Tom Fudge: Beth and Scott review three new movies and one re-release of a now classic movie from the 1970s. During our show today, we'll look at A Mighty Heart , Broken English , which was directed by the daughter of John Casevettes. And Beth and Scott talk about the 1977 movie Killer of Sheep . But first, Sicko , by Michael Moore.
Few documentary film makers have a reputation like Michael Moore, the man who made Fahrenheit 911 . Moore is a political left-winger who has taken on General Motors, the Bush administration and the gun lobby. Now he has his sights set on the American health care industry. That's what Sicko is about.
In the movie, he features the stories of many Americans who have health insurance, but have still been left unprotected in the face of serious illness. To some, this may be Moore's least controversial subject. Does anyone think the U.S. health care system is a good model? Yet Moore's style of film making can't help but be controversial.
Sicko opens in area theaters this Friday.
In A Mighty Heart , film maker Michael Winterbottom tells the story of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Pearl was kidnapped and then killed in Pakistan, shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attack. It's believed he was kidnapped and killed because he was an American, and also a Jew. The movie is based on a book written by his wife, Marianne Pearl, and it stars Angelina Jolie as Marianne.
The movie follows the effort to locate Pearl and arrest his kidnappers. The film provides a graphic portrait of Karachi, where the kidnapping took place. Members of the Pakistani investigative team and Pearl's editor also play large roles in the story. We see Pearl, mainly in the beginning of the film, as he's setting up the interview that leads to his kidnapping.
A Mighty Heart is currently playing in area theaters.
Broken English is a movie made by Zoe Cassavetes, the daughter of the late John Cassevetes. It stars indy movie star Parker Posey. Posey is a New Yorker in the story who is unlucky in love. Eventually, she meets a Frenchman who becomes interested in her. At first, he seems like the kind of guy our hero has seen way too much of. But eventually he gives her plenty of reason to trust him. And she even pursues him in Paris.
The movie is definitely a family operation. It also stars Zoe Cassavetes' mom, Gena Rowlands. The people in this story tend to be upper-class, sometimes neurotic New Yorkers. So comparisons to Woody Allen movies are tempting. That's even though the film making style is quite different.
Broken English opens at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas on July 6th.
Killer of Sheep is a movie from 1977. It was made by Charles Burnett when he was a UCLA film student. The main character in the movie works in a slaughterhouse, and does what the name of the movie suggests. He is exhausted at the end of work, yet suffers insomnia.
The film was made with a mostly amateur cast and it was filmed on weekends in the Watts neighborhood of L.A. The most remarkable thing about this movie is the reputation it's developed over the years. Today, it's considered a telling, honest portrait of an African American working man.
Killer of Sheep opens this Friday at Landmark's Ken Cinema.
Guests
- Beth Accomando, KPBS film critic.
- Scott Marks, film critic for the Gay and Lesbian Times .
