Posts by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
DEMOLITION
Ways Not to Grieve
I just watched the trailer for Jake Gyllenhaal’s upcoming 2016 film, Demolition, about the aftermath of his character, Davis’s, sudden loss of his wife, Julia. Loss can take many forms. As the trailer shows, Davis unravels. He can’t pull himself together. His father-in-law tries to encourage him to rebuild his life. To do so, he…
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THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
A Girl Who Can’t Grieve
Her Dead Father
Loss can be a dead place. If you move forward, you’ll know the person you love is gone. As I sat spellbound in the Majestic Theater watching the brilliant performances of James Barbour as Phantom and Julia Udine as Christine Daad, I knew that The Phantom Of The Opera isn’t only the story of a…
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99 HOMES
What Makes Someone Become
Who He Hates?
Alert: Possible Spoilers How can someone do exactly to other people what’s been done to him? That’s the big psychological question in Ramin Bahrani’s new film, 99 Homes. How can Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) become the right-hand man to the very real estate developer (Michael Shannon) who callously uses the housing market collapse to repossess and…
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MARK WEBBER’S SECRET MOVIE
Shhhh … It’s About His Mother
A good mother can make a bad situation better. I just read Valentina Valentini’s piece in Indie Wire, Mark Webber Wants Your Money But He Can’t Tell You Why, about actor/director Mark Webber’s Kick Starter Campaign. He’s raising money for a movie he’s making about his mother. It’s a secret, but he did give his…
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BENT
Being Cruel
When Love Is A Scary Thing
Spoiler Alert: Some Plot Details Revealed Cruelty comes in different forms. We can’t escape the obvious in BENT: the unimaginable inhumane cruelty of The Nazi Party towards Gays and Jews. Yet, we see more than the Nazi’s cruelty in this brilliantly acted, honest, heart-wrenching, and inspiring play (written by Martin Sherman and directed by Moises…
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EMMY FOR JON HAMM?
Yes! For Portraying
A Traumatized Man
Jon Hamm deserves an Emmy for Don Draper. I agree with Variety’s Debra Birnbaum about that. But, I find it unfortunate that voters would only now consider awarding him that Emmy. As Birnbaum wrote, Jon Hamm likely hasn’t won in the past since “Don Draper … was a cheating husband, a neglectful father, an unapologetic…
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