It’s rare that a peer guides an adolescent into the afterlife, but such is the premise of the affable, often funny and deeply moving Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Jesse Andrews who adapted his own novel, the movie evokes archetypal Mercury. The winged messenger, doing the […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Spy’ (2015)
June 5, 2015 by
As masters of disguise, spies are the ultimate impostors, a premise which Spy, a female-driven comedy, brilliantly turns into a feminist tract. Written and directed by Paul Feig, the movie is a sophisticated, barely concealed take on impostor syndrome, a psychological phenomenon that’s been kicking around for nearly four decades. Impostor syndrome typically affects successful […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Love & Mercy’ (2015)
May 31, 2015 by
For some artists, inspiration comes in disparate pieces that get magically assembled into a riveting whole. Brian Wilson, the musical genius behind The Beach Boys, welcomed and embraced those random, other-realm visitations. It was the broken pieces of his life he couldn’t glue back together. Directed by Bill Pohlad, the biopic Love & Mercy jumps back […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Hungry Hearts’ (2015)
May 31, 2015 by
It’s fitting that the protagonists in Hungry Hearts meet neat in the bowels of a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan. The bathroom door jams and the duo are literally trapped in an area the size of a closet. It’s a signal that plunging into the heart of this movie – food, one’s approach to it, the […]
Archetypes: Film: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Brings On the Matriarchy and the Feminine (2015)
May 16, 2015 by
The great balancing act in Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t the circus-like, high-pole-dipping soldiers swooping down onto enemy vehicles like birds of prey, or the astounding center of gravity that keeps racing rigs and trucks from keeling over onto desert sands out of sheer momentum. The real equilibrium here is the propulsive paean director and […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Good Kill’ (2015)
May 12, 2015 by
Is military killing easier to rationalize when it’s done with a joystick? That’s the question at the heart of Good Kill, which looks at how drone warfare affects a group of military fighting the Taliban from crate-like structures in the Las Vegas desert. Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, the film, which screened at the […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Slow West’ (2015)
May 11, 2015 by
Just about the only purity and innocence you’ll see in Slow West are the breathtakingly pristine natural vistas of this country in 1870 – mountains, rivers, fields and day-and-midnight-blue skies – and Jay Cavendish, a lovestruck teen from Scotland who’s traveling through “the baking heart of America” to locate the woman he fell for in […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Welcome to Me’ (2015)
April 26, 2015 by
Welcome to Me is a fairytale for grown-ups. Its message? The way to address life’s limitations is often through embracing further limitations. Primed to learn this lesson – the hard way – is the film’s deluded heroine Alice Klieg (Kristen Wiig). Alice, a 30-something denizen of Palm Desert, California, who suffers from borderline personality disorder, […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘True Story’ (2015)
April 13, 2015 by
On the surface, True Story is about the connection between a disgraced reporter and a man on trial for murdering four members of his family in the early aughts. Directed by Rupert Goold, the drama, at its core, is about the challenges and transformational potential of communication. Mercurial activities, such as conversation and writing, are […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘While We’re Young’ (2015)
March 23, 2015 by
In the creation of art, does the maker’s lack of adherence to a solid level of truthiness nullify the creation? That’s the question posed by Noah Baumbach, the writer and director of While We’re Young, who uses two couples from different generations as his conduits. Representing the mid-40s demographic is married couple Josh and Cornelia. […]
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