CHANGE.WORLD – Provocările viitorului

Posted on February 12, 2019 by admin

Depinde pe cine întrebăm. Pentru unii, Forumul Economic Mondial (World Economic Forum – WEF) este o organizație internațională de valoare și influență, a cărei activități și în special reuniunile anuale care au loc la sfârșitul lunii ianuarie la Davos prilejuiesc întâlnirea conducătorilor politici și de afaceri cu oamenii de știință și inovatorii cei mai remarcabili ai planetei, în discuții dintre cele mai fructuoase despre viitorul omenirii. Pentru alții, cum ar fi protestatarii anti-globalizării este vorba despre o adunare a elitelor de bancheri, industriași, politicieni și tehnocrați care au ca scop comun să-și promoveze propriile interese. Activistul și cântărețul Bono i-a numit ‘pisicile grase din zăpadă’.

sursa imaginii https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/top-stories-from-davos-2019/

Organizația WEF a fost fondată în 1971 de Klaus Schwab, un profesor de economie la Universitatea din Geneva. În vârstă de 80 de ani astăzi, Schwab continuă să fie activ în fruntea organizației și deține poziția de președinte executiv. Este părintele noțiunii de ‘stakeholders’ (‘purtători de interese’) care în concepția sa sunt la fel de importanți în activitatea unei companii economice sau a unei organizații sociale ca și ‘shareholders’ (‘proprietarii de acțiuni’). Într-un interviu acordat revistei americane TIME care a dedicat evenimentului de la Davos o parte dintr-unul dintre numerele sale recente, el a fost întrebat dacă acest concept nu se destramă, dacă interesele nu sunt prea divizate în lumea de azi, și cum reușește să rămână optimist în condițiile în care alianțele și tratatele care au asigurat stabilitatea relativă și pacea după cel de-al doilea război mondial se destramă. Răspunsul său a fost o caracterizare a situației actuale a liderilor planetei ca fiind în faza de ‘distrugere inovativă’ sau poate ‘inovație distructivă’. Este o perioada de căutări, spune Schwab, și putem pune accentul pe partea de distrugere (a vechilor structuri) ceea ce ne face pesimiști sau de inovație (în căutarea de soluții) ceea ce permite o abordare optimistă. Klaus Schwab a mai subliniat un aspect important: de la mijlocul secolului trecut încoace lumea s-a schimbat fundamental – au apărut ciber-securitatea, inteligența artificială, mașinile fără șofer, etc. Tuturor acestora le lipsesc astăzi standardele globale. Este nevoie să fie create noi standarde tehnice, legislații, mecanisme și instituții care să răspundă acestor provocări. 

sursa imaginii https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2014/01/20/qmb-davos-2014-klaus-schwab-interview.cnn

Au lipsit de la întâlnirea de la Davos din acest an, desfășurată între 22 și 25 ianuarie, câțiva dintre liderii politici mondiali care erau ‘abonați’ tradiționali ai acestor reuniuni. Printre ei s-au aflat președintele american Donald Trump care a preferat să nu călătorească în condițiile în care Statele Unite se confruntau cu ‘greva guvernamentală’ și conflictul dintre președinte și noua majoritate din Camera Reprezentanților, președintele francez Macron care are și el probleme acasă cu demonstrațiile ‘vestelor galbene’, primul-ministru al Marii Britanii, Theresa May, ocupată cu Brexit-ul, și primul-ministru israelian Netaniahu care se află pe plan politic la începutul unei campanii electorale și pe plan personal sub amenințarea trimiterii în judecată pentru corupție și alte delicte asemănătoare. Dar și în aceste condiții reuninea a fost interesantă, participarea selectă, și problemele discutate de extremă importantă pentru viitorul planetei. Tema întâlnirii din acest an a fost ‘Globalizarea 4.0: definirea unei arhitecturi globale în epoca celei de-a patra revoluții industriale’. Primele trei revoluții industriale din istorie sunt considerate cea din secolele 18-19 din Europa și America de Nord descrisă de Marx în filozofie și de Dickens și Zola în literatură, a doua revoluție în perioada de la începutul secolului 20 care a dus la industrializarea accelerată, exploatarea petrolului, folosirea energiei electrice și a metodelor de producție în masă pentru îmbunătățirea eficienței proceselor industriale, și a treia, revoluția digitală de la sfârșitul secolului 20 care a inclus apariția calculatoarelor personale și a Internetului. A patra revoluție industrială (4RI – să învățăm noi inițiale) se bazează pe generalizarea tehnicilor digitale și extinderea acestora în domenii noi: robotică, nanotehnologie, inteligență artificială, calcul cuantic, biotehnologie, printare 3D, Internetul Obiectelor. Klaus Schwab este considerat teoreticianul principal al acestui concept, pe care el îl numește și ‘a doua epoca a mașinilor’.

