gregorymannpress-74762 Reviews

Monica (2022)

A Transgender Actress Fights For Acceptance!

[4/10 · 10 May 2023]

"Monica"

"Monica" is a portrait of a woman who returns home to the Midwest for the first time in 20 years to confront the wounds of her past. Reconnecting with her mother Eugenia (Patricia Clarkson) and the rest of her family for the first time since leaving as a teenager, Monica (Trace Lysette) embarks on a path of healing and acceptance. Monica is reunited with her family for the first time since her youth. Uncertain if her mother will recognize her, Monica moves into her childhood home, hoping to heal the wounds of the past and forge a new path of forgiveness and acceptance. Exploring the universal thematic dichotomies of aging and beauty, rejection and alienation, the film details Monica's world and state of mind, the pain and fear, the needs and desires, of a woman whose journey ultimately illuminates the human condition. The film delves into Monica's internal world and state of mind, her pain and fears, her needs and desires, to explore the universal themes of abandonment and forgiveness.

Monica is a film about family, abandonment, and acceptance. It's also a film that centers a Trans-woman character. Monica has been on her own since her mother dropped her off at the bus station as a teenager with only 5 minutes to spare and the message, 'I can't be your mother anymore'. We don't follow Monica during those early teen years, and that time is only hinted at. We meet her as an adult, but one that still carries that wound of early abandonment that we get the first taste of very early in the film when she calls Jimmy (Joshua Close). Jimmy is a man we never see who we only know through her attempts to contact him, but we see and hear the need to try and keep him in her life, to not be left behind by him. Then Monica receives a call she never thought she'd receive, not from Jimmy, but from the sister-in-law she never met, asking her to come back home to help care for her mother, who's losing her memory along with her health. The film never denies how difficult it's for Monica to return to the scene of her trauma but also doesn't deny her the joy of forging new relationships with her niece and nephews.

It also doesn't give an easy resolution to her relationship with her mother, whom she now has to mother, who denied her mothering when she still needed it. Her mother doesn't recognize her right away like she secretly hoped. Though that may have been the only way for them to find a healing place, because Eugenia is not the same woman anymore that abandoned her, and that might be a way that helps Monica heal a bit from the pain of abandonment and finally call out Jimmy. And in the end, Eugenia does accept Monica as family, whether she finally recognized Monica as her daughter is not fully answered, but we think she did, even if it's not voiced. The film does a good job of balancing the moments of joy with moments of sadness. From the topic, you might not expect there would be laughs, but there are plenty during certain scenes in the film particularly at one move during a solo dance scene. There are also moments that just makes us smile while watching. The film ends with a scene of Monica's nephew signing the US National anthem at school graduation. It's a moment of healing and catharsis.

When your mother becomes sick, this confront you with your past and the psychological effects of abandonment. Treading between the interior and exterior, the emotional and physical, Monica explores the complexities of self-worth, the deep-rooted consequences of rejection and the lengths we go to heal our wounds. Through a cinematic language that stems from the juxtaposition of the aesthetics of intimacy and alienation, the film delves into the emotional and psychological landscape of Monica to reflect the precarious nature of self-identity when challenged by the need to survive and ultimately transform. The dialogues are unintelligent, clumsy, and brainless. The ending feels overly rhetorical.

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Quiet Epidemic (2022)

There's A Relationship Between Chronic Lyme And Long-COVID.

[6/10 · 24 January 2023]

After years of living with mysterious symptoms, a young girl from Brooklyn and a Duke University scientist are diagnosed with a disease said to not exist, Chronic Lyme disease. "The Quiet Epidemic" follows their search for answers, which lands them in the middle of a vicious medical debate. What begins as a patient story evolves into an investigation into the history of Lyme disease, dating back to it's discovery in 1975. A paper trail of suppressed scientific research, and buried documents reveals why ticks, and the diseases they carry, have been allowed to quietly spread around the globe.

Unable to walk due to Lyme disease, 12-year-old Julia Bruzzese is blessed by Pope Francis on live television, thrusting both her and Lyme into the public eye. This attracts the attention of public health officials who warn Julia's father, Enrico, against pursuing treatment for Lyme disease. Aware of the Lyme disease controversy, they ignore the warnings and venture into the fringes of medicine. Five years into treatment and still sick, Julia and her family begin advocating for others. Neil Spector, a Duke University cancer researcher, receives a heart transplant due to Lyme. He realizes Lyme testing and treatment has been at a standstill for decades and shifts his focus to tick-borne disease. Neil's lab makes a discovery that may revolutionize the field, and he falls ill with a virus. Due to his weakened immune system, Neil passes away at the age of 63. Julia is not fully cured under Neil Spencer's care, her quality of life significantly improves.

We've come to know Lyme as a deeply complex illness that has yet to be fully understood. According to the CDC, an estimated 500,000 people are infected with Lyme each year, and 10-20% of them remain sick after antibiotic treatment. Even still, Lyme is often dismissed by the medical establishment. We hope our film can be the catalyst needed to awaken the public to this threat and re-engage the medical and scientific communities on finding answers for a disease that is as close as our own backyard. Lyme + Long-COVID, the mystery of Chronic Lyme mirrors the issues we're facing with long-COVID. Many of the same questions exist. Is long COVID due to a lingering virus, or is it an auto-immune issue caused by damage, long after the virus is gone? In the case of COVID, patients with long haul symptoms are being taken seriously, a privilege never granted to those with Lyme.

They insist Lyme is not chronic and downplay the severity of in utero transmission. A growing body of scientific research challenges their claims, and their technologies. The goal is to elevate this evidence and new science. Those at risk deserve to know, Lyme is far more complex than we know. We believe profit-motives have stunted our understanding of chronic illness, making it incredibly difficult for doctors like him to practice medicine with proper support from insurance companies and medical boards.

Written by Gregory Mann.

A Hundred Flowers (2022)

Alzheimer's disease and Dementia is endemic in Japan! "A Hundred Flowers" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 18 November 2022]

This movie is about a mother named Yuriko (Masaka Suda), who slowly loses her memories, and her only son, Izumi (Masaka Suda) and his own memories. The film aims to illustrate the nature of human memories, what it means to be a parent, and the present-day issue of dementia through the two characters' falling out and eventual reconciliation. The memories of the mother suffering from Alzheimer's disease and her son's memories will be illustrated in alternation. Say, for example, you're in a car accident and your body is okay but you lost your memories. Can you still consider yourself the same person? Probably not. On the other hand, if your entire body is replaced with machines but your memories were left intact, perhaps you're still the same person. Humans are defined not by their bodies but by their memories. Even trivial memories are part of a complex system rooted in a person's identity.

What's missing from each of their memories are the perspectives and emotions of the other. It's because memories are by their nature, in first-person, that we doubt and hold grudges against one another. But this can also serve as the force that draws people together so that they may belong and love one another. In the finale, this film will illustrate the moment when two people unable to share their memories and perspectives come together through a miraculous event. As a rule of thumb, this film uses one cut per scene. Just as we don't get to cut.our life experiences like a movie, time keeps flowing without compromise. However, it's also true that we experience fragmented flashbacks during our daily lives prompted by unassuming events.

They often occur spontaneously and without context as they interfere with our lived reality: like remembering a rough breakup while taking a train; or about a fight you had with a friend when your small during an important meeting; or about something you saw in the news the day before, during supper. When you think about it, we live each day influenced by these arbitrary and incomplete pieces of memories. The film will convey this type of brain activity through camera work, editing and sound. In a single scene, reality and flashbacks will intertwine as they progress in parallel. The series of flashbacks that are suddenly inserted throughout the film will foreshadow certain events and all be retrieved in the climax of the final.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Corsage (2022)

Feminist 'Sissi' Adaption/"Corsage" written by Gregory Mann

[5/10 · 6 July 2022]

"Corsage"

Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps) is idolized for her beauty and renowned for inspiring fashion trends. But in 1877, 'Sissi' celebrates her 40th birthday and must fight to maintain her public image by lacing her corset tighter and tighter. While Elisabeth's role has been reduced against her wishes to purely performative, her hunger for knowledge and zest for life makes her more and more restless in Vienna. She travels to England and Bavaria, visiting former lovers and old friends, seeking the excitement and purpose of her youth. With a future of strictly ceremonial duties laid out in front of her, Elisabeth rebels against the hyperbolized image of herself and comes up with a plan to protect her legacy.

We all grew up with Romy Schneider as Sissi. Depictions of Sissi are everywhere nonetheless. Sissi is certainly Viennas central tourist attraction. The trilogy still screens on television every Christmas. It depicts Empress Elisabeth as a young obedient monarch in a kitschy, folklore-style setting. This Elisabeth, on the other hand, is 40, so she's an old woman by the standards of her day, grappling with her life and searching for some way to escape it's constraints. Why did Elisabeth have fitness equipment built for her? Why did she refuse to be painted after she was 40? This is the phase in Elisabeth's life when, on the one hand, she begins to rebel against all the ceremony and, on the other hand, started to withdraw and isolate herself; a time when it had quite obviously become impossible for her to squeeze herself into a predetermined template. There's that sense of always having to live up to an outsized image of yourself, as that's the only way for you to gain recognition and love.

She lives in a tight corset of self-restraint and societal censure. At first she's still keen to measure up to her own aspirations, as well as satisfying public expectations that she will conform to an idealized image. For decades she helped cement that image with her cult of beauty and iconic braided hairstyle. But Elisabeth has grown older and is tired of passing muster as an image of perfection. Riddled with despair, Elisabeth increasingly withdraws from her life. That's exactly what the real Elisabeth is said to have done. In later life, she only appeared in public with her face hidden behind a veil, she travelled extensively, and even had a double to take her place on official occasions to avoid having to attend. This is a perpetual state of affairs in women's lives. Being beautiful is still seen as a woman's most important and valuable trait. What happens when we all stop pretending?

Historical progress has not altered that, despite the women's movement and emancipation. Women are still considered less valuable if they're overweight or older. An attractive female partner still boosts a man's status. The only difference between then and now is that people used to talk openly about it; 'All you need to do is be appealing'. After a certain age, women can't win no matter what they do; they're accused of being vain if they get some work done, but people comment on their wrinkles if they don't. That's a particular issue for women in the public eye, like Elisabeth, but it affects all of us because they've a kind of emblematic function. In "Corsage", Elisabeth is overwhelmed by fate. Depressive tendencies are also documented in her family. She's fascinated by poetry, by Heinrich Heine's poems. Cocaine and heroin naturally penetrate deep into the brain and alter people's perceptions. In addition, she constantly subjected herself to a kind of slow torture, with diets and endurance sports. Everything she tries by way of distraction appears to be in vain until ultimately the empress comes to a tragic end.

What was it like being a woman in 19th -century Europe? Marriage market conventions in particular exerted enormous pressure on women. Back then, if a man married outside his class, for example, if a nobleman wed a commoner, which would have been quite unusual, the bride would promptly be given a noble title. The exact opposite applied for women. If a noblewoman married a commoner, she would need to find even more money to avoid slipping down the social ladder. Just like today, a woman was also expected to be the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the best of all. And of course, everyone lost out in that kind of competitive set-up. Above all, women's influence steadily waned as they grew older. In those days, women essentially became invisible when they turned 40. Making herself disappear was also a desperate stab at self-empowerment on Elisabeth's part. (5,0/5,5)

Written by Gregory Mann.

Peter von Kant (2022)

Fassbinder Adaption "Peter Von Kant" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 3 July 2022]

"Peter Von Kant"

Peter Von Kant (Dennis Ménochet), a successful, famous director, lives with his assistant Karl (Stefan Crepon), whom he likes to mistreat and humiliate. Through the great actress Sidonie (Isabelle Adjani), he meets and falls in love with Amir (Khalil Ben Gharhia), a handsome young man of modest means. He offers to share his apartment and help Amir break into the world of cinema.

For Fassbinder, the world of fashion was merely a context. Petra's work is not developed or analyzed. We only know that she's successful, that she needs to draw new designs, and that her assistant is there to help her. His work is how he meets others, discovers them, elevates them. Amir reveals himself before the camera, not just to Peter but also to the viewer. Suddenly we see him differently, he becomes an actor, which also makes us doubt his sincerity. Is his story true, or is it merely calculated to move Peter, to stimulate his desire to create? When Peter seizes the camera, his appetite to film Amir is clear. That movement plunges him into the creative desire of Pygmalion for Galatea. Sidonie is also a variation on the theme of Pygmalion and his muse. Peter loves and hates her simultaneously. 'I preferred the actress to the woman', he says. In Fassbinder, the character is merely a confidante; a best friend for Petra to bounce of off. We imagine Peter as a big drama queen, always making too much of things. In the Fassbinder film there's a queer side, with the women overplaying their femininity. Peter is forever drowning in his emotions. He's excessive, overly emphatic. And more often than not, he's high on alcohol or drugs. The trick is to embrace the theatricality of the character. The color and stylization work characterizes his final period on material from his first period.

