Movies

With No Language, Boy Speaks Volumes

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In his novel What Maisie Knew, Henry James instructs us that “small children have many more perceptions than they have terms to translate them; their vision is at any moment much richer, their apprehension even constantly stronger than their at all producible vocabulary.” Perhaps this is why our protagonist is clamped silent; he can’t possibly describe his adventures traveling from familial, rural hills to a bustling metropolis in Brazil. From the cotton fields in the country through the cranes and construction of the city, not a single word is uttered. To be sure, Boy and the World is not a silent film, but rather a film that uses unconventional, non-linguistic methods to characterize. Directed, animated and written by Alê Abreu, this 80 minute movie astounds viewers with its ability to communicate a young boy’s feelings about his father’s departure from their family home without featuring any coherent language system.

Arts & Culture

Mopping Up an Androcentric Hollywood

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PSA: Sexism still exists, especially in the entertainment industry! After watching Carrie Fisher, the actress who starred in the original Star Wars trilogy reprise the role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, viewers attacked her appearance across social media and stated that she is “too old to be acting.” After watching Brad Pitt, an actor with gray hair who has clearly aged since his first hints of stardom in The Big Short, viewers hailed him as “the rising star of political cinema”. Quite the discrepancy, if I do say so myself. To be fair, I don’t think any actors should be judged for their looks, but rather for their job, their acting. However, this seems to be an idealistic and unpopular view.

Amy Poehler

Sisters: Unreconciled Cinematic Family Dysfunction

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Of course three minutes isn’t enough time to give audience members an unbridled view of what an upcoming movie is about. To capture the essence of a two hour movie in a condensed trailer must be a nearly impossible task, akin to describing yourself in one word or choosing a favorite band. As a result, many production companies are guilty of marketing movies in completely inaccurate ways. The trailer for the 2011 movie Drive gave viewers the impression that the feature is simply a violent action packed film in which leading man Ryan Gosling drives around town dangerously and fights drug dealers. One Michigan woman found this trailer so misrepresentative of Drive, a film she says in actuality has “very little driving”, that she sued the production company and the movie theater where she saw the film.

Arts & Culture

Interviewing the Cornellians Behind BoJack Horseman

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You know I’m not horsing around when I say that Cornell alums go on to do big things. But did you know that Noel Bright ’94, the executive producer of BoJack Horseman, and Keith Olbermann ’79, voice of Tom Jumbo-Grumbo on BoJack and renowned broadcaster, once walked on the very same slush-covered steps and studied in the exact dungeon-like stacks as you? For those of you who don’t know, BoJack Horseman is arguably the best show in the world right now. A Netflix original, BoJack Horseman has been critically acclaimed for its hilarious and tragic depiction of life through the lens of its main character, a talking horse (voiced by Will Arnett). BoJack is a washed-up television star who got his start on the fictitious ’90s sitcom Horsin’ Around.