sursa imaginii https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/economic-inequality-on-the-rise-worldwide/

Una dintre provocările principale cărora trebuie să le facă față sistemele politice și economia lumii este creșterea inegalității în venituri și calitate a vieții. Chiar dacă procentajul din populația lumii care trăiește în condiții de sărăcie extremă (definită ca un venit de sub 1,90 dolari pe locuitor) a scăzut de la 36% în 1990 la 10% în 2015, averea globală deținută de cei 1% cei mai privilegiați oameni din lume se aproprie de 50%. Diferențele sunt și mai mari în unele țări dezvoltate între care și Statele Unite. În țara cu cea mai puternică economie din lume cei mai bogați 0,1% dintre cetățeni dețin mai multă avere decât cei 90% cei mai puțin avuți. Raportul între salariul unui director și cel al unui salariat în marile companii americane este de peste 300 la 1 astăzi față de 30 la 1 in 1978, iar speranța de viață a celor înstăriți poate fi cu 15 ani mai mare decât a celor săraci. Această lărgire a prăpastiei sociale pune in pericol înseși fundamentele democrației, alimentând succesele politicienilor naționaliști și populiști și mișcările de protest care pun sub semnul întrebării structura sistemului. Nu este însă pentru prima dată când capitalismul se confruntă cu asemenea probleme. Crizele precedente repetate și amenințarea revoluțiilor violente (cum a fost revoluția bolșevică) au dus la reforme ale sistemului care au inclus crearea statului ‘welfare’ cu drepturi la condiții umane de muncă, asistență medicală, protecție socială și accesul la rețeua de securitate economică pentru toți cetățenii.  Dacă sunt învățăminte de tras din versiunile istorice precedente ale capitalismului acestea sunt că inegalitatea nu poate fi reparată doar de forțele pieții, fiind necesară intervenția guvernelor. Impozitarea elitelor economice este doar una dintre măsuri, necesară dar nu și suficientă pentru a repara inegalitățile și a reduce dimensiunile prăpastiei. Jacinda Ardern, primul-ministru al Noii Zeelande, a prezentat planul guvernului său de restructurare al finanțelor și de creare a unui buget care are ca scop nu numai bunăstarea economică ci și bunăstarea socială a națiunii.

sursa imaginii https://phys.org/news/2016-04-robots-jobs.html

Legată de accentuarea inegalităților sociale este și o altă tema dezbătută la Davos, o altă provocare a viitorului. Cât de real și cât de imediat este pericolul ca o mare parte din locurile de muncă să fie preluate de roboți? Progresele inteligenței artificiale și ale roboticii sunt uimitoare, și practic toate operațiile care includ muncă de rutină, fizică și intelectuală, limitată la domenii bine definite și prelucrând volume mari de informații, vor putea fi executate de roboți. Este vorba despre mii de profesii care vor dispare, despre sute de milioane de locuri de muncă devenite inutile în viitoarele câteva decenii. Nu va accentua această tendință inegalitatea? Modelul însăși al unei societăți bazate pe muncă pare a fi pe cale de dispariție. Cât de adevărată este problema? Care sunt soluțiile?  Consensul experților este că problema este reală, iar soluția începe de la educație. În societatea viitorului, oamenii vor trebui să se adapteze mai ușor la schimbare. Pe durata vieții active (care și ea va crește) fiecare om își va schimba de câteva ori nu numai locul de muncă ci și meseria. Asta înseamnă însă că sistemul educațional va trebui să fie orientat mai puțin pe formare profesională și mai mult pe arta învățatului. Există și câteva feluri de profesii care nu sunt supuse riscului. În primul rând cele legate de creativitate – oamenii de știință, artiștii, scriitorii nu pot fi înlocuiți. Apoi profesiunile strategice care cer studii complexe – managerii, diplomații, economiștii. În fine programatorii și tehnicienii care se ocupă de proiectarea  și întreținerea roboților. Și în cele din urmă, dar poate cele mai importante, sunt profesiunile care implică compasiune și empatie, în care contribuția umană este de neînlocuit: profesori, educatoare, medici și asistenți medicali. Nimeni nu dorește ca un robot să ii comunice că este bolnav de o boală terminală, și puțini părinți și-ar încredința copii unor baby-sitters roboți.

