0537 – All the Money in the World (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  Italy 1973 

All the Money in the World is a 2017 crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, based on John Pearson’s 1995 book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty. It stars Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Charlie Plummer, Andrew Buchan, and Timothy Hutton. The film depicts J. Paul Getty‘s refusal to cooperate with the extortion demands of a group of kidnappers from the organized crime Mafia group ‘Ndrangheta, who abducted his grandson John Paul Getty III in 1973. (based on actual events)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5294550/

0534 – Machines (2016)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Gujarat, India

Director Rahul Jain presents an intimate, observantly portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India. Moving through the corridors and bowels of the enormous and disorientating structure, the camera takes the viewer on a journey to a place of dehumanising physical labor and intense hardship, provoking cause for thought about persistent pre-industrial working conditions and the huge divide between first world and developing countries. Since the 1960s the area of Sachin in western India has undergone unprecedented, unregulated industrialisation, exemplified in its numerous textile factories. MACHINES portraits only one of these factories, while at the same time representing the thousands of labourers working, living and suffering in an environment they can’t escape. With strong visual language, memorable images and carefully selected interviews of the workers themselves, Jain tells a story of inequality and oppression, humans and machines.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5690244/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machines_2016/

0522 – City of Ember (2008)

spacetime coordinates:  underground city Ember 241 years after an apocalyptic war

City of Ember is a 2008 American science fiction film based on the 2003 novel The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. It was  directed by Gil Kenan,written by Caroline Thompson, and stars Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Bill Murray, Mackenzie Crook, Martin Landau, Mary Kay Place, Toby Jones, and Tim Robbins.

“City of Ember belongs to one of the best and most enduring genres of children’s films, in which smart kids stand up against the ignorant and aloof adult world and have a big adventure in the process. It also throws in a fantastical city, replete with whiz-bang inventions and secret societies. (…) Ember itself is fascinating, an intricately detailed set that, like Diagon Alley or the Star Wars cantina, you’d like to take a few hours to wander around in.” Katey Rich   //   Irv Slifkin for Video Business wrote, “this lavishly designed adventure saga from director Gil Kenan… plays like Terry Gilliam‘s Brazil — for beginners”.    //    TV Guide  “A fun and moving family film with a subtly dark feel rarely seen in kids’ movies since the ’80s, City of Ember succeeds despite its shortcomings, not only because of its fun and inspiring story, but because most of its flaws are things kids won’t notice anyway… [T]he story spins into a classic fable; the ignorance that seemed so blissful shows it’s just one half of a coin, where the other side holds apathy and hopelessness. The moral might well be lost on kids, but for adults, it’s compelling — all the more so because we like the good people of this dying city”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970411/

0514 – Nightsatan and the Loops of Doom (2013)

 spacetime coordinates: KARELIA 2034

In the year 2034 on the plains of the post-holocaust wasteland of Eastern Finland, a trio of synthesizer warriors calling themselves Nightsatan conduct musical rituals in order to maintain what is left of their sanity. The apocalyptic and atmospheric action adventure features cannibalism, graphic violence, visual lore and a synthesizer score paying tribute to the classic works of John Carpenter and Goblin. It is a heart-warming tribute to the Italian Mad Max rip-offs of the 1980’s, with a hint or two of Alejandro Jodorowsky thrown in.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3299698/

0490 – Novitiate (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1960s Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Novitiate is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Maggie Betts. Set in the early 1960s and during the era of Vatican II, a young woman in training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4513316/

0487 – The Florida Project (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 2010’s Florida

The Florida Project is a 2017 American drama film directed by Sean Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch. It stars Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, and Caleb Landry Jones. The plot follows a six-year-old girl and with her rebellious mother living in a motel in Kissimmee, Florida outside Orlando as they try to stay out of trouble and make ends meet. The title is derived from the early name for Walt Disney World, located near the setting of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5649144/

474 – Finding Vivian Maier (2013)

 spacetime coordinates: 20th century // 2000/10’s Chicago,  the Alpine village of Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur > street scenes in Chicago and New York during the 1950s and 1960sFinding Vivian Maier is a 2013 American documentary film about the photographer Vivian Maier  (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) written, directed, and produced by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, and executive produced by Jeff Garlin.

July 1957. Chicago Suburb, IL

Undated, Chicago

Undated, New York, NY

Maier was a French-American woman who worked most of her life as a nanny and housekeeper to a multitude of Chicago families. She carried a camera everywhere she went, but Maier’s photographic legacy was largely unknown during her lifetime. The film documents how Maloof discovered her work and, after her death, uncovered her life through interviews with people who knew her. Maloof had purchased a box of photo negatives at a 2007 Chicago auction, then scanned the images and put them on the Internet. News articles began to come out about Maier and a Kickstarter campaign for the documentary was soon underway.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2714900/

“the poor are too poor to die”