SOUND OF METAL: How Silence Stops a Man From Running
Ruben has been on the run for a long time. No one becomes a heroin addict unless there’s something too painful inside for him to stop, even for a moment, to hear (or feel). So Ruben runs — with drugs, frantic hard-metal drumming, and in his desperate love for his singer-girlfriend, Lou (Olivia Cooke).
THE FATHER: Fighting To Hold Onto Who He Was
The brilliance — and terror — of Florian Zeller’s The Father is that we’re living inside the mind of an aging man losing his identity to dementia. Watching from the outside is painful enough — I know, I was that daughter too. But to be the one losing your grip on who you are is truly heartbreaking.
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION: Think Hope Is Dangerous? 7 Reasons to Watch This Film
Feeling trapped in the quarantine of COVID-19? That’s why you should watch Shawshank Redemption more today than ever. Yes, I mean today, January 20, 2021, the day of the Inauguration, and all the days ahead.
Trauma, #Never Again & Getting Out
Jordan Peele’s brilliantly conceived film Get Out does its job of shattering the myth that we’re living in a post-racial America. My great uncle, Leo Hurwitz’s film Strange Victory, did the same in 1948 after we won the war against Hitler but came home to racism here. It’s now 72 years later, and there’s still too much to be scared of.
BROOKLYN: How Love Heals Homesickness & A Difficult Mother
Has it really been 4 years since John Crowley and Nick Hornby’s film, Brooklyn, hit the big screen? And, why is it still a movie that speaks to us and that we keep going back to? Is it because it’s the versatile and talented Saorise Ronan’s first major film? Or because we all know, somewhere deep inside us, our own journey away from our original homes? What is the appeal? I think it’s because Brooklyn tells us so much about what can go wrong between a mother and a daughter, about a young girl’s early pain, pain that persists.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME: I Am You. You Are Me. I Will Find Myself In You. Will I Feel Everything?
Desire is what director, Luca Guadagnino, hoped to convey in Call Me By Your Name – the kind of desire that allows you to live life by following your feelings with openness. Guadagnino calls this: “living with a sense of joie de vivre”, in which, he says: “we should always be very earnest with [our] feelings, instead of hiding them or shielding ourselves.”
THE BIG SICK: If You Can’t Break Old Rules It Can Make You Sick
The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon, and Kumail Nanjiani’s touching, sad, scary, and deeply heart-warming romantic comedy tells us a lot about those old rules you live by. They’re not so easy to break. They turn into “should-s,” carry terrible guilt; they make you scared. And, along with all that, they confuse you…