mmrossner

Is "The Sleep of Reason" a television series, a news report for mobile phones or both? After watching it all in one go on Universal's channel, I found out you could download another previously unreleased (and apparently unrelated) episode from the internet. So I did. Same characters, but this time a totally different story. In the beginning it seemed disorienting, but then I realized there is a carefully thought over mechanism in the way all of these segments, disseminated at one time both on the web and on television, interconnect with each other. Even though in order to follow the thread you've got to get used to jumping from one platform to the other. And what I liked about it is that although it goes on breaking every possible rule of dramatic narration, it emulates the structure of a typical, full length television episode with prologue, teaser and cliffhanger, compressing in less than ten minutes what usually takes almost sixty. So who cares about where the story's actually going or if it's based on true facts: you've got a few dense minutes to digest at full blast here before you have the time to wonder if it's real or all fake after all.

Although we're still only halfway the second season, and even though I've read somewhere that it is under performing compared to the first one, I found the sequel of this fantastic series even more interesting and coherent than before. It must have been difficult for the writers to come up with a smart way to (a) identify a new common goal for the characters that could match the catastrophe anticipated by Isaac Mendez and (b) save Peter and Nathan, whom someone may have thought they'd never see being back. Characters show a depth in this season that did not, and perhaps could not, have before and the motivations are so much stronger which makes the issue of what "the Company" is actually planning to do somehow irrelevant in the face of the many subplots that animate each individual episode. After "24" and "Prison Break", "Heroes" remains at the top of the "strongest hooking" series charts.

Presented at the Telluride Film Festival, this is one of the most touching, romantic and cinematically innovative movies I've seen in a long time. First of all, let's not forget this is a documentary, with all the visual and narrative difficulties associated with the genre. Second, it's the love story between two men. Yet, it is more emotionally involving than if it was a fictionalized version, and this is because as you watch it you are aware all that is told is absolutely true. Notwithstanding this, the movie never indulges on the aspect of homosexuality, but it looks at this as just an extraordinary story of passion between two persons bound both emotionally and artistically. Never boring, not even for one second, "Chris and Don", produced and directed by Guido Santi and Tina Mascara, is an original way to tell a love story by mixing current footage with archive material and cartoons that results in a coherent and compelling storytelling. Reminiscent in style of "The Kid Stays in the Picture" and similar documentaries centering on real personalities, it has a beautiful musical score and benefits from a rhythmic, involving editing.