Merlyn Sprankling (merlynsprankling)

This film may not be the first exploration of the causes and effects of the global financial crisis, but it's probably the first to get cinema release. And the reason for that is the name Michael Moore.

Capitalism: A Love Story is a mostly engaging and interesting exploration of consumerism in America and its undoing. Moore starts back in the 1950's when capitalism was the best thing and life was easy.

An intriguing piece of footage that Moore presents is the face of President Jimmy Carter talking about how greed and consumerism will bring America undone--but he was saying that in 1979/80 and that wasn't a message of the USA wanted to hear. So the people who actually bothered to vote booted him out and took up with Ronald Reagan and his low taxing ways (for the rich anyway). Moore pieces together lots of information that is available in this film, including Captain Sullenberger, the Hero of the Hudson, and his evidence before a Senate inquiry.

It will make you think twice about flying in America when you know that pilots earn about as much as a cashier at McDonalds. The really scariest thing in the film is watching the guys behind the various presidents and realising where the power lies. It looks like the bankers, not the ballot box, rule the world.

Openly aimed at young children, Ponyo is one of the most whimsical and wide-eyed tales in Hayao Miyazaki's catalogue.

A re-telling of the Little Mermaid, Ponyo is a young goldfish girl living in the ocean with her cranky father who believes humans are nothing but a sea-polluting annoyances (Miyazaki's environmental concerns are as apparent here as they are in the majority of his works).

Rescued from a jar by Sosuke--a young boy living on a cliff by the seaside with his aged-care nurse mother--Ponyo becomes infatuated and decides she wants to become human. Born of a magician and an ocean goddness, Ponyo is small but powerful, and in the process of becoming human unleashes a tsunami that submerges an entire town and reverts the waters to the Devonian age (about 400 million years ago), replete with prehistoric aquatic life.

The beauty of the film is in the detailed and stylised realisation of both the fantasy aspects and the real world. With wonderul hand-drawn and painted animation, Miyazaki weaves realism and magic with deft ease. Everything is infused with a sense of childlike wonder.

For those who have recently been high school students, Entre les Murs (The Class) is almost humurous in its familiarity. For those in education, it offers a complex picture of the problems that need to be overcome, without putting forward any simple solution. For all others, this is a rich classroom drama to remedy the simplicity of 'Dangerous Minds' and 'Freedom Writers.' It would be quite easy to mistake this film for a documentary. Its story of classroom challenges comes straight from a teacher who has experienced this all first-hand. The performances of teachers and students alike are pitch-perfect, genuine and rich, and the 'fly-on-the-wall' style of filmmaking is perfectly appropriate for capturing the tedium of modern teaching. Essentially, the film simply charts one teacher's futile attempts to reach a class of mixed-race 14-year-olds in inner city Paris. Francois Begaudeau, the teacher who wrote the book on which this film is based, plays Mr. Marin. His sincere attempts to educate this class ( and to reach the smarter students amongst the group) are continuously thwarted, mainly by student insolence, and those many, mind-numbing, endlessly cyclical conversations that consume classroom time and teacher attention. For most part, the film is simply a document of these struggles, though it reaches a sort of climax after tempers flare in the classroom and one student's future education is put on the line. At times, the film does drag a little, but this only contributes to its slowly-building impact. In the end the film's effect will take audience by suprise...

Persepolis is a magnificent film! I was able to catch the animated film version of Marjane Satrapi's memoir at this year's Brisbane International Film Festival, and I'm very impressed-- indeed! The film is about the poignant tale of a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The story is told through the eyes of a young and bold Marjane from age nine through to age 24 when she comes to the realization she can no longer live in her beloved homeland. It includes a period when, at age 14 her parents, worried for her safety, ship her off to school in Vienna. In Vienna, Marjane becomes the exotic outsider, never quite fitting in, and coming of age in an alien environment proves difficult, especially when romance is involved. She returns to Iran, but years of fundamentalist rule and war with Iraq sees the country much changed, and the rapidly maturing and independent Marjane finds that she no longer fits in the country of her birth. Although laced with humour, despite the grim circumstances often faced by people when the world changes around them at frightening speed, the film is endearing, and it contains worthy lessons, as it entertains, and opens up your heart and mind. It's a triumph!