Peter wants to take Amir in, protect him, be his Pygmalion. Peter falls in love not just with Amir but also with the creature he could shape Amir into. And when Amir ultimately escapes him, Peter is riddled with jealousy. And again, all his theories about freedom in relationships come tumbling down. When Peter meets Amir, there's a sexual fantasy for sure, but he's also found someone who is as alone as he's, whose life is broken. Beyond the physical and sexual attraction. Peter ends up alone, but he has his memories of Amir on film. Exploring the theme of love through the prism of cinema is moving, especially right now, with changing attitudes towards going to the movies, falling theatre attendance, the emergence of platforms. This film "Peter von Kant" is perhaps more optimistic than Fassbinder's. Though Peter ends up alone and isolated, his eyes are open to his films, his imagination, fiction. He films Amir, he records his love. Creation and cinema save Peter.

The film is an adaptation of 'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'. Fassbinder originally wrote the story for the theatre. He made it into a film in 1972 when he was just 25 years old. He had recently discovered the Hollywood melodramas of Douglas Sirk, and used all the theatrical and cinematic artifices and mannerisms at his disposal to film his play about emotional dependence and the impossibility of loving as equals. Fassbinder's body of work, philosophy and vision of the world have always haunted us. His unbelievable creative energy fascinates us. The film centers around one of Fassbinder's passionate love affairs. In 'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant', Fassbinder had turned his own unhappy love affair with one of his favorite actors, Günther Kaufmann, into a lesbian love story between a fashion designer and her model. The character of Karl is inspired by Peer Raben, who composed music for Fassbinder's films and was also his assistant. The film trades the world of fashion for the world of cinema and changes the gender of the three main characters. It's a way of betraying Fassbinder the better to find him, in a universal tale of passionate love. The story is more relevant than ever in the way it questions the power dynamics of domination in the creative arts, the Pygmalion/muse relationship.

'Water Drops on Burning Rocks' was consciously very theatrical, with an ironic detachment reminiscent of Fassbinder's cinema. This film wants to inject more empathy into a new version of 'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'. Maybe with age and experience we understand Fassbinder better, the way he sees life, creation and love right down to it's most monstruous aspects. Fassbinder is not a loveable filmmaker. His films are not loveable. But we feel a wide range of emotions towards Peter. To hate him one minute and find him touching, grotesque or endearing the next. He blends the intimate and the political in the most naked of ways, both literally and figuratively. The effect is at once pathetic, sincere and devastating. There's also a dash of boulevard in Fassbinder's work, but it's more Brechtian, there's more distancing. The film wsnts to highlight the emotional power of the text, bring the character's humanity and feelings to the fore, leave behind Fassbinder's little theatre of puppets in favor of flesh and blood characters. The bitter tears in Fassbinder's play and film are artificial, which is what makes them beautiful, both theatrically and cerebrally.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Poser (I) (2021)

'A Neo-Psychedelic Music Scene'. "Poser" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 25 May 2022]

"Poser"

Lennon Gates (Sylvie Mix) yearns for access to the inner sanctum of the underground music scene in Columbus, Ohio, especially the band 'The Witch Siren', made up of Bobbi Kitten and Z Wolf. To achieve her goal, she won't hesitate to lie, simulate or fake authenticity. She yearns for a personal connection that might shepherd her into the inner sanctum of warehouse concerts, exclusive backstage, house parties, and the cutting-edge art scene. As she fuels her desire for entrée into a podcast featuring live music and conversations with the artists she so fervently admires, Lennon observes inspiration for her own musical ambitions, and a growing sense of misdirected identity. When she creates a podcast to interview the local artists she adores, Lennon discovers her own musical ambitions, develops a fast friendship with the striking, self-asscured performer Bobbi Kitten. Bobbi Kitten is an enigmatic, striking, and talented half of a popular, indie-pop duo. Bobbi takes Lennon under her self-assured wing. Soon, Lennon's aspirations, with some constructive coaxing from Bobbi to perceive her voice, lead her down a path of dark obsession.

When you graduated from college in Columbus, OH, you're twenty-two and inexperienced, eager, and ready to absorb as much as you can in the city. You fell in love with the arts community in Columbus. You'd spend weekends at seedy music venues, watching friends perform, discovering a variety of new sounds and ideas. You're introduced to the most talented, passionate, and absurd people that you've had ever met. You make music videos for these musicians. With hardly any budget at all, no concept ideas, use friends as extras, and shoot in abandoned buildings. At times, it all feels cliché. But it always feels special. Welcome to the Columbus underground music scene! "Poser" uses this world of underground music as a backdrop. The eccentricities that often accompany musicians helped guide this idea. There's already a universe there, with real characters that feels like they should be in a movie.

The script for "Poser" starts with Bobbi. When we meet Bobbi Kitten, she's charismatic, wild, and an amazing performer. We discover her band, ' 'Damn the Witch Siren'. What kind of fun, twisted story the movie creates using her and 'Damn the Witch Siren' as the backbone? Their music is different. Weird. With a self-described genre of Witch Rock, their shows are a high energy experience that captured our imagination. "Poser" builds the narrative around real bands and music, ultimately having Bobbi play a caricature of herself. We see Lennon in a 'proof of concept' trailer in order to help us get funding for "Poser". We see the chemistry between her and Bobbi. We feel like "Poser" is a movie for a twenty something generation. It draws on the emotions of being a young adult and struggling with your identity.

"Poser" could be seen as a more stylized and somewhat darker version of "Ingrid Goes West", with the obsessions and delusions of social networks as a common ground. It's narrative approach through the podcast plays in favor of the general aesthetics of the movie and sets all the necessary elements to characterize the characters and the city's counterculture. It's atmospheric visuals and it's hipster vibe shows many references to "Under The Skin". With pitch perfect style, atmosphere and a dash of dark humour, "Poser" is a stunning snapshot of a vivid artistic community, and a profound psycho-drama of misdirected identity. (5,5)

Written by Gregory Mann.

Hold Your Fire (2021)

"Hold Your Fire" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 19 May 2022]

"Hold Your Fire"

Brooklyn, 1973. When Shu'aib Raheem and his friends attempted to steal guns for self-defense, it sparked the longest hostage siege in NYPD history. NYPD psychologist Harvey Schlossberg fought to avert a bloodbath, reform police methods, and save the lives of hostages, police, and the four young Muslim men at the heart of the conflict. The documentary is as tense as any New York thriller Sidney Lumet might have directed. Revisiting a landmark crime from the Brooklyn of 1973, he brings history vividly alive with the testimonies of those originally caught in the crossfire. It's the story of a botched robbery, a murdered policeman, a media scrum and a hostage situation that seemed unlikely to end well. The film creates a Rashomon-style narrative, challenging lazy assertions and revealing deep-rooted prejudices.

Shu'aib Raheem works as a Trauma Support Consultant. He previously served as the Program Coordinator for the Brownsville Arches Transformative Mentoring Program for criminal justice-involved children and families. He's the founder of the Jawala Scouts Leardership Training Program. He currently serves on the board of The Fortune Society. Harvey Schlossberg is an NYPD officer, Freudian psychoanalyst, and the founder of modern crisis negotiation. He founded the Psychological Services department in the NYPD, where he pioneered treatment for violence-prone police. In the Handbook of Police Psychology, Schlossberg is called a 'father of modern police psychology' for his role in changing the tactics police employed in hostage situations.

When we first learned about Harvey Schlossberg we were amazed to discover a maverick, pacifist, intellectual cop with a Ph. D. in psychology teaching radical empathy to the police. Harvey played a key role in the longest hostage siege in NYPD history. It took place in 1973 Brooklyn, the home of French Connection, Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon. We discover that this harrowing ordeal is the origin story of modern hostage negotiation, and that Schlossberg's teachings provide hope for repairing America's broken methods of policing. Throughout the killings of Michael Brown, Ahmed Arbery, Brionna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others, we dismayed to learn that most policemen aren't trained in Harvey's defuse and de-escalate approach. This has to change. America tends to glorify macho guys adept at violence, such as heavyweight boxers and Special Forces Ops.

We'd like to glorify a 99-pound intellectual police psychologist who upended traditional notions of masculinity and police use of violence. In the words of NYPD Captain Al Baker, who was initially skeptical of Schlossberg. It was a revolutionary. We started to transcend street justice. It's an internal strength, the opposite of the eternal, explosive strength. That's true manhood. Violence is a weakness. There are challenging and disturbing interviews in "Hold Your Fire". They help spark the messy, difficult, and honest discussions America needs to have around policing and criminal justice. We've come to think of our nation as a dysfunctional family, full of love and compassion along with conflict, trauma, false narratives and toxic denial. As the spectre of coming political violence looms over America, can we hold this family together? Can we follow Harvey's lead and listen deeply to each other even as we strongly disagree? Can we absorb the truth that violence is a weakness and learn to hold our fire? The future of our multicultural democracy may well depend on it.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Beba (2021)

It's still not easy to be a young Woman of color! "Beba" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 13 May 2022]

"Beba"

'I carry an ancient pain that I struggle to understand'. So begins the confessional narration that opens "Beba". The documentary undertakes an unflinching exploration of Rebeca Huntt's own identity. Seeking to gain a more concrete understanding of her identity as a young Afro-Latina woman and an up-and-coming filmmaker, the film reflects on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother. After graduating from Bard College, she returns to the rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment on Central Park West where she and her two siblings were raised. The film investigates the historical, societal, and generational trauma she's inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans.

Throughout "Beba", the film searches for a way to forge creative path amid a landscape of intense racial and political unrest. It's about the historical, societal, and generational trauma she's inherited and ponder how those centuries-old wounds have shaped her. Weaving together music, poetry, and interview footage, the film traces her life's journey from her family home to the mountains of South America, where she spent youthful summers, and then onto the campus where she formed pivotal friendships and began to discover her authentic voice. As she strikes out into adulthood, intense racial and political unrest mounts, leaving her eagerly searching for a way to forge her own creative path and to find her place in the world. "Beba"is a self-portrait of an Afro-Latina artist hungry for knowledge and yearning for connection.

The documentary gives the audience the opportunity of watching a young woman of color live her life honestly, it isn't always pretty, indeed it's often pretty dark, but it's unrelentingly real. In so doing, she challenges audiences to do the same, to look deeply within and ask: 'What is the legacy I am leaving, can I fight for something better'? It's a symphony that keeps our minds working every step of the way. The film provides a mirror for many who've never seen themselves reflected before on screen. As such, we've to create our own roadmap, consistently charting new territory.

Put all your friends in it, everybody you loved, so one day they will find you and know that you're all here together. You've to find this quote to embody a level of self-acceptance and love for humanity that's scarce in, and yet fundamental to art. Amid the murders of Treyvon Martin and Michael Brown the streets trembled and the tension is palpable. We either srive and become useful, or we disappear into the chaos. The film wants to explore effects of this moment on an existential level, we might move people. Every major plot point in "Beba" reflects an existential set back, or a quantum leap often only identified by the person experiencing them. The film uses 16mm, shot handheld, for it's ability to capture a limited yet pulsating aesthetic intrinsic to intimacy. There's something about 16mm that's innately intimate. The film is full of sentimental references, like the voice of Audre Lorde, and some less obvious ones, reinterpretations of scenes from the works of Djibril Diop Mambety and Chris Marker.

Film in general has this beautiful, pulsating aesthetic. Every single thing it captures on screen feels pulsating like it's alive. The colors are just also arresting. Every human being goes through some sort of an existential crisis in their early twenties. Is this what life is We exist within this framework of chaos, and it's constant. But what's so much bigger than out shyness is our yearning to connect with people. Ww think we're innately correlated, and everything would look different if we were more honest with ourselves and honest with others. To create a space where we can all talk a little bit more honestly about what it's like to exist. Talk about some of the dynamics in our relationships, which have so much to do with these instincts that we inherit and these systems that we live under. So maybe we can begin a deeper dialogue around what's already true, our innate correlation. (5,5)

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Will to See (2021)

'War Is Not Pretty" "The Will To See" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 29 April 2022]

"The Will To See"

An old-time war reporter, Bernard-Henri Lévy is sent by a group of newspapers to bear witness and report from places in the world where suffering and misery is at it's peak, where wars are going on under our noses, where the world's destiny is being determined and no one, it seems, is paying attention. An unflinching look at the most urgent humanitarian crises around the globe.

