1063 – The Pianist (2002)

timespace coordinates: 1939 – 1945 Warsaw  during Nazi Germany‘s invasion of Poland /  Warsaw Ghetto /  the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising /  the Warsaw Uprising

The Pianist is a 2002 biographical drama film produced and directed by Roman Polanski, scripted by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist, a Holocaust memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, a Holocaust survivor. The film was a co-production of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland.

The story had deep connections with director Roman Polanski because he escaped from the Kraków Ghetto as a child after the death of his mother. He ended up living in a Polish farmer’s barn until the war’s end. His father almost died in the camps, but they reunited after the end of World War II. (wiki)

imdb

1059 – Mutafukaz (2017)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s Dark Meat City / New California

Mutafukaz (Japanese: ムタフカズ －MUTAFUKAZ－ Hepburn: Mutafukazu, released as MFKZ in some markets)  is a 2017 adult animated science fiction film based on the comic series of the same name.

The film is a French-Japanese co-production between Ankama Animations and Studio 4°C  and is directed by Shōjirō Nishimi and Guillaume “Run” Renard.

The comic was published in English as Mutafukaz by Titan Comics with only one volume released on October 27, 2015.  Mutafukaz was released in France on May 23, 2018 and in Japan on October 12, 2018. (wiki)

Angelino is just one of thousands of deadbeats living in Dark Meat City. But an otherwise unremarkable scooter accident caused by a beautiful, mysterious stranger is about to transform his life… into a waking nightmare! He starts seeing monstrous forms prowling around all over the city… Is Angelino losing his mind, or could an alien invasion really be happening this quietly…? (imdb)

THE ART OF MUTAFUKAZ – THE MOVIE

1053 – True Detective (season 3 – 2019)

timespace coordinates: 1980 – 1990 – 2015, the Ozarks –  Arkansas

The third season of True Detective, an American anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto, was confirmed by HBO on August 31, 2017, and premiered on January 13, 2019. The story takes place in the Ozarks over three separate time periods, as partner detectives investigate a macabre crime involving two missing children. 

Mahershala Ali plays the lead role of detective Wayne Hays, while Stephen Dorff plays his partner detective Roland West. The season marks Pizzolatto’s directorial debut, with the series creator dividing up directing assignments with Jeremy Saulnier and Daniel Sackheim. Pizzolatto also serves as the showrunner and sole writer of the season, with the exception of the fourth and sixth episode, which he co-wrote with David Milch and Graham Gordy respectively. (wiki)

imdb

1052 – Dragged Across Concrete (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s fictitious city of BulwarkDragged Across Concrete is a 2018 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by S. Craig Zahler. The film stars Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, and Laurie Holden.

imdb

1041 – Atonement (2007)

timespace coordinates: 1935 England /  1940  Battle of France –  Dunkirk

Atonement is a 2007 romantic war drama film directed by Joe Wright and based on Ian McEwan‘s 2001 novel of the same name. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Vanessa Redgrave, and chronicles a crime and its consequences over the course of six decades, beginning in the 1930s. (wiki)

imdb

1035 – Chimera Strain (2018)

imdb

1032 – The Last Samurai (2003)

timespace coordinates: 1876 – 1877 California > JapanThe Last Samurai is a 2003 American period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also co-produced, with Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki, and Shin Koyamada in supporting roles.

SONY DSC

Tom Cruise portrays a United States Captain of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th Century Japan.

1877 — In 1877, nine years after the Meiji Restoratin, a major rebellion in Kyushu concentrated the opposition of conservative elements to the westernization of Japan. The traditional forces, including for example samurai infuriated at no longer being allowed to carry swords, were defeated by the new conscript army. Thousands were executed. Here the brave new officers in their western-style uniforms accept the surrender of un-uniformed rebels. — Image by © Asian Art & Archaeology, Inc./CORBIS

The film’s plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori, and the westernization of Japan by foreign powers, though in the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for westernization. To a lesser extent it is also influenced by the stories of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the earlier Boshin War and Frederick Townsend Ward, an American mercenary who helped Westernize the Chinese army by forming the Ever Victorious Army. (wiki)

imdb   /  Criticism and debate