#45: HIDDEN FIGURES

Hidden Figures. Just one movie: We’re now reviewing stuff on screens on a weekly-ish basis!

Elgin and Paul review #HiddenFigures:

Hidden Figures, directed by Theodore Melfi and starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe.

A hit at the box office in early 2017, this film is based on a true stories of African-American women who made significant contributions to the U.S. space program in the 1960s. Does it reach escape velocity, avoiding the trappings of the biopic? How much does it matter whether it does or not?
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#44: FENCES

Fences, plus brief takes on The Good Wife (season 5), VICE News (on HBO) and other VICELAND shows, Moonlight, and Silence.

Paul and Elgin are now reviewing stuff on screens on a weekly-ish basis!

This time they review #Fences:

Fences (18:38), directed by Denzel Washington, written by August Wilson, and starring Washington and Viola Davis. Does the translation of the classic drama from stage to screen work well?

In the lead-in free-for-all segment (01:25), we chit-chat about

• The Good Wife, starring Julianna Margulies (in anticipation of the sequel The Good Fight on CBS All Access streaming service);
• VICE News (on HBO), featuring unconventional correspondents, and other VICELAND programming, focusing on non-mainstream topics, narrated from underrepresented perspectives, and/or using unusual aesthetics and graphics;
• Moonlight, written and directed by Barry Jenkins and starring Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes as the lead character Chiron in three stages of his life; and
• Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as Jesuit priest missionaries to 17th-century Japan.

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#43: THE HANDMAIDEN

The Handmaiden (아가씨). Just one film: We’re now reviewing stuff on screens on a weekly-ish basis!

Paul and Elgin review #TheHandmaiden:

The Handmaiden, directed by Park Chan-wook (the Korean auteur of Oldboy).

Based on the novel Fingersmith, this is an intricately plotted Korean- and Japanese-language costume thriller set in Korea during the Japanese occupation.

In a spoiler section (12:25), we wrestle with the complicated sexual politics of the narrative and viewing experience. While debating the (de)merits of the film’s most controversial scenes, we draw on a recent spoken Q&A interview and a written Film Stage one about the work.

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