A year in, Fresh Off the Boat (FOTB) is still much of the same: An occasionally poignant portrayal of the immigrant experience tempered by whitewashed sinophilia. Take last week’s episode for example. Right before Chinese New Year, FOTB aired the first depiction of Mandarin Chinese New Year on American primetime[Read More…]
Film and TV
Survival, grief, revenge: Leonardo DiCaprio suffers with skill in The Revenant
Based on the true story of 19th century frontiersman Hugh Glass who, after being mauled by a bear, was left by his hunting companion to die in the wilderness, Alejandra Gonzalez Iñárritu’s The Revenant is a haunting story of survival, grief and revenge. The hero of The Revenant, portrayed by Leonardo[Read More…]
From the viewpoint: Ann Arbor Film Festival
As a newcomer to art house cinema, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the 53rd Ann Arbor Film Festival’s screening of 13 short films by independent filmmakers at Cinémathèque Québécois on Saturday night. It could have been the hushed atmosphere of a dimly lit room, or maybe the fact[Read More…]
Making a Docudrama: Is Making a Murderer really the ‘true story’ it’s cracked up to be?
Warning: This piece contains spoilers. Making a Murderer has become an omnipresent subject of discussion in the media since its release in late December. Creators Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos initially started working on the project in 2005, following the arrest of Steven Avery for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach.[Read More…]
Flashback: Belle de Jour (1967)
Belle de Jour is Luis Bunuel’s most recognizable and commercially successful film, praised for its status as an erotic masterpiece despite demonstrating virtually no sexual explicitness. Friends with both Salvador Dali and André Breton, Bunuel was a pioneer of surrealist cinema and enjoyed using the medium of film over his[Read More…]
The 5th Wave more one singular wave of disappointment
Stop me if this sounds familiar: In a post-apocalyptic nation, one spunky hero sparks a trilogy-long revolution against a corrupt government, as the fate of the world rests upon their shoulders. The 5th Wave proves to be a lacklustre addition to the current trend of young-adult (YA), dystopian thrillers, which includes[Read More…]
Tarantino adds some sauce to the classic spaghetti western in “The Hateful Eight”
When you walk into a Quentin Tarantino film, you can expect three things: Lots of blood, an intricately layered storyline, and Samuel L. Jackson. If you’ve seen The Hateful Eight, you’ll recognize that Tarantino meets those expectations, and then quickly surpasses them. Granted, this movie is not for everyone. It[Read More…]
Past vs. Present: Paradise Lost (1667) vs. Ex Machina (2015)
Warning: This piece contains spoilers from the film Ex Machina. Alex Garland’s 2015 film Ex Machina is, in fairly obvious ways, a creation story for the modern age. Nathan (Oscar Isaac)—who strikes the balance between charm and egomania with uncanny precision—is the film’s self-styled deity. Nathan is Narcissus equipped with[Read More…]
Growing up is hard to do: Welcome to F.L.
From unrequited love to acne to peer pressure, adolescence isn’t always particularly easy-going. Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ new documentary, Welcome to F.L., follows a group of Québécois high schoolers tasked with photographing each other to decorate the dull, grey exterior of their school. The film alternates between talking head interviews and[Read More…]
Pop Rhetoric: How TV can improve in 2016
2015 was arguably the best year for television in the history of the medium, both in terms of quality and quantity. Last summer, John Landgraf, president of FX network and de facto ‘mayor of television,’ stated that people have reached an age of “peak TV in America,” pointing out that[Read More…]
