Author Archives: philipbrasor

Review: We Live in Time

Posted on June 4, 2025 by philipbrasor

The prerogatives of the romantic tragedy get a solid workout in this over-ambitious tale of a young heterosexual couple trying to have a child as the female partner struggles with cancer. The first thing that points up director John Crowley’s … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Koreans reconsider unwed parenthood

Posted on June 1, 2025 by philipbrasor

Last Friday, the Japanese Diet took up the issue of separate names for married couples for the first time in 28 years. Though the debate about bessei—allowing partners who wed to retain their individual birth surnames rather than forcing them … Continue reading →

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Review: Dream Girl: The Making of Marilyn Monroe

Posted on May 31, 2025 by philipbrasor

We hardly need another film document about Marilyn Monroe, and the bizarre tone of the English narration here could indicate that A.I. may have had something to do with its creation. Then there’s the movie’s aggressive tabloidy approach, which takes … Continue reading →

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Review: When Fall Is Coming and Dog on Trial

Posted on May 30, 2025 by philipbrasor

François Ozon’s films are as varied in tone and topic as Steven Soderbergh’s, but since he’s French that tone and those topics exude a European sensibility that doesn’t always export readily to other regions. The title of his latest, When … Continue reading →

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Review: Sasquatch Sunset

Posted on May 23, 2025 by philipbrasor

As a comedy, this imagined recreation of what a family of the mythical Bigfoot species might do over the course of four seasons places its bets for laughs on behavior that we associate with the ruder persuasion of humanity. The … Continue reading →

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Review: The Substance

Posted on May 16, 2025 by philipbrasor

Though much has already been written about Coralie Fargeat’s body horror fantasia about the pitfalls of female self-esteem, not enough of the discussion has focused on Dennis Quaid’s performance as a TV producer named Harvey. Though Quaid’s male chauvinist caricature … Continue reading →

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Review: The Girl with the Needle and Nosferatu

Posted on May 14, 2025 by philipbrasor

As a movie addressing the psychological torment that can accompany and follow the act of childbirth, Denmark’s most recent contender for an international feature Oscar doesn’t hold anything back, but because it’s set in a time and place that feels … Continue reading →

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Media watch: The spouses’ tax and pension exemption faces its reckoning

Posted on May 10, 2025 by philipbrasor

Every five years the government reviews the national pension system, which, like national health insurance, is roughly divided into two plans: one for regular salaried employees and another for everybody else. However, the pension system for salaried employees, known as … Continue reading →

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Review: Queer and Lee

Posted on May 9, 2025 by philipbrasor

Daniel Craig doesn’t look anything like William S. Burroughs, the Beat Generation author whose autobiographical novel is the source for Luca Guadagnino’s sweaty drama, but he does attempt to mimic Burroughs’ laconic Midwestern drone, albeit with a slight lisp. The … Continue reading →

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Review: Caught by the Tides

Posted on May 8, 2025 by philipbrasor

Made during the pandemic, Jia Zhangke’s latest is a clever collage of used and unused footage from previous features, as well as new footage that was shot under strict circumstances. The result is a film that attempts to review the … Continue reading →

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