And if the earthly no longer knows your name, whisper to the silent earth: I’m flowing. To the flashing water say: I am” — Rilke, “Sonnette an Orpheus” (II, 29) Chiron, in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning film “Moonlight,” in addition to being gay and black, has to deal with drug abuse, bullying, and the lack of…
Family love and honor are forged in steel for Haofeng Xu’s dazzling generational epic The Hidden Sword, which crisply chronicles China’s early-to-mid 20th century history of war as seen through the eyes of blade-bearing walnut farmers. One family has the film’s focus while Xu allows a curious concoction of quirky humor, astonishing action, and rippling…