Since 2014 and Ukraine's Maidan revolution, Donbas, an important mining region of eastern Ukraine), has fallen prey to an armed conflict between pro-Russian separatists in the pay of Putin and the Ukrainian army. This now no longer under-the radar war had claimed over I 3,000 victims prior to Russia's official invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Nigeria is Africa's wealthiest and most populous country and here a slow-motion war is under way, a massacre of Christians, massive in scale and horrific in brutality. And the world has hardly noticed. Comparing the violence and persecution executed by Islamic terrorist groups in Nigeria to Rwanda in the 1990s and to Darfur and South Sudan in the 2000s. Will the West let history repeat itself in Nigeria?

Named the worst refuge camp in the world without Borders, Moria, the infamous reception center, on the Greek island of Lesbos, was constructed for 2,000 refugees but until last year, housed nearly 20,000 souls. With horrific and inhumane conditions, the camp was a tragedy waiting to explode and that it did. In September 2020, the camp burned to the ground. Independent since 1960, the country has been ravaged by endless wars over decades. The capital, Mogadishu, has become a hotbed for violence and terrorism. AI-Shabab, the Islamist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has wreaked havoc on the country and few Westerners have been back since the tragedy of Black Hawk Down. In 20 I I, Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown by a NATO-led international coalition including the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

After 20 years in Afghanistan, the United States and it's allies concluded this forever war and the floodgates opened for the Taliban to retake the country. Now with devastating humanitarian, political and economic consequences, severe restrictions on human rights and a dark cloud descending over the country, the son of legendary Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, young Ahmad Massoud holds the sole flame of resistance in the Panjshir VaIIey. The leader of the Resistance against the Taliban regime, Massoud continuously calls for international support but has yet to receive help. Numbering 30-40 million, the Kurds are the world's largest stateless nation and are divided between Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran. Oken terrorizing and repressing the Kurds, these countries will not sacrifice an inch of territory to create a Kurdish state. When lsls extended it's Caliphate throughout Syria and Iraq, the Kurds led the fight, with their Western allies, to extinguish this terrorism, horror and chaos. But when Erdogan invaded their small autonomous region in Syria, the international community leh them in the dust and at the mercy of powerful and hostile neighbors. Now the Kurds of Iraq and of Syria continue to combat and suppress dangerous flare-ups from lsls, which has not disappeared, and are alone in this baxle against extremism.

"The Will To See" brings publicity to unfashionable political causes. For bearing witness to the horrors of the world. The movie challenges viewers to examine their prejudices and preconceptions. The film is a damning indictment of a selfish and callous Western world. It raises questions that are rarely posed so starkly. The ability to act, the drive to inspire. Calls on people not just to see the world, but to be moved and interested by what they find there, and to do something about it. "The Will To See" seeks big answers to impossible questions on humanity, brotherhood, and the concept of just and unjust war.

This movie is a mixture of circumstance and necessity. It's about the idea of seeking out forgotten wars, situations with little coverage, places of suffering and misery where it's difficult to go and where. The film believes in the virtue of the field. You see absolutely incredible things that escape all the grids of reading and interpretation. Moments of loneliness, the Kurds, whose tragic greatness is obvious. The quintessential ghost town, rotten town, putrid town, Mogadishu. It's a trip to the end of hell. The camera very often lingers on faces. All the misery, the splendor, the horror, the glory of the human condition. Radical Islamism is currently the ferment of many conflicts. It's a threat to freedom and a reservoir of crimes against humanity. Beauty, on the other hand, of the luminous faces of those who resist, as in Afghanistan! The film shows the face of those who refuse that radical Islamism dictates its law to them, to the rest of Islam and to the world.

The camp of the polluters is already overwhelmed with the miseries of the world. There's a kind of inner evidence. The film gives an epic, even romantic vision of these conflicts. 'Oh god, war is pretty' says Apollinaire. By romanticism, we mean the ineradicable belief in a better world, or the idea that there's in every man a path to greatness, or the fact that a man can always do a little more than what one imagines. By the way, is this so different from the classic attitude of the committed intellectual? Since the Dreyfus affair, isn't a French intellectual someone who only authorizes himself to affirm, I've the duty to say what's right, what's good, what's the truth. Waking up at night, when the battlefields are still smoking, the fights are over, the winners are designated, the vanquished lost. There are two colors in the film. Tiredness. The moments we've the feeling, of having spent our life plowing the sea. But there are also real moments of pride.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Flux Gourmet (2022)

'A Sort Of Strange Indie Horror' "Flux Gourmet" written by Gregory Mann

[5/10 · 27 March 2022]

A sonic collective who can't decide on a name takes up a residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance. The members Elle di Elle (Fatma Mohamed), Billy Rubin (Asa Butterfield) and Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed) are caught up in their own power struggles, only their dysfunctional dynamic is furthermore exacerbated when they've to answer to the institute's head, Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie). With the various rivalries unfolding, Stones, the Institute's 'dossierge' has to privately endure increasingly fraught stomach problems whilst documenting the collective's activities. Upon hearing of Stones's visits to the gastroenterologist, Dr Glock (Richard Bremmer), Elle coerces him into her performances in a desperate bid for authenticity. The reluctant Stones (Makis Papadimitriou) uts up with the collective's plans to use his condition for their art whilst Jan Stevens goes to war with Elle over creative differences.

"Flux Gourmet" originally started as a satire on artists and their complex relationship with the institutes that fund their work. To remain neutral and look at both perspectives offering both sympathy and ridicule. Whilst exploring the month-long residency of an art collective that deal with food, the film is interested in the idea of taboo and shock value in art, which in this context opened up the dark side of the stomach and the bowels. This eventually led to the story of a man in the institute suffering from very private and embarrassing stomach problems, the kind of problems many people suffer from, but are sometimes too embarrassed to mention even to a doctor. We've often feel frustrated with cinema's ignorance of allergies and intolerances, which are often portrayed as comedy, particularly when someone's face swells up from anaphylactic shock.

Though there are no allergies or anaphylactic shock in "Flux Gourmet", the film treats stomach problems responsibly, whilst still pushing the boundaries of taste wants to explore coeliac disease for 'Flux Gourmet' and treat all the symptoms methodically. At first, with all the mention of flatulence, the audience might think this is a comedy, but we soon realise that this is serious and we never hear a single fart throughout the film. All the deeply embarrassing problems are never shown. We only hear the character mention them in solemn voice-over, yet there's humour elsewhere with the gender and creative conflicts between band members and the institute. It's clear by the end of the film that having coeliac disease is not the end of the world for the character and people can easily adapt to it, that audiences will understand the disease more instead of thinking it's a 'fad' and thinking a coeliac sufferer won't have any stomach problems if he or she eats gluten.

Also, a lot of emphasis is on the fear prior to diagnosis. The influences for 'Flux Gourmet' are Robert Bresson's films with his solemn and almost religious voice-overs, Rob Reiner's 'Spinal Tap' for the rock n' roll clichés, the Viennese Aktionists for the corporeal shock value and Marcel Marceau for his mime work. The time and place are not specified in order to enhance the film's dream-like nature. Ultimately, through the use of performance art and avant-garde music, the film reveals a very human story about problems that people are often too embarrassed to talk about, but many of us can relate to regardless of how healthy or unhealthy our stomachs are. Within the seriousness, the film also presents a somewhat silly world exploring.creative conflict, rejection, power and the dilemmas facing both artists and their patrons.

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Torch (2019)

"The Blues Chase The Blues Away"/"The Torch" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 16 March 2022]

At age 85, Buddy Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago's fabled West Side sound, and a living link to the city's halcyon days of electric blues. Buddy Guy has received 8 Grammy Awards, a 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential National Medal of Arts. Though Buddy Guy will forever be associated with Chicago, his story actually begins in Louisiana. One of five children, he was born in 1936 to a sharecropper's family and raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, located some 140 miles northwest of New Orleans. Buddy was just seven years old when he fashioned his first makeshift guitar, a two-string contraption attached to a piece of wood and secured with his mother's hairpins.

In 1957, he took his guitar to Chicago, where he would permanently alter the direction of the instrument, first on numerous sessions for Chess Records playing alongside Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, and the rest of the label's legendary roster, and then on recordings of his own. His incendiary style left it's mark on guitarists from Jimmy Page to John Mayer. Seven years later, July 2012 proved to be one of Buddy Guy's most remarkable years ever. He was awarded the 2012 Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime contribution to American culture; earlier in the year, at a performance at the White House, he even persuaded President Obama to join him on a chorus of 'Sweet Home Chicago'. Also in 2012, he published his long-awaited memoir, 'When I Left Home'. Buddy Guy is a genuine American treasure and one of the final surviving connections to an historic era in the country's musical evolution.

A rare artist who's always sounded older than his years, Quinn Sullivan has been touring the world since he was 11-years-old, playing storied venues such as Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl and three Montreux Jazz Festivals. Sullivan has shared the stage with his hero and mentor Buddy Guy, as well as Carlos Santana on several occasions. Quinn's performance experience includes appearances on leading national television programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

We always look forward to getting whatever time we can with him, because you walk away and you feel like there's been this amazing knowledge dropped on you. There was an understanding among Buddy Guy and his peers, last man standing needs to make sure the music lives on. When B. B. King died in 2015, that promise became reality. He was already grooming his teenage protégé, Quinn Sullivan, but the urgency became palpable. It's like the Ford car, Henry Ford invented the Ford car, and regardless how much technology they got on them now, you still have that little sign that says 'Ford' on the front. It's indeed a 'Long Hard Road', which is the title of the original song created for the film. The goal of "The Torch" is to pull back the curtain on this process and watch it unfold over time. It's a film where the viewer is rewarded with an enriching experience rather than a lecture.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Terykony (2022)

PUTIN: STOP THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE! "TERYKONY" WRITTEN BY GREGORY MANN

[8/10 · 4 March 2022]

"Terykony" ("Boney Piles")

Nastya, 15, lives in Toretsk, a small coalmining township located 82 km north of Donetsk. Since it was liberated from the combined Russian-separatist forces in 2014, Toretsk has been in the gray zone along the engagement line. Almost every day the township comes under attack. Nastya was born into a family of coalminers, like the majority of Toretsk residents. As the coalmines close down, the township is increasingly depressed by unemployment. Nastya was six when three missiles launched by the Russian army hit her house on New Year's Eve in 2015. Fortunately, she was not at home at the time, but her father was killed. She survived but lost her father, childhood and faith in life. Nastya's school is just 800 m from their forward positions and has been shelled many times, which can be seen from dents and holes left by bullets and shrapnel in the façade. In order to distract their traumatized students, the teachers paint blue skies over the dents and holes.

Everyone who had a place to move to has left the warzone. Nastya has nowhere to go. Her family has not received any compensation for the destroyed house. Forced to survive by any means, Nastya collects and sells scrap metal. Nastya has PTSD. Now she lives with her mother and grandmother. Her mother has sunk into the underclass and there's no one to support her, so she has to make her own living. To the likes of her the war has become something commonplace, like the landscape outside the window. Yet Nastya has dreams. Like every girl, she dreams of a new house and a dog and keeps on writing letters to Santa asking him to bring her father back. Approximately 10,000 children currently reside in the Donbas warzone. Nastya seeks refuge from this world in the virtual reality. She found peace of mind in online music and draws hope from the worldwide web.

Terykony (Ukr. For Boney Piles), mounds of coal waste distinctively typical of the Donetsk coal basin landscapes, are an allegory for the fate of deprived children to whom war has become part of their life. Their cone-like shape and size make them resemble the Egyptian pyramids. Slack and other waste have been piled up in such mounds for centuries. The boney piles are an image of the earth from which all valuable resources have been drained and all that's left is slack. It's an allegory of human fates. Mass coalmine closedowns made the people jobless and deepened the cleavage in society. Living in a state of permanent insecurity and.deprived of care, they've no future. Toretsk is a small coalmining township located 82 km north of Donetsk. Toretsk has a long history. The coal mining in whole Donbass region began on it's territory in 1721. Since it was liberated from the combined Russian-separatist forces in 2014, Toretsk has been in the gray zone along the engagement line. It's residents became hostages, just like useless slack. The problem of deprived children exists in different parts of the world. Almost every day the township comes under attack. Today there are no working mines left in the town. Forward positions (the line of contact, also the engagement line) is a buffer zone in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions between the Ukrainian-controlled settlements and the temporarily occupied territories. Gray zone is buffer band of neutral territory. In some places reaches several kilometers, and in others, only two or three hundred meters. Grad is a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher.

