Brooklyn

Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015)

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Rating: Q=8, P=7 / Obsession

Scale 1=4, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=3

Immigration, Romance, 1950s, Family

"You have to think like an American. You'll feel so homesick that you'll want to die, and there's nothing you can do about it apart from endure it. But you will, and it won't kill you. And one day the sun will come out - you might not even notice straight away, it'll be that faint. And then you'll catch yourself thinking about something or someone who has no connection with the past. Someone who's only yours. And you'll realize... that this is where your life is."

I was so moved by this film, particularly the struggle of breaking away from the past and embracing the new. Even though I didn't leave my hometown for college or graduate school, I understand homesickness. When I went to Perth, Western Australia--arguably the most remote and farthest place from Ames, Iowa--the homesickness was strong. But when you know nothing and no one, you make friends fast. You have to. I hear similar struggles from the 18-year-olds in my office during their first months on their own.

Brooklyn also made me think about my grandparents and my mother's journey over the Atlantic in 1951. And all the other families or single people who left everything familiar to start fresh. They had nothing but hopes and dreams. What does the America of today offer? What about the world? Very thought-provoking.

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Ida

Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2013)

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Rating: Q=7, P=4 / Can't Get Enough

Scale 1=4, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

1960s, Poland, WWII, Holocaust, Complex Relationships, 

A very quiet, beautiful, and heavy film. The artistic techniques are tremendously effective--the lighting, shadows, angles, and stillness. It is interesting to see the post-WWII landscape and society of Poland through the eyes of a young woman who has been sheltered away from the horrors of the war. Ida is a reminder of the importance of perspective and to get to know the world before you engage in or disengage from it.

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Trumbo

Trumbo (Jay Roach, 2015)

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Rating: Q=7, P=7 / Obsession

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=3

1950s, McCarthyism, Blacklist, Politics, Movies, Biopic

I could not help but get seriously contemplative and a little depressed when I watched this movie. Why? Because the corruption and scare tactics of our past government are still going on. And it could amplify and be like the era of McCarthyism all over again. Dalton Trumbo was a stubborn, crude, eccentric, genius, it's true, but his courage and moral strength is admirable. His words sum it up for me:

"The chief internal enemies of any state are those public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people."

This film has an excellent score, witty dialogue, and is timely. Plus Bryan Cranston is amazing.

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The Big Short

The Big Short (Adam McKay, 2015)

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Rating: Q=7, P=8 / Obsession

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=4, Scale 4=4

Wall Street, Trading, Scandal, Corruption, Credit/Housing Crisis

This should not come as a surprise to any of my readers but I have to say it again: I seriously love films about groups of guys. And The Big Short is truly a film about guys acting like guys in a guy-centric field (did I say "guy" enough just then?). If I learned anything from my studies on masculinity it is that men are having a harder and harder time understanding their identities in the world today. And so when opportunities arise that help define that unknown or unclear purpose, they are grabbed.

"Masculinity has nothing to prove yet somehow needs constantly to prove itself," Guy Austin once wrote. And this is so true--I even titled the academic portion of my thesis "Watch Me Prove It To You." Yes, the film's story is the few guys who anticipated the credit/housing bubble collapse before it happened (and made serious money off of it). But to me the film is also about proving. It is about grappling with this unclear "masculinity": investigating, risk-taking, being aggressively assertive, exposing the enemy, and then cornering the enemy, pride, power...

But these guys ultimately feel failure or guilt, not success. Even after profiting in the multi-millions. Because the system is broken. And once the proving is done, what then? And what was it all for? Did anyone make a real difference? Broken systems don't start broken, just like corruption doesn't start with power and greed. It all stems from somewhere...

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