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< Back HR Representative Apply Now San Francisco, CA, USA Job Type Part Time Workspace Remote About the Role This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Requirements This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. About the Company This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. You can create as many collections as you need. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields. Apply Now

Pose highlights the gay and trans community comprising the ballroom culture in 1980s New York. < Back Pose highlights the gay and trans community comprising the ballroom culture in 1980s New York. Color Force, 2018-21 59 minutes Creator: Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, and Ryan Murphy Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Pixabay Pose Fearless (MKJOZQUC9NFWSH3I) 00:00 / 04:09 Dandelion Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Honeybush Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Chris Chaisson 2021-10-15 Pose , created by Ryan Murphy ( Glee , American Horror Story ), highlights the gay and trans community comprising the ballroom culture in 1980s New York. The series centers particularly around Blanca, a Trans woman who sets out to start her own house after being diagnosed with HIV. Blanca takes in several youngsters to mentor, including Damon, Lil Papi, Ricky, and Angel. Their performing arts skills are varied, but Blanca strives to instill them all with confidence, discipline and most importantly, self‑esteem. The most striking aspect of Pose is how it highlights the multitude of angles from which the Black Trans community receives vitriol. In one particular episode, Blanca tries to get served at a predominantly White gay bar. She is not only asked to leave but on one occasion is physically removed and arrested. This and other storylines expose the glaring truth that many communities are simultaneously oppressed and oppressive. In addition to shining a spotlight on institutional injustice, Pose provides a glimpse into the strife surrounding the characters’ personal relationships. Pray Tell, the regular emcee for the nightly ball competitions, struggles through hospital visits one after another in support of his boyfriend, who has contracted AIDS. Angel meets a married Wall Street exec (Evan Peters) and mulls over how she feels being his secret mistress. Candy debates getting genital reconstructive surgery and how her longtime partner will view her new anatomy. Though the particulars of their issues seem specific to the Trans community, their interpersonal relationships and the emotions involved remain universal. As one might expect, a series about ballroom culture includes plenty of ballroom scenes. Normally the more joyous scenes in the show, the members of the various houses walk the floor in their outfits as music blares over the sound system. Pray Tell comments on their getup before turning it over to the five judges, who each put up a number from one to ten. At the end of the night, grand prize and runner-up trophies are awarded. While the vibes are celebratory, the commentary between competitors can be blunt and deep-cutting, with Pray Tell roasting ensembles that are not on point. The culture amongst the ball participants is one of no-holds-barred criticism, making the dialogue harsh and the insults frequent. The subtext of these biting exchanges is that the members must have thick skin due to the flagrant disrespect and threats they face when they leave the community. While the conflict is legitimate, there is an element of tough love to how the ball members speak to one another. The lynchpin of the show is without a doubt Blanca, who exhibits leadership and strong decision-making. From the Bronx, she embodies toughness and displays the ability to be confrontational. The way she handles everything thrown her way is reminiscent of a high school principal, such as Principal Harper (Chi McBride) in Boston Public . Having been shunned by her family, who insists on calling her by her masculine birth name, Blanca strives to teach all her house members how to stand on their own two feet as she has learned to do. Her major character flaw of stubbornness drives much of the show’s conflict but makes her as relatable to the audience as her strengths. Overall, Pose grants viewers the opportunity to see Trans characters as more than victims or fleeting storylines, but rather three-dimensional characters who have goals, strengths, weaknesses and most of all, gumption. Their struggles provide insight to those not frequently exposed to members of the trans community, and the ways they handle those struggles allows the audience to feel an emotion necessary for all to possess -- empathy. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Blow the Man Down highlights people and places often left out of the picture Secret Engine, 2019 91 minutes Director/Writer: Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy Reading Time: 3 minutes Blow the Man Down Ceridig's Heart (K7VMKEGNPSX83RBL) 00:00 / 04:08 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock Mint: Movies and TV shows in cold weather and blizzard conditions Chris Chaisson 2021-07-25 The beauty of indie films is their ability to step out of traditional characters and settings to tell a less often heard story. ( Winter’s Bone comes to mind.) In doing so, they often transform the setting into an additional character of the film. The way conflict plays out in these stories can be far different than the average screenplay, leading to interesting decisions and actions from the main characters that we would not otherwise see. Whereas typical Hollywood tales show everything eventually coming to light, stories set in small or rural towns show us that some skeletons stay in the closet for good. Such is the case in the coastal thriller Blow the Man Down . Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy co-direct this indie project set in the small town of Easter Cove, Maine. Revolving around two young girls who cover up a murder committed in self-defense, Blow the Man Down highlights characters that often do not appear in prominent roles of Hollywood stories. Just a few of these characters include the town matriarchs (June Squibb, Marceline Hugot, Annette O’Toole), a brothel owner searching for stolen cash (Margo Martindale), and a pair of sisters (Sophie Lowe, Morgan Saylor) struggling to sort out the financial responsibilities left behind by their deceased mother. The film’s appeal comes from its willingness to take us away from the standard metropolitan setting into a small, coastal, blue-collar town. It incorporates small town life into the story in many creative ways; fisherman singing standards, town gossip, even a cardboard sign falling on a car. Additionally, despite efforts to highlight gender inequality in the entertainment industry, it is still very rare to see a female director duo along with a predominantly female cast. Not only does the film pull this off, it highlights women of various age groups in a blue-collar setting, whose perspectives are often underrepresented. Blow the Man Down ’s character mix generates much natural conflict, not just by the difference in individual perspectives but also ways of life. The town matriarchs clash with the brothel owner and her sex worker. The young ambitious cop attempting to solve the case clashes with the older, apathetic cop who succumbs to the town code. And Mary Beth, the adventurous stubborn sibling who despises Easter Cove, clashes with her loyal, obedient, wholesome sister Priscilla. The film does however possess one glaring shortcoming; it incorporates its minor characters at the expense of making Mary Beth and Priscilla more proactive. Integrating the town matriarchs, brothel owner and police officers (Skipp Sudduth, Will Brittain) into the story, slowly turns our protagonists into bystanders. By the latter half of the movie, the sisters push the story forward much less than the supporting cast. Thus, they are not put in desperate situations where they must make character-revealing decisions. Stephen King’s influence on the Cole/Krudy writer-director duo is quite apparent, even beyond the Maine setting. The style of this indie thriller is reminiscent of classics like Misery and Stand by Me , both King adaptations. The additional story element of the missing cash might take you back to non-King thrillers such as No Country for Old Men , Blue Velvet, or the aforementioned Winter’s Bone . Each movie involves cover-ups, secrets and characters determined to get to the bottom of a mystery, even imploring violence to do so. Blow the Man Down provides a departure from metropolitan landscapes and urban ways of life and gives a glimpse into how matters are handled in a setting we do not see as frequently on the big screen. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Maestro discards the notion of simplicity Sikelia Productions, 2023 129 minutes Director/Writer: Bradley Cooper / Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer Reading Time: 5 minutes Maestro Path of Purpose (4KOGNGHXIHZBMTVK) 00:00 / 06:16 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Ginger: Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Barley Movies and TV shows with a lot of dialog Reba Chaisson 2024-01-06 I have this thing about presumptuousness in writing. When statements are prefaced with terms like “simply,” “of course,” and “obviously,” I encourage authors to consider that the knowledge they are asserting is not necessarily known to their reader, so it is neither simple nor obvious. Thus, qualifiers should be removed. We should assume nothing. The film, Maestro , exemplifies this notion, which is why “Oscar contender” is likely written all over it. I am surprised to see this theater-worthy film from the comfort of my sofa, but lucky me. Director and lead actor, Bradley Cooper, outdoes himself with this biopic of Leonard Bernstein, whose 72-year life spans the identity politics divide. The film begins with a quote from the music virtuoso himself, which reads in part, “A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them …” In an era where we seem to want and expect simple answers to some of life’s most complex questions, this statement gives us pause. It forces us to consider how far removed we are from a past when we thought for ourselves rather than relying on technology, Internet search engines, and now artificial intelligence for straightforward answers. Most researchers recognize that the questions they seek to answer with their qualitative and quantitative methods will offer some insight into the problems they are trying to solve. But in the course of their work, their results will also raise questions that require more research to be conducted by themselves and others in their discipline. In effect then, and to Bernstein’s point, a question is never fully answered. We just gain deeper insight into the scale and complexity of the problem. Leonard Bernstein was by any measure a musical genius, but what I learned from Maestro is that his depth of understanding for people and humanity were uncanny. According to the film, even “Lenny’s” wife of more than 25 years, who marries him knowing his sexual preference for men, cares for him deeply and he for her. Some of us might ask how this could be. How could she marry him knowing this? During a remote radio interview from their home soon after marrying, she talks proudly and incessantly about how busy “Lenny” is composing and directing. So, status maybe? What was she thinking? What hubris to think she could change him! Played by Carey Mulligan, Felicia, Bernstein’s wife, says to her sister-in-law Shirley Bernstein (Sarah Silverman) decades into their marriage and now with children (paraphrasing), “I’ve always known about Lenny. But I still love him.” So, if we learn anything from Leonard Bernstein’s story, and there is plenty to learn, it is that nothing is ever simple. Just as remarkable as Bernstein’s life is the film presentation itself. Director Bradley Cooper presents the first half of the movie in black and white, giving it the feel of a 1940s era film. Bernstein is constantly surrounded by large groups of musically talented friends who each keep a cigarette in their mouth or between their fingers and a bar glass with a drink nearby – and never far away from a piano. Most of the men are openly gay, as evidenced by the way they touch one another on the behind and casually rub each other’s backs and hair in the presence of others. Sometimes they even kiss. No one seems to notice or care. Interestingly, these public displays of affection are not depicted among the women in the group, which makes the playing out of gender seem out of balance. There’s a lot of noise and chatter with infectious happiness and celebration seemingly about nothing in particular. Their exchanges are more like quipping than deep engagements in conversation. It is as if they don’t take themselves too seriously. They are having too much fun and too much musical success to do so. The circumstances surrounding the circle of 20 or so friends change as time changes. When the presentation converts from monochromatic to color, the speech tempo slows as if to suggest they are all getting older now. One of the first colorized scenes is yet another gathering of the friends, now older and some married, even those who are gay. A few are new to the group, including a gay gentleman who guffaws when Bernstein says that he is married. Laws at that time did not allow for same-sex marriage, so the man rightly assumes Bernstein is married to a woman. The man’s cynicism signals the ushering in of politics around sexual identity during this time, roughly the 1960s. Prior to this period, no one seemed to care about one’s sexual orientation or more likely tolerated the differences in sexuality. Sensitivities seem heightened with television media, perhaps, due to its ability to beam into living rooms how a gay person, such as Bernstein, displays his sexual identity. Bernstein, though, dismisses the man’s laughter as if wondering what all the fuss is about, not yet realizing times were changing and he might have to figure out how to balance his lifestyle with his wide popularity. Watching this film is like being in a time capsule that spans 70 years. Bernstein’s music sets the mood, providing the audio that signals the ebb and flow of the composer’s life. The dynamic music is racy and powerful in his younger years and smooths out as he gets older. Indeed, the film itself feels like a musical performance on stage with multiple acts across the chronology of the genius’s life. It mimics the look and style of the Humphrey Bogart movies, Casablanca and To Have and Have Not with cigarettes, drinks, and all. This is fitting for a guy like Bernstein who lived his life on his own terms, accepting – no, embracing it with all its complexity. Damn our perplexity about it! Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back A Clash of Knuckles: Movies and the System of Rating Them Highlighting the Tension Between Filmmakers and the MPA Reba Chaisson 3/15/25 Reading Time: 19 minutes 📸: Cup of Tea Critiques As a teenager, I paid close attention to ratings because they dictated whether or not I could get into the theater to see a movie. If it was “R,” I simply wasn’t getting in, as they were serious about ticket admissions back then! Things have softened quite a bit now. I can’t remember the last time I saw a ticket agent card a young person. Also, now that we can buy tickets in advance on the Web, and just show our phones and grab a seat, who is stopping to question anyone about seeing any movie these days! After all, the ticket checkers are teenagers too. I even hear toddlers yelling in the theater when I’m there to watch an R-rated movie. When I was young, I envisioned movie ratings as a task done by committee — you know, a bunch of people in a room who watch movies all day and ultimately agree on a rating after deliberating over its content. You know, like a courtroom jury trial. It turns out, I wasn’t far afield in my understanding of the process. But there is a bit more to it than that. This paper covers the film industry’s rating system and reports on the usefulness of the ratings to many of us today. Indeed, more interesting than the ratings themselves is the history of Hollywood’s system of rating films. Hollywood’s History of Rating Films Hollywood’s system of rating films didn’t begin with the goal of rating movies at all. Its goal at the outset was to “ensure the financial stability of Hollywood.” So, the new Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), founded in 1922, set out to secure funding from Wall Street to do this. Perhaps there was a quiet quid pro quo, but soon after, the organization resolved to maintain a “clean moral tone” across the film industry in the United States. The studios were already ensuring that the directors, actors, and other talent they had under contract adhered to a “code of conduct.” The next step, in the view of executives and the MPPDA, was to get the film content inline. This is where the MPPDA came in, effectively inserting itself as gatekeeper and enforcer of the film content. Through 1934, films were not rated, or what was then referred to as not “coded.” In this pre-code era, religious clergy and politicians carried a great disdain for films with scenes of nudity, and what they called illicit dealings and morally gray matter. In 1930, with the support of congressmen, senators, and other influential people in the U.S., former politician and Republican National Committee chair William H. Hays assumed leadership of the MPPDA and established stringent rules for rating film using what became known as the Hays Code , also referred to as the Production Code. The rules of the Production Code became legally binding and breaking them was punishable by law. Hays even established the Production Code Administration (PCA) to enact and oversee the ratings process, empowering it to make the binary decision to either approve or deny films and to dole out $25,000 fines for rules violations. Some filmmakers would be penalized or their works denied for displaying such social activity as liquor use, ridiculing clergy, miscegenation, and even engaging in same-sex behaviors. This glimpse back in time, though nearly a century ago, feels like an oppressive creative environment for filmmakers, who not only were required to submit their films to the MPPDA for ratings, but had no recourse on the decisions made about their films. In many cases, they were forced to re-edit their films as a condition of the films’ release. The MPPDA was not the only film watchdog during the early 20th century, however. The National Legion of Decency , a consortium of partially Protestant but predominantly Catholic organizations, evaluated films and assigned ratings using “A” for morally unobjectionable, “B” for partly morally objectionable, and “C” for condemned. The group assessed more than 12,800 movies between 1936 and 1959. But this represents only a partial list since the Legion continued to operate through the late 1970s. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho , was among those given a “B” rating by the Legion because, according to Daniel Gauss of Taste of Cinema , the shower scene was sadistic and “Marion [laid] on her bed with a man while only wearing a bra.” It is important to note that not everyone agreed with the MPPDA’s and the Legion’s censoring of film during this era. Letters to the New York Times Screen Editor regarding the Legion’s rating of Psycho pan this out. Upon seeing the movie at the theater in 1960, one gentleman wrote a response to an enthusiastic supporter of the Legion’s “B” rating of the film. He replied, To be more specific, [the supporter] objects to a scene which presents, he says, “the stabbing of a naked woman in a shower in ugly detail," a description which would be more accurate if the scene were either ugly or detailed . Another individual writing to the Times noted, I realize that it is not to everyone's taste … As for Psycho's being ‘deliberately sadistic,’ I certainly don't think it a film for children, but can mature audiences take it as anything but a macabre prank …? Even then, some viewers of the film appreciated Psycho as a brilliant work of art, even though it was scorned by others and condemned by the Legion. Consider also that such rigid ratings of film decontextualize the work’s visual content, failing to account for a scene’s mood, the story that encompasses it, or even the film’s overall themes. As we pointed out during the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast on short films , even the shortest films use dialog, compelling media images and creative cinematographic techniques that when viewed collectively tell strong and powerful stories. In the end, the films often pose searing questions that encourage us to think critically, ultimately broadening our perspectives. The early rating systems reduced the works to a scene here or there, failing to account for these crucial elements of the art form, not to mention being oblivious to the breadth of cinematic tastes of audience members. Hays left the MPPDA in 1945 when, coincidentally, the organization changed its name to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). This is not unusual, as many organizations, companies, and sometimes even people, adopt this tactic to decouple from the past and reset their respective identities as something different. The Production Code, though, was not repealed until 1968, when the industry summoned a collective exhale, and filmmakers once again enjoyed exercising their creative freedoms. By this time, the National Legion of Decency’s influence had shrunk tremendously thanks in part to a series of Supreme Court decisions ruling against censorship. Burstyn v. Wilson is one such case, where the justices in 1952 unanimously ruled that free speech in film is guaranteed based on the first and 14th amendments. Another is the 1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio case, where the Court reversed the conviction of a movie theater manager accused of showing an obscene film. The justices opined that the film was “not obscene” and that obscenity needed to be based on a national standard. Together, these and other cases chipped away at censorship across the film industry and the Legion’s influence along with it. Although the Hays Code was not repealed until the late ‘60s, the MPAA had already begun to signal a new day in the way the organization conducted its business around rating films. Taken over by Washington D.C.-insider Jack Valenti in 1966, the MPAA no longer required filmmakers to submit their films for rating. And rather than using a code to effectively censor films, the organization, which soon shortened its name to Motion Picture Association (MPA), established a new objective: providing information about the age-appropriateness of a movie. Valenti ushered in a more nuanced system for rating movies, one which we are most familiar with today, The Motion Picture Association Classification and Rating Administration (CARA). You probably know it best as the movie rating system. The Movie Rating System and the MPA Today’s movies are slotted into one of five ratings categories, each of which is listed in the table below, under columns “Rating (1990).” As seen by their predecessors to the left (“Rating (1968)” and “Rating (1984)”), the ratings have varied ever so slightly over the last several decades. In 1984, M became PG and PG-13 to signal the appropriateness of content for children ages 13 and under, and the age limit for R was raised from 16 to 17. The most significant change to the system was ushered in in 1990, with NC-17 replacing the notorious X rating which had been assigned to what were then deemed pornographic films . One X-rated film included Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris , which was the seventh highest grossing film in 1973. Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider led the cast as a couple involved in a relationship based only on sex. Another film is John Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1969. The film starred Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, with Voight’s character as a male sex worker for gay men. Best Picture honors are typically not given to bad films. So, despite Midnight Cowboy containing a lot of nudity and/or sex between persons of the same or different sex, the movie had a powerful story with strong themes that likely left the audience with deep searing questions about ourselves and some aspect of the world around us. In doing so, it proved the point that film as an art form has great value. As for Last Tango in Paris , Gauss suggests it encourages us to question if sex without intimacy is fulfilling enough. As a professor of mine once said, “chew on that for a bit.” While doing so, consider that being among the top 10 grossing films in any year is itself an accolade and attests to the broad cinematic tastes of viewers. While one would think the X ratings for these films would directly convert to NC-17 under the current rating system, a quick lookup in IMDB shows Last Tango in Paris with an NC-17 and Midnight Cowboy with a rating of R. A recent article in Vanity Fair painstakingly explains how this inconsistency came about. In short, the MPAA begrudgingly gave United Artists's Midnight Cowboy an R rating along with strong suggestions that they make changes to it. The studio steadfastly refused. The studio did, however, consult with a psychiatrist about the film. Since the doctor expressed concerns about the sex and sexual innuendo, the studio made the decision to give the film an X rating. Midnight Cowboy ’s ratings journey, though, is highly unusual. Filmmakers are typically coerced into making concessions to get the ratings they want for their movies. This means recutting the films to make them more palatable to the MPA in order to get an R rating. R is such a coveted rating because it means the films are more accessible to the public and can thus maximize its earning potential. The substantially smaller audience for X rated films makes it difficult to achieve these goals. To get the R rating, though, filmmakers must agree to edit some scenes. This complexity around ratings in film is a good place to segue into a discussion on the longstanding tension between filmmakers and the MPA. The Tension between Filmmakers and the MPA Kirby Dick’s 2006 documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated , highlights the sharp divisions between the MPA and filmmakers. At the center of the breakdown, according to Dick, is the rating of films as NC-17 versus R. To put it mildly, filmmakers bristle at NC-17 ratings because the films potentially lose millions of dollars in sales. According to several directors featured in the documentary, an NC-17 rating presents marketing challenges for films. Walmart, for example, will not carry an NC-17 movie, which is where many people, they say, buy their DVDs. Another point of contention is that the MPA will not provide the filmmakers with notes, so they can potentially make adjustments to their films to get them from NC-17 to R. They are simply told that they can “recut it.” This area is a special point of agitation for filmmakers because they have discovered that deferential treatment exists for independent filmmakers versus those producing films for large studios. For example, the 1997 independent film, Orgazmo , received an NC-17 rating. When director Trey Parker asked for suggestions to get the film to an R, the MPA representative told him that they don’t give specific notes and he was “welcome to recut it.” Parker’s experience was quite different, however, when he directed South Park at MTV Entertainment Studios. When South Park initially received an NC-17 rating, he was given “extremely specific edits” to get an R rating. This suggests that a level of discrimination is occurring at the MPA, to the detriment of small, independent filmmakers. This is especially the case when the films contain sexual content. In the documentary, actress Maria Bello complains that the ratings board has “desexualized sex.” Expounding on this, she explains that her film, The Cooler , was given a rating of NC-17 because they said some of her pubic hair could be seen in a love scene. Filmmakers also note that intimate acts involving persons of the same sex consistently receive NC-17. Others remark that the raters seem to have a number for sexual thrusts, and that when there’s more than two, then the film is doomed to an NC-17. Still, others say that the distance of the shot is also a factor. The closer the camera is to the sexual activity, the more likely it is to receive an NC-17 rating. While NC-17 ratings may seem reasonable to some given the stated mission of the MPA to advise parents on the appropriateness of content for children, the problem, filmmakers insist, is the built-in bias, the