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Reviews46
brucetwo-2's rating
Seems to be one of those 1970s "gay identity" films. British tastes in art never do much for me. Hockney just comes across as an Andy Warhol wannabe--the artificial yellow hair, the I am an artist" eccentric eyeglasses. The flat one-note swimming pool paintings derived from commercial art styles and techniques. Warhol did stylized art of Marylin, Liz Taylor and Elvis--but he did a lot of other things in his art as well. Warhol's 'factory' was open to other creative people. A whole community grew out of his activities. Hockney's world seems like a soap opera of people in a self-indulgent little coterie/clique. Yes there is a swimming pool scene of nude young men with camera angles looking up their butts, and a glamorized but documentary-style shot of two guys having sex. Maybe that was 'cutting edge' for film in the 1970s--but now--who cares? And Warhol's many films about gays and transvestites that same period in New York were a lot more honest, and a lot more weird, and curiously, had a lot more vitality.
So--Hockney is not a very interesting or appealing person on film--just annoying, or out of his depth maybe. And the world has moved way past the gay "statement" films of 50 years ago.
So--Hockney is not a very interesting or appealing person on film--just annoying, or out of his depth maybe. And the world has moved way past the gay "statement" films of 50 years ago.
Many years of war and dimwitted politicians. Finally documented on-screen--long after the perpetrators are all dead, and many of their victims too.
Before the war got going, people assumed that America was one point of view--mostly defined by the magazines, newspapers and movies: --factories, CocaCola, John Wayne, unquestioned racism and superior military might.
That was never true--America did not fragment during the war--the war just brought those fissures and fragments to the surface. The Baby Boom, the Generation Gap was part of it. But much more, regional, educational, economic, rural, urban, back, white, suburban, urban. These divisions and tensions were bound to come out during a decade of an unwinnable war. But it was quite an upheaval.
ALL the American politicians in this Ken Burns documentary come across as basically ignorant, egotistical and paranoid fools. The footage and recordings of Johnson especially, and the "best and brightest" of his JFK-LBJ cabinet.
Vietnam was basically a RELIGIOUS war--it was based on beliefs and assumptions--military strategy that would not work, the goal of 'fighting communism" as imposed onto the nation of Vietnam. And the easy expendability of American lives, young and black and white.
The protesters believed that they were fighting to stop the 'crimes against humanity' that they'd seen in all the World War II documentaries about the Nazis--these same crimes now being committed by the US.
The government countered these criticisms by saying that these anti-war youths were lazy, and cowardly and privileged, and "nervous nellies"--to use an LBJ phrase. And "campus bums" to quote Richard Nixon.
We can say today that more returning Vietnam Vets have died from suicide after the war than died in combat during the war. But today, the suicide rate of returning US soldiers is much much higher than that.
Here in this election year of 2024 we may be seeing all these divisions returning and another right-wing lying administration taking over all our lives.
Before the war got going, people assumed that America was one point of view--mostly defined by the magazines, newspapers and movies: --factories, CocaCola, John Wayne, unquestioned racism and superior military might.
That was never true--America did not fragment during the war--the war just brought those fissures and fragments to the surface. The Baby Boom, the Generation Gap was part of it. But much more, regional, educational, economic, rural, urban, back, white, suburban, urban. These divisions and tensions were bound to come out during a decade of an unwinnable war. But it was quite an upheaval.
ALL the American politicians in this Ken Burns documentary come across as basically ignorant, egotistical and paranoid fools. The footage and recordings of Johnson especially, and the "best and brightest" of his JFK-LBJ cabinet.
Vietnam was basically a RELIGIOUS war--it was based on beliefs and assumptions--military strategy that would not work, the goal of 'fighting communism" as imposed onto the nation of Vietnam. And the easy expendability of American lives, young and black and white.
The protesters believed that they were fighting to stop the 'crimes against humanity' that they'd seen in all the World War II documentaries about the Nazis--these same crimes now being committed by the US.
The government countered these criticisms by saying that these anti-war youths were lazy, and cowardly and privileged, and "nervous nellies"--to use an LBJ phrase. And "campus bums" to quote Richard Nixon.
We can say today that more returning Vietnam Vets have died from suicide after the war than died in combat during the war. But today, the suicide rate of returning US soldiers is much much higher than that.
Here in this election year of 2024 we may be seeing all these divisions returning and another right-wing lying administration taking over all our lives.
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"--married couples living under the roof of an elderly authoritative patriarch and the psychological and social and sexual frustrations they each endure.
Human nature may be the same everywhere. Decades after Williams' famous play and movie American society has moved on from one "extended" family of several generations living together to the post-WW2 "nuclear families" of Mom and Dad and 2 children living in their suburban homes. And now we have the "fragmented families" of today, with divorced couples, single parent households, LGBT children and adults.
Changes in the American economy helped make most of these changes in society and the family structure happen. And this change took place over many many decades here, with a great deal of conflict and upheaval.
In "Joyland" we see a third-world Pakistani family going through these changes. This film is especially good in showing the lives of several people in this family, in a believable way. This is more complete and more complex than the publicity and reviews would lead you to expect. It is much more than one Pakistani guy discovering his 'gay identity'.
Highly recommended!
Human nature may be the same everywhere. Decades after Williams' famous play and movie American society has moved on from one "extended" family of several generations living together to the post-WW2 "nuclear families" of Mom and Dad and 2 children living in their suburban homes. And now we have the "fragmented families" of today, with divorced couples, single parent households, LGBT children and adults.
Changes in the American economy helped make most of these changes in society and the family structure happen. And this change took place over many many decades here, with a great deal of conflict and upheaval.
In "Joyland" we see a third-world Pakistani family going through these changes. This film is especially good in showing the lives of several people in this family, in a believable way. This is more complete and more complex than the publicity and reviews would lead you to expect. It is much more than one Pakistani guy discovering his 'gay identity'.
Highly recommended!