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Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Life’ (2017)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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: ‘A United Kingdom’ (2017)

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)

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 […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Split’ (2017)

Bickering families are ugly, whether they’re blood kin, feuding gods and goddesses, or archetypes all scrambling for a place in the sun. In Split, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a man named Kevin (James McAvoy), who has dissociative identity disorder, is the vessel containing 23 personalities, a bit like someone wielding a multiple […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Fences’ (2016)

If a movie is titled Fences and its protagonist has had his dreams of being a baseball star crushed, it’s fair to consider that sport’s well known adage. To “swing for the fences” refers to players who literally aim to hit the ball over a field’s barriers, scoring a home run. That sort of physical […]

Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Patriots Day’ (2016)

Archetypal, explosive violence – the coupling of energy that’s both Martian-aggressive and Uranian-sudden – is both a personal and collective attack in Patriots Day. Co-written and directed by Peter Berg, the film sets in motion the rhythms just prior to the Boston Marathon, in 1913, that traditionally falls on what’s called Patriots Day. That year, […]