November, 11th, 2008
last updated September, 2nd, 2010

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The Arts:

Movies

1. Across the Universe

   "Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup..."
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2. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Adaptation (Charlie Kaufman, directed by Spike Jonze)

   The clever joke of this movie is the way it combines experimentalism and conventionality, a union that also happens to fit neatly into the Kierkegaardian model.
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3. Kierkegaard's Narrative: American Beauty (Alan Ball, directed by Sam Mendes)

   The significance of the protagonist's last choice in this movie is it represents his one selfless act of maturity and existential responsibility.
   
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4. Reviews: Children of Men

   Children of Men is by far the best movie I’ve seen in recent years. I’ve been a fan of director Alfonso Cuarón since his "Y Tu Mama Tambien" but this film shows real advances in vision and artistry even since then. It’s a film I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone who cares at all about humanity.
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5. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Garden State (Zach Braff)

   Clearly in the same mold, although there's a sense that the protagonist's aimlessness comes less from his own choices, and more from his over-controlling father's drug prescriptions.
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6. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Graduate, The (Charles Webb)

   This work makes the subversive suggestion that Benjamin's proposal to Elaine is just another aimless, meaningless choice.
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7. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Harold and Maude (Colin Higgins, directed by Hal Ashby)

   This is an surprisingly sentimental movie for a comedy about suicide --a fact explained by the movie's existential humanist heart.
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8. Kierkegaard's Narrative: High Fidelity (Nick Hornby)

   A popular book and movie of modern times which fits the model almost exactly.
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9. Reviews: More

   Watch This Short Animated Film
   
   Mark Osborne's "More" is a fantastic animated short. It was nominated for an Oscar the year it was released, and later received a second audience as the music video for Kenna's "Hell Bent".
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10. Not There

    I knew even before the house lights went down that I needed to approach this film in the right frame of mind. I knew not to expect a rational or linear plotline, that my disbelief would need to be firmly suspended, and that I would have to forgo any spirit of antagonistic criticism.
    
    All that said, I found it a brilliant piece of work. Let me state, for the record, that I've never b...
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11. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Sideways (Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne (director))

    Like American Beauty, this movie shifts the narrative into midlife.
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12. Star Wars

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13. Reviews: Synecdoche, NY

    Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is a fractal hallucination.
    
    NOTE: I'm not sure it makes sense to talk here of "spoilers" --since knowing the plot points will do little to destroy the surprises and pleasures of the movie. However, that said, this "review" is intended primarily for those who have already seen the movie.
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14. Kierkegaard's Narrative: Truman Show, The (Andrew Niccol, directed by Peter Weir)

    This movie externalizes the existentialism by creating a world whose purpose is to trap and immobilize the protagonist. Significantly, his existential act is to leave a loveless sham of a marriage, and not to commit to it.
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15. Actors

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16. Directors

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17. Reviews: The Station Agent

    The Station Agent is a quirky indie film with a strong cast. Part of the fun of the film for me was spotting familiar faces. The lead is Peter Dinklage, a man with dwarfism, who more recently appeared as the trouble-causing funeral-crasher in "Death at a Funeral." The female lead is Patricia Clarkson, whom I remember fondly from her role on my all-time favorite sitcom, the short-lived &q...
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