Directed by Matt Spicer
I love it when a short delivers something unexpected. It’s Not You, It’s Me starts off with a character on the verge of breaking down. When she finally takes her turn, it jolts you out of your seat and moves forward without stopping to contemplate the consequences, just like a good character should.
Gillian Jacobs hams it up perfectly. Check it out.
What a perfect firestorm in which to release We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, a film by acclaimed director Alex Gibney. The Bradley Manning trial is starting; Julian Assange went to war with Google; PRISM; Snowden; James Clapper. The country seems to be consumed by a conversation about privacy and secrecy (is there a difference?). The film follows in style and tone of Gibney’s previous work, ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side. It is a thriller, and as such it is engrossing and entertaining. It has espionage, intrigue, and sex. What more can you ask for from a documentary?
The story of course is one that we already know. The press has covered it in many varied ways, including an informative and well produced FRONTLINE titled WIKISecrets. However, what Gibney brings to the table is an ability to humanize this story in ways that inform far more fully than traditional reporting ever could. Under Gibney’s treatment, the story of WikiLeaks transforms into one of hubris run amok or in the case of Manning, into the story of a young man with noble intentions and a deep desire to connect.
The portrayal of Assange is truly fascinating. He is a man spiraling towards decline and the viewer can not look away from the screen. To make matters worse, Assange seems intent on doing it in front of the cameras. My soul sister, Edwina Margaret Rose Monsoon once said, “I PR things!!!” If there were ever a clear example of what she meant, it 
would be Assange. He manipulated the story and made it entirely about himself. In the process, he made Wikileaks a household name and himself a martyr for free speech. The coup for Gibney in his portrayal of Assange is landing an interview with one of the women involved with Assange and the source of his legal troubles. What we discover is the bizarre case of no case at all. The women in the case originally wanted Assange to take an AIDS test. It escalated only because Assange, smartly so, labeled himself “the persecuted” and carried this banner all the way to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. It was a smart play recognized by everyone around him but not by the legions of followers he developed over this period. The theme of Assange’s story as presented by Gibney is that if you are going to act like a martyr then you better be a saint, and Assange is no saint. Hypocrisy drips from every one of his actions; his nonexistent editing protocols; the interjection of his personal politics; his sexual escapades; his procreation; and his seeking asylum from Ecuador. Ecuador?! Really?!
The heart of We Steal Secrets, however, is with the absent party in the film, Manning. Gibney did not obtain an interview for this film; instead he uses text from Manning’s conversation with Lamo to create a truly compelling portrayal of a troubled young man. The text appears against a monochromatic screen, and the effect is haunting. I 
have very conflicting feelings about men like Manning and Snowden. On one hand, they entered into contractual obligations with the government and violated those agreements. On the other, I can not say with conviction that Manning and Snowden are not correct; that perhaps these are secrets that belong in the public discourse. I do not think I’ll ever find an answer to that question that fully satisfies me, and perhaps the truth is in the middle. However, I do not believe that you can watch this documentary and walk away from it feeling no form of sympathy towards Manning. In this regard, We Steal Secrets is the most effective.
The film presents a fair and complete picture and poses serious questions about the usefulness of government secrets and the need for public discussion. The denouement comes as General Michael Hayden, former CIA and NSA director, simply states “We steal secrets.” He could have added a “duh!” for emphasis, but it would have been too much. We Steal Secrets concerns itself with what we do with that understanding. What constitutes a secret? What limits does or can a society place on its government organizations? How should those who reveal secrets be punished? There are no easy answers, but Gibney presents a compelling case for why it is imperative that we have a debate about these issues.
Directed By : Kibwe Tavares
The Greeks and Romans had the Ketus, slain by Perseus and Heracles. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all have their versions of Jonah. Disney gave us Pinocchio and Monstro. Monstro swallows Geppetto which forces Pinnochio to attempt a daring rescue and ultimately sacrifice himself for his father. Talk about a mindf***. Giant Fish have been transforming men since stories started being told. In each case, these monstrous creatures play with the allegory in their own way, but they all point to one reliable source of meaning; the undisputed power of God.
“Jonah”, directed by Kibwe Tavares, follows in these traditions. The main character, Mbwana, a young man uninterested in the picturesque fishing village he lives in, happens upon a giant fish. 