This is a story of children who've suffered from shelling and lost their parents and dear ones but continue to live and love where others have given up on all hope. It's a story about coming of age and encountering the cruel reality. And it's about childhood that continues despite war. A full-length documentary about children of war. The method of documentary surveillance of characters and non-intrusion into their personal space makes it possible to show the dramatism of children's life on the front line. Nastya impressed us by her integrity, gown-up way of thinking and deep inner world. Nastya's story doesn't end with this movie. There's a clear storyline of her growing up. The movie leaves the viewer wondering what's going to happen to Nastya in the future. By immersing into the virtual world she tries to escape from the cruel reality which even grownups are unable to endure. Through the fate of one child we speak about a whole generation of Ukrainian children of war. The documentary is overflowing with symbolism. The ending frame is nothing like scenery from Tarkovsky's movie "Stalker". It's part of the apocalyptic surroundings in which Nastya lives. And it's an open question to the civilized world.

Although this movie is about the Russo-Ukrainian-War in 2014, it feels more than up-to-date. The shelling is not chaotic, Putin's terrorists purposefully target residential areas. The war has been going on for more than seven years, keeping the people in constant lethal danger. Children are especially endangered! There's an episode in the movie showing the very beginning of the schoolyear, the 1st of September. Those kids that go to the school were born in the wartime and haven't seen a single peaceful day! We've a whole generation born in the wartime. In addition to the horrors of war, we're very deeply impressed by their defenselessness. Now we've a lot of children whose limbs are torn off, whose parents are killed in this war, whose homes are destroyed. That's what Putin's hybrid warfare policy brings to this land. And this movie cries out loud to the world so Putin stops the war that he unleashed against Ukraine.

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Survivor (2021)

Who do not remember history being condemned to repeat it "The Survivor" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 13 February 2022]

"The Survivor"

"The Survivor" is based on the incredible true story of Harry Haft (Ben Foster), who after being sent to Auschwitz, survives not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp, but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he's forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft is driven by the most important reason any man has to survive, a quest to reunite with the woman he loves. After a daring escape, he makes his way to New York, where he succeeds in using his boxing skills to establish a name for himself in the hopes of finding his one true love. His indomitable spirit lands him in the ring with boxing legends like Rocky Marciano (Anthony Molinari) as he fights to make sense of his past and reclaim the life that was stolen from him.

Harry's story begins in Belchatow, where he's in love with the spirited Leah (Dar Zuzovsky). As he later toils in the concentration camps, Harry is tortured by the uncertainty of what has become of Leah, last seen two years ago being hauled away by Nazis. Leah as someone who chose to be optimistic by choice, not circumstances. A small boy lies awake at night, curious and frightened by the moans and muffled cries emanating from the man fitfully sleeping across the hall. He mumbles in an unfamiliar language and seems to be recalling a horrific experience. Not until many years later does the boy learn the reason for the tormented man's nightmares. Every night he tossed and turned and screamed in horror. It's a seminal experience and it really stayed with us, but in those days no one talked about things, and we never even knew who he was. The opening at the camp is a 1940s' black and white photojournalistic style with lots of hand-held shots, as if we're just picking up moments that we happen to catch. Harry's memories are jagged and rough, with no true continuity.

Nazi camp commander Dietrich Schneider (Billy Magnussen) is an educated man whose intellect makes his depraved indifference to human suffering more acute. He relishes the pain he inflicts. Schneider runs dog fighting but, to him, the dogs are Jews. Schneider is a sick puppy. In the film, Schneider enters Haft's life after he intervenes to save his friend Jean (Laurent Papot) from a camp guard (Hans Peterson). Sensing the aggression in Haft, Schneider recruits him to compete against other Jewish prisoners in weekly boxing matches. Schneider's motivation is to entertain German officers and earn him some Reichsmarks betting on the fights. In exchange, Haft will receive special rations and privileges. Out of desperation and the sheer will to survive. Haft is moved to the infamous Polish work camp, Jaworzno. There, Harry receives crude boxing instruction from Schneider and begins a series of fights. There's a huge price to pay for his compliance. With every fight Harry wins, he sends another man to his death. Each fatality adds to his guilt and shame. As a prisoner, Harry's boxing skills allow him to survive from week to week. Against all odds he makes it out of the camp with a skill that he uses to try and escape the memories of the atrocities that colored his past.

When the story shifts to New York in 1949, we've more color entering the frames, but within that period style of film noir. And he finds everything else along the way. Living in a low-rent apartment in Brooklyn, Harry boxes with a relentless ferocity, no longer to keep his body alive, but his heart. This is not a quest for glory or ego. The Pride of Poland is fighting for love. With each bout, win or lose, Harry is fighting for attention. He wants his matches noted in the papers, his name mentioned in the streets. Essentially, his life after war is a journey to find Leah. In his search, Harry comes to rely on Miriam Wofsoniker (Vicky Krieps), who works for the Displaced Persons Service, a government office dedicated to reuniting immigrants with missing friends and family. Like Harry, Miriam knows what it means to lose a loved one, having lost her fiancé to the war. An increasingly frustrated Harry has been haunting the office for weeks, anxious for news. Miriam's empathetic kindness and gentle manner calm Harry, and the two form a bond over mutual loss. She's not looking for a fairy tale romance. Miriam is able to say 'yes, you can love more than one person. Even with Miriam's help, Harry struggles to assimilate in a new land.

As the story concludes in Florida in the 1960s, the palette is distinctly brighter and warmer, with lots of pastel tones. But even in this sunny environment, the darkness from the past manages to cast a lengthy shadow. Harry Haft's struggle against the forces of evil is reminiscent of where, if left unchecked, we could end up. His older brother Peretz (Saro Emirze), by contrast, has a much easier time adjusting to life in Florida, finding love, work, and becoming part of the community. Peretz learns to read and speak English quite well, which helps him integrate into society much better than his brother. He's concerned that Harry continues to live in the past. 'Put it away', he tells him. 'Don't dwell on it'. 'Leah is the past, let her go, let it all go'. But he can't. Peretz feels responsible for Harry. Peretz is injured along the death march and wants Harry to abandon him, but he refuses. Harry risks his own life to get his brother out. It was a tremendous act of love, and for the rest of his life Peretz tries to repay that debt by looking after him. Harry enables his manager Louis Barclay (Paul Bates) to arrange a match with the hardest hitter in the sport, Rocky Marciano. Harry is excited and confident that a victory over Marciano will lead to finding Leah. After losing to Marciano, Harry retires from boxing. He marries Miriam, but happiness continues to elude him. The smallest detail, such as the peephole in the hotel room where he goes for his honeymoon, plunges him back to his time in the camps. His failure to reconcile with his past begins to threaten his relationship with his son, Alan (Kingston Vernes)

Spanning three decades and two continents, it's both the story of Harry Haft and that of so many people who are forever colored by the events of their past as they strive to not only to survive, but to live. It's a story about survivors that had to make difficult choices to try and understand what that might have been like. What abject circumstances forced a person to do to survive. The goal is to wrangle this very complicated life and complex man into a form that would be respectful of his experience and illuminate the spirit of how and why he survived. What means it being forever haunted. How does it color your relationships with your wife and with your kids? The film wants to explore the struggle of hiding so much about your past so that those you love never know about the things you're exposed to because you want to try and protect them.

Though the film touches on great difficulties, it's one that suggests hope. The faith in finding your true love and remembering the past while finding a new kind of peace today. We are bombarded with images that remind us of the hate that exists in the world. We've always been curious about exploring the idea that when someone experiences something like a war or a concentration camp they don't just leave the experience and get on with their lives. Today, with anti-Semitism and systemic racism at an all-time high. The saying about those who do not remember history being condemned to repeat it, is more apt today than at any time. This is not a concise history but rather the traumatized, disjointed and sometimes abstract recollections of a man on a journey from survival to recovery. (6,5) Written by Gregory Mann.

Indemnity (2021)

"Indemnity" written by Gregory Mann

[5/10 · 7 February 2022]

"Indemnity"

"Indemnity" follows Theo Abrams (Jarrid Geduld), an ex-Cape Town fireman. He used to be one hell of a firefighter. Today, he's forcibly retired, wracked with PTSD over the on-the-job deaths of friends. His world is rocked when he wakes up next to his wife's Angela (Nicole Fortuin) dead body with no recollection of what transpired and all evidence pointing to him as the killer. Soon, he will find himself the target of every cop in Cape Town, a wanted man denounced as a public danger over a horrific crime he has zero memory of committing. Labeled the prime suspect, Theo quickly finds himself hunted by sinister forces and Detective Rene Williamson (Gail Mabalane), a notoriously ruthless deputy chief of police, and embarks on a breakneck mission to uncover the truth behind his wife's death before a terrifying conspiracy changes the course of a nation forever. In his efforts to understand what happened, Theo will uncover a secret so terrible it will make the cops hunting him become the least of his worries. And all hell will break loose.

Protagonist Theo Abrams is a firefighter on the run after his wife is killed and he's accused of the murder. "Indemnity's" explosive opening sequence depicts the origin of Theo's PTSD, one of the film's central plot elements. As he and his fellow firefighters attempt a daring rescue, tragedy strikes and two of his colleagues are killed. The scene is filmed with actual fire, which required the character to go through specialized training. The compression and force inside the shack is immense. It's all in camera. There's no way you can cheat it because the firemen's visors are clear, so you can see their faces. Literally walking through flames. What a rush!

In the film's most spectacular stunt, Theo climbs out a 21st-story window, drops down one floor and crashes through the window below in order to evade his pursuers. Any film we've watched with stunts that have been performed for real has always given us more entertainment value and a more immersive experience. It feels like we captured a moment of pure desperation and survival on the part of Theo. It's a literal leap of faith. And that's what survival is, doing something without knowing if it's going to go right or wrong.

A nonstop thrill ride packed with stylishly choreographed fights, car crashes, explosions, daring fire rescues and a heart-stopping drop out of a 21st-story window, "Indemnity" is perhaps South Africa's most ambitious homegrown action film. Adding to the fun, lead actor Jarrid Geduld, a newcomer to the genre, performs all of his own spectacular stunts. The film wants the audience to go on a journey with this character and feel like they could be in a situation like that. The audience knows what's real and what's not, and the key point on everything, the flames, the house, the car stuff, the heights, it adds an element of green screen or blue screen. It's a bit too over-the-top and this character maybe wouldn't have done that.

Written by Gregory Mann.

American Underdog (2021)

'A Football Hero'

[8/10 · 25 December 2021]

"American Underdog"

"American Underdog" chronicles the inspirational true story of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi), who went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to becoming a two-time 'NFL MVP', 'Super Bowl' champion, and 'Hall Of Fame' quarterback. The film centers on Warner's unique story and years of challenges and setbacks that could have derailed his aspirations to become an NFL player. His dreams seemed all but out of reach, but with the support of his wife, Brenda (Anna Paquin) and the encouragement of his family, Warner perseveres and finds the strength to show the world the champion that he already was, inside. The film is an uplifting story that demonstrates that anything is possible when you have faith, family, and determination.

Kurt Warner was a champion before he ever put on an NFL uniform. Through life's fires, he finds the love of his life and a higher purpose. It's the classic Cinderella sports story of hidden talent rising to the top. It's a tale of determination, perseverance against incredible odds, and of family; all of the themes that mean so much to us all. Warner, a true-life hero whose exploits and life story are as compelling as a comic legend's world-saving deeds. The film sees Kurt's story as unfolding through three periods of football, college, the now defunct indoor league, 'Arena Football League', and the NFL. Each period looks and feels distinct. Each is like a character in the movie. Before joining the American NFL, Warner plays several seasons in the 'Arena Football League' and NFL Europe. He signs as a free agent with the St. Louis Rams in 1998 and sees only brief action in the last game of the season. He's abruptly handed the reins as the starting quarterback in 1999 when Trent Green (Ben Kacsandi), the Rams big free agent acquisition in the offseason, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. The film describes the daunting task of recreating Kurt's history-making NFL debut. Kurt is going to be that first game in the NFL against the Ravens.

With Warner at the helm, he led an explosive offense that scored 526 points. Warner passes for 4,353 yards and a league-leading 41 touchdowns to post a 109.2 rating, the first of two career passing crowns. He's named the NFL's 'Most Valuable Player' that year as the Rams posted a 13-3-0 mark. The team cruises through the playoffs and capped the magical season with a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in 'Super Bowl XXXIV'. Warner set a 'Super Bowl' record with 414 passing yards and threw a pair of touchdowns to lead the Rams to their first 'Super Bowl' title and is named the game's MVP. He records another MVP season two years later when he guides the Rams back to the 'Super Bowl'. His season totals includes a league-leading and career-high 4,830 yards and thirty-six touchdowns to post a 101.4 passer rating. He makes a third trek to the 'Super Bowl' during the 2008 season, when he led the Arizona Cardinals to the franchise's first division title since 1975 and it's first-ever 'Super Bowl' appearance. He sparks the Cardinals attack that season as he established numerous club records, completing 401 of 598 passes for 4,583 yards, 30 touchdowns, and a 96.9 passer rating.

