Same same but different

1/2 Revolution was intriguing to me as I have lived through those kinds of riot. The images punched me right in the stomach. As mark noted, it seemed after a while that the film was more about the filmmakers than the revolution, but then again, It was about the revolution as they experienced it. I have a special place in my heart for the handhelds although they sometimes give me motion sickness. But they do capture the unsettledness, and chaos running through your body in that kind of situation.



The Law in These Parts was hard to watch. I have to admit that the first three parts should have been called mr sandman. They were not all that engaging, and although I appreciate the reflexive commentary by the filmmaker it somewhat felt as if he used that as his license to juggle with their words and maybe even distort what the interviewees were saying. Part 4 and 5 were so ramped up in trying to play on the heartstrings as the footage got more explicit and the answers more evasive. It pissed me off in a good and a bad way. In the good sense it generated a will for change, and in the bad sense, that it won't do any difference.

The Invisible War which was produced by Jennifer Newsom brought a more upsetting and gut-wrenching version of her directorial contribution to Sundance last year (Miss Representation). It also had the same kind of dual pissed-offness as a result as the law in these parts. In certain ways this film had the same problems as Miss Representation as they were dealing with patriarchal violence, both physical and ideological/discursive, yet we cannot seem to use the words feminism or patriarchy. Lets just focus on the symptoms and not the structure in and of itself.

China Heavyweight. what can I say? Qi was cute. the female boxers, disturbingly underrepresented. The dinner scene with Qi's friends pissed me off as the women and children were placed at their own table. Refreshing to see a film about athletes that didn't end in a victory. The cinematography was gorgeous. Some of those short focus portrait shots were breathtaking.

Something from Nothing was remarkably similar to China Heavyweight in that the cinematography was amazing, the narratives were engaging, and the women were marginalized. Seriously? Only two female MCs? And one of them (Salt) didn't even get to showcase something she wrote. The misogyny in their freestyles was so disturbing every now and then. I'm really glad I got to see it at the same time as I want to make my own much shorter edit of the film.