AFI Fest 2007: Day Two – Cinematic Oppression

Looking over the screenings that I had lined up for my second day at AFI Fest 2007, I kept thinking about how impossible it would be for me to find a common theme between my selections in order to start writing about them. After all, what the hell would a post-apocalyptic American sci-fi allegory by Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly, a Lebonese romantic comedy by first-time writer/director Nadine Labaki, and a Palme d’Or-winning Romanian abortion-drama by Cristian Mungiu all have in common? And yet, strangely, I found a very noticeable uniting theme between the three works as I watched them, a driving concept explored by each of them: government oppression. As diverse as these films are and as different as they wish to be, they are all deeply rooted in the same subject. Not surprisingly, their success as motion pictures directly corresponds with how accurately and insightfully they depict said government oppression. [Read more]

Southland Tales – 2 Buckets

There are many things wrong with Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, but underneath all of its flashy excess, one realizes the true reason why the movie fails: it is just another ridiculous, uninformed cinematic assault on the Bush Administration. Like Donnie Darko (Kelly’s previous feature) on steroids, the movie talks in circles and engages in mindless tomfoolery at [...]