Warner then guides the Cardinals through the playoffs as he engines wins over the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers before leading Arizona to a thrilling 32-25 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the 'NFC Championship Game', where he completes 21 of 28 passes for 279 yards and 4 touchdowns. He follows that performance by throwing for 377 yards and 3 TDs in a narrow loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 'Super Bowl XLIII'. He's the only quarterback to throw for 300 or more yards in three 'Super Bowls' and the three single-game totals still rank as the top three 'Super Bowl' passing marks. Named first-team All-Pro twice and selected to four 'Pro Bowls', Warner racks up 32,344 career yards, threw 208 touchdowns and recorded a 93.7 career passer rating. But none of Warner's heroics on the gridiron would be been possible without the incredible personal growth off the field. Warner plays in thé 'National Football League' for twelve seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which sees him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time 'Most Valuable Player' and 'Super Bowl MVP', is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.

Brenda is a survivor; a Marine who went through some incredible challenges. Brenda's faith is very much a part of Brenda's daily life, and in the way she processed the world. When you're working on a biography, you like to cross the lines as much as possible to bring the characters together. Sometimes that means recreating an outfit exactly, sometimes it means finding a story in a piece of jewelry or clothing that helps the character identify. More vibrant colors, sharper lines; that kind of thing. The film sources much of the clothing at thrift shops and altered them and she makes sure to subtly reflect her evolving social status. Dick Vermeil (Dennis Quaid) is a legendary Rams coach and Mike Martz (Chance Kelly) is the renowned Rams offensive coordinator. Both men are hugely influential to Kurt's career and life, and both have his best interests in mind, even if Martz has a cranky way of showing it. Their good-cop-bad-cop routine prepare Kurt well for what would be the game that changed his life. When an injury felled the Rams starting quarterback Trent Green, it's Vermeil who put Warner in as Green's replacement. The famously emotional coach held a press conference announcing the switch, at which he comments. Warner more than lived up to Vermeil's expectations. His breakthrough season is so unexpected that Sports Illustrated put him on the cover with the caption 'Who Is This Guy'? Cantankerous offensive coordinator Mike Martz is the yin to Vermeil's yang. He's character who can intimidate with a whisper and is captivating in every scene.

Mike Hudnutt (Darius Blain) is Kurt's longtime friend and teammate, who becomes the instrument of Kurt's introduction to Brenda. As the story goes, Hudnutt drags his friend to the country western bar, the 'Wild E. Coyote' and Kurt is determine not to have fun, until he sees Brenda across the crowded room. We know Arena League impresario Jim Foster (Bruce McGill) as a consummate salesperson and showman, PT Barnum crossed with revival preacher. Foster is one of pro football's great, quixotic characters, and his wild, entertaining Arena football provides Kurt with many opportunities, including a steady paycheck. It also becomes the gateway to Kurt's shot at the NFL. Brenda's son Zack (Hayden Zaller), whom Kurt later adopted, is as inspirational as his parents and he and his younger sister are pivotal to Kurt and Brenda's love story. A brain injury led to blindness and intellectual developmental issues, but Zack is a relentlessly positive and indefatigable soul. Zack's mind is so sharp, and his disposition is unbelievably kind and loving, and full of empathy. He has an understanding far beyond his years.

Kurt Warner, the former quarterback whose unexpected rise to fame, and the relationships that were the foundation for his success, are chronicles in the new film "American Underdog". "American Underdog" was filmed in and around Oklahoma City and in nearby Frisco, Texas at Star Stadium, the 91-acre campus of the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters and practice facility. It's, but there's so much more involved, including the relationships that were built, and which sustained his wife Brenda and him. The journey is defined by perseverance. That's who we're and what really makes the two of them tick. It's a rags-to-riches story. People should be ready to step into new and bigger things, and to not allow their circumstances to define them. "American Underdog" is both a football movie and an inspirational, emotional story for families to share. The film gives people the ability to dream for their own life, to unite with others, to focus on the things that are important in this life, to celebrate not just accomplishments but purpose. The film represents a beacon of hope that stirs the soul; no matter our circumstances, no matter how hard it's, if we never give up, the realization of a dream is always within reach. Anyone lucky enough to be in love will recognize that humility, inner strength, faith, grace, motivation, and a focus on what really counts in life, makes anything possible. This era can lean on the bulky side.

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Crusade (2021)

"The Crusade" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 12 December 2021]

"The Crusade"

Abel (Louis Garrel) and Marianne (Laetitia Casta) discover that their 13-year-old son Joseph (Joseph Engel) has secretly sold their most precious possessions. They soon find out that Joseph is not the only one, all over the world, hundreds of children have joined forces to finance a mysterious project. Their mission is to save the planet.

The film seems to look at these children with a mixture of approval for their commitment and slight concern at their extremism. For now, the children are demonstrating. They're only protesting. The idea in the film is that they don't just protest, they take action, they go all the way. They discuss feasibility, study the benefit/risk ratio, find financing, in short, they act. The first sequence is funny because of it's contrast, the parents are disconcerted by the actions of their son Joseph, who has sold their belongings without any warning. What Joseph is doing is shocking at first. We can get rid of the superfluous, the luxuries. We all have things at home that we don't use but whose mere presence reassures us. Joseph hasn't sold anything vital. Imagine if we sold everything that's superfluous worldwide, we would end up with a great kitty for environmental projects. The kids idea is a good one.

The scene of the particles alert is very stressful, bringing about a change of register in the film, which is rather light. And by the way, the final scene concludes the film on a note of hope. We've delegate our future to the kids. It's an ending worthy of a fairytale, a fable. The film tends towards dream, towards utopia. This doesn't rule out more distressing sequences, like the scene of the alert. This sequence of "The Crusade" is an alert in the film and an alert for the viewers, so they can think; 'We mustn't allow such a thing to happen one day'. It's logical that at the end, only the mother is on screen, and not the father. The mother is less sceptical than him, she agrees more quickly with the children's project. We think she's naïve, but in fact, she's simply logical. The end is a mirage, a mirage of cinema, which means that the film itself believes in this utopian project.

The film is a about environmentalism, based on Jean-Claude Carrière's book 'Le Pari 1972'. Jean-Claude Carrière was a French novelist. He received an 'Academy Award' for best short film for co-writing "Heureux Anniversaire" (1963), and was later conferred an 'Honorary Oscar' in 2014. He recently passed away on 8 February 2021. Kids passionate about environmentalism! A Swedish teenager who had gone on hunger strike, decides to go into action for environmentalism, no longer able to stand the fact that no one is doing anything about it. It was Greta Thunberg. "The Crusade" has a live coverage side to it. But at the time, this quasi-anthropological collective surge of young people didn't exist. This delayed start doesn't detract from the film's political relevance, or our pleasure watching it. The film works because of this live coverage feel, and because of the kids. No one could have ever thought that 10, 12-year-old kids would go into action this way. We've to look at these children because they're alien to us. There's nothing more insufferable than a radical militant film. "The Crusade" is more dialectical.

The film chooses a light comic tone to balance the seriousness of the subject, to avoid preaching. You open more doors with humour. The problem with most militant films is that they don't take the viewer into consideration. They give ready-made answers, they define Good and Evil, and the spectator just has to follow. With a humorous approach, the spectator has his or her place. The principle of comedy is to push reality a little further. This is precisely the first scene; how far did the kid go? This way the audience can feel the pleasure of a comedy that also explores an existential concern. "The Crusade" loves the idea of dealing with a very distressing topic in a cheerful way. Moving water from the sea to arid regions is possible. We send rockets to Mars, why can't we move a sea? There are geographers and engineers who've these kinds of ideas, far-fetched at first, but possibly brilliant and feasible for global ecology. The kids' project in the film isn't so far-fetched. The planet will become inhabitable in fifty years. So we think everything must stop now. We think it's exaggerating, it's too radical. Then Covid comes along and bang, we're all facing our own death. And just like that, we're able to stop everything with the lockdowns!

"The Crusade" puts it's finger on an aspect that seems important to us, what's shocking about Greta Thunberg and the kids who follow her commitment isn't so much their ideas as much as their age. We find it difficult to accept that minors are appropriating subjects deemed for adults only. If nothing happens, if there's no environmental policy followed by results, we're not going to be immune to more violent actions. No one knows what could happen in the near future. If it becomes clear that we're heading towards extinction, the life impulse is so strong, that we don't see how we can avoid violent reactions. We defend environmentalism, not on a day-to-day basis but at the level of heads of state; it's up to them to make radical decisions. If they don't, the coming generations will be radicalised, and the planet will become unliveable. Nonetheless we can feel that things are changing, eco-districts, self-sufficient buildings, electric and maybe soon hydrogen cars, solar and geothermal energy. But it's all too feeble, too slow, too timid. Things are happening, but will it be enough? And on the other hand, we keep our blinkers on. We can't live all day with the notion that in thirty, forty years the earth will no longer be habitable, or we'd stop living. So we try not to think about it.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Where Is Anne Frank (2021)

"Where Is Anne Frank" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 10 December 2021]

"Where is Anne Frank"

"Where is Anne Frank" begins with a miracle, Kitty (Ruby Stokes), the imaginary friend to whom Anne Frank (Emily Carey) writes in her famous Diary, comes to life in present-day Amsterdam. Unaware that 75 years have gone by, Kitty is convinced that if she's alive, then Anne must be alive too. It's the beginning of an adventurous journey. It's the story of Kitty's quest across contemporary Europe searching for her beloved friend. Armed with the precious Diary and with help from her friend Peter (Sebastian Croft), who runs a secret shelter for undocumented refugees, Kitty follows Anne's traces from the Annex to her tragic end in the 'Holocaust'. Disoriented by our broken world and the injustices that child refugees endure, Kitty wants to replace Anne's cause. Through her honesty, she presents a message of hope and generosity addressed to future generations.

Kitty is the leading role and the protagonist of the movie. What happened to Anne during the end of the war. How did she die? In doing so, she also discovers the current situation in Europe, with refugees from all over the world, running away from war zones. Another two conditions are to connect past and present time and to follow the last 7 dreadful months of Anne Frank's life. Kitty has always been there. But just in the Diary and not as an actual person. Anne Frank has left us many descriptions of Kitty, who she's, what she looks like, what kind of personality she's. And of course, there's her dialogue with Kitty. The movie makes Kitty into an alter ego of Anne. She's not under the control of parents who set her limits, as Anne was. For Kitty, there are no fellow inhabitants in her hideout criticising her. She's therefore free to do whatever Anne had wanted to do in her own imagination. In the movie Kitty becomes an activist for refugees in the present day. She's a part of new, political youth movements about climate and human rights. She's indeed a child of our times.

The character of Kitty started out as Anne's imaginary friend, basically. But in the movie she's building a bridge between the past and the present. As she ventures out into the world, she meets young people such as herself who are in danger, maybe because they've to run away from war zones. That reminds Kitty of Anne and the fact that Anne did not have an opportunity to run away during her relatively short time in hiding. This experience turns Kitty into an activist. At the same time, she realises her powers to promote a movement for children's rights. And these powers grow from her being a visitor in our world. Alongside Kitty, audiences confront the 'Holocaust'. The character of Kitty is not meant to be an extension or a rebirth of Anne's personality after her death. As Kitty leaves the house and ventures forth into the world, she has her own options. The Diary casts the relationship between Anne and her sister Margot (Skye Bennett), her mother Edith (Samantha Spiro) and Albert Dussel (Andrew Woodall) in a negative way in some respects. The one scene where the Frank family arrives at the Auschwitz concentration camp is the hardest task in the whole movie.

Shortly after Otto Frank (Michael Maloney) published the Diary of his daughter Anne Frank in 1947, he decides to have it adapted for stage. The success of the Broadway show 'The Diary Of A Young Girl' (1956) followed by the Oscar winning movie by George Stevens is the beginning of the success of the Diary to ensure that all royalties are used to support charitable and educational work, Otto Frank established the 'Anne Frank Fonds' in Basel in 1963, which he appoints his universal heir. Against this background the foundation initiated the animation movie in which Anne Frank's imaginary friend comes to life. The movie represents an introduction to lessons of history, the 'Holocaust', discrimination and anti-Semitism.

"Where is Anne Frank" is a 'Holocaust' movie. It's a new dimension to tell the 'Holocaust' story. But our minds are incapable of creating a visual connection to these stories and cannot fully grasp what happened. Sure, animation lets you reinvent the world. But the movie decides at the outset to break with a certain pattern of the genre. Most war movies show the present in colour and the past as monochrome. "Anne Frank" goes the opposite way. Therefore, in the movie present-day Amsterdam is depicte in monochrome colours, the city is in wintertime and has been completely drained of colour. On the other hand, the past is seen through the eyes of Anne, it's very lively, colourful and rich in tones. If you has to tell such a harsh story, you can work either with humour or a lot of emotions. But if you exaggerate and force the audience to delve into tired clichés of agony and woe, you risk losing your viewers. You must maintain an even-handedness while showing human aspects of the characters and avoid overplaying emotions and turning to gimmicks. You've to present a new, entirely different approach to the Diary, which is fairly well known among young audiences. Scenes unfolding in the past are telling the story of the Diary and even the future beyond the 'Holocaust' has been anticipated in the Diary to a certain extent. But the movie tells the story in a different way, namely not as a monologue by Anne, but as a dialogue between the girls. For us, the imaginary friend has become real and they're discussing among themselves what Anne has written down as her monologue.

It's not only about the 'Holocaust', which must of course never be forgotten, but also about the lessons that we can take from it for our own life. So it's not only a matter of looking back at what happened then, but also to see what's essential about the Diary and it's message for the new generation. The educational programme looks at the 'Holocaust', Jews, anti-Semitism, but also at children's rights, migration and refugees today. The movie deals with these topics at a time when this is urgently needed again. But this story is missing the horrible fates of those who starved in the ghettoes or who were deported in trains towards the East into the 'Final Solution'. When it comes to the past, these elements are dramatic, they originate from, or are based on the original text in the Diary. What's shown in the movie is what arises from reading the text and from what Anne Frank wrote about her dreams, emotions and wishes. Although the par about the 'Holocaust' is not in the Diary. Reading the Diary without putting it into the context of the present is meaningless as we need to learn the lessons of the past to make a difference. Children are still running away from war zones and their lives are in danger, minorities, refugees and individuals are still discriminated against.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021)

"Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 4 December 2021]

"Diary Of A Wimpy Kid"

You can't help but wonder whether there's something autobiographical about the main character in Jeff Kinney's pre-teen illustrated literary series "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid". From it's origins as a series of online cartoons, "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" exploded onto the pop culture scene when Kinney's first novel in cartoons was published in 2007. "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" spent almost three years on the New York Times children's bestseller list, has thus far sold 28 million copies and has been translated into thirty-three languages. The book captured the imaginations of an army of formerly reluctant readers and launched countless video reviews, social networking fan groups and parties celebrating the release of each new instalment.

The only way to get rid of the cheese touch is by touching some other unfortunate classmate, it's like a game of tag, only grosser. The film focuses upon the life of Greg Heffey (Brady Noon), a fawed but likeable kid who's a strong sense of his own importance, but who faces daily battles arising from his own shortcomings. Small in stature, he must deal with bullies, girls, gross bodily functions, his own and others, all the while aiming to be the most popular kid in middle school. Rowley (Ethan William Childress), his best friend, despite his weight issue, is comfortable with who he's, enjoys what life has to offer and is instinctively loyal. To Greg, middle school is the dumbest idea ever invented. It's a place rigged with hundreds of social landmines, not the least of which are morons, wedgies, swirlies, bullies, lunchtime banishment to the cafeteria foor and, worst of all, a festering piece of cheese with nuclear cooties. To survive the never-ending ordeal and attain the recognition and status he feels he so richly deserves, Greg devises an endless series of can't-miss schemes, all of which, of course, go awry. Greg insists, preferring the less sissyfed designation, filed with his opinions, thoughts, tales of family trials and tribulations, and schoolyard triumphs. No one looks back at their middle school years wishing to relive them. You read a lot of books about elementary school kids, high school students and college students, but very few set in middle school because those years are universally kind of ugly.

Greg is blissfully unaware of what a jerk he can be, and kids find that refreshing and entertaining. Greg and Rowley are connected by their shared experiences, though in most respects they're polar opposites. Greg is battle-weary and hyper-ambitious. He has a harsh view of the world, yet is optimistic about his ability to work the system to his advantage. Rowley is the omega to Greg's alpha, and happily so, at least to a point. He's an innocent kid without an agenda, whereas Greg is all agenda. In addition to Rowley, Greg's inner circle includes Fregley (Christian Convery), a hyper, weird kid and the proud owner of a secret freckle. Fregley's secret weapon, with which he terrorises Greg, is a deadly booger finger. Everyone knows a Fregley, and if you don't then you might be one. He's the weird kind of kid who stays in his front yard and attacks kites with sticks, and things like that. Rodrick (Hunter Dillon) busts Greg and Rowley in his room without permission when they're looking at the yearbook. Rowley, ever loyal, distracts Rodrick while Greg makes a run for it. Greg locks himself in his room, but he really needs to go to the toilet. He finally makes a run for it when he thinks Rodrick has gone. However, Rodrick bursts in on him, and Greg turns in surprise and urinates all over him. But Rodrick is not your typical bully. There's an amused danger about him and an inventiveness that makes him likeable. A less threatening female classmate is Angie (Clos Grace Moretz), whose sophisticated perspective on middle school provides a sharp contrast to Greg's wheeling and dealing. She calls middle school an 'intellectual wasteland' and a glorifed holding pen.

At the end of the school day, Greg is horrifed when Rowley yells out, 'Hey Greg, you wanna come over and play?' Why is Greg embarrassed and why doesn't Rowley realise the problem that Greg thinks he's creating? There are many indications that Greg sees his friendship with Rowley as a handicap when it comes to popularity among his peers, for example the interaction related to Rowley's bike with the basket and ribbons. When Greg is sorting through Rowley's clothing and discussing image Rowley says, 'My mum told me to be myself'. Greg responds, 'That would be good advice if you were someone else'. A kid touched the mouldy cheese in the playground and became a social outcast, then that kid touched another kid to get rid of it. This passing on became known as the cheese touch. Eventually, it was passed on to an exchange student who took it overseas with him and things quietened down, but everyone, including the cleaners, have been avoiding the mouldy cheese ever since In a last ditch effort to become more popular, Greg and Rowley join the 'Safety Patrol', thinking it to be a high-profle and responsible role. Greg is particularly disappointed in the task of walking the kindergarten children home from school.

A series of events follow on from this point that revolve around Greg's friendship with Rowley and Greg's popularity, or, rather, lack of it. Greg continues to be deluded about the role of friendship. While walking home with Rowley and throwing a football at his friend he's considering how lucky Rowley is to have him as a friend. When the football hits the wheel of Rowley's bike, he fies off and breaks his wrist. Despite the lack of success, Greg's attempts to improve his popularity continue. Another opportunity arises when the school newspaper's cartoonist becomes sick and they need a replacement. While Greg can clearly draw, Rowley has his own idea for a cartoon, Zoo-wee Mama, which Greg discounts as he doesn't think it's very good. When Rowley is unable to walk the kindergarten children home in the rain because of his plaster cast, Greg does it on his own. He's wearing Rowley's raincoat, which has a very large 'R' on it. Greg is unimpressed when everyone applauds the announcement of Rowley as the new cartoonist, responding 'Am I the only one who gets comedy?' This response, along with his lack of response when the teacher (Lossen Chambers) lectures Rowley under the assumption that he was the one who left the children in the hole, sheds even more light on Greg's shortcomings as a friend.

On back to a lack of popularity, bemoaning the fact that 'No one's ever gonna let me sit at their table'. When Greg is beaten again, by a girl, he's photographed for the school paper. Everyone is reading it and laughing. Rowley, however, is excited that Greg is in the paper and doesn't seem to realise that it's embarrassing for him. Greg decides that the way to popularity is to become the best dressed at school. He strolls in slow-mo with classmates shooting him admiring glances. All is lost, though, when the ever-loyal Rowley arrives wearing an identical outft, because he wanted to match Greg. Rowley's loyal friendship for Greg has not faltered until this point. He has even written Greg into a Zoo-wee Mama cartoon. However, Greg's comment that 'I should be more careful what I do in front of Mrs. Irvine's (Jessica Mikayla) house, and you should be more careful who you lend your raincoat to' is the final straw. Rowley is furious and proclaims, 'You're not a good friend. You break my hand, you don't even say sorry'. While the word 'wimpy' appears in the title of the book, the theme of being in the middle is equally important. Greg is stuck in every kid's nightmare. He's also about to confront the humiliations surrounding being in middle school. Watching the film is like looking at a scrapbook of your own adolescent bravado and stupidity. The film appeals to both competent and struggling readers who will connect with Greg as the trials and tribulations of his school life unfold. While Kinney had originally targeted adults through the book's nostalgic look at middle school life as told through a narrator with fantasies of greatness, kids immediately connected to his blending of the subversive and edgy with fun and wholesomeness. Most of all, they responded to the titular hero's unique voice, summed up by his signature line 'I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons'. Given such pronouncements, it's no surprise that Greg Heffey is far from a traditional role model, he's judgmental, selfsh and lazy, but nevertheless always likeable. Many times in children's literature, the protagonist is really just a miniature adult. The film comes up with a kid who's relatable and far from perfect. "Diary Of A Wimpy Kid" is talking down to kids, and wanted to make sure the stories avoided lots of lessons learned. Kinney's representations of the absurdity of middle school life delighted readers. A particular favourite is the cheese touch, which has become the stuff of middle school legend, horror, disgust and gossip.

The mix of cartoons and prose, delivered in a diary format through Greg's signature voice, made the books stand out. It's very important to show the characters as animated, to capture the essence of who they're in Greg's mind, which, of course, is how Jeff Kinney does it in his books. The storyboard is a little like a comic, telling stories visually via sequential panels. However, while storyboards include a range of additional information to assist the story, such as arrows to show movement, they don't include thoughts or dialogue in speech bubbles. The draws it's style from the book's witty dialogue, humorous journal entries and cartoon-style illustrations. The film avoids use of smartphones, portable media players or T-shirts emblazoned with of the moment slogans and iconography. Kinney relates his stories to kids without the distraction of specifc cultural references. Written by Gregory Mann.

Deception (2021)

"Deception" written by Gregory Mann

[6/10 · 2 December 2021]

"Deception"

London - 1987. Philip (Denis Podalydès) is a famous American writer living in exile in London. His mistress comes regularly to see him in his office, a refuge for the two lovers. They make love here, they argue, they reconcile and talk for hours, about the women who mark out his life, about sex, antisemitism, literature, and remaining true to oneself.

Philip Roth's novel.was published in 1990. Roth's character Philip, is he feminist or is he not? Misogynist? Surely a little, when the film says an opposing. Philip is not kind, and Philip is terse. The eroticism in the film lies in the use and after listening of words. Philip transcribes the fruit of this listening. He speaks only according to what he has heard, and according to what he seeks to awaken in the words of the other. The office, this chamber of language, houses this eroticism of words. Which isn't to say that Philip privilges the spirit over the flesh. Not at all. Words and the body are the same thing to him. His lover no doubt comes looking for his non-judgemental listening, which offers her the tangible feeling of freedom. Philip doesn't manipulate her. They both bring as much to one another. The office lies the heart of the film. There's a difficulty; how to stage the fragments of dialogue without boring the spectator? How to ensure that this text, which seems circular, becomes a novel, ignites, and that each word finds it's weight? The writer's office encourages listening and free speech, like that of a psychoanalyst. The writer's office is the utopia of psychoanalysis; to be able to capture oneself wherever one lives. Philip chose this exile. He praises it, while the other characters, who are either in exile from their homeland or in exile from themselves, experience it painfully. The film loves this idea that it's fun to dissemble. Because to be able to talk to each other, we must dissemble. What's enchanting and erotic is that the speech is built on a joyfully irreducible difference. And what's interesting is the movement the film makes between the two worlds, the one where we live and the one we aspire to.

