Daily Archives: February 15, 2016

Son of Saul – Director, László Nemes

Drama, Loved it, Oscar 2016, Oscar Stuff, Uncategorized

This is a very difficult film to watch. The Nazi’s selected skilled and fit Jews to help in the concentration camps as work commandos. They were not executed unless they fell ill or were no longer needed. They collected the clothing and possessions of the inmates who were led to the ovens and gas chambers. This film follows one of these commandos who finds his son among the dead and seeks to find a rabbi and give his son a proper burial. It is filmed from his perspective as the camera follows him around focussed on his face or what he is watching. This techniques makes it very powerful and very upsetting as the reality of the camps is revealed. The ending is inevitable if not entirely predictable. It frustrates me somewhat that these excellent films are not recognized more fully by the Academy. An award for the Best Foreign Language Film is something out of a past in which the lords of Hollywood condescended to recognize films from those countries that in their opinion sadly lacked a real film industry. This kind of American arrogance needs to be addressed with a major redo of the awards and the industry. Worth an editorial on the blog shortly. In the meantime here is a very good movie that deserves the recognition it is getting.

All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records – Director, Colin Hanks

Documentary, Good, Uncategorized

This documentary covers the 45 history of Tower Records, an international record retailing company that started modestly in Sacramento California and spread right around the world. From being one of the most successful retail companies in the world in 1999, they then filed for bankruptcy in 2006. A sudden and dramatic crash. The man who founded the company was Russ Solomon and he gathered around him in 1961 a variety of unusual people who liked the fact that employees could wear what they liked, let their hair grow, do drugs and charge them as a petty cash item and drink. They only had to show up for work in order to keep their jobs. He was however a great judge of people and gathered a group of people who loved music, were friendly and committed and in the end hard working in their own way. From a very humble beginning it grew to a mega corporation that really outgrew the skills and ability of its creator. The film and the archival footage of the stores reminded me of Sam the Record Man and Solomon reminded me totally of Sam Sniderman. Interestingly both companies closed within one year of each other. Sam’s started in the basement of Sniderman’s home in 1937 but opened its main store on Yonge street in 1961 the same year as Tower Records. The similarities suggest that Tower Records and Sam the Record Man were victims of the same forces and not really victims of the inability of the founders to adapt to a new reality. Nonetheless the similarities are stunning and the film is totally fun until the end when the corporatism just becomes boring and put me off as much as it did Russ Solomon. Nonetheless this is fun movie and worth your time particularly if you shopped for LP’s in the 60’s.