Posted on 01 February 2010
The optimum way to see a documentary like Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Shock Doctrine is at a film festival, such as Sundance, where it made its North American premiere this week. Unfortunately, I saw it in my living room, which is probably how most people in the U.S. will see it thanks to the Video-On-Demand cable channel Sundance Selects, which began airing the film immediately following its Park City debut.
Not to say the festival experience makes it a better film, but at least attendees of the first Sundance screening had the benefit of a post-film discussion featuring the film’s directors and Naomi Klein, the author of the book upon which it’s based. It’s safe to assume she explained her arguments regarding “disaster capitalism” and the faults of Laissez-faire economics better than the film does. And Winterbottom and Whitecross are possibly the only ones who can defend what they had intended with their ultimately disjointed translation of Klein’s thesis.
I had only the internet to use as a reference and clarifier in the end. What I learned afterward about the film and Klein’s involvement in its production is that she basically walked away due to its increasing departure from what she felt an adaption of her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism should look like. From what I understand, Klein’s work is more investigative journalism, while Winterbottom and Whitecross have concentrated on a history lesson based upon her expose of Milton Friedman’s methods of economic shock therapy.
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Sundance, Theatrical Reviews, Home Entertainment, Politics, Cinematical Indie, War
Continue reading Sundance Review: The Shock Doctrine
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted on 06 December 2009
This week’s column is based on a true story. Did I get your attention? Why is it that all the awards organizations love true stories so much? So many of this year’s award contenders are based on true stories: Public Enemies, The Damned United, A Woman in Berlin, Julie and Julia (229 screens), Coco Before Chanel (145 screens), Amelia (1975 screens), Bright Star (25 screens) and even The Informant! (62 screens), as well as up-and-coming contenders like Invictus and The Young Victoria. And even if they’re not specifically “true” stories, we have movies like The Last Station, about a real-life person, or movies like Brothers and The Messenger with torn-from-the-headlines plots.
It’s getting so bad that, while watching it, I was even wondering whether Up in the Air was based on a true story. And certainly Precious seems based on a true story, even though it’s very clearly “based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire.” But why do we need this? Is it a cushion? What happens if we’re exposed to pure imagination for a change? Would Star Trek have been better if it had been based a true story? What about Up? Could those balloons have really hauled that house halfway around the world? Probably not, but nobody questioned it for a second, and it doesn’t matter.
Filed under: Columns, 400 Screens, 400 Blows
Continue reading 400 Screens, 400 Blows – Based on a True Story
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Posted on 10 April 2009
Nothing says the Coen Bros like cross-stitch — and not just because of that famous
Fargo poster. I’m not surprised their retro stylings have inspired fans to pay homage by picking up the needle, and engaging in some antique art forms.
The above was actually found by Scott Weinberg, who sent it to me when I pitched yesterday’s Big Lebowski discussion to him. It comes by way of Flickr and was made by a very talented individual known only to us as “Gillyweed25.” She created it using an antique French cross stitch pattern … and I admire how the flowers not only tie into the design, but also censor it for sensitive viewers. It’s so retro and calm, and would really tie a room together.
And speaking of that homely Fargo poster, it too has been recreated by a blogger named Spazzmanda, who had her creation featured on Craftzine. It’s spot on, right down to the border.
I haven’t come across anything from Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, or O Brother Where Art Thou yet. So maybe I’ll practice my own needlework skills by stitching “I must have been an antelope or an ibex” onto a pillow.
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Fan Made
Permalink | Email this | Comments