Au mai fost multe alte evenimente, dezbateri și intervenții interesante în cele patru zile ale sesiunii de la Davos. Aș menționa pe scurt declarațiile Christinei Lagarde, președinta Fondului Monetar Internațional despre adoptarea tehnologiei cripto-monezilor pentru asigurarea unor schimburi valutare sigure, incluzând cripto-valute naționale girate de băncile țărilor respective, propunerile primului ministru canadian Justin Trudeau pentru impozarea poluării mediului, sau dezbaterile inițiate de țări cum este India pentru implementarea accesului la Internet ca drept fundamental al oricărui cetățean. Viitorul pune omenirea în confruntare cu pericole și provocări multiple. Răspunsurile nu se află toate în mâinile guvernelor sau ale elitelor tehnologice și economice reprezentate la întâlnirile Forumului Economic Mondial. Contribuția acestora însă este departe de a fi neglijabilă.

(Articolul a aparut iniţial in revista culturală ‘Literatura de Azi’ – http://literaturadeazi.ro/)

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sweet goodbye (Film: The Old Man & the Gun – Robert Redford, 2018)

Posted on February 11, 2019 by admin

Acting is a profession in which ‘never say never’ applies in many cases. Yet, if we are to believe the intentions publicly stated in August 2018, David Lowery‘s ‘The Old Man & the Gun‘ will be Robert Redford‘s last film as actor. It’s a good reason to watch this movie. Unfortunately, it’s also the main reason.

I confess that I am not a great fan of the of ‘true crime’ genre. I’m not a big fan of gangsters or bank robbers either. Not only that I do not consider them a role model, but I do not even think that most of them were or are very interesting people in reality, as they appear in the movies or books they inspire. It’s maybe one of the reasons why ‘The Old Man & the Gun‘ did not excite me. The film presents the end of the career of a bank robber named Forrest Tucker (played by Robert Redford), famous for never using the gun with which he threatens his victims, and for the 16 (in the movie or maybe 18 according to Wikipedia) escapes from prison. However, the escapes are just listed in one scene, they are not the topics of the film. What we are witnessing are some of his latest ‘professional activities’, the not so interesting investigation that led to his capture and his last sentimental adventure.

The action takes place in Texas in the 1980s, shortly before the installation of the cameras that would make Forrest Tucker’s job much harder today. A part of the film’s charm is the rendition of the atmosphere of those innocent times when people were smoking freely in restaurants, and the bank robbers did not have to worry about security cameras in banks and streets or about facial recognition technology. Director David Lowery (also responsible for another film that I did not like – ‘Ghost’) created all the premises for Robert Redford to look good in this film, including some memorable frames in which he seems to say goodbye to his fans. His romantic partner is the charming Sissy Spacek, who also shows us how beautiful a woman can be close to the age of 70. Even though the script and the director made the law-breaking hero a much more interesting character than the cop who chases him, I appreciated Casey Affleck‘s acting (btw, he is my favorite among the two brother actors). Otherwise, the story is quite trivial. The overall impression – sweet and banal. Robert Redford played many memorable roles in his career, besides being an exceptional producer, cultural animator and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. This is not one of the most interesting. But he still has time to change his mind and come back.

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the shadows of the victory (documentary: Censored Voices – Amos Oz, 2015)

Posted on February 10, 2019 by admin

The Israeli writer Amos Oz, deceased at the end of 2018, was praised as one of his country’s and the world’s most important contemporary writers. His relationship with cinema is illustrated by quite a significant number of references on IMDB, where he appears as the author of his books brought to screen, but especially as himself in over 20 documentary films. Amos Oz was a talented and charming interlocutor, who did not hesitate to express eloquently his sharp political opinions and life choices. ‘Censored Voices‘ by documentarist Mor Loushy, made in 2015, is a special moment in this film career because Amos Oz plays here the role of a witness of the Six Days War, one of the crucial moments in the history of Israel and of its relations with its neighbors in the complex ambience of Middle East.