lack of accountability or explanation for the ratings, and the lack of transparency about who is making the ratings decisions. UCLA professor and researcher, Theresa Webb, added to this by noting the MPA’s preoccupation with sex but little attention paid to violence. So, what are we not getting about the way the MPA operates? The Disconnect Between the MPA and Independent Filmmakers Today, the segment of the MPA whose direct and sole responsibility is to watch films and rate them is parents. They are believed to serve 3–7-year terms, with the requirement that their children be between the ages of 5 and 16-years-old. The rationale for using parents is related to the organization’s mission regarding the appropriateness of film content for children. Given this, it makes sense to have parents perform this function, as long as their demographics are representative of the parent population in the U.S. with respect to race, education, income, religion, and even region. If due diligence is paid in this regard, then the rationale for choosing parents is reasonable. As for the MPA itself, it is a member association, where major studios like Disney, Netflix, MGM Studios, Paramount, Prime, Sony, Universal, and Warner Brothers essentially agree to the terms and conditions of the MPA and its strategy for rating films. That the MPA and the studios work in tandem is not new. As I alluded to earlier, major studios historically controlled all aspects of the film industry in the first several decades of Hollywood. Each studio had exclusive and binding contracts with the talent in front of and behind the cameras. Each controlled the distribution of its films. And each owned the theaters where the films were shown. This vertical integration broke down in the wake of the 1948 Supreme Court ruling in the United States vs Paramount. But the social relationships between studios, as facilitated through politically-connected organizations like the MPA, religious clergy, and executives’ similar values and sensibilities, allowed for the “studio system” to thrive and remain positioned as the arbiters of film and the film industry. For the most part, studios have enjoyed their stronghold over the industry. The benefits have outweighed the drawbacks. When they don’t like the ratings of their films, they have not only obtained the feedback for the necessary changes, but they’ve had access to the financial resources to recut a film if necessary. This is still the case today. Studio heads are well-connected enough as MPA members to cajole leadership into giving a film the rating they want. A rater in Kirby’s documentary revealed that Valenti regularly broke ties in their votes and tried to cajole raters to vote a certain way when he didn’t like their rating of a film. According to the rater, he appeared before them once saying, “Come on, you can do better than that.” What this suggests is the studios get their movies to their target rating (and ultimately to market fast), while small studios and independent filmmakers languish. Will the MPA ever evolve to support the full filmmaking community while fulfilling its mission to parents? Today’s MPA and What Parents Have to Say Today’s MPA is significantly more user-friendly than it was under Valenti, who retired in 2004. Its mission as it regards the rating of films is still the same, but Charles Rivkin, a former U.S. diplomat, has been the new head of the organization since 2017. Rivkin describes his role as “the best job in the world” and talks of creating “new ways for storytellers to reach even bigger audiences” and adapting to “changes in consumer tastes and behavior[s].” Indeed, under his relatively short tenure so far, streaming channels like Disney, Netflix, and Prime have come into the MPA fold. Independent filmmakers are now provided with an explanation of their films’ ratings, including suggestions on how to make changes to the movies to reach their rating goals. Extending upon the gradient ratings ushered in during Valenti’s tenure, the MPA also now augments the rating we see on the film with a descriptor that explains the basis for it (see image below). And there’s even a weekly bulletin published listing the films reviewed, along with their ratings and the explanations for them. This newfound transparency is undoubtedly welcome to filmmakers and even satisfies the curiosity of cinephiles like us! One way to assess the effectiveness of the ratings for the consumer, though, is to see how they are resonating with a representative sample of parents. As recently as 2022, the MPA commissioned a survey to understand how well the organization helps parents in determining the appropriateness of film content for their children. The 20-minute online survey was administered to 1,500 parents of 5 to 16-year-olds. More than 70% indicated they are quite satisfied that the new descriptor does a good job advising them on the amount of sexual content, violence, and profanity in films. They also agree that the ratings themselves are accurate. There is some variance by region, though. While parents in the South Atlantic region of the country (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky) believe the ratings to be accurate, their “familiarity” results indicate they are less aware of the ratings than parents in other regions. Belief in the accuracy of something we are unfamiliar with, though, is paradoxical, which suggests the survey respondents in the region take the validity of the ratings at face value rather than having a true understanding of it. When asked about their content concerns, parents listed their top 10 in the order below. While parents are uncomfortable with numbers 1 through 4 and 6 for PG-13, they are most uncomfortable with the N-word, even in R-rated content. They are quite flexible, however, on the F-word, as evidenced by its absence in the top 10. Twenty-five or more uses of the term, however, pushes the film firmly into R territory. And related to Professor Webb's point regarding raters' oblivion to the violence element, parents' concerns about violence in film run a distant second to their anxieties about sex and nudity. Summary The MPA, throughout its history, has been self selected as an arbiter of morality and a guardian of privilege. It has maintained a studio system that advantages the powerful, helping them to sustain their positions of power at the expense of creators who lack such influence and affluence. To its credit, however, the organization has evolved and continues to do so. It operates in a much more inclusive manner toward independent filmmakers than it did a century ago. And based on its recent survey, its work, as it regards the movie ratings system in recent decades, has been useful to most parents. Having said this, about a third of adults go to the movies each year (even to a G or PG movie with a child). While the demographic representation of survey respondents seems balanced, the paltry number of individuals sampled leaves me questioning the strength of the survey results. Still, though, I am both informed and impressed with the MPA’s continued progress. Regarding the matter of violence in film. The survey indicates that parents are not very concerned about this element, which hearkens back to Webb’s statement regarding raters’ not assessing the films for violence. This is troubling because it suggests that the neither the rating panel nor the survey sample is sufficiently representative of a large swath of the movie‑watching public. All communities are affected by violence such as domestic, burglary, robbery, and rape, but poor communities of color are subjected to it with great frequency and intensity. It is beyond the scope of this paper to delve into the structural factors contributing to it. Like other families, however, families in these communities go to the movies and watch television. That sensitivity to their lived realities is not reflected in the ratings of films, is problematic and requires addressing. There is undoubtedly a subjective component to rating films. Consciously or subconsciously, the parents who rate them bring in their own values, experiences, and yes, even their biases into the assessment. Knowing this, I wonder how the MPA is thinking about the future for rating films given the move toward what are mistakenly viewed as “bias free” intelligence technologies. Couple this with the lack of political will in the United States to limit their use or curb their proliferation. Consider also the film industry’s eagerness to use these technologies to replace some functions around cinema production. So, what do you think is next for the MPA’s rating system? Will robots programmed to tally sex scenes, nudity, profanity, and perhaps even thrusts soon be occupying the theater at the MPA in place of parents, and automatically assigning a rating to the films? Or will the films’ digital media be downloaded to "RaterGPT" to do this work? Or — will the MPA accept, live with, acknowledge, or tolerate the human flaws in rating films as it does at this moment, while continuing to strive to improve it? References Abreu, Rafael. (2023). What is the Studio System — Hollywood’s Studio Era Explained. (2023). Studiobinder , (2023 January 1). https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-the-studio-system-in-hollywood/ American Parents’ Views on Movie Ratings. (2023). Motion Picture Association , (April 2023) https://www.motionpictures.