In the Beginning, There Was Barbie
Vox
Turns out Greta Gerwig’s 'Barbie" movie is a Biblical metaphor after all...
Hollywood on the Picket Line – 5 Unsung Films That Put America’s Union History on the Silver Screen
The Conversation
The SAG-AFTRA strike comes at a time when polls suggest unions are more popular in the U.S. than at any time since 1965, and the labor movement is experiencing a resurgence of organizing. These 5 films reveal some of the history of this organizing.
J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Tragedy―and Ours
Hollywood Progressive
The July 21, 2023 theatrical release of the film Oppenheimer, focused on the life of a prominent American nuclear physicist, should help to remind us of how badly the development of modern weapons has played out for individuals and all of humanity.
The Discovery of a Little-Known History of the Nuremberg Trials
The New Yorker
“Filmmakers for the Prosecution” producer describes emptying out her mother's loft and under a daybed, found boxes of documents concerning the first Nuremberg trial and a 1948 never-released 16 mm film "Nuremberg: It's Lesson's for Today."
Killers of the Flower Moon Review – Scorsese’s Remarkable Epic About the Bloody Birth of America
The Guardian
Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone star in this macabre western about serial murders among the Osage tribe in 1920s Oklahoma, which reflects the erasure of Native Americans from the US
‘Plan 75’ Review: Haunting Japanese Heartbreaker Imagines a Dystopia That Could Start Any Day Now
IndieWire
Chie Hayakawa's raw and sobering debut imagines a near-future Japan in which the elderly are encouraged to volunteer for euthanization. The scariest thing about Hayakawa’s film isn’t its familiar depiction of a society that privileges human output over human dignity, but rather its soft dystopian sketch of a society that’s able to soft-shoe around dehumanization and/or sell it as an act of grace.
‘Chile ’76’ Review: Domestic Unease That Twists Into Intrigue
The New York Times
Manuela Martelli’s new film examines the Pinochet dictatorship through the eyes of a woman who never intended to play an active role.
‘20 Days in Mariupol’ Review: An Unflinching Look at the True Price of Russia’s War on Ukraine
IndieWire
Among the last journalists left in Ukraine after the invasion, Mystylav Chernov captures a horrifying portrait of destruction in “20 Days in Mariupol" a pulsating documentary about the first three weeks of the Russian siege that killed tens of thousands of people.
Remembering Paul Robeson: ‘I Had No Alternative’
The Progressive
125 years after his birth, Paul Robeson, the civil rights titan, remains a role model for battling racism and fascism. The words written on his gravestone: “The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.”
The Folly of Censoring “Joyland,” a Sublime Film About Family
The New Yorker
A new movie from the director Saim Sadiq, "Joyland", Pakisitan's 2023 Oscar entry, depicts queer love against the backdrop of a Pakistani household and feels as familiar as our families are to us here.The film follows a man who gets a job in a burlesque show and falls in love with a trans woman. Banned in Pakistan, “Joyland” earned accolades at the Cannes Film Festival.
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