Women are queens in "Deception". Without them, no desire or creation. Where others would have asked for the woman to demonstrate her excellence, Philip welcomes his lover's every word as a treasure. We sense a great loneliness in her. Without income you don't have dignity, she says. This sentence summarizes her situation, her state. Her lover is her escape, a lump on her cervix. The film is also an elegy to Cinema. For example, the shot following an elegiac moment where we see The Lover (Lea Seydoux) putting her clothes back on and the whole room becomes dark around her, and she tells Philip 'I feel an urgent need for solitude'. She has just spent a wonderful afternoon with her lover. When the face fills the whole screen, skin becomes celluloid capturing feelings, words, light, just like that of Rosalie (Emmanuelle Devos), each playing a lover of Philip's years apart, is a screen on which the plot is projected. It's miraculous and can't be explained. The Lover has the gift of being able to allow tears rise slowly in her eyes just like a toddler, and it's a blessing. As the young Czech Woman (Madalina Constantin) exile says, none of the characters in "Deception" are in their place. Neither the Czech exiles, nor The Lover trapped in a grim marriage, nor Rosalie in her hospital. The only one who has found his place is the writer, in his office, when he writes or listens. But this place has it's price; loneliness and a certain austerity. "Deception" tells the story of people who feel out of place; this man listens to them and transcribes their words. The only character deprived of this childlike play is that of the wife (Anouk Grinberg). During her argument with Philip her grief also comes from the fact that she wasn't allowed to have her share of childhood. Philip doesn't listen to her childhood, and she protests like a wounded little girl.

Like all utopias, in a sense, it fails, because the American writer and his lover finally break up. But they find each other again later and recognize that they were glorious. Thus utopia eventually triumphs: this man and this woman have managed to talk to each other and listen to each other in an infinitely free way. They've known each other. "Deception" is the portrait of two heroes. A woman who's on the edge of the precipice at the beginning of the film, a woman in tears. In this case, it's the final sentence, when The Lover says to Philip; 'Because it was so tender, unless I was mistaken'. He tells her no, she wasn't mistaken. The whole film is in these two sentences, there's no misunderstanding, tenderness did exist between the two of them. This sentence is related to the beginning of the film, where she asks him if he feels the same way she does. There are often misunderstandings in love. Here, both of them agree at the end; they did understand each other. The film locks people into a social straitjacket. "Deception" is a concentrate of this position. In this idyll that's the writer's office, all the characters can claim their freedom; they refuse to be locked in a box. They choose freedom.

The film is set in the 1980s, in England, and shot in French. It starts in a theatre, then moves to natural settings in different countries. As if by it's very mechanism we are invited to cross borders. The text is a eulogy to exile. Behind it's images, "Deception" seems to register a profession of faith in the powers of fiction in general and those of cinema in particular. We believe in the weaving that's possible between art and life. We believe that art is worthless if doesn't contain raw life, and that life is worthless if there's no art in it to show us the relief. We also believe in the play of the writer who disappears behind his masks. For one, we've no self, and we're unwilling or unable to perpetrate upon ourself the joke of a self. Instead we've a variety of impersonations. Certainly we've no self independent of our imposturing, artistic efforts to have one. We all live in very different and separate worlds. But sometimes we can run away and move from one world to another! Today's world is still divided into a two, into thousand, men and women, rich and poor, dictatorships and the liberal world. Of course, we're mortal, and that's terrifying. But our mortality offers us an infinite gift; desire. "Deception" is a film haunted by death and yet this is a utopia shot through with desire.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Heavens Above (2021)

God's Mercy Or The Devil's Temptations?

[6/10 · 12 November 2021]

"Heavens Above"

Stojan (Goran Navojec) is as dull and simple as he's kindhearted. When a freak accident changing a light bulb puts a glowing halo above his head, he quickly becomes the new attraction around town. His strong-willed wife Nada (Ksenia Marinkovic) isn't at all amused about the unwanted attention amongst their neighbors. After several tries, nothing can remove the shining annoyance and turn her husband back to his former unremarkable self. Stojan, the unwilling saint, begins to like his new lifestyle and quickly turns to sinister crimes.

The protagonist Stojan can be seen as kind of a bad 'Jesus' figure as he takes on the sins of the world by rigorously committing them all. Stojan starts out as a genuinely good man. Almost a Saint. He gets rewarded with a halo. But is the halo God's mercy or just the Devil's cynical temptation? There's no direct answer to that question. He deeply suffers when his wife makes him perform a series of sins, from smaller ones to the biggest, mortal sins. She believes she's doing the right thing, she refuses to accept this as a gift from God. There are several layers of reasons for these actions. Stojan's wife Nada is, in a way, a metaphor of today's media; capable of turning any good man into a sinner. This is particularly true in transitional societies as ex-Yugoslavia, where the media became an instrument of out-of-control capitalism. The Catholic religion has 159 female saints out of 1486, a good illustration of male domination. The Eastern Orthodox religion has almost 300 female saints. St. Petka Is one of the most celebrated ones, especially in the Balkans. Besides the classic ones like giving eyesight to the blind, her miracles include one that superhero movie fans would find interesting; she could make herself invisible.

The second story of "Heavens Above" features a mentally challenged hero who worships St. Petka. He's sentenced to death and turns into a baby. However, the authorities still see him as a murderer and refuse to back off from the punishment. Some might find this story cynical. Does religion work better with the weak-minded? The point here can be that only a pure soul can see and reach God. Neoliberal capitalism simply cannot accept that art can just be the Artist's needing to say something about the world around them. That the primary goal is not to make money. The artist in "Heavens Above" sees his paintings that feed people as a curse. He wants his art to uplift people; not to fill their bellies. Unfortunately, we all are, one way or another, forced to think about that nutritious aspect. In the third chapter, after no sins managed to remove his halo, the hero turns into something that can perhaps be described as a demonic force. He becomes the president of a small East-European country. One has to be a sinner to get by in modern society. The film's metaphors widely mix religious and political agendas.

"Heavens Above" is a dark comedy told through three stories of one family and spanning over three decades (1993, 2001, 2026). The film explores the impact of miracles on modern society. Numerous characters reappear, intertwine, and affect each other's destinies in increasingly bizarre circumstances. The film delivers a wild and grotesque perspective on post-socialist eastern Europe that succeeds in showing the dark sides of progressive thinking patterns. The film revolves around a lot of religious issues and metaphors. A lot is an understatement. Maybe even a little too much for our own good. But, the film not expect the audience to understand everything. If you grow up in 'Atheist' society, in Socialism and whose sister is an Orthodox nun, they're all necessary. What's the true nature of God? Is it the one from the 'Old Testament' that punishes and asks for sacrifice or the God of love and mercy? Are we able to differ miracles as signs of God's mercy or the Devil's temptations? The 'Golden Calf' is also a really important metaphor in "Heavens Above". Is Christianity in today's world just praying to idols, money, glory, celebrities, and our hungry, selfish Egos?

While "Heavens Above" starts out as rather comical, things take a dark and dramatic turn in later chapters. As Life itself! It starts as a comedy, but the tragedy is inevitable. The film's duty is to manipulate the audience's emotions in a positive sense. This approach can be a two-edged sword. The audience is more drastically divided. But it's more a art-house films for the common working man who deserves more than simplified Hollywood or Netflix products. Sometimes the cinema's mission is to disturb the viewers. First entertain them, make them laugh, and gradually lead them into a completely different genre, making them feel uncomfortable for the laughs earlier. There are a lot of paintings and art installations scattered throughout. "Heavens Above". Each painting is a result of thorough discussions during which the film tries to envision the art through the perspective of the character, who's struggling with a severe mental disorder.

Once upon a time we had Surrealism. Today, we've superheroes. Miracles became an everyday thing, we see them all the time on the screen. But God's miracles are still all around us. Only it seems that we are no longer able to recognize them. There's one miracle in the film that unquestionably belongs only to God, and that's our will to sacrifice ourselves for someone else. It's, maybe, the biggest miracle of them all.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Julia (I) (2021)

People wil leave cinema hungry! It provides an extra oomph!

[7/10 · 5 November 2021]

"Julia"

Julia was more than a cook. She was a cultural force. That summation of cooking and TV phenomenon Julia Child begins an exploration into how one of America's most unique television-era and literary figures jump-started a food revolution. "Julia" brings to life the legendary cookbook author and television superstar who changed the way Americans think about food, television, and even about women. Using never-before-seen archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and cutting-edge, mouth-watering food cinematography, the film traces Julia Child from her well-to-do childhood in Pasadena, California, to the 'Far East' during 'World War II', where as an OSS worker she met her future husband Paul Child. One of the few women to attend Paris 'Le Cordon Bleu' school, Julia Child became a bestselling author in her 50s thanks to the seminal cookbook 'Mastering The Art Of French Cooking'.

An appearance on Boston public television led to her mega-successful public TV show 'The French Chef', decades of celebrity, and a dedication to teaching Americans the joys of cooking. "Julia" is the story of a woman conquering the male-dominated food world, but it's also a feminist love story; Paul Child served as his wife's fiercest advocate and loudest cheerleader. "Julia" unwraps how one of the modern era's most entertaining and vibrant personalities sparked a re-evaluation of the culinary arts and a love of food in the United States as she seasoned her days with romance, curiosity, and a recipe for living life to the fullest. It's the empowering story of a woman who found her purpose, and her fame, at 50, and took America along on the whole delicious journey.

The love of cooking is now central to American culture, with an appreciation for the artistry of preparing delicious cuisine filling 'Instagram' accounts, 'Twitter' feeds, airwaves, blogs, and bookshelves. It's a complete generational shift from the way Americans used to see food, which in the 'Mad Men' era of 60-plus years ago ran the gamut from blood-red meat and potatoes to unimaginative processed food. That's, until one woman changed American palettes; Julia Child brought continental recipes and an excitement about the experience of cooking to kitchens across the United States with her bestselling 1961 book 'Mastering The Art Of French Cooking', and then brought her playful and unique personality and her love of food into homes with her groundbreaking syndicated program 'The French Chef', which ran from 1963 to 1973. "Julia" shows how the standard at the time for local television programs was low-budget academic shows, with stiff and academic hosts seemingly. We're going to be comprehensive here and do a magnum opus of French cooking as it had never been done before. It was a big, serious book by a woman, an encyclopedia of food from another culture.

The book meant a lot to people and symbolized something in the culture and especially to American women. And when she bursts onto the airwaves in the 1960s, it was a time people thought there was a certain way a woman on TV was supposed to be, they should have a quiet voice, be demure and petite, preferably blonde, certainly young, and either a sex bomb or a quote-unquote housewife type with every hair in place. Julia was the opposite of all of that, and it was because she became a television star by happenstance. She was a real human being with a great wacky personality, and it turns out, people really liked that. She brought a very French philosophy that food is sensual, and eating meals isn't a boring thing you have to do; it's one of the great pleasures of the world. That's a fairly new idea for a lot of Americans. We take it for granted now that we've all of these cooking shows, but before Julia, there wasn't much. She was unique as a personality in the '70s, and then in the '80s, as cable television took off and the 'Food Network' and other channels began to see people responding to cooking, the genre grew. It cut across generations to people who aspired to cook and who enjoyed watching other people cook. In 2004, Julia Child succumbed to kidney failure, passing away at the age of 91.

When you think about the great food personalities on TV now, Julia's idea about cooking is very much a part of it. Food is not just a series of steps to prepare a meal. It's about making a festive, pleasurable experience for us all to share. The emotional impact of food is huge. When you're looking at food, it's as a combination of all the senses: The visual, how you're smelling different ingredients, the way they dissolve on your taste buds, the texture of it. When you're cooking, it's about anticipation and understanding how you're building the meal. Through the macro food photography, the film brings the audience up close and personal in order for them to see the steam, see the bubbles bursting in gravy, see mmmmmmmm slowed down, gives us inspiration. It's amazing how alive those food sections feel, partly because of the sound design. Something about seeing those dishes being made just bring to mind a delightful, rolling river.

Written by Gregory Mann.

Casablanca Beats (2021)

"Casablanca Beats" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 30 October 2021]

"Casablanca Beats"

Former rapper Anas (Anas Basbousi) takes a job at a cultural centre in a working-class neighbourhood in Casablanca. Encouraged by their new teacher, his students will try to free themselves from the weight of restrictive traditions in order to live their passions and express themselves through 'hip-hop'. The film wants the whole world to hear their voices and their stories.

