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Author: diana

“Blindness” –Seeing is Believing

  Based on a popular novel by the Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, Blindness (2008) is a dystopian tale of survival in the face of a pandemic.  Blindness opens with an affluent Japanese businessman suddenly blocking traffic during rush hour. Inexplicably blinded, he is unable to continue driving and a seemingly good Samaritan offers to help him. When they arrive at the Japanese man’s upscale apartment, however, the “good Samaritan” steals his car and escapes. Soon the entire city is overtaken by a pandemic of “white blindness”, like driving in a snow storm. The...

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“Truth”—And Nothing But

  “Truth” (2015) somehow stayed under the radar last year. A compelling newsroom docudrama , “Truth” reminds me of “All the President’s Men” and the Watergate scandal. Opening with the September 2004 “60 Minutes” episode, Dan Rather accuses President George W. Bush of receiving preferential treatment in the National Guard in the early 1970s (Vietnam War era) as a result of his father’s connections.  Photocopied memos provided by a confidential source were the main evidence for Rather’s accusations. But Mary Mapes is the true hero. Producer of “60 Minutes”, Mapes had just won...

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“Room”—No Haven or Home

  Based on the searing novel by Emma Donaghue, “Room” is a movie both disturbing and compelling. For five-year-old Jack (amazing Jacob Tremblay), Room is his home, a 11 x 11 foot shed where he was born, after his teenaged mom (Brie Larson, in her Academy Award winning role)—was kidnapped, imprisoned and sexually assaulted daily by Old Nick. Told from the little boy’s point-of-view, Jack seems unaware that Room is a prison. For Jack it is his home, a seemingly safe haven filled with all he knows and with the security of the only parent he knows. Jack’s world is exclusively his Ma and Room....

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“Brooklyn” — New World vs. Old

“Brooklyn”, nominated for a 2016 Academy Award for best picture in a list of much more intensely themed dramas, is an easy movie to fall in love with. A classic boy-meets-girl coming-of-age movie, set in the early 50s and reminiscent of movies of that era. Two young immigrants meet in Brooklyn and fall in love, yet the young woman still yearns for the country and home she left behind. Based on Colm Toibin’s novel of the same title, “Brooklyn” conveys a specific historical time and worldview but the wounds and dilemmas are universal. Saoirse Ronan plays Ellis, a young Irish woman who has few...

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“The Revenant”—Back from the Dead

  By now almost every movie lover knows that The Revenant , winner of 3 Golden Globe Awards, and nominated for 12 Academy Awards, has been described as an endurance test so tortuous some crew members quit. “Revenant” connotes bringing back from the dead and that is exactly what happens in this three-hour film. Hugh Glass, the real-life tracker and fur trapper, managed to survive what was almost unsurvivable, but permanently changed.   Pushing the boundaries of physical stamina,   Leonardo DiCaprio is almost certain to win the Academy Award for his raw and harrowing portrayal of Glass. The...

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“Year of the Monkey” (February 8–January 27, 2017)—Anything Can Happen !

    Happy New Year –Chinese Style! Although the Chinese New Year 2016 doesn’t officially begin until February 8, many people start thinking of the animal sign on the first of the New Year.  [And much of Asia, including Japan, does not wait until February 8. Many now celebrate during the first two weeks of January.] As the Year of the Sheep comes to an end and the Year of the Monkey arrives, 2016 will be a year of invention and improvisation, unpredictability and unexpected change. The Year of the Monkey is considered the most volatile in the twelve-year cycle. The Monkey is considered...

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