Graduation, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, is an incisive exploration of expansion – educational and travel-based – through archetypal Jupiter. The humans caught up in this dyad are Romeo Aldea (Adrian Titieni), a respected physician in a small town, whose daughter Eliza (Maria Dragus) is about to graduate from high school. She’s a good […]
Archetypes: Television: Review: ‘Big Little Lies” and the World of Neptune (2017)
April 6, 2017 by
As the waves relentlessly crash onto the shoreline of Monterey, you anticipate the emergence, any minute now, of bearded Neptune, sporting his trident as though waiting to pierce some high-end seafood and olives. “Big Little Lies,” HBO’s seven-episode drama based on Liane Moriarty’s novel and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, is about a murder tied to […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Life’ (2017)
March 23, 2017 by
Life will out. As a viable entity, it has no choice except – as we known from the story of the scorpion and the frog – to survive by acting according to its nature. That’s not good news for the six-member crew of an international space station in Life, directed by Daniel Espinosa, whose mission […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Kong: Skull Island’ (2017)
March 8, 2017 by
The multi-layered archetypal survival theme in Kong: Skull Island comes as no surprise. Throw in a entitlement motif, though, and the mayhem that occurs in 1973 on an uncharted island in the South Pacific packs on a lot more proverbial muscle. Briskly directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the film quickly lays out the time line of […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Personal Shopper’ (2017)
March 7, 2017 by
Noise – clanging, sudden, with threads that potentially reach beyond the earthly realm – can grate both on one’s nerves and the psyche. In Personal Shopper, directed by Olivier Assayas, Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is at the receiving end of such missives –smoky visuals and teleportation of household items are also involved – which throw her […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Raw’ (2017)
March 4, 2017 by
Lucky are those who somehow assimilate their Shadow, the Jungian term for the typically objectionable traits we possess that we’re unconscious of. Only when we own and assimilate these darker aspects can we individuate into our best selves. Raw, a modern day horror film set in France that’s written and directed by Julia Ducournau, uses […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Table 19’ (2017)
March 3, 2017 by
Life is messy and not particularly grid-friendly. People color outside the lines, the sort of folks who often end up at Table 19, a slice-of-life film – named for its least desirable ever seating arrangement – written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz. During pre-credits, Eloise (Anna Kendrick) is in torment deciding whether to attend an upcoming […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Get Out’ (2017)
February 21, 2017 by
Ever get that sunken feeling? A hellish thing. Persephone, siphoned out of a field while she was picking posies en route to servitude, knew it well. And somehow Jordan Peele, writer and director of Get Out, has turned that Greek myth on its head so that its bones miraculously structure the story of Chris (Daniel […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘A United Kingdom’ (2017)
January 31, 2017 by
A United Kingdom, directed by Amma Asante and based on a true story, wastes no time announcing its Uranian theme of breaking with tradition. On the one hand, the upheaval is personal. In 1947 Englishwoman Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) attends a dance with her sister (Laura Carmichael) and has one of those love-at-first-sight moments with […]
Archetypes: Film: ‘Split’: The Twist, Jung and The Beast (2017)
January 20, 2017 by
This post contains spoilers. Flashbacks in a movie typically reference what’s going on in the present, and the ones in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split are no different. Kevin (James McAvoy), a man with multiple-personality disorder – with a yet-to-emerge master persona, The Beast – has kidnapped three female teens, one of whom is Casey (Anna […]
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