Mbwana takes the image of this beast and uses it to transform his small town into an international tourist attraction and bring the excitement he longs for into his life. In the process, he corrupts everything and at the end Mbwana is left with nothing. He is a fool to the world, when it happens again; Mbwana stumbles upon the giant fish. This time however, Mbwana must destroy it and everything it represents. It is an intelligent and intense struggle.
I cannot shower the filmmaking here with enough praise. All I will say is that this is a must see.
Directed by: Sam De Jong
A gymnast preparing for national competition discovers that she is pregnant and decides to have abortion. The Doctor explains that the law requires for her to take five days to think about her decision before the procedure can be performed. So she goes to think. With very little plot or action, Director Sam De Jong gives us a truly intimate portrait of a girl in trouble.
The film opens on Isabel’s face, pony tail wagging behind her, and the camera stays there for the almost 20 minutes we spend with this character. This is a girl who is totally alone in her choices and the filmmakers bravely let her be in order tell us her story. It is an exercise in subtlety. The actress here, Denise Tan, is deft and focused. She never so much as emotes. She thinks, and her eyes communicate the strain of her choices quietly and effectively. It is a performance that builds to a climax where her training for competition strikes us more as punishment and a joyride on go-carts becomes self-injury.
Mockingjay By Suzanne Collins – I decided to start the summer off light. I had been trying to only read the books in this series once a year, but Catching Fire proved to be far too addictive and I was looking for spoilers the minute I read its last pages. Mockingjay brings a close to Katniss’ revolution. She thinks she is out of the games, but in fact she is submerged in the most dangerous Hunger Game yet. The book is rife with political commentary and does it much less subtly than the previous two novels. Politics is what keeps Mockingjay’s pulse beating strong. From Katniss’ decision to become the Mockingjay all the way to the climax, the idea that power corrupts absolutely fuels her distrust and pushes her forward. The series comes to a satisfying close, at least in my opinion. It’s gritty, far more violent than the movie version (a mistake which I hope is corrected), and for a more mature audience than the marketing for the books ever lets on.
6 Years By Harlan Coben – This was entertaining. The premise: A man loves a woman. He is completely devoted to her but 
she marries another man. At the wedding, she asks him to promise that he will never look for her. That he will let her be. He does, for six years. Then, while browsing the internet, he comes across an obituary for the man the woman married six years prior. He investigates and finds out that the man was murdered. He also finds out that the man was in fact married, but not to the woman the hero loved. It sets the novel into action and takes the hero deep into a dizzying web of lies and secrets. This is very cleverly crafted and will keep you turning pages until you lose your sense of time. Perfect vacation reading.
August: Osage County by Tracy Letts – I had not read a play in years, so it took some getting used to. Once I 
did, I found this to be totally engrossing. It’s about a family who gathers during a time of crisis. But the play goes far beyond portraying the typical dysfunctions. It reads like a moment in time where a family comes to realize that they have always been in crisis, for as long as any of the characters can remember. There is a dinner scene that is so shockingly honest you will not be able to stop reading. Letts’ gets to the truth of these characters, very quickly and modestly. It’s been my favorite read so far this summer.
I think a script this week and then on to something else…
The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, established by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1972, is the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.
This year’s lecturer was Martin’s Scorsese.
“…We were experiencing something fundamental, together. We were living through the emotional truths on the screen together, often in coded form, these films from the ’40s and ’50s. Sometimes expressed in small things, gestures, glances, reactions between the characters – light, shadow. I mean we experienced these things that we normally couldn’t discuss or wouldn’t discuss, or even acknowledge in our lives.
And that’s actually part of the wonder. So whenever I hear people dismiss movies as fantasy and make a hard distinction between film and life, I think to myself that it’s just a way of avoiding the power of cinema. And, of course it’s not life – it’s the invocation of life, it’s in an ongoing dialogue with life.”
Rickenbacker Causeway. Goal is to run over and back. Made it almost .2 miles today… Sad … This might require I quit smoking.
Directed by: Chetin Chabuk
I couldn’t sleep last night. Woke up at 6 AM after trying for too long to quiet my head and get back to the dark. I found this on the top of the Vimeo Editor’s pick. It’s quite moving. It made me think of all the excuses we give, I give, for not doing the things we love to do or want to do. It kind of made me sick. After watching Scott Lew in this movie I’ve come to realize what I guess I have always known but never vocalized … there are no excuses.
Sometimes a Good Notion 