Oh Oksana...

Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire Too(dir. Su Friedrich & Janet Baus)
Her worst film I've seen to date probably due to the fact she co-directed it and it probably was a documentary for TV. It has a real sterile and impersonal feel to it unlike her other films which feel incredibly personal and intimate like an entry in a diary or journal. The film's best moments are the interviews with individuals on the street about what they think the Lesbian Avengers are. Some are comical. Others are almost frightening to the degree of how uncomfortable they are about talking about anything concerning lesbians. It is much easier to accept what the Lesbian Avengers are trying to do with these interviews even though the biggest problem I had with the film is their approach. They seem to use tactics to make people so uncomfortable that they have to pretty much succumb to what they demand. That's not a horrible way to get the job done, but I feel that it is just going to make matters worse. All the members of the Lesbian Avengers that are interviewed seem to talk constantly about how they're lesbian and proud, which isn't a horrible thing, but I feel as a viewer I never come to relate to any of these people because they seem to define themselves by their sexuality and that's pretty much it. I'm sure these people have personalities and lives of their own, but you can't really tell with this film. Their marchs are almost the stereotype of "Gay Pride Parade" and the fact that some women take their tops off and start dancing around, while I'm not against it, just seems ridiculous and makes me the viewer uncomfortable and I'm not even there in person to experience this public display of nudity. When it reaches the point where you hear a woman recite a poem about her vagina and her lover's vagina, which was obviously influenced by The Vagina Monologues, you realize that they need to stop trying to personify vaginas and start personifying their cause. The Civil Rights movement of the 60's was successful mainly due to the cause having leaders who had strong personalites allowing individuals to put a human face to the cause. This film was thought-provoking even it was for the wrong reasons, which makes it still worthy of watching.
**1/2 out of ****
Flushed Away(dir. David Bowers and Sam Fell)
A relatively fun and light movie. I'll probably forget about it in a couple of days, but it's still better than most non-Pixar computer animated films.
**1/2 out of ****
Lilya 4-Ever(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
How do I describe this experience? Soul crushing? Maybe. Heart-breaking? Definately. It's a painful experience not in terms of how bad or idiotic the film is, but due to the events that occur. It's easy to see how some reviewers question what the point of the film was? What is the point of all this suffering? You could argue it is to show the viewers human trafficking and how a young girl can be lured into it. But I don't know, it seems too powerful a film to have such an "important" objective as exposing issues with society that audiences might not know about. In All Movie Guide's review, it says Dancer in the Dark is a good companion piece, which makes perfect sense because Dancer in the Dark could be viewed equally depressing while this film feels much more natural and damaging. Dancer in the Dark's material is melodramatic and while this is too, you give into it. At least, I did and this film scarred me even when I already knew everything that was going to happen due to someone "spoiling" the film in a message board I scimmed. There are flaws with the film. It definately aims to depress the hell out of you and I was able to fight off it's attempts to depress me and think about the film relatively objectively throughout most of the experience. Why does her mother leave her? One review said she's a mail order bride, which would explain it, but you still don't really understand why she would so freely abadon her child especially how the actress portrays her. She cries with her daughter as she's leaving, but doesn't seem to put up a fight. The girl turning to prostitution even though she could go to Social Services seem rather strange because if I was in that situation, I would gladly give myself up to Social Services instead of degrading myself in order to live on my own. The girl probably would much rather be with her friend and on her own than with Social Services so I guess it's not that much of a stretch. Some reviewers and individuals have talked about how the girl is basically an idiot and all the events that happen are pretty much her fault. One reviewer viciously said he understands how a mother can abadon her because she's such a "brat." I don't know. You have to be pretty heartless to hate this girl, but I had a similar experience with Thirteen probably due to the fact that the actress that played the character that the audience was supposed to sympathize with annoyed the fuck out of me and the whole peer pressure excuse for doing things that you don't want to just seems utterly ridiculous when you can easily avoid them. This film's protagonist who is played amazingly by a young Russian actress named Oskana Akinshina is in a situation where there really is no escape at least in the last parts. She is living by herself and she needs money so prostitution seems like a viable option so it makes sense, but the girl in Thirteen seems not to be enjoying taking drugs and seducing boys and just does it out of peer pressure. The girl in this film doesn't prostitute herself out of peer pressure, but as a way to survive and when she sniffs glue, she seems to actually enjoy it. The actress is amazing. Her smile is so infectious and brings innocence to a film that is in definate need of it after all the shit you experience. The film damaged me. Scarred me. I felt relatively emotionally unaffected until the end, which is probably the most devastating thing I've ever seen just due to the innocent viewpoint of the protagonist and the bleak outcome to her story. Some could easily write off the angelic images as ridiculous and sentimental, but there's something heart-breaking about a girl thinking of Heaven in such a simple and naive way. I could argue that the film might not work perfectly on intellectual grounds and that's the argument that some reviewers seem to take to bash the film. All I can say is that it effected me so deeply that I didn't even realize it was possible for a film to make me feel this way and to me, that makes this film a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Part 2 of A Personal Journal with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies(dir. Martin Scorsese & Michael Henry Wilson)
Informative to a point. You could find better educational material online and could just use the list of movie connections on IMDb and pretty much look all the movies and get even more information. He doesn't seem to spend a lot of time on one particular picture long enough to give the audience a sense of that film's artistic innovation or whatever. That has to be due to the massive nature of trying to sum up the history of American cinema in a couple hours or so and have it feel extensive. The best part was seeing movies that I have never heard of or have heard of and wanting to see them. Seeing directors like Andre De Toth and Fritz Lang talking about cinema was definately a treat for me. I'm probably not going to check out the other parts mainly due to the relatively uninformative nature of the film, but it's still probably worth watching if you catch it on TV like I did.
*** out of ****