‘New organs of perception come into being as a result of necessity.’ This observation comes to us from Rumi, that beloved Persian poet, in his three-volume work of poetry called The Masnavi. His wisdom is evident in the direction he then gives us: ‘Therefore, O man, Read More …
Gertud stands somewhere in the murky middle of the spectrum between characters on this list who adapt and thrive and those who obstinately and self-destructively cling to the professions, ideas, and illusions of their youth. Dreyer’s heroine borders on the self-destructive in the way she refuses Read More …
The third in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy finds Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) having grown up but not necessarily matured. If Before Sunrise explored the late adolescent notions of romance and sex, and Before Sunset addressed humanity’s deeper questions about love and destiny, then Before Midnight is the trilogy’s meditation on Read More …
Aging is a scandal to utilitarian societies. That is why how we treat the aged is a marker for whether we truly believe in the intrinsic value of life. It is also why retirement or loss of work figures so prominently in films about the Read More …
One of the sublime pleasures of the UP documentaries is getting to know a dozen people who were willing to be reflective in an unstudied way we likely won’t see again, given the ubiquity of confessional television and our online age, where many of us Read More …
Near the opening of this film, 66-year old Mi-ja listens to her poetry teacher leading the class in a lesson about seeing : ‘How many times have you seen an apple? ..You’ve never seen an apple before. Not even once. Until now, you haven’t seen Read More …
Though not literally his swan song as a director, in Limelight Charlie Chaplin says his final word on the symbols of his youthful career as a vaudevillian and silent film clown. The faded glory of one last performance, one last moment in the limelight, can never be Read More …
If a man lives long enough, growing older will mean that he has to reckon with the impermanence of what seemed fixed in his youth meeting with the inevitable recurrence of those things he thought he had put behind him. The Archers’ elegiac epic chronicles Read More …
Yasujiro Ozu’s LATE SPRING (1949) is the story of Shukichi, a widowed professor, and Noriko, his unmarried twenty-seven year-old daughter who lives with him and has recently recovered from an illness. The two get along extraordinarily well, and Noriko is content to care for her Read More …
As the sun sets on a chapter of history, a beautiful estate in the countryside outside of Paris becomes the setting for this intricate meditation on art and history: What makes an object valuable? How is globalization changing our values? How is it changing the Read More …