COTC-Header-1600-x-800_crop 5_00000_crop

Characters on the Couch
Film & Television Blog

by Dr. Sandra Cohen

GROUNDHOG DAY (1993-2020)
What Does It Take To Get Out
Of A Very Bad Negative Rut?

Do you feel like poor Phil Connors (Bill Murray) – stuck repeating the same day over and over again? COVID-19 quarantine can do that. It’s been 27 years since Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day hit the theaters for the first time. But 6 months probably feels long enough. If you’ve been ruminating about your love life…

Read More about GROUNDHOG DAY (1993-2020) What Does It Take To Get Out Of A Very Bad Negative Rut?

THE LAST TREE
“I’m Sorry” Helps A Boy

Children need secure love. Not broken promises. Or, betrayal. Especially not abuse. When that happens to you, you build hard walls around yourself. Shut down to love. Not believing it’s there. That’s Femi. Small boy, turned teenager in Shola Amoo’s powerful, semi-autobiographical, The Last Tree. And, when “going tough” means turning against needing anyone, that…

Read More about THE LAST TREE “I’m Sorry” Helps A Boy

NEVER RARELY
SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Secret World Of Sexual Abuse

Watching Autumn’s cautious troubled face in the quietness of Never Rarely Sometimes Always draws us into the dark shattered life of a traumatized girl. If she’d let us in. Autumn lives behind walls. Alone. Vigilant. Angry. Always afraid. Can’t allow help: “I’ve got it.” People aren’t to be trusted. That she’s learned. If you think…

Read More about NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS Secret World Of Sexual Abuse