A Sea of Ink

The free press is the fourth estate, equally important to the fabric of any democracy as a nation's legislature, executives, and judiciaries. Journalists protect the citizens by holding accountable those in power. Without journalism checking up on the actions and motives of the higher-ups, investigating and exposing covered-up wrongs and sinister plots, society would fall into chaos, deception, and become everything George Orwell feared. Without the dissemination of news, without the education of the people-- censorship and ignorance leads inevitably to oppression and blind loyalty. Just look back at Nazi Germany, look at the Soviet Union, and then look at today. To me, reporters represent what superheroes would look like in the real world, Robin Hoods in real life. To me, Clark Kent's vocation as a reporter represents no coincidence. This current trend of vilifying the press is scary. In fact, it feels apocalyptic. "Fake news" is not a pair of words to toss out...

I don't know what it is about Demy and Legrand, but their opening scenes always have me grinning like crazy (I always find myself saying, "wow, this is fun"). They know how to start off with a bang. The opening number of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort  (in English, The Young Girls of Rochefort) , bursts with sunny jazz happiness and choreography that made me want to dance along. So the performers (specifically the ensemble) might not be the best dancers, or the most synchronized--so what? To me, the choreography was more of an unbridled celebration of movement, of what dance should feel like, of freedom. It made me happy, and that's what musicals should do. I had more problems with the plot of this movie than I did with Demy's previous Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose, but the storyline was sloppily cliche and predictable to the point of being ridiculous. In the end, everything was suddenly and miraculously, all at o...

"I want to make people cry," said French New Wave director Jacques Demy, and so he made the film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964). Titled The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in English, this is the movie which inspired and heavily influenced Damien Chazelle's 2016 film La La Land. It is the story, told entirely in song, of teenage Geneviève who works in her mother's struggling umbrella boutique, and her garage mechanic boyfriend Guy, who is drafted into the French military to fight in the Algerian War. Teenage pregnancy, love triangles, betrayal, angst--seems like a typical, possibly meh plot line. Wrong. Right away, as the opening credits begin to roll across a scene, filmed from above, of walkers with brightly colored umbrellas, I know this is something special. Immediately, the viewer can tell he or she is in for a treat, that they are about to watch something beautiful--artistic--extraordinary. The first number begins to play--an instantly engaging jazz introductio...