The story of the film began in 1967. Israel was victorious in a war in which the state’s existence had been threatened by Arab armies. In the days, months, a few years after the war, Israel lived in the euphoria of this victory. What had just happened was another miracle in the lines of those who assured the survival of the Jewish people and the rebirth of the Jewish state. Israel had been forced to fight a war of survival, a just war, and had won it. Everything seemed possible, including that this war was the last one Israel had to fight, the decisive one, as the parents of that time promised to their children. Amos Oz, a freshly demobilized soldier, along with a friend, both kibbutz residents, traveled from kibbutz to kibbutz with a tape recorder to record the testimonies of the soldiers who had just returned from the front. The testimonies that were gathered, or at least those selected for inclusion in this film, were completely different than the ones who described heroic deeds and the euphoria of victory. They are the testimonies of young soldiers traumatized by war, who had lived the fearful days of waiting and the shock of the encounter with the violence of war, which had been confronted with the deaths of their comrades and with the need to kill the enemies in war, who had been exposed to acts unfit to the moral prestige of the Israeli army. They had also been direct witnesses to the beginning of the occupation of the territories – the Sinai peninsula (in the meantime returned to Egypt), the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Even the liberation of Jerusalem does not appear so glorious in their testimonies as in the official accounts, not to mention the contact with the civilian population, some of which will add to the ranks of the refugees. Fragments of these recordings, made between the 10th and the 20th day after the war, released from the censorship restrictions 48 years after the events, are the documentary basis of the film.

Director Mor Loushy is filming those who spoke nearly half a century ago (including Amos Oz) while they listen for the first time to their voice recordings. Almost a lifetime passed over each of them. They do not talk much, they listen quietly, their eyes say more than words when they are confronted with their own young voices, with their accounts immediately after the events. What is clear is that none of them is surprised, none of them seems to have forgotten. The experience of the war has remained with them for all their lives. The rest of the film, on the contrary, features filmed images – some of them are heroic images describing the post-war euphoria, some others are snapshots of filmed journals and archives illustrating and completing the story. The weak part of the film seemed to me to be the placement of the testimonies in the context. For the Israeli spectator familiar with the events, familiar with the historical consequences of the Six-Day War, things are clearer. This is not the case with the less informed spectators. It’s not the definitive film about the Six-Day War. Explanations of the historical background are too succinct. The internal perspective is also lacking. In the movie hear the testimonies of 10-15 people and I have no reason to contest the authenticity of their accounts. Every year, however, around the anniversary of the war we see and hear in Israel dozens and hundreds of other testimonies, and many of these are radically different accounts. There is a huge amount of written material and there have been and there will be many debates in the Israeli society about this war, including about the aspects described in the film. Those who have their testimonies recorded in this film, as Amos Oz says at the end, have told their truth. But this is one facet of a more complicated truth, of a much more complex situation. ‘Censored Voices‘ is an exciting and necessary film, part of a debate that has not begun with it, and will not end with it.

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at the German roots of the moving images (documentary: Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky – Wim Wenders, 1995)

Posted on February 9, 2019 by admin

‘Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky‘ started as a research and production project by Wim Wenders and his students about the beginnings of cinema in Germany. The result was interesting enough to become a (almost) long duration documentary. In Wim Wenders’ cinema, sprinkled with many thematic and formats experiments, the film fits smoothly.

The key events described in the documentary took place in 1895, which can be considered the Year Zero of the cinema industry. The invention of ‘moving images’ and its application in theaters for entertainment purposes floated in the air for several years, and inventors from different countries were engaged in a race to bring them first to the public. Among these engaged in the competition were the three Scladanowsky brothers from Berlin, a family of ‘entertainers’ making a living of performances that today we would call ‘multimedia’, combining dance, circus, pantomime, music and projected images. By means of the invention they called the ‘bioscope’, they produced short films of about 15 seconds, which they projected publicly on November 1, 1895, a few weeks before the first screenings of the films by the Lumiere brothers in Paris. They were first but not best. Theirs was a method with many limitations, especially with regard to the length of the films, so the invention of the French brothers won in a short time the race that laid the foundations for the art and industry of cinema. It was a defeat that did not discourage the Skladanowsky brothers, who learned the French method and used it to produce in the coming years short films that laid the foundations for the German cinema industry. Wenders’ documentary tells their story with respect and courtesy and makes it known to the broad audiences.

