“>Screening Truth to Power: A Reader on Documentary Activism is a collection of essays and interviews related to the films and filmmakers of Cinema Politica (CP), and as such provides an excellent source of Canadian documentary work that pursues effecting positive social change. This non-profit doc-screening organization, which started in
Continue readingTag: reviews
Art Threat: Maidan: one of the most honest depictions of popular protest ever filmed
Sergei Loznitsa’s latest film, Maidan, falls firmly in the tradition of documentaries that use the real to question the possibilities of cinema. Those expecting a more activist documentary like Jehane Noujaim’s The Square might come away dissatisfied with Maidan, but this shouldn’t stop filmgoers from experiencing what is ultimately one of the most
Continue readingmark a rayner: Quote: Vonnegut on reviewers
Originally appears in “The War Between Writers and Reviewers,” by Thomas Flemming in the NYT, 1985. Alltop loves a good bad review.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Justice Belied: The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice
Justice Belied: The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice Edited by Sebastien Chartrand and John Philpot Baraka Books, 2014 This enlightening book on international criminal justice is a collection of papers by 15 authors, many involved in the defence of individuals tried by international courts. While the papers differ in
Continue readingcentre of the universe: I don’t know why she’s leaving, or where she’s going to go
First, there was Alice. You have lived your whole life in the lap of storytellers; everything you have learned, everything you remember, is from stories told over and over. The reason we tell stories is because this is how we learn. History is nothing without the narrative; every religion began
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Gravity: A Review
While watching director Alfonso Cuarón’s film, Gravity, this weekend, I was struck by how powerful the mixed themes of isolation and survival can be. I was reminded not simply of films – Tom Hanks in Castaway came to mind immediately – but in literature, too; from Robinson Crusoe to Blindness. Stories
Continue readingArt Threat: Ethnography 101: La cour de Babel and La marche à suivre
The only thing I hate more than bad puns is bad ethnography, and La cour de Babel walks a fine line on that. Following an integration class for new immigrants at a Parisian high school, the entire film is shot from the teacher’s perspective. While this is not apparent at
Continue readingArt Threat: What does the word Polytechnique mean to you? – a review of The Anorak
The Anorak, written and performed by Adam Kelly Morton, goes beyond the pat answers and media sensationalism around the Polytechnique massacre and examines what made Marc Lépine a killer. Exceptionally well-researched, Morton’s text looks critically at the myriad factors that anti-feminists have attempted to derail the public discourse with, from
Continue readingArt Threat: The Look of Silence: breathtaking in every sense
A lot of people didn’t like The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 film exposing the impunity the perpetrators of Indonesia’s 1965 genocide continue to benefit from. The biggest objection was that the film focused only on the killers, leaving out almost any treatment of victims or survivors. One critic
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Theology of The Fly
While watching the 1958 film of The Fly last night, I was struck by its similarities to Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein. And in the similarity of the underpinning morality of both. I recently picked up the DVD collection with all three movies (The Fly, Return of The Fly and Curse
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Academic Dumas-ery
Kane X. Faucher’s latest novel is a brilliant adaptation the classic Alexander Dumas tale of revenge, The Count of Monte Cristo. I’ve always loved the original, and Faucher’s book is a wonderful satire that cleaves to the original plot so … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Derailing the Status Quo: Snowpiercer
Snowpiercer Written and directed by Joon-ho Bong 2013 Following in the footsteps of recent allegorical and dystopian films such as The Hunger Games and Elysium, Bong Joon-Ho’s summer blockbuster Snowpiercer offers a scathing critique of today’s status quo. Loosely based on a French comic book from the 1980s, the film
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: J.B. Salsberg: Labour Organizer, Political Activist, Communist and Jew
Joe Salsberg: A life of Commitment Gerald Tulchinsky University of Toronto Press, 2013 J.B. Salsberg was a labour organizer, a political activist, a Communist and a Jew. Salsberg was the Communist member of the Ontario Legislature for the St. Andrew riding for 12 years, from 1943 until he lost the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: And The Whole World Said Nothing
Cazzarola! Anarchy, Romani, Love, Italy Norman Nawrocki PM Press, 2013 Somewhere near halfway in the novel, a young Romani girl shows her Italian boyfriend the bruises she received at the hands of racist thugs. He finds himself “torn between wanting to cry, scream, or go back and beat the crap
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Making sense of the Afghan mission
Empire’s Ally: Canada and the War in Afghanistan Edited by Jerome Klassen and Greg Albo University of Toronto Press, 2012 The last Canadian troops in Afghanistan were scheduled to withdraw on March 31, 2014. nearly 13 years old, the Afghan mission is the longest-ever in Canadian history, and represents a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Harold Innis and the North: Appraisals and Contestations
Harold Innis and the North: Appraisals and Contestations Edited by William J. Buxton McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013 As the Great Powers, and the not so great, scramble for a piece of the thawing Arctic resource pie—with the Harper government pretending we own the North Pole, the home of Santa Claus,
Continue readingcentre of the universe: Haze: a blog tour
I know you remember when I did the blog tour for Aussie author Paula Weston’s Shadows. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to read the next book in the series. Well. To be honest, I’ve just been waiting and waiting. I mean it SEEMS like a super long
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Marx and Philiosophy review of Turning Money Into Rebellion, by Joshua Moufawad-Paul
At the end of the 1980s five men robbed a cash-in-transit vehicle in Copenhagen, stealing over thirteen million crowns. The subsequent investigation led to the discovery of an apartment in the district of Blekingegade that contained: ‘crystal radio receivers, transmitters, and antennas; masks, false beards, and state-of-the-art replicas of police
Continue readingArt Threat: Just For Laughs: Gregg Proops & Paul F. Tompkins
The Just For Laughs Festival is taking place in Montreal, and Art Threat’s Kristi Kouchakji is there to review the politically-tinged humour for us. Greg Proops: “These are the bad old days.” The word on the street is that this Whose Line Is It Anyway? veteran has a remarkably intelligent
Continue readingArt Threat: Just For Laughs: Jerrod Carmichael, Nikki Glaser & Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It
The Just For Laughs Festival is taking place in Montreal, and Art Threat’s Kristi Kouchakji is there to review the politically-tinged humour for us. Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It: A One-lady Rape About Comedy Starring her Pussy and Little Else With a title like “Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It” and
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