Film: Potiche (2011) Director: François Ozon Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Jérémie Renier, Judith Godrèche “Instead of getting hard ourselves and trying to compete, women should try and give their best qualities to men—bring them softness, teach them how to cry.” Joan Baez From Earth Mother to Political Saviour, 70s-Style There are two time-chasms to cross in this film. The first is the jump between the pre-feminist bourgeois housewife and her liberated counterpart of the 70s, when this story was set; this is crossed by lead Suzanne as she changes with the times, only to become more fully herself. The … Continue reading Catherine Deneuve does an amazing job of demonstrating how a pampered life might actually enable a woman to preserve her youthful ideals of justice, equality, and compassion until they’re needed.

Writer/Director: Quentin Dupieux Cast: Stephen Spinella, Jack Plotnick, Wings Hauser, Roxane Mesquida, Ethan Cohn, Charley Koontz Genre: Drama We Go ’Round and ’Round and ’Round in the Tire Game Robert the abandoned tire awakens to his own unique reality: he’s alone in a gravelly desert somewhere in the American southwest. It ain’t pretty, so he starts rolling. When he falls he rises again. When confronted with an obstacle, he rolls around it and just keeps going. When he sees something new he stops to scrutinize it. Soon he starts quivering with rage at the sight of the bottles and cans that litter his … Continue reading Film: Rubber (Realitism Films 2010)

This Week’s Recommended Film: Made in Dagenham You’re not in labour activism long ere you discover a network of opposition. It starts small: you endure or witness injustice and you decide it has to stop. At first you think it’s just the boss, so you appeal to the company and to the union. Then you discover it’s the boss and the company, and maybe even the union. So you appeal to the media, the general public, the government, and even other workers in your industry, only to realize that all of these entities that had seemed to support you (or … Continue reading How Many Female Sewing Machinists Does it Take to Bring About Equal Rights for Women?

Gay Connoisseurship, Democracy in Art, and the Progressive Dumbing Down of Culture In school, Fran Lebowitz was punished for reading books of sardonic essays behind her textbooks and laughing out loud. When her own essays finally got the attention they deserved, she was offered six-figure sums for books she hadn’t even written yet. Evidently the educational system not only fails to nurture genius, it also punishes and attempts to sabotage it. There are other influences besides the educational system that, according to Lebowitz, have led to the dumbing down of our culture. One is the fact that art and culture … Continue reading This Week’s Recommended Film: Public Speaking