‘Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky‘ combines several cinematographic methods. The youngest daughter of the Skladanowsky brothers shares with Wenders and his team memories of the family. Though born more than a decade after 1895, she still has plenty of interesting things to tell about that period. Her testimony is combined with sequences from the first films made with the Stockanowsky brothers’ bioscope. Interviews are interleaved with docudrama passages in which the three siblings and the older daughter of the main inventor appear embodied by actors, in the style of comedies of the early decades of cinema, completing over time the story. The combination works quite well, being complemented by fragments of epoch films that portray the atmosphere of Berlin and Paris at the end of the 19th century. Made exactly one century from the screening of the first moving images, ‘Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky’ brings to the spectators of today interesting and little known information. It is an endearing and respectful tribute to the pioneers of the 7th art.

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loss of faith (Film: Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014)

Posted on February 8, 2019 by admin

‘Leviathan‘ directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev is a movie about faith. Russian literature and cinema are populated by heroes who are confronted with power and faith, the two spiritual components (but also historic institutions) whose combination and close relationship has always dominated the lives of Russians both nationally and personally. The last century has challenged this historic symbiosis. For seven decades after 1917, the communist regime destroyed churches and monasteries and tried to establish atheist Marxism-Leninism as a state doctrine instead of the Orthodox Christianity. The fall of the Soviet regime led to the resurrection of the religious institutions, the rebuilding of churches and the building of many new ones. Does it also represent a return to faith? This question is acute in Russia and all over Eastern Europe. Corruption is the other main theme of the film. There is corruption at the level of the institutions (including the church), but especially there is corruption in the souls of the people.

The landscape in which the action is taking place is that of an ecological disaster, maybe typical and symptomatic of Russia, although such areas of post-apocalyptic appearance exist elsewhere in the world. A retreating sea, wrecks of boats and ships, huge skeletons of prehistoric animals brought to light by the withdrawal of water. A world is obviously decomposing, but the place does not stay empty, there are signs of modernity, although modernity does not necessarily mean progress. The ‘new world’ that takes hold of these places seems dominated by corrupt authorities. The film’s hero, Kolya (played by Aleksey Serebryakov ) is a fisherman. He is not exactly poor, he owns a house at the bend of a river, a boat, a car, has friends, a teenage son, and is also at his second marriage to Lilya (Elena Lyadova). All his life is destroyed in a short time after the local mayor decides to take possession of the land where his home is located and puts in move the justice and police system for this purpose. Kolya will not only be defeated in an uneven struggle with a system that does not hesitate to resort to any method to destroy him, but he realizes that he remained without any moral or spiritual support. Fallen in alcoholism, with his life and family destroyed, he asks why. The answer has nowhere to come from.

Acting is excellent, Russian actors rarely deceive. Aleksey Serebryakov creates a complex and credible character. I was a little disappointed with Lilya’s character, the wife of the hero, missing maybe some text or extra scenes explaining the motivation of her infidelity (an old love story? attraction to Moscow?). I liked the cinematography, spectacular and full of symbolism. I do not know how much courage is needed to make such a movie in Russia today. Director and co-screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev is attacking front-level corruption at the local level, and the desolate image of the scene where the action takes place is not flattering. His political criticism however stops at the periphery. The critical approach also targets the institutions of the church, and the parallel with ‘Beyond the Hills‘, the film by the Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, was for me immediate. But there is also some hope. The only positive character is a priest from the ranks, whom we see helping his poor parishioners, a man who tries to make sense, console and provide an explanation to the film’s hero about what is happening to him. For Kolya the answer comes too late, but perhaps for others there is hope in returning to the human foundations of faith. It’s maybe the only positive message in this remarkable, but not very optimistic movie.