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/American-Parents-Views-on-Movie-Ratings.pdf Dick, Kirby (Director). (2006). This Film is Not Yet Rated [Film]. Independent Film Channel. https://watchdocumentaries.com/this-film-is-not-yet-rated/ Film Ratings. Motion Picture Association . https://www.motionpictures.org/film-ratings/ Frequency of going to see a movie in theaters among adults in the United States as of May 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264396/frequency-of-going-to-the-movies-in-the-us/ Gauss, Daniel. (2017). 20 Films Banned by the Legion of Decency That Are Worth Your Time. Taste of Cinema , (2016 January 2017). https://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/20-films-banned-by-the-legion-of-decency-that-are-worth-your-time/3/ Glenn, Frankel. (2021). X-Rated: Inside the Myths and Legends of Midnight Cowboy. Vanity Fair , (2021, February 26). https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/02/inside-the-myths-and-legends-of-midnight-cowboy?srsltid=AfmBOorTKptBhmiYOHWoAbx_e7d1tb-vuF8RDrc3Vj3GrB4FksflDCfv Hudson, David. (2009). Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964). Free Speech Center , (2009 January 1). https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/jacobellis-v-ohio/#:~:text=Jacobellis%20(%20Jacobellis%20v.%20Ohio%20)%20's,not%20obscene%20and%20was%20thus%20constitutionally%20protected . Heckman, Sam. (2021) Movie Censorship — A History of Film Censorship in America. Studiobinder , (2021 June 20). https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/movie-censorship-in-america/ Johnson, Ted. (2024). MPA Renews CEO Charles Rivkin’s Contract For Three More Years. Deadline (2024 January 17). https://deadline.com/2024/01/mpa-charles-rivkin-contract-1235795088/ Kench, Sam. (2022). What is MPAA — History of the Hollywood Ratings System. Studiobinder , (2022 August 7). https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-the-mpaa/ Knight, Rich. (2024). 6 Famous X-Rated Movies And What Made Them So Controversial At The Tim. Cinema Blend (26 June 2024). https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/famous-x-rated-movies-and-what-made-them-so-controversial-at-the-time Legion of Decency Collection (1933-1968) . Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. https://archives.chrc-phila.org/repositories/2/resources/33 Motion Pictures Classified By The National Legion Of Decency 1936 1959 . https://archive.org/details/motion-pictures-classified-by-the-national-legion-of-decency-1936-1959 . PG‑13 Rating Debuts. History . https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pg-13-rating-debuts Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Babes humorously conveys the ambiguity of parenthood FilmNation Entertainment, 2024 104 minutes Director/Writer: Pamela Adlon / Ilana Glazer and Josh Rabinowitz Reading Time: 5 minutes Babes Make It Last 00:00 / 05:57 📷 : Pixabay Oolong Movies and TV shows that make you laugh or involve physical activities like dance and exercise Jasmine: Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Chris Chaisson 2024-06-18 I watched a decent amount of 60 Minutes growing up, and one particular segment sticks out in my mind. Felicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives fame was being interviewed by Lesley Stahl, who asked her, “You have two little girls…Is this the best experience of your life, being a mommy?” It seemed like a tee ball question to gush about her family and motherhood in general, but Huffman instead responded, “No, no, and I resent that question. Because I think it puts women in an untenable position. Because unless I say to you, ‘Oh Lesley, it's the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,’ I’m considered a bad mother.” She then admitted to not knowing whether or not she is a good mother. Her answer acknowledges an ambiguity that many parents likely feel but are discouraged from verbalizing. As much of a blessing as parenthood can be, raising children is challenging and even overwhelming at times. Yet we often expect parents to be absolute in their gratitude for having kids or never ponder how their life would’ve been different without them. Most comedies surrounding family focus on the relationships fostered between family members or in competition with a neighboring family. Television shows like The Brady Bunch or Leave it to Beaver give the impression that every day ends with resolution and happiness. While this is fine, it is refreshing to have entertainment that recognizes that being a parent is not always the happiest experience. Pamela Adlon’s ( Better Things ) new indie comedy Babes illustrates these ups and downs of parenting and the occasional doubt that creeps in. Babes revolves around the friendship of Eden (Ilana Glazer, Broad City ) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau, Happiest Season ), two lifelong pals whoare inseparable despite the fact that Dawn is married with children. Their bond is tested, however, when Dawn has her second child and Eden becomes pregnant after a one-night stand. Both feel at times overwhelmed by not only their bodies changing but the amount of responsibility that has come with their new roles. Eden enjoys her single and unattached existence. Her apartment is a reflection of her playful, childlike personality, as she has a soda machine and other décor that would likely appeal to an adolescent. It also doubles as classes for her yoga studio that she runs classes out of. When she decides to keep her child, she does not fully know the path ahead but intends to rely heavily on Dawn’s support and guidance. Dawn suddenly feels stretched very thin in terms of her time and energy. Her older child, a toddler still in diapers,behaves like an infant and demands a lot of attention. At the same time, Dawn feels pressured to provide emotional support to Eden. Eden’s co-dependency slowly but surely erodes Dawn’s patience, as Eden refuses to adjust her expectations to give Dawn a break. In a sense, Dawn has three childlike figures dependent on her, even with an active and supportive husband (Hasan Minhaj). The most endearing aspect of Babes is that it acknowledges the hardships of childbirth and parenting rather than portraying them as an entirely positive experience. Often, the depictions of pregnancy in movies and television are overly wholesome and unrealistic. Instead, Eden experiences a full range of emotions and bodily functions that range from benign to completely gross. In the movie’s opening sequence, Dawn is at the end of her pregnancy and hilariously carries on hanging out with Eden as if her water has not clearly broken. Their actions are exaggerated for comedic effect. But Dawn and Eden still effectively convey how their bodies are changing in ways that feel more authentic than in other works. Another noteworthy detail of the film is the absence of a malicious father figure. Dawn’s husband is a loving and committed parent, and Eden makes the deliberate choice to raise the baby herself. While Eden’s relationship with her own father was no picnic, her father expresses support and admiration for her. Eden’s doctor (and his revolving collection of hairpieces) offers his guidance and patience during every one of her visits. This addition of supportive male characters in the movie keeps the focus on the ups and downs of the platonic relationship between the film’s co-leads. It also allows for shedding light on the challenging experiences of pregnancy and parenting, even with the encouragement and assistance of others. The closest comparison to Babes is the 2008 comedy Baby Mama , about a businesswoman who hires a surrogate mother. Starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the movie, just as in Babes , foregrounds the platonic relationship between two adult women, while the romantic relationships take a backseat. Both films contain several hi-jinks caused by the pregnant characters responding to unpredictable changes to their bodies in hilarious fashion. Babes , more than most other works, succeeds in not showing parenthood and pregnancy through rose-colored glasses. Rather, it conveys them as the up-and-down struggles of life stages that comprise parts of the person’s identity and not their whole being. 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< Back Burn Burn Burn examines how familiarity can breed contempt Rather Good Films, 2015 106 minutes Director/Writer: Chanya Button / Charlie Covell Reading Time: 4 minutes Burn Burn Burn Finding My Way (T2ZTIRYFQ43TQUUV) 00:00 / 04:33 📷 : Pixabay Chamomile: Family dramas Dandelion: Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Chris Chaisson 2021-08-30 Road trips are the truest test of friendships. Spending an hour or two with a friend who has their flaws requires much less patience than being trapped in a vehicle with them for several days. This reality may be what makes these films so interesting, as many of us are familiar with the commitment that is spending this amount of time in proximity to a non-family member. The trip starts out with fun, noise and optimism and becomes a battle of attrition. In the end, you must figure out if you love this person’s virtues more than you hate their vices. As a road trip buddy comedy, Burn Burn Burn puts this struggle between its co-leads on display. Directed by Chanya Button, Burn Burn Burn puts two best friends in a car together to travel through England, spreading their deceased friend’s ashes in various landmarks at his request. Similar to other movies of this sub-genre, the road trip itself occurs amidst a period of transition and stress for both the main characters, Alex (Chloe Pirrie, Downton Abbey ) and Seph (Laura Carmichael, The Queen’s Gambit ). Alex catches her girlfriend in a compromising position while Seph questions her feelings for her long-term boyfriend. Both are on shaky ground in their professional lives as well due to their lack of focus. And most importantly, they each juggle