PARASITE
Hunger & Humiliation Gone Wild

Parasite: Hunger and Humiliation Gone Wild

Hunger can lead to desperate acts. And, it does –  in Bong Joon-Ho’s startling new film, Parasite. Plus, we find. if you’re hungry and helpless (emotionally, that is), you can even become a parasite. The kind of hunger we witness in many of Parasite’s characters leads to various forms of exploitation – of the class…

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BLACK PANTHER
Heartlessness & A Kid’s Need For Power

Black Panther: Heartlessness and a Kid's Need for Power

Heartlessness, and what causes it, is the theme in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther; as far as I can see. More importantly, Black Panther shows us how heartlessness can “create a monster,” in an abandoned child now-man, with his slow-burning hate; vengeful rage; and need for power. And, certainly, we witness what heartlessness has to do…

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THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
What Fake Personas Cover-Up

Why does someone create an illusion of who they are? Wes Anderson, a master of psychological ironies, tells us quite a lot about that subject in The Grand Budapest Hotel. At the center of the film is M. Gustave trying to live as someone he is not. All around him are juxtapositions of barbarism with…

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