Like Pi Patel, the brave young protagonist of Yann Martel’s Booker prize-winning novel Life of Pi, Ang Lee attempted what was thought to be impossible when he decided to bring this beloved story to the big screen. Long referred to by directors as being “unfilmable,” Lee, who is best known for his stunning cinematography and dramatic storytelling in Oscar award-winning films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, not only filmed Life of Pi, but turned it into a...
Blog
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
December 28, 2012 - 7:53am
What Would Jesus Buy? is a 2007 documentary by producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) that examines how Christmas—the “season of giving”—has in fact become a season of shopping and out-of-control consumerism. The film follows Bill Talen—also known as “Reverend Billy”—a performing artist who leads the “Church of Stop Shopping,” a group that is traveling around the country to save Christmas from what they have dubbed “the Shopocalypse.” Dressed in a white suit with...
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
November 19, 2012 - 11:50am
What is it that makes us happy? We’re told that money that doesn’t buy it, or success, or even love. Can happiness be created, or must it be discovered? Does the path to a happy life require certain ingredients—self-discovery, confidence, a loving group of family and friends, spiritual guidance, the opportunity to fulfill one’s dreams—or can anyone be truly “happy?” We spend our entire lives on the pursuit of this elusive state, which we so often think we recognize in others, and which we...
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
November 2, 2012 - 2:31pm
“What’s wrong with the world, and what can we do about it?” These are the two seemingly vague and yet deeply complex questions that director Tom Shