Last Night

Moviefone posted a review of the movie Last Night (still to be released) that is very telling of what the world is coming to (though I know it's not a surprise to many).  The article explains,

"It sounds like a derivative and typical tale of marital morality -- a couple doesn't talk to each other, and lazily lets things get to the point where they both want to cheat. But Tadjedin infuses such thoughtfulness and cleverness into the proceedings that Last Night begins to feel unique. She employs a myriad of techniques to tell the story and to have her characters interact – an action or seemingly irrelevant anecdote being just as important as a straightforward response or bit of exposition."

First of all, it's sad to hear this as being told as a "typical tale of marital morality."  The fact that it's a tale, doesn't imply that it's always true, but it makes it sound as if it's something that everyone encounters trouble with in their marriage.  I'm not going to deny that it's true that married couples battle with this conflict (as anyone can see by the number of tales in books, movies, TV, and even the scriptures).  But to display it in such a way makes it seem like it's not that bad and that it's OK to get "lazy" in your relationship because it happens to everyone.  Good, moral media should seek to inspire people to be better, not be content or complacent with a disintegrating relationship.

Further in the article,

"Best of all, Tadjedin shifts the activity from her characters to the viewer. While, yes, there are moments where each couple struggle with matters of fidelity, trust, and commitment, the film also becomes an exercise for how we see things as an audience. No path is clear cut, and just when you think you know how the film will play out, it goes in another direction. It's as carefree as life – not in a suspenseful way, but in a realistic one. Life is not a simple formula of A+B=C, and Tadjedin respects that principle."

Should life really be "carefree"?  Is this reality?  Agreed, "life is not a simple formula" but there are simple formulas for happiness and this representation is flat out lie.  Even if the film shows each partner in the marriage not go through with their "night of sin," the fact that they let it get so far and to tell the account in such a carefree way is simply despicable.

Do Movie Critics Matter?

An article on FirstThings.com does a good job of explaining the importance of movie critics in our culture today.   An excerpt from the article supports what we're trying to do on this website:

"It is the film critic’s constant struggle to get filmgoers and filmmakers to understand that politics and morality are still part of the artistic equation, even at the movies.

Without using morality, politics, and cultural continuity as measures of value, there is no way to appreciate the state of the culture or to maintain intelligence. Without criticism, we will have achieved naivete."

They also mention the damage that amature critics and the "Internet's free-for-all" can cause to "the concept of film criticism"

"By offering an alternative deluge of fans’ notes, angry sniping, half-baked impressions, and clubhouse amateurism, the Internet’s free-for-all has helped to further derange the concept of film criticism performed by writers who have studied cinema as well as related forms of history, science, and philosophy. This also differs from the venerable concept of the “gentleman amateur” whose gracious enthusiasms for art forms he himself didn’t practice expressed a valuable civility and sophistication, a means of social uplift. Internet criticism has, instead, unleashed a torrent of deceptive knowledge—a form of idiot savantry—usually based in the unquantifiable “love of movies” (thus corrupting the French academic’s notion of cinephilia)."

Hopefully by our continuing study of religious principles, ancient philosophers, current and cultural events, history, etc., the reviews on this site can become more meaningful to our society.