by Dean | Jul 9, 2018 | General
In June, unemployment in the U.S. rose from 3.8 percent to 4 percent. Did it have anything to do with President Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel? The economy is strong. It could be stronger, and might have to be—through the removal of tariffs.
Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg is right: Why are our trade deals so bad if, as Trump says, America is making impressive foreign investments?
I wish our progress against the federal deficit was impressive. Medicare administrators want you to know that Medicare will be insolvent by 2026. Social Security? 2034. Better generate that revenue (and then some). The more jobs, the better. America, pay your bills!
by Dean | Jul 7, 2018 | General
It is unusual these days to see a film where a man suffers inner torment because he has committed sin. But it goes on in the 19-minute Catholic film, “The Confession” (2017)—an award winner at a Catholic film festival—and, as it happens, it is not only the Big Sinner who grieves. So does the confessor priest, who finds he must offer personal forgiveness.
This John LaRaw picture is simple and heartfelt, uncommon for displaying South Korean Christianity. Plus, it has lighting just right for a religious film. You might want to pay “The Confession” a visit on YouTube.
by Dean | Jul 2, 2018 | General
Jane Fonda is magnetically terrific in the 1969 They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, losing herself in the role of Gloria, a bitter would-be actress. She and the other characters are desperate, first of all, to survive during the Great Depression and, second, to have their dreams come true. Because they must acquire money, they participate in a grueling dance marathon, but in addition they want natural relief through love and intimacy, even loveless sex. Monstrously cynical, Gloria is also a “loser” who wants to die; and, really, we pity and even respect her when she does die.
Sydney Pollack‘s film, based on a novel by Horace McCoy, is bleak. And it’s more honest than most movies today (e.g., it doesn’t see its female protagonist as more virtuous than any man you could ever meet). Granted, the last few minutes of the film are rather flimsy, flowing less than smoothly from the previous material; but we can be very grateful for the set design, costumes, and general ambitiousness. Pollack, indeed, tried to make a work of art.
by Dean | Jun 30, 2018 | General
Written by JP Miller, Days of Wine and Roses (1958) was a Playhouse 90 TV movie before it was remade as a theatrical film. Though technically crude, it is a memorably strong drama about the ruination of sought-after social mobility—and of people’s lives—by alcoholism. Joe and Kirsten are the broken hard drinkers. Without getting drunk, Kirsten can only see the world as a “dirty” place, and is the more vulnerable and myopic of the two.
JP Miller (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The picture was well directed by John Frankenheimer. Cliff Robertson is a natural for the part of Joe. His acting is nigh effortless, whereas with Piper Laurie (Kirsten) we do see the effort. Laurie is inconsistently convincing, but—interestingly—she does manage to be deep. A psyche is there. . .
I’m glad I finally saw Days (on DVD) after all these years, and, yep, I’m sticking with the original.
by Dean | Jun 28, 2018 | General
Well, I think Gyorgy Ligeti’s Atmospheres is very accessible, despite its lack of melody and, according to Ligeti, “dense canonic structure.” A short piece, it is frighteningly stratospheric before deliquescing.
Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G is snappy and limpid in its first movement and incalculably beautiful in its second. Its third is pleasantly bouncy. A masterpiece. Even greater is Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, evoking the terrors of the twentieth century. It is somber, eerie and adventurous.
Also, it never gets sentimental, and neither does the String Quartet No. 1 (“The Kreutzer Sonata”) of Leos Janacek, an opus as controlled as it is capricious. It’s dark too, though not as dark as Symphony No. 2 by Arvo Part. Menace is everywhere in this not-great but good modern composition, and so is a lovely conclusive quote from Tchaikovsky.
To be continued
