Robert Emmett Murphy, Jr.

  17 Girls (2011)   There’s a sociological theory regarding the positive consequences of gossip even if, and perhaps most explicitly if, the gossip story isn’t entirely, factually, correct. The idea is that the gossip serves as moral fables providing a short-hand of acceptable norms, which kind of activism can heal wounds, what sins are to be most quickly forgiven, and which sins will never be. This theory isn’t about the consequences of gossip on its target, but how it shapes the future choices of the listener.   I understand the idea, but I don’t buy it. What I do buy is that when these allegedly-true fables of gossip are translated to more-honest fictions, fine things can happen.   If you are of a certain age, you’ll remember the story of James Dallas Egbert III; he was the kid who became so obsessed with the “Dungeons and Dragons” RPG that he set up a “real-life” version the game in the steam tunnels beneath his college, descended into delusion, ran a...

  Veronika Voss (1982)   Hollywood’s tragic stars hold our imagination far more than the happy ones, Marilyn Monroe being the best example of this. First famous for her beauty, she solidified her career with unexpected talent, but only became truly unforgettable in the wake of her self-destruction. Her fame now transcends her body of work which I suspect few people watch anymore, eclipsing those with longer careers and greater range, who we actually do continue to watch.   This seems true in other countries where the film industry is as potent a cultural force as it is here. It is certainly true in Germany, the nation who most rivaled the US in world cinema until the eruption of World War II. One of their great tragic figures was Sybille Schmitz and her death, like Monroe’s, has allowed her fame to transcend her body of work, which is mostly from an era that Germans now rightfully have become suspicious of all its aesthetic achievements; you see, Schmitz was one o...

  The Ballad of Narayama (1958) -and- The Ballad of Narayama (1983)   Introduction   These two films, based on the same series of short stories by Shichiro Fukazawa, are unique in that they dare to demonstrate the triumph of the human spirit through the actions of people who are often selfish and murderous. The closest comparisons I can think of in commercial cinema are hyper-violent, post-apocalyptic, libertarian fantasies, but they are not really comparable as these the two films I talk about here aren’t an action-adventure SF, they are historical dramas, and masculine-indulgence is extremely far from the concerns of either of these filmmaker. Also, these two films aren’t about rebels -- everyone submits to the community’s profoundly unjust moral code because the most fundamental fact of their lives is the constant threat of starvation and all the injustices, they engage in are a response to that. The films explore the cost of extreme deprivation on the mora...