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Film Recommendations Pandemic Picks “Streaming Deep-Cuts” I return often to these words from late film critic Roger Ebert: “We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We're kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.” I’ve made selections a bit off the “trending” beaten path of your various streaming platforms. I hope you find these particular passageways to empathy as deep and rewarding as I do. ——— 1. The Straight Story (1999, dir. David Lynch) Streaming on Disney+ ​ ​ An elderly man takes the driver’s seat of his riding lawnmower on three-hundred mile mission of reconciliation with his dying brother. The film follows the meditative and deliberate pace of its subject; often content to sit and dwell, and inviting you to do so as well, allowing the passing moments of grace to quiet your own internal noise. 2. A Serious Man (2009, dir. Joel & Ethan Coen) Streaming on Netflix ​ ​ The Coen Brothers often wrestle with the existential and theological in their work, perhaps never more so than with this darkly-comic film, which has become somewhat ignored in the company of their most popular (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men) but is my personal ​ ​ favorite. Larry Gopnik is an “ordinary” man whose life begins to unravel beyond his control, evoking the biblical story of Job; made to wrestle with the mystery of suffering and being met with more questions than answers. Not the most reassuring film, but one which feels very timely ​ ​ in this season. 3.The Tree of Life (2011, dir. Terrence Malick) Streaming on HBO Now ​ ​ Poetic, prayerful, and cinematically grand, Malick’s camera sweeps from the beginnings of Creation itself, and throughout the history of humanity, all through the prism of a young boy and his family in 1950’s small-town Texas. From the womb to eternity, it’s less a describable narrative than something to simply experience, to behold. ​ 4. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018, dir. Barry Jenkins) Streaming on Hulu ​ ​ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians ​ 13:7) A young love is put to aching test in the face of racism and injustice in this adaptation of the James Baldwin novel. Facing charges in innocence, Fonny and Tish persevere in pain, while never relinquishing their dignity and hope. The photography, and particularly the score, are among the most stunning in recent years. 5. Leave No Trace (2018, Dir. Debra Granik) Streaming on Amazon Prime ​ ​ A veteran suffering PTSD and his young daughter live off-the-grid in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. When they are discovered, their self-sufficient existence is challenged, leading their bond toward an inevitable turning point. Humane and melancholic, the film explores the essential nature of human contact and connection; something extremely present on our minds right now. .
Recommended publications
  • Kvarterakademisk
    kvarter Volume 18. Spring 2019 • on the web akademiskacademic quarter From Wander to Wonder Walking – and “Walking-With” – in Terrence Malick’s Contemplative Cinema Martin P. Rossouw has recently been appointed as Head of the Department Art History and Image Studies – University of the Free State, South Africa – where he lectures in the Programme in Film and Visual Media. His latest publications appear in Short Film Studies, Image & Text, and New Review of Film and Television Studies. Abstract This essay considers the prominent role of acts and gestures of walking – a persistent, though critically neglected motif – in Terrence Malick’s cinema. In recognition of many intimate connections between walking and contemplation, I argue that Malick’s particular staging of walking characters, always in harmony with the camera’s own “walks”, comprises a key source for the “contemplative” effects that especially philo- sophical commentators like to attribute to his style. Achieving such effects, however, requires that viewers be sufficiently- en gaged by the walking presented on-screen. Accordingly, Mal- ick’s films do not fixate on single, extended episodes of walk- ing, as one would find in Slow Cinema. They instead strive to enact an experience of walking that induces in viewers a par- ticular sense of “walking-with”. In this regard, I examine Mal- ick’s continual reliance on two strategies: (a) Steadicam fol- lowing-shots of wandering figures, which involve viewers in their motion of walking; and (b) a strict avoidance of long takes in favor of cadenced montage, which invites viewers into a reflective rhythm of walking. Volume 18 41 From Wander to Wonder kvarter Martin P.
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  • FILM REVIEW Moonlight, Directed by Barry Jenkins, USA, Altitude Films
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  • The Forgiving Blue
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  • Address Terms Used in Barry Jenkins' the Moonlight Movie
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  • Film Suggestions to Celebrate Black History
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  • Winter/Spring 2020 Calendar
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