0975 – The Favourite (2018)

timespace coordinates: early 18th century England

The Favourite is a 2018 black comedy period film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. It is a co-production by producers in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Set in the early 18th century, the story examines the relationship between two cousins vying to be court favourites of Queen Anne. It stars Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, James Smith, and Mark Gatiss.

In his review of the film, Anthony Lane comments on its anachronisms: “For Lanthimos and his screenwriters, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, all historical reconstruction is a game, and to pretend otherwise—to nourish the illusion that we can know another epoch as intimately as we do our own—is merest folly.” (read more: Historical accuracy)

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0956 – Mortal Engines (2018)

timespace coordinates: Following a cataclysmic conflict known as the Sixty Minute War, the remnants of humanity regroup and form mobile “predator” cities. Under a philosophy known as “Municipal Darwinism”, larger cities hunt and absorb smaller settlements in the “Great Hunting Ground”, which includes Great Britain and Continental Europe. In opposition, settlements of the “Anti-Traction League” have developed an alternative civilization consisting of “static settlements” (traditional, non-mobile cities) in Asia led by Shan Guo (formerly China), protected by the “Shield Wall”.

“After the Ancients destroyed themselves in the Sixty Minute War, there were several thousand years in which nothing much happened. These were the Black Centuries. The great civilizations of the Screen Age had been utterly swept away, and humanity was reduced to a few scattered bands of savages’ ‘The Traction Codex’

Mortal Engines is a 2018 post-apocalyptic adventure film directed by Christian Rivers and with a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on the novel of the same name by Philip Reeve, and starring Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, and Stephen Lang. An American–New Zealand co-production, the film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where entire cities have been mounted on wheels and motorised, and prey on one another. (wiki)

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940 – Wildlife (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1960 Great Falls, Montana Wildlife is a 2018 American drama film directed by Paul Dano and co-written by Dano and Zoe Kazan. It is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Ford first published in 1990. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, and Bill Camp; it is Dano’s directorial debut.

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0911 – Black ’47 (2018)

timespace coordinates: Ireland during the Great FamineBlack ’47 is a 2018 Irish period drama film directed by Lance Daly. The screenplay is by PJ Dillon, Pierce Ryan, Eugene O’Brien and Lance Daly, based on the Irish-language short film An Ranger, written and directed by Dillon and Ryan. The film stars Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Jim Broadbent, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford, and Sarah Greene. Set in Ireland during the Great Famine, the film follows an Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, as he abandons his post to reunite with his family. The title is taken from the most devastating year of the famine, 1847, which is referred to as “Black ’47”. (wiki)

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071 – Wonderful Days (2003)

872

Robin D. G. Kelley: What Is Racial Capitalism and Why Does It Matter? (YouTube)

“The purpose of racism is to control the behaviour of white people, not Black people. For Blacks, guns and tanks are sufficient” Otis Madison

858

858 – Roger & Me (1989 documentary)

timespace coordinates: 1980’s Flint, Michigan

Roger & Me is a 1989 American film written, produced, directed by and starring Michael Moore. Moore portrays the regional economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith‘s action of closing several auto plants in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, reducing GM’s employees in that area from 80,000 in 1978 to about 50,000 in 1992. As of August 2015, GM employs approximately 7,200 workers in the Flint area, according to The Detroit News, and 5,000 workers according to MSNBC.  In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” (wiki)

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Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint (1992)