Category Archives: film

RKS 2024 Film: “The Contestant”: Can Anything Positive Emerge from Reality Television?

Inanity and reality television are bedfellows. The specialty of reality television is humiliating people for audience snickers. A prime example would be “90 Day Fiancée”. What is next “Romans Feeding Christians to the Lions: Live at the Coliseum!” It may well be that reality television was born with the Japanese television show “Denpa Shonen” specializingContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “The Contestant”: Can Anything Positive Emerge from Reality Television?”

RKS Literature: The Life of an Irish Actress (J.P. Donleavy)

“Mary an actress. Dreadful pity. I’ve got to do something about it. I’m to blame, may have even put the idea into her dark head. If she goes to fat they’ll fire her. I believe she’ll screw her way to stardom. Pole by pole. Like others do in marriage. And some to poverty, fewer toContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Life of an Irish Actress (J.P. Donleavy)”

RKS 2024 Film: “Last Summer” (L’été dernier): Lust Triumphs Over Hypocrisy, False Morals and Rationality

“Last Summer” makes you want to cringe and shout, “Stop you fools!” We are introduced to Anne (Léa Drucker) as a lawyer counselling a minor client about the non-consensual sex she has suffered. Tell the truth she advises. The judge is well aware of the games defence counsel plays Anne says. Anne represents minors. AnneContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Last Summer” (L’été dernier): Lust Triumphs Over Hypocrisy, False Morals and Rationality”

RKS 2024 Film: “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground”: West Virginian Tragedy a la Master and Margarita

If you have watched the seminal 1973 American documentary “Harlan County” about a coal miner’s strike in Harlan County, Kentucky you know coal miners are a tough and proud lot and mine owners are ruthlessly if not murderously driven by profits. In “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground” about coal mining in West VirginaContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground”: West Virginian Tragedy a la Master and Margarita”

RKS 2024 Film: “Alice On and Off”: Misery Justified by the Selfishness of “Trauma”: Sympathy For the Devil?

In this Romanian documentary we follow the life of Alice, her husband Dorian and their child Aristo. Alice married Dorian aged 53 at 18 years of age due to her pregnancy. Alice has had a traumatic and unloved existence abandoned by her parents and raised by a tyrant grandmother blocking all parental access to AliceContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Alice On and Off”: Misery Justified by the Selfishness of “Trauma”: Sympathy For the Devil?”

RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “w(HO)”

“w(HO)” is a 2022 American 5-minute mixed media animated short film. Director Candace Ho relates certain incidents caused by her last name whether it was “Ho.Ho” as a laugh or the insertion  of “izza” between Candice and Ho! But aside from the snickering humour playing on Ho it is also a chronicle of her sexualContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “w(HO)””

RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “Gio: A Man Wonderfully Created”

“Gio: A Man Wonderfully Created” is a 2015 American 7.5-minute short film. Gio Carneal, the son of a southern Baptist minister experienced a hostile and bully ridden 1970’s childhood. Self medication with alcohol and drugs leads to his turning to a gay bar where his newfound sense of community and his desire for full acceptanceContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “Gio: A Man Wonderfully Created””

RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “And God Loves Gays Too”

“And God Loves Gays Too” is a 10-minute short 2009 film directed by Michi Tanioka. The narrator intervenes two parishioners of an Asian American church located in California about how their church views homosexuality. Parishioner Marian Sunabe explains how a “conversation” occurred between the pastor, herself and a gay man named Gary. Marian had beenContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “And God Loves Gays Too””

RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “Comfort Girls”

“Comfort Girls” is a 5-minute short film. The “Comfort Girls” initially appear in a Japanese garden in traditional Korean garb and sing before military officers of nations that have shaped the fate of a divided Korea. The officers sit at a table to a feast ravenously and disgustingly devouring food. The traditional quickly disappears andContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: A Freebie from the Visual Communications Archives: “Comfort Girls””

RKS 2024 Film: “I Used to be Funny”: A Filthy Snake in the Grass Bites a Comedian: Absolute Naturalness

The Canadian film titled “I Used to Be Funny” seems incompatible with the progression of the film but hints and innuendos are dropped along the way Hansel and Gretel fashion that taunt the viewer to determine why comedian Samantha Cowell (Rachel Sennott) is no longer funny as at the outset Sam is funny dropping oneContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “I Used to be Funny”: A Filthy Snake in the Grass Bites a Comedian: Absolute Naturalness”