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 […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘Split’ (2017)
January 17, 2017 by
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)
December 16, 2016 by
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)
December 15, 2016 by
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, […]
Archetypes: Film: Review: ‘La La Land’ (2016)
December 9, 2016 by
Dreams, under the aegis of archetypal Neptune – ruler of film, actors, music and musicians – are slippery, hard-to-hold figments, operating in the depths of the unconscious. And trying to live out a dream in the waking state often means an endless clash between the transcendence of one’s pursuits and the hardcore reality of meeting material needs. […]
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