their worrisome romantic situations with their grief for the inciting incident of the story: their young friend Dan (Jack Farthing, Poldark ) succumbing to pancreatic cancer. Unlike many road trip movies that are driven (no pun intended) by the desire of the main characters to “shake things up,” Alex and Seph’s goal is to fulfill Dan’s last wish of having his ashes spread across England. He leaves them a series of webcam videos discussing what all the locations mean to him and even addressing his complicated friendships with each of them. Burn Burn Burn pulls off very well what many films struggle to do, which is to make a deceased character feel like they are still in the story. Dan is not only responsible for all of the film’s action but much of its conflict as well. In airing out his grievances, he exposes issues that Alex and Seph have with one another. Seph considers Alex to be stiff as a board while Alex believes Seph to be selfish and flaky. Of course, their increased time around each other exposes these differences and begs the ultimate question: do these two really like each other? Or are they simply staying friends because it feels like they are supposed to? For anyone past the early stages of their adulthood, Burn Burn Burn hints at a subtle reality that can be tough to grasp: the older you get, the harder it is to make new friends. We hold on tight to the people that we have known the longest and enjoy being around the most. Alex and Seph not only lose someone who fits that description but now, in the midst of troubling times for each of them, must examine one another’s flaws more closely. It is a drawback to embarking on a road trip that is often only realized in the middle of the journey. Sometimes our closest friends are very different from us, and we may even keep them close because we take solace in observing their issues over addressing our own. In this way, Burn Burn Burn feels very much like the early 2000s buddy road-trip comedy Sideways , a film considered by many at the time as one of the best in its genre. Miles and Jack clearly enjoy each other’s company but are nothing alike, and the impact of their stark differences grows from a crevice to a gorge over the course of one week together. The viewer feels the same animosity develop between Alex and Seph, and as many of us do in real life, we must decide once the cat’s out of the bag whether we remain friends. If you enjoy films about two aging friends questioning their bond and ultimately working through their issues, Burn Burn Burn offers a few laughs, a tear or two, and some tough questions sure to infiltrate your own social circle. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back American Fiction ventures outside the box of trauma-centered Black stories 3 Arts Entertainment, 2023 117 minutes Director/Writer: Cord Jefferson Reading Time: 6 minutes American Fiction Imaginative Play (9Y87OES1SQCQILFR) 00:00 / 05:45 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock Chamomile: Family dramas Ginger: Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Chris Chaisson 2023-12-22 “Boyz in the Hood, Menace II Society, 12 Years a Slave, Roots, all have impacted me in profound and beautiful ways. They are parts of our story; they are not the totality of our story. So the idea sometimes if we tell these stories over and over again, the mainstream public thinks that that’s the totality of who we are. So when they meet somebody that doesn’t fit into that particular box, they tend to say ‘Oh you’re not like black black. You’re different; you know, you don’t talk the way black people talk.’ Really? ‘Cause I’m black, and this is how I’m talking. So the desire to see a plethora of our experiences, to have our humanity fully shared, is something that is not just good for us; it’s good for the world…” –Sterling K. Brown to Shanelle Genai of The Root . Directed by Cord Jefferson, American Fiction follows Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright, The Batman ), an ornery professor and novelist who returns home to the metro Boston area to visit his estranged family after being let go by his university. Monk finds himself disgruntled with the state of the publishing world, as the novels getting the most acclaim cater to tired stereotypes of how black Americans speak and behave, as well as the struggles they must overcome that are always tied to their skin color. Desperate to bring more attention to his own work, he pens a story perpetuating such narratives as a joke, hoping to prove a point about the need for stories not rooted in black trauma. Instead, his book, authored under a pseudonym with a criminal background, is embraced and bolstered by its publishers. This forces him to continue the charade, as the popularity of what began as a satirical work skyrockets. The above synopsis highlights American Fiction ’s “A story,” often referred to in sitcom circles as the “Big Lie.” This trope occurs frequently in such TV shows, where a character makes up a spontaneous lie to get out of trouble. The character then goes to greater and greater lengths to maintain the lie as more people become involved and the consequences increase tenfold. If you’ve seen any trailers for American Fiction , you know that this is mainly the premise that the film presents to entice viewers to the box office. The film plays up this comedic thread to much success, inducing several belly laughs from its audience with absurdist humor. For instance, Monk’s initial envy is sparked by the novel of a contemporary named Sintara (Issa Rae, Insecure ), whose bestselling book is entitled We’s Lives in Da Ghetto . Monk lends a similarly goofy name to his own work before upping the ante later in the film. While setting up this A story, the film very shrewdly brings in its more substantive B story: Monk’s complicated relationship with his family. Having a brother and a sister, played by Sterling K. Brown ( This is Us ) and Tracee Ellis Ross ( Black-ish ), Monk learns upon his visit home of family secrets, financial troubles, and health concerns. In the midst of being a frustrated novelist with somewhat petty gripes, he must process all of the new information and be the rock for his family, along with fostering his relationship with a new love interest. As it pokes fun at the prevalence of stories displaying black Americans as a suffering monolith, American Fiction simultaneously ushers in a tale that delivers exactly what the protagonist argues is lacking from modern storytelling. What elevates the film even further is its ability to push back on its own thesis. While the film highlights the dearth of more humane, multi-dimensional stories revolving around black characters, it does not dismiss the value of stories that exist within that monolith either. This becomes abundantly clear when Monk’s love interest utters to him, “Sooner or later, you have to realize that being unable to relate to people is not a badge of honor.” Ultimately, Monk’s disdain for the stories of his contemporaries is tied not just to his moral compass but also his elitism and insecurity. His works are not as popular as he feels they should be, and he criticizes others as one of many ways to shield himself from the pain of rejection. The inner struggle plays out again later in a heated conversation with Sintara about her novel. Naturally, this characteristic carries over into other areas of his life as well. Several subtler themes permeate the film, including how white guilt often operates in academic circles. The movie opens with Monk going back and forth with a white student who objects to covering a book with a racial slur in the title. She expresses her discomfort and disapproval of the word, and Monk replies, “If I got over it, you can too.” His blunt communication eventually prompts her to leave the classroom in tears, for which he is later held responsible. The scene pokes fun at the notion of valuing comfortability over honest discourse, a frequent occurrence in the discussion of social issues. Later on, as Monk pitches a ridiculous title for his book to publishers over the phone, they go along with it rather than pushing back or drawing a hard line in the sand. While the responses of these characters seem over-the-top, they are grounded in the reality of an unwillingness to offend resulting in naïve or disingenuous stances. A similar movie dealing with a frustrated writer’s quest for validation could be the earlier 2023 release You Hurt My Feelings , starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Her character is less scorned by the industry as a whole and more so by her supportive husband’s negative review. Another film with a like-minded premise is the 2000 stage play-adapted drama Chinese Coffee , in which Al Pacino and Jerry Orbach play unsuccessful writers who argue over the latest book that Pacino’s character has written. While neither deal with the larger scope of the publishing world, both, along with American Fiction , depict pretentiousness and resentment seeping into the minds of individuals in what can be a challenging, lonely profession. Already a Golden Globes nominee and festival favorite, American Fiction delivers on providing a less often-told story of black existence, while still including elements of more popular works. Its characters experience pain and suffering, but they also love, laugh and celebrate together. The film’s ability to show the full range of human emotion highlights the rarity of such stories. To Sterling K. Brown’s quote, such work benefits not just black audiences but all consumers. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Marcel the Shell with Shoes On paints a portrait of resiliency A24, 2021 90 min Director/Writer: Dean Fleischer-Camp / Dean Fleischer-Camp, Jenny Slate, and Nick Paley Reading Time: 5 minutes Marcel the Shell with Shoes On Hope Springs Internal (IUOYFM5ZEJE970SL) 00:00 / 04:54 📷 : Used with permission, Showtime Ginkgo Biloba: Youthful, lighthearted, and fun movies and TV shows Jasmine: Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Chris Chaisson 2023-03-22 Admittedly, as I have gotten older and cynical, I have written off nearly every movie with talking animals or inanimate objects as “for kids.” I may watch them with my niece and chuckle but never fully believe there are any life lessons to be learned. What could a kid’s movie tell me about life (never mind that all of these movies are made by adults)? Every now and then, though, I sit down with an open mind and get a reminder that family movies can deliver a message that resonates with viewers of all ages. Dean Fleischer-Camp’s touching mockumentary about a resilient mollusk gave me just that reminder. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On presents a protagonist who is both literally and figuratively down-to-earth. Marcel (Jenny Slate, Obvious Child ) stands just an inch tall with one eye, but he sees the bigger picture far better than most. Separated from much of his family when the humans who owned his house moved away, Marcel looks after his grandmother, Connie (Isabella Rossellini, Enemy ), and carries out his daily routine while being the subject of a documentary shoot. Despite his clear-cut regimen and affection for his grandmother, he has not given up on his search for the rest of his family. The odds are very much against him, as the couple that moved away has broken up and cannot stand one another. Furthermore, his family has no idea that he is even alive or looking for them. His efforts are initially fruitless, as the public is more allured by the celebrity of Marcel than the opportunity to help him. Even though he gains notoriety from being on YouTube, his presence simply spawns fan videos and skits rather than any altruistic attempt to assist him in his search. He and Dean set out on a tour of the city, and when Dean’s car reaches an area with a panoramic view, Marcel is struck by its beauty. Sadly, he is also discouraged by how hard it will be to find his family given the endless possibilities of their whereabouts. A potentially fortune-changing moment occurs when a producer from 60 Minutes reaches out with an inquiry about doing a segment on Marcel. While the opportunity seems like a no-brainer, Marcel worries about the impact of all the hustle and bustle on his ailing grandmother’s health. He declines the interview initially before Connie convinces him that he cannot let the fear of change keep him from growing. Much of the film, which is a continuation of the viral short film series from 2010, consists of banter between Marcel, Dean and Connie. While Dean wishes to remain off camera and unheard, Marcel asks questions as much as he provides information. His inquisitive nature would have you believe that he is naïve or lacking in wisdom. Quite the contrary, Marcel’s questions reveal a different and perhaps deeper understanding of the world than many humans. In one particular instance, Marcel notices the reactions in the comment sections of his YouTube videos and says, “It’s more of an audience than a community.” He realizes that while people are engaging or seeking attention for themselves, they are not actually bonding with one another in any significant way. The most noteworthy aspect of Marcel’s character is that despite his diminutive stature, nothing seems insurmountable for him. He has figured out ways to accomplish any daily task that he needs to, from scaling the wall to shaking fruit out of the tree to typing up email responses. His performance of such tasks is generally overshadowed by his exchanges with Dean or Connie, but his adaptability stands out as an inspirational takeaway for the audience. For Marcel, none of these tasks are cumbersome or discouraging in the slightest. As the house seems vast to him, the world can seem vast to any one of us. Despite how overwhelming it can be, we all have the ability to acclimate ourselves to a routine and find it manageable if not enjoyable. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On feels like a delightful cross between Toy Story and Finding Nemo . Marcel’s mannerisms resemble that of the toys from the 1995 Pixar hit, all having to figure out how to maneuver around the vast houses they reside in. However, Marcel’s mission certainly resembles that of Nemo’s family, separated and trying to re-unite against all odds. The film provides many laughs and a few tears, but also serves as a reminder to any human being of what enduring spirits can accomplish. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back GriGris displays the disabled experience as more than just hardship Pili Films, 2013 101 minutes Director/Writer: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Reading Time: 4 minutes GriGris Bouar (XRN3I6A7ZLRKJGIQ) 00:00 / 05:47 📷 : Licensed from Shutterstock Sage: Movies and TV shows with low-key characters Jasmine: Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Reba Chaisson 2022-03-14 Too often, films starring characters with disabilities make the disabilities themselves the lead characters in the story. I think of Oscar-winning films like Children of a Lesser God . Released in 1986, the movie stars Marlee Matlin, who is hearing impaired, as a staff member at The Governor Kittridge School for the Deaf . Her character, Sarah, falls in love with James, the new speech teacher played by William Hurt. The setting combined with the contrast in their abilities to speak and hear helped center deafness as the story’s focal point and allowed it to take on a life of its own. The same can be said of My Left Foot , another Oscar-winning film in which Daniel Day Lewis starred as a man with cerebral palsy who learned to use his left foot to write and accomplish everyday tasks. Set in early 1930s Ireland and based on a true story, the film opens soundlessly with a scene of a man’s left foot struggling to place a vinyl record onto a turntable, and then gingerly setting the needle down to start the music. Released in 1989, the film chronicled “Christy’s” struggle to be recognized as someone who was limited only by his physical inabilities, as his cognitive abilities were sharp and intact. The timing of these movies helps explain why disabilities were centered in the stories. Mainstreaming, or moving people with disabilities from exclusive institutions into regular schools and workplaces, was promoted in the mid-1980s. The assimilation expanded the breadth of diversity in these settings. It broadened the exposure, awareness, and social lives of many young people, making them more accommodating and receptive to people with varying needs, and who sometimes looked and behaved in ways different than they were used to. Entertainment should reflect this by producing films that are inclusive without aiming to center the disability. GriGris (pronounced Gre’ gre) is one of those films. In some ways, GriGris reminds me of the 1977 movie, Saturday Night Fever . Instead of “Tony Manero” dancing to the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” and “You Should Be Dancing,” “GriGris,” the main character, moves to the sounds of Wasis DIOP’s blend of jazz and pop. The dancer even takes off his shirt and shows his abs for good measure! Set in Chad, GriGris stars Souleymane Démé as a quietly resourceful 25-year-old who, despite his bad leg, is a popular dancer in the local night club where he performs on weekends for extra money. Indeed, everyone in his rural village has a side hustle, or two, or three. Those with a high-risk tolerance for getting caught by the authorities have “employees,” and drive cars rather than walk the red, dry, dusty roads to get around. A dedicated son committed to his parents, GriGris encounters trouble with Moussa, played by Cyril Gueï ( Hitman , Un flic ), a major hustler in his village, while engaging in a side hustle to help his family. But he meets Mimi, played by Anaïs Monory ( Overdrive , L’Invite’ ), a young woman who steals his heart. Unfazed by his physical disability, she is impressed with his dancing skills, appreciative of his displays of chivalry, and adoring of his upper body. She, however, has secrets and sharing them could put their relationship at risk. What kind of man is GriGris and how will he respond, particularly given that his own life is in peril? Unlike the aforementioned movies from the ‘80s, which can be argued as paving the way for featuring people with disabilities in film, GriGris does not make the main character’s disability the lead in the show. Instead, it focuses on a man’s humanity, character, and desires. This may or may not speak to how far disability inclusiveness has come in film though. At best, it can probably be described as still in the process of mainstreaming. For example, The Upside , a 2017 film starring Bryan Cranston as a person living with quadriplegia, is a bright, upbeat, and uplifting comedy-drama; yet, “Philip’s” disability is very central to the story. On the other hand, the cast of the 2021 series, Mare of Easttown , includes Kassie Mundhenk, an actress with Down syndrome. She is simply presented in the show as just another integral member of her family. The latter should be the goal. GriGris follows the contemporary inclusive model for film. It provides entertainment cloaked in drama, love, and suspense rather than a story about what it means to be disabled. Such stories and conversations are important for enhancing our understanding about the challenges of living with a disability. Some space, though, should be set aside to present people with physical and cognitive disabilities just living their lives like everyone else–with a little bit of love, mystery, occasional complications, and yes, fun! Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back A Girl Upstairs centers the dangers of agoraphobia Goreella Media, 2024 90 minutes Director/Writer: Kevin Van Stevenson / John Gee Reading Time: 4 minutes A Girl Upstairs Feast (ZG3K1GRB0QYOOPPU) 00:00 / 04:59 📷 : Used with permission, Goreella Media Yarrow: Movies and TV shows about illness or set in hospitals or similar medical institutions Chris Chaisson 2024-04-25 Over the past decade, many adolescents in the Gen Z age group have tuned into a minimalist music genre called lo-fi hip hop , for which there are many YouTube live streams to help tune out your surroundings and focus on studies. One such beat from this genre is titled “Solitude” by the artist Nymano. It borrows a sound byte from a popular anime called Cowboy Bebop in which a character says, “Instead of being in a group, it’s better to have real solitude all by yourself.” The man she is talking to responds, “You were just afraid they’d abandon you, so you abandoned them. You distanced yourself from the whole thing.” The exchange is meant to shed light on how humans can use isolation to shield themselves from pain, even if the loneliness is painful itself. This sound byte, as well as the song, echoed through my head as I watched Kevin Van Stevenson’s psychological thriller A Girl Upstairs . Written by John Gee, A Girl Upstairs revolves around a talented canvas artist named Dulce who, due to a traumatic childhood event, has developed agoraphobia. She remains barricaded in her loft above a movie theater, only occasionally peeking out of the window or a hole in the wall facing the screening room. Her only consistent interaction is over the phone with an art gallery owner who sells her work. Their conversations only contribute to Dulce’s mounting anxiety. Throughout her day, Dulce sporadically interacts with her paintings, much in the way Robert Neville in I Am Legend converses with the store mannequins. The single character, single-location story approach poses its fair share of challenges, but it is also oddly relatable for viewers. Though we interact with peers, neighbors and family on a regular basis, the most neurotic of us identify with Dulce’s feelings. With an excess of thoughts pinging around in your head, you can feel alone a lot more than you are by never expressing them to those you confide in. Watching Dulce, played by Holly Blair, meander around her apartment, two main questions enter the audience’s mind: what happened to trigger this agoraphobic state and will she eventually face her fear? After discovering that a movie theater employee that she has admired from afar has a girlfriend, Dulce tries to destroy a painting she made in his likeness. To her surprise, her efforts have an unexpected consequence, as her art comes to life. She enjoys the new company and takes on the role of caregiver. Assuming this responsibility not only boosts Dulce’s spirits but allows her to take better care of herself in turn. One looming reality is that her painting-come-to-life is not encumbered by her own past trauma and will likely seek to explore the world, forcing Dulce to face her agoraphobia simply to hold onto her newfound happiness. The set design and music in A Girl Upstairs paints the bleakness of Dulce’s mental state. While she has space to move around in her loft, the clutter, peeling wallpaper and dim lights accentuate the pressing need for her to overcome her fear. This seems a clever depiction, as a more luxurious environment would undermine her main inner conflict. Similarly, the soundtrack creates an ominous mood throughout, foreshadowing the eventual climax and heightening several nightmarish moments during the course of the story. Dulce’s haunting flashbacks are revealed in very short, sporadic clips that accurately represent the imperfect memories we all possess. It also gives the added bonus of hinting at a traumatic event without fully displaying it in a triggering manner. An old quote from Seneca goes, “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” With this in mind, leaving Dulce’s childhood trauma as a fragmented memory for much of the film allows the viewer’s imagination to run wild. A Girl Upstairs presents as a single-location psych thriller and delivers its fair share of tense moments. Nonetheless, my closest comparison comes from a more light-hearted crime drama from the early 2000’s, Matchstick Men . Nicolas Cage plays Roy, a con-artist with his own affliction, similar to Dulce. When his estranged teenage daughter unexpectedly arrives, similar to Dulce’s humanoid paintings, he must assume new responsibilities and face fears that he’s been avoiding for years. Though Dulce does not mirror any of Nicolas Cage’s patented rants , A Girl Upstairs entertains, shocks and makes you reconsider the thought of embracing loneliness. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back CODA displays a young girl caught between loyalty and personal ambition Vendrome Pictures, 2021 111 minutes Director/Writer: Sian Heder / Sian Heder, Victoria Bedos, and Stanislas Carré de Malberg Reading Time: 4 minutes CODA The Found (YKSIWLISR6QCNHWJ) 00:00 / 04:17 📷 : Used with permission, Seven Heavens Design https://www.instagram.com/sevenheavensdesign/ https://twitter.com/SevenHeavensART https://www.sevenheavensdesign.com/ Chamomile: Family dramas Jasmine: Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Chris Chaisson 2022-04-24 From the outside looking in, the togetherness of any family can be very enviable. Many adolescents come from a home full of fractured relationships, constant arguing and emotional volatility, if not worse. This reality can make us look at any loving family as a perfect, problem-free unit. CODA (“child of deaf adults”) examines the dynamics of a loving family that still has their differences. It centers around the only hearing member in a hearing-impaired household, Ruby (Emilia Jones, Locke & Key ), who suddenly experiences a conflict of interest after joining high school choir. While she never planned on going to college, her music teacher, Arthur (Lonnie Farmer, Black Mass ), believes she has the talent to audition for Berklee School of Music. He offers to train her, which makes her less available to be the American Sign Language (ASL) translator for her father and brother who are fishermen. CODA excels in showing a family that struggles with communication, despite their love, togetherness and shared fluidity in ASL. As many teenagers do, Ruby suddenly realizes herself capable of more than she previously thought and experiences a shift in her life goals. Her parents cannot fully understand her newfound passion and are dismissive, hitting on a common truth in life. Even many well-meaning guardians are the first to dash their offspring’s dreams without realizing it. As every generation carries out what they learned, many parents who did not have as many options as their kids fail to embrace the full potential of their children’s futures. Jackie (Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God ) and Frank (Troy Kotsur, The Number 23 ), though initially unsupportive, learn to be there for their daughter with the help of Ruby’s older brother Leo (Daniel Durant, Switched at Birth ). This perspective is driven home by Ruby’s duet partner, Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Vikings ). After visiting Ruby’s place and gossiping about her family to their classmates, he apologizes and admits that he envies the relationship she has with her parents. From his vantage point, her home life is sunshine and rainbows, but she, along with the audience, knows that this is an unfair characterization. In admitting his immaturity and reconciling with her, he comes to understand that every family has their issues, even if they maintain their camaraderie. Another major takeaway from the film is the importance of not simply pitying people with disabilities. Throughout the film, Jackie, Frank and Leo display charming senses of humor, emotional fortitude and affection. Though they are the target of scorn from fellow fishermen or classmates, they still have friends, relationships, and moments of joy like everyone else. The true way to embrace people with impairments is to build relationships through communication and caring rather than harboring guilt. Leo points this out to his and Ruby’s parents, saying the burden should not always be on Ruby to translate or on the rest of them to communicate with the other residents. At some point, other members of the community should meet them halfway rather than ignore or chastise them. The best comparison for a movie like CODA is the 2000 drama Billy Elliott , where a boy obsessed with ballet dance becomes torn between his art and his family. While his home life was turbulent in a different way than Ruby’s, it shows the same struggle between the need for creative satisfaction versus the need to take care of loved ones. Interestingly enough, both Ruby and Billy are the antithesis of a classic movie character: Michael Corleone. Ruby begins CODA accepting her role in the family business before wanting to leave it. Michael’s initial disdain for the family business in The Godfather gradually becomes a desire to take it over. As you might guess, this is not the only way Ruby and Michael would be considered polar opposites, but combined, they do provide balance in the world of cinema. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!