The film is build around a 'hip-hop' dance class, because of an encounter. Anas is a guy showed up, 25-26, not older. He introduces himself as a former rapper, a world that's now behind him. But he comes with the desire to pass it on. He offers a program, 'The Positive School of Hip-Hop'; classes to teach young people to express themselves and talk about their lives. This is Anas, who becomes the central character of the film. Anas is pretty much as a John Ford hero. He arrives alone in this suburb, doesn't talk much, we're deliberately told little about him, except that he's dedicated to his work and these kids. It's also a film about work. Teaching is to teach how to do but also how to re-do. Anas is sometimes tough with the kids but the fact that he's demanding shows them that he's thinking big for them. He makes them work, write, re-write, give them confidence in themselves. One day they put on a show and they're incredible. They've talent, they put their daily lives into words so accurately, the times, society, everything. It's about their desires, their frustrations, their doubts, their dreams. You see, how this music is at the heart of the 'Arab Spring'. Today it expresses the political voice of an entire youth. The film wants to give full expression to these voices that take the mike in order to tell us things of great importance. Music allows to get inside the characters, to get closer to them. To understand them better. As in a musical, there's the main narrative, the daily life of the class, their work, their discussions, with a more naturalistic, a more improvised direction, which gives the illusion of a documentary. We're confronted with reality, we look at faces, we listen to words, it's hardcore. And then suddenly, through music and dance, we escape. Like the tribute scene to 'West Side Story' where they dance facing the fundamentalists. We're in a musical, but this is also the state of the world, it's also a very political scene.

The film also shows all the threats against this freedom of expression gradually getting closer to the centre as the film progresses. The centre is a refuge. The minute you're outside, things are a lot more complicated, and bodies perhaps less free, and the film shows that. Also that these young people don't let themselves be pushed around, that they try to regain power in the streets. Especially the young girls. We're involved in the feminist struggles of this country. This is extraordinary, these young female rappers, who talk about their bodies, the male gaze, the pressure from their older brothers who want to enslave them. The challenges they face are very strong, All they need is the opportunity and the means to speak out. Of course, a certain section of the population, very marked by religion and traditions, has every interest in silencing them. It's important to show what they're fighting against. But rather than showing everything that could silence them, It's important to celebrate their voices, to let them resonate loudly, to show that with their bodies and their words, they're resisting. In the end, one might think the battle has not been won. On the contrary, the seeds that Anas has sown will grow into ever stronger shoots. He has instilled in these young people a spirit of freedom that cannot be extinguished. And this is the very essence of his work, to give them the tools and the confidence to continue their paths on their own. For these young people, this is only the beginning, a form of renaissance, in their own words; 'They're going to hear a big bang and we'll be reborn'! Despite the lurking violence it's a film full of hope. Their political strength and their incredible energy permeate the film.

We've massive respect for those who dedicate their lives to passing on their knowledge. The film wants to give voice to young people. When you're in your teens in the 80s, you learned to look at and think about the world. Through arts and culture, ww learn how to talk about ourselves and to like who we're. You trust the words, the gestures, the space and above all the freedom to talk about ourselves and listen to others. The film pays tribute to 'The Ali Zaoua Foundation' and these places and to what they gave to young people in Morocco. 'Hip-Hop' became popular in France in the early 90s. We all listened to it because suddenly we felt that this music was meant for us. Until the late 90s 'hip-hop' in France was very political. These songs talked about the reality of the suburbs, places no one wanted to hear about. It was powerful. By showing precisely that there's nothing more physical than teaching. During the pandemic, we're led to believe that teaching could be done through a screen, but it's not true. To teach is to act. To show that learning, it's to be in motion, in contact. There's no substitute for this contact. They're a sign that the world is changing.

The Third War (2020)

"The Third War" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 9 October 2021]

"The Third War"

We follow Léo (Anthony Bajon), who has just finished his classes. Fresh out of basic training, Leo lands his first assignment as a 'Sentinel'; a surveillance operation that sees him roaming the streets of Paris with nothing to do other than remain alert for potential threats. Given the task of securing the outskirts of a massive anti-government demonstration, Leo finds himself plunged into the heart of a raging crowd. All the frustration, the pressure and impotent fury that had been building up over the weeks is about to explode.

"The Third War" is a political fiction that plunges us into the heart of the sentinel mission. Some years ago, France went to war against terrorism. Following the declaration of a state of emergency in the country, we grew used to encountering soldiers on patrol, machine guns in hand, on the city streets, much as one would actually see in a country at war. To say that we grew used to it's actually something of a lie. Encountering three soldiers in fatigues with assault rifles slung across their chests isn't something you get used to. "The Third War" is the war we may already be fighting unbeknown to us. A new kind of war, no longer a war of positions, but of power. That's to say a war of images. A war that may not be quite a war as we think of it, but a fantasy of war. The tension that drives the film comes from this realization; no one knows exactly what a war looks like. We've all seen images of war. We've seen films about war. We've seen war on the news, but what's the right image of war? This is precisely the point the film drives at. It seems to that an art is never as powerful as when it confronts it's limits and one of the specific limits of cinema is that it's content to mechanically record the appearance of things. That appearance is what's film questions. The characters dressed up as soldiers, they've been taught to act like soldiers, to handle weapons, to respond in war-like situations. Now that we've the soldiers, the question is this; can we resemble a theater of war? By mirroring the growing mistrust of the main character, it's Paris itself that gradually morphs. This is an opportunity to film the city as never before; places filmed a thousand times, everyday spaces that suddenly, by virtue of the gaze we level at them, take on a whole new appearance.

Everything is a matter of appearances, and as seen by a soldier, who moreover grew up outside the capital, Paris turns into a foreign city, hostile and dangerous. Gradually, in the eyes of the character, every street corner comes to harbor a potential terror threat; every car is potentially booby-trapped; every window may hide a sniper. So when the character finds himself in the midst of a violent demonstration, it all comes together: in the end, war manifests itself as we've been taught to see it. Explosions, multiple enemies, projectiles, buildings engulfed in smoke. Suddenly, we resemble what the character imagines a theater of war to be. The images that emerge are perfectly superimposable on the images we've seen of the wars that have fuelled the collective imagination, from Vietnam to Syria. When everything looks like war, isn't Leo entitled to behave like a soldier? "The Third War" is evocative of a long tradition of characters who lose ground, from "Taxi Driver" to "The Conversation" and "Dillinger Is Dead". The challenge here's to stick with the protagonist rather than observe his drift. Ultimately, watching someone who's crazy is not very interesting. What's truly fascinating is to accept, without realizing it, to experience craziness yourself. Madness is all around us, in the city, on television. Just waiting to explode. The character simply reveals what's going on in society. To embrace his drift, we need only awaken the paranoia that lies dormant within us. Like Leo, we end up afraid of a young man playing with an old cell phone, while the police handle a suspicious package. Like Leo, we're wary of a minivan. What's really going on in the patrols? We've to understand the relationships they weave with each other, what they talk about amongst themselves, and perhaps especially how they talk. This also allow us to understand the deep discomfort in which they live day to day.

Written by Gregory Mann.

In Balanchine's Classroom (2021)

In Balanchine's Classroom" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 22 September 2021]

"In Balanchine's Classroom"

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, George Balanchine (1904-1983) is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. He came to 'The United States' in 1933 at age 29, at the invitation of the young American arts patron Lincoln Kirstein (1907-96), whose great passions included the dream of creating a ballet company in America. At Balanchine's behest, Kirstein was also prepared to support the formation of an American academy of ballet that would rival the long-established schools of Europe. 'The School Of American Ballet' was founded in 1934. Several ballet companies directed by the two were created and dissolved in the years that followed, while Balanchine found other outlets for his choreography. Eventually, with a performance in 1948 at 'New York City Center', 'The New York City Ballet' was born. Balanchine.served as 'Ballet Master' and principal choreographer from 1948 until his death in 1983. Embracing television, Balanchine staged many of his ballets and created new work especially for the medium. In 1981 he redesigned his 'L'Enfant Et Les Sortilèges' to include a wide range of special effects, including animation. Through television, millions of people have been able to see 'The New York City Ballet'. 'Choreography By Balanchine', a five-part 'Dance In America' presentation on the 'PBS' series 'Great Performances', began in December 1977. Balanchine.traveled to Nashville.with 'the company for the tapings in 1977 and 1978 and personally supervised every shot, in some cases revising steps or angles for greater effectiveness on screen.

The series was widely applauded by critics and audiences all over the country and nominated for an 'Emmy' award, Balanchine also choreographed for film, opera, and musical theater. Among his best-known dances for the stage is 'Slaughter On Tenth Avenue'. As his reputation grew, he was the recipient of much official recognition. In the spring of 1975, 'The Entertainment Hall Of Fame' in 'Hollywood' inducted Balanchine as a member, in a nationally televised special by Gene Kelly. He joined the ranks of such show business luminaries as Fred Astaire, Walt Disney, and Bob Hope. The same year, he received 'The French Légion D'Honneur'. The last major award Balanchine received--in absentia--was 'The Presidential Medal Of Freedom' in 1983 by President Reagan, the highest honor that can be conferred on a civilian in 'The United States'. He has inspired millions with his stage choreography and amazed a diverse population through his talents. On April 30, 1983, 'George Balanchine' died in New York at the age of 79.

This documentary is about the groundbreaking choreographer George Balanchine. There's a profound bond between Balanchine and his dancer-disciples. What's transpired in that classroom, off limits to anyone outside 'New York City Ballet', is important. Why did Balanchine teach and not just choreograph? How did his class relate to his ballets? What was it that he sought from his already proficient dancers? Why wouldn't they talk about it? A series of interviews with former Balanchine dancers open up about the phenomenon of Balanchine's teaching. His unorthodox methods. The extremes. The charged atmosphere. His unrelenting presence. As each dancer travels back in time to the creative whirlwind of 'The Balanchine Era', they re live the lessons he teaches about dance and beyond; those 'a-ha' moments when resistance gives way to surrender and a super-intelligence tales over. Balanchine's class is more than just a metaphor for life. It's life itself, short, fleeting, intense, with rewards in proportion to one's engagement and dedication. It's, in essence, the artist's journey, a subject rarely tackled in film.

The greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine is responsible for the successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas of classical ballet. A major artistic figure of the twentieth century, Balanchine revolutionized the look of classical ballet. Taking classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in America. At first his style seemed particularly suited to the energy and speed of 'American' dancers, especially those he trained, but now his ballets are performed by all major classical ballet companies throughout the world. This film will thrill anyone interested in the intensity of the master-disciple relationship and all who love dance, music, and the creative process.

Written by Gregory Mann.

The Year of the Everlasting Storm (2021)

"The Year Of The Everlasting Storm" written by Gregory Mann

[7/10 · 21 September 2021]

"The Year Of The Everlasting Storm"

A love letter to cinema, shot across 'The US', Iran, Chile, China and Thailand, by seven of today's most vital filmmakers. New life in the old house. A breakaway, a reunion. Surveillance and reconciliation. An unrecognizable world, in the year of the everlasting storm. Jafar Panahi, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Laura Poitras and other heavyweights of global cinema reflect on 2020 in this sweeping auteur anthology film for the age of 'COVID'.

As a result of 'The COVID-19' pandemic, film production came to a halt in March of 2020 and filmmakers across the world were confined to their homes. The work and daily life of the film industry and film culture were destabilized. In a few short weeks, modes of socializing, working, and consuming were radically altered. Filmmaking as we knew it had reached a standstill, deemed unsafe indefinitely. The film is made under a state-imposed stay-at-home order, forbidden from writing screenplays or directing films. The films finds an innovative and audacious way to comment on the circumstances and absurdity of his confinement. Co-directing inside their apartments, the filmmakers eliminated all but the essential modes of filmmaking to connect, collaborate, and create in the face of limitation and an uncertain future. The result, "The Year Of The Everlasting Storm", is a beguiling, self-reflexive statement on the enduring spirit of artists. Inspired by creativity and ingenuity in a unique circumstances, the documentary wants to challenge artists around the world to reimagine the boundaries of filmmaking and film production and embrace limitations to tell diverse, personal stories that reflect and respond to this moment of distance and isolation. The shoot is confined to the location of filmmaker quarantine. The filmmakers not shoot in public spaces. The cast and crew is limited to those in quarantine on location. Props, costumes, and production equipment is limited to those onsite. All genres and modes of filmmaking are encouraged but temporal and geographic continuity is maintained. Animation, archival and browser action are all permitted, as long as there's evidence within the film that it takes place in the here and now. Production and post-production crew members work from home.

Over the course of the summer of 2020, the ground of the pandemic began to shift underneath us, along with the scientific community's guidance. Each country has it's own approach to the pandemic. And even within each country, nothing is static. Some of the original rules no longer make sense. Much like every individual during this pandemic, we quickly find ourselves in a position to arbitrate between which rules could be broken and which could not. In life, rules are broken for reasons both practical and poetic. In art, it's the same. Shot in secret during the pandemic, "The Year Of The Everlasting Storm" comprises seven shorts from some of the filmmaking firmament's most acclaimed names. Billed as a true love letter to the storytelling power of the moving image, these collected tales are deeply personal responses to life under lockdown and, together, make up an extraordinary cinematic journal chronicling human existence during what's an unheralded historical moment.

Written by Gregory Mann.