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Far from the Tree (2017)
"We Am Human"
I attended a preview of this film in Manhattan last night. "Far From the Tree" moved me more than anything I've experienced in years. It tells the private stories of several individuals and their families facing differing adversities and challenges outside of the stream of "normal" life. In addition to unfolding the complexities and ambiguities of parental hopes, fears, dreams and expectations for our children, it says so much about moral, ethical, familial, tribal, genetic, medical, and psychological aspects of being the communal primates we are. It honors and illuminates the dignity and perhaps even the divinity within us all, regardless of our differences, capabilities or disabilities. This is a brilliant jewel of a film, a beautifully crafted work of reality art, that opens the heart to the reality that we are all vulnerable and imperfect and connected to each other all the more because of that. The way the filmmakers have woven the different stories together and edited this movie is a wonder. Nobody who knows me would ever characterize me as a softy or sucker for identity politics or topical issues. This film transcends any of that and it went straight to my heart and my brain. It's a powerful, intelligent, careful, and courageous effort. As ending credits rolled and the theater lights brightened I thought to myself, another title for it could be, "We Am Human." Go see it.
I'm Still Here (2010)
Superficial on the outside, deep and rich on the inside.
This is a film, as other reviewers have pointed out, about a celebrity obsessed culture, addictive personality disorders, and, in a world possessed by possessing, the need to find real meaning and self-worth from within. It is also about empathy, what can happen when we lose it, and the tendency we social animals have to project upon others the fears, failures, guilt, and misgivings we have about ourselves. It plays with how the entertainment industry's PR machine feeds on our insatiable appetite to be popular and loved, and unfolds to reveal that nobody can ever escape one's own vulnerability. Under it's skin, Phoenix and Affleck have made a deeply personal and intimate movie that resonates as loudly and softly as the voices you can hear within when you're alone with yourself at the end of the day. Highly recommend it.