Original illustration by Jade Armstrong Akira Katsuhiro Otomo Streamline Pictures, 1988 “Most of us never considered the prosperity would ever end.” —Rei Saito “Modern life is so thin and shallow and fake. I look forward to when developers go bankrupt, Japan gets poorer and wild grasses take over.” —Hayao Miyazaki
Continue readingAuthor: Kalden Dhatsenpa
Canadian Dimension: ‘Triangle of Sadness’ is a flawed rebuke of the billionaire class
Sunnyi Melles aboard Triangle of Sadness. Still image courtesy of Cannes Film Festival. Triangle of Sadness Ruben Östlund Imperative Entertainment, 2022 “I am more interested in when we are failing. I’m interested in sins, where we don’t live up to the idea of what it is to be a good
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Atlantis, Ukraine
Scene from Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Atlantis. Photo courtesy Grasshopper Film. Atlantis Directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych Grasshopper Film, 2019 “I’d rather take pictures than use weapons.” —Valentyn Vasyanovych Warning: This review contains spoilers. It is the year 2025. The war in Donbas is over and the National Guard of Ukraine has emerged
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: ‘Don’t Look Up’ or: How Adam McKay learned to keep worrying and love the nihilism
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr. Randall Mindy in Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up. Still image courtesy Netflix. Don’t Look Up Adam McKay Netflix, 2021 “Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come.” —Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 “We are obsessed with cosmic catastrophes: the whole life
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: ‘Shang-Chi’ and the politics of liberal representation
A dive into Marvel’s Shang-Chi reveals weaving histories that bring to question the limits to liberal representation and its expressions in the film industry today. Image courtesy Marvel Studios. “A fantasy of inclusion is a technique of exclusion.” —Sara Ahmed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, directed by
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: ‘The Green Knight,’ apocalyptic anxiety and the new avatars of climate change
Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in David Lowery’s medieval fantasy film The Green Knight. Still image courtesy A24. The Green Knight David Lowery A24, 2021 As climate breakdown and the Anthropocene progress into increasingly dire territory, more and more artists and filmmakers are endeavouring to capture the anxiety driven
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