CABARET
How Quickly Freedom Disappears

It’s frightening how quickly freedom disappears. We have to watch out for those complicated forces, in the outside world and living inside us, that want to deceive us if we aren’t aware. Cabaret is a powerful and disturbing illustration, plus a startling reminder, of the various ways these dangers lurk. Over Labor Day weekend, I…

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THE WIFE
Why Do Some Women
Sell Their Souls Loving A Narcissist?

*Spoiler Alert: Don’t Read Until You’ve Seen This Film* The Wife slowly and disturbingly reveals many things about Joan Castleman (Glenn Close) and her marriage to 1992 Nobel Prize Winner, Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce). She’s lived a lie, loving a narcissist. Allowed it. She’s become merely “the wife.” But, when Joe asks her, as she…

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THE SHAPE OF WATER
Seemingly Magic Cures

Cruelty and misunderstanding can make you a monster or a mute. Guillermo del Toro’s compelling allegorical fable, The Shape of Water, shows us that quite well. We can say all the obvious things about this multi-layered film set in its backdrop of the Cold War and a high-security government laboratory in 1962 Baltimore. There’s loneliness…

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LEO HURWITZ
A Pioneer In The Beginnings Of America’s Documentary Film Part 2
Childhood Memories & Fantasies

Leo Hurwitz A Pioneer in America's Documentary Film Part 2 Childhood Memories & Fantasies

Memories and fantasies originating in childhood influence the course of a life as it unfolds. So do childhood experiences. That was true of Leo Hurwitz and his films. Leo’s strong creative spirit enabled these impressionable early times to find powerful forms of expression in his creative work. And, because of this, Leo’s films speak for…

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