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not just another Scandinavian thriller (Film: Den skyldige / The Guilty – Gustav Möller, 2018)

Posted on February 7, 2019 by admin

Novels, television series and movies belonging to the thriller or police investigations genres, coming from Northern Europe, have conquered in the past two decades the interest of the amateurs of these genres. It was a matter of time before one of these films crossed the thresholds of the national selections and of the nominee juries to reach the top list of the Academy Awards. That’s what happened with the Danish film ‘The Guilty‘ (the original title is ‘Den skyldige’), which reached the short list of the nominated films for the best film award in a foreign language, after having gathered many awards at festivals like Sundance or Toronto. Danish films are, of course, always serious competitors, but it is the first time that a thriller reaches the final of the race, and ‘The Guilty’ is far from being just another Scandinavian thriller.

Unlike in many other series or movies in the genre, there are no endless frozen snow-covered landscapes or any urban jungle of the Scandinavian metropolis in which violence is hidden behind the quiteness and apparent calm of the inhabitants in the film co-written and directed by Gustav Möller (at his first feature film!) Better said, we do not see them, as a violent story does exist in the film but it happens outside, while the camera is always in the same room of the police telephone dispatcher. This is where police officer Asger Holm, suspended from his usual activities as a street cop, gets the calls to the police emergency number, has to sort them out and act, in most cases distributing the cases to police stations widespread in and around Copenhagen. As the action progresses in real time, the audience begins to know Asger, not a model policeman, not always playing according to the rules, a man who can make mistakes, who quickly judges people at the other end of the line and who has to make life and death choices in a matter of seconds. Are his decisions the best? Are his appraisals about those with whom he speaks accurate? As time passes, the case gets more complicated, and the questions get a more general character, the kind of questions we can ask ourselves in everyday life. Do we sometimes make rush judgments? How exact is our first impression of others based on our experience of life, but also a few words exchanged with an unknown (or a few lines read on the Internet to generalize a little)?

I confess that I was stuck in the chair and I watched captivated this movie that fascinated me as much as a good action thriller, one with the most spectacular effects, gun shots and car chases. Surprising twists in the plot and thrill elements exist here as well but they take place outside, while what we see is happening in the neutral space of the police station. For 99% of the time we see Asger, his phones and his computer screen. He listens, talks, makes judgments, takes decisions. The quality of the film certainly owes much to Jakob Cedergren‘s exceptional performance. The actor is in close plan for almost the whole movie, he lives into his role under our eyes that captures every expression of the face, every eye movement, every tremor of the lips, every drop of sweat. The emotional quality of ‘The Guilty‘ even exceeds the boundaries of cinema. It could be just as well a play, it could be a short story or a novel. It is, above all, a shared human experience, a meditation about prejudices and empathy, about the price of mistakes, and about assuming responsibilities. When the hero finally comes out through a lit door, we, the spectators, go out with him from another universe where we have been transported for 85 minutes.

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the favo(u)rite of the race to Oscars (film: The Favourite – Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018)

Posted on February 6, 2019 by admin

I confess that Yorgos Lanthimos‘ films confuse me. Each one that I’ve seen approaches a well-known genre, starts from premises that seem familiar to us, as moviegoers with some experience, and gets totally elsewhere – in territories where the laws of decency or morality as we know them do not work anymore. It is obvious the director’s effort to shock through the language used by his characters, but also through his own cinematic language. The result is a collection of movies that belong to the space of the bizarre, but also have obvious quality and which remain in the memory of the spectators. This is also the case with ‘The Favorite‘, which has become an unexpected favorite (the game of words is unavoidable) in the race to the Academy Awards this year. It’s a period film. A period film of a kind never made before. A period film by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Queen Anne does not have a great name in England’s history. She was eclipsed by other queens named Elizabeth or Mary, but the historical period and her historical role are not to be missed. She was the last queen of the of the House of Stuart (but a Protestant) and the first Queen of Great Britain. Her physical and mental health problems resemble those of her successors to the throne from the House of Hanover. Visually, the costumes and sets created for Yorgos Lanthimos‘ film reconstruct the atmosphere of the palaces and the royal court at the beginning of the 18th century with an accuracy and care to details worthy of the best films of the British studios or of the BBC. The characters that populate the film, or rather the Lanthimos version of the historical characters, are however far from being conventional representations. One might say that this is a strong feminist vision. The court and the political intrigues are dominated by women, but those are women who have suffered the traumas of persistent sexual harassment and rape since their teenage years, and who take their harsh revenge on the world of men. The sickly queen (played by Olivia Colman) reigns as the absolute sovereign playing as her mind or moods dictate with the matters of state and with the prime ministers and the Parliament, with the help of her favorite Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and of the newly arrived Abigail (Emma Stone). The main thread of the action is the conflict that opposes the current favorite to the younger woman, who will have to overcome the differences in social status and the hostility of the queen’s councilor in order to take her place in the queen’s circle and even closer to her.

‘The Favorite‘ has many qualities. The acting of the triplet of actresses is phenomenal, and the relationships of this ‘triangle’ dominate the story, evolving gradually and convincingly. Some of the scenes and some dialogues have formidable humorous sparkles. I’ve already mentioned about decors and costumes. Lanthimos‘s spices however add nothing meaningful and interesting, on the contrary, they appear to be forced and obviously inserted to attract attention. I did not think the film needed those. If showing lesbian ties may be considered as an original perspective on the queen’s personality and the relationships the the royal court, the avalanche of profanities does not serve anything. Not only is it not plausible that the ladies at the court of the Great Britain in the 18th century have so often spoken words such as ‘f …’, but this adds nothing to the characters or to the historical vision. I’m far from being pudic, but I think Lanthimos’s vulgar insertions here are devoid of logic. The result is that ‘The Favorite‘ is a movie with many good parts, but which does intend to be liked. I appreciated parts of it but I did not like it. It will be interesting to see if the Academy, with a renewed participation, will reward boldness, or rather pursue its Puritan reflexes and punish the film despite the high number of nominations.

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feminine and feminist (Film: L’une chante l’autre pas – Agnes Varda, 1976)

Posted on February 5, 2019 by admin

Agnès Varda‘s retrospective at the local cinema gave me the opportunity to watch for the first time ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t‘ (the original title in French is ‘L’une chante l’autre pas’). The story in this film takes place in the France of the ’60s and’ 70s, which is presented by the militant director Agnes Varda from a feminine perspective, a world in which women are the center of attention, the heroines of the story and of the society. A beautiful movie, at the end of which the spectator, if not already a feminist, has good chances to become one.

The heroines of the film, Suzanne and Pauline, meet in the early 1960s in Paris. Suzanne (Thérèse Liotard) is a few years older, and is in a relationship with a photographer, talented but unable to support the family that already has two young children. Pauline (Valérie Mairesse), still a rebellious high school student blessed with the gift of singing, will help her get rid of a third unwanted pregnancy. After the tragic death of Suzanne, the heroines’ roads split. Suzanne is forced to return to her parents in a remote village, Pauline (also called Pomme – Apple) will follow her vocation and especially her thirst for freedom by becoming the singer. They will meet again 12 years later on the barricades of the fights for the right of choice on abortions. From now on their life stories are presented in parallel, in a combination of off-voice read fragments of long, but never written letters. Each of the two will meet a man, but the men in Varda’s films never seem to be quite adequate. Neither the medical doctor Suzanne meets, nor the Iranian economist (Darius – Ali Rafie) who will fall in love with Pomme, are exceptions. The connection between Pomme and Darius provides the opportunity of a secondary action thread, a slightly Orientalist love story between the French liberated woman and the Iranian man, which will include for Pomme the cultural shock of a trip to Iran in 1976.

From the perspective of the over 40 years since ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t‘ was made, it is extremely interesting to watch the fight of heroines for the right to decide on their own destiny and the encounter between the two so different cultures, the French and the Iranian – and we are still two years before Islam came to power in Iran!. Both themes are still very actual. The beauty of the film comes from different places. First of all, I loved the passion, the warmth and the empathy with which the female universe is built, the world where the stories of the two women take place, the relationship of friendship and trust that flourishes between them at the beginning and resists all the challenges that the two of them have to face. Their interpretations are also remarkable, especially the one of Valérie Mairesse who was 20-21 years old when the film was filmed. The part of the composition in her role was actually the one in which she plays a woman in her 30s. She is wonderful. The digital remastering is excellent. Agnes Varda herself has the chance to lead the process and that not only saves films from inherent destruction on film format and promises a longer lifetime in the future, but also emphasizes the colors that play an important role in her films. ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t‘ is a movie that deserves to be seen for many reasons and has the chances of being enjoyed today at least as much as 43 years ago.

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to survive the night (Film: The Purge, Anarchy – James DeMonaco, 2014)

Posted on February 4, 2019 by admin

The issue with science fiction books or films that address the future with pessimism is that the imaginary stories tend to become reality faster than their authors expect. This does not prevent most science fiction creators today from imagining the apocalypse or post-apocalyptic worlds, societies dominated by violence or under the dictatorship of various kinds. Science-fiction has become almost synonymous with dystopia. The action movies series ‘The Purge’ belongs to this category. The first movie in the series came out on screen in 2013. The action of the second movie in the series, ‘The Purge: Anarchy‘, which I saw now, made in 2014, takes place in the America of 2023. The nightmare described in the film is generated by … elected politicians.

2023. Crime has been reduced to almost zero, unemployment is lower than ever. America seems to have solved its problems of law and order. The price? One night a year, for 12 hours, crimes of any kind are legal. The wealthy are barricaded in well-guarded houses, they even organize bloody orgies in which the victims belong to the categories who can not afford shelter and defense. Criminals kill each other or exercise their thirst for violence on victims selected among those who can be found in the streets. Most of the population supports this policy, legislated by politicians and encouraged by the government. The slogan of this ‘renewal’? ‘America Reborn’. The film’s heroes, a few people surprised by the yearly Purge on the streets, or who are thrown by circumstances in the midst of violence, will try to survive the night.

James DeMonaco, the creator of the series (three feature films and now also a television series) and the director of the film, wanted to create a good action thriller whose story is taking place in the near future. He has succeeded well, the story in this second film in the series has logic, editing is alert and the action scenes bind well. The actors team does not include any famous names, which has reduced costs and made the movie profitable since its first week, but all actors are well-chosen and act professionally. Beyond the pleasure of watching a well-done action movie, the idea of ​​the movie is interesting and the questions put in the subtext are as real as possible. Can more violence solve the problem of violence? (a current question in an America where the right of every citizen to wear weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution). Can the lack of law and order, for a limited period of time, solve the endemic problem of law and order? Of course, what’s happening in the movie is a metaphor, but the questions are as actual as possible. This good dystopian action movie succeeds to be more than it aimed to be.

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sparkling and dusty at the same time (animation film: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2018)

Posted on February 3, 2019 by admin

I do not have the habit of apologizing for my guilty pleasures, and I will not do it this time either. From time to time I love to watch animation movies. I do it not only for the nostalgia of Walt Disney’s masterpiece or to remember the pleasure of sharing the experience with my kids some time ago (it’s the turn of my grand-kids now), but also because I believe that the animation films, like any other genre, have their own successes as well as failures. When it succeeds, good animation is an aesthetic pleasure, a source of emotions and thrills, a joy that we remember in time as we remember any other good films. But this is not the case with ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ – the latest success from the House of Marvel. And I will not argue with the success either.

The more ambitious films of the comic-inspired genre are trying to bring new ideas to attract viewers, as even the most passionate fans of the genre need something new from time to time. In ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’, not even this new idea is exactly original – I’ve already seen in quite a few other movies the heroes of different comic series as they were brought to the screen and combined as heroes into the same story. In this case, the heroes of the various variants drawn or derived from Spider-Man, including Spider-Man Noir and Spider Girl, are gathered in one place (Manhattan, where else). Parallel universes of different stories with spider-men meet for the pleasure of the connoisseurs. Those less familiar with the sub-genre characters will not get that much from this reunion, and the resulting action did not seem terribly interesting to me either.

The result is, in my opinion, that we are dealing with yet another routine movie (animation movie this time), similar to just another magazine in a comics collection. For the enthusiasts it is important not to miss any issue. As an occasional spectator, nothing in the ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ seemed to me to be special, neither the animation nor the 3-D effects, neither the action nor the humor or the characters (the good or the bad). I’m sure this film will take its place in the collection and I am also sure that I’ll forget it quickly. Its makers have been able to create something sparkling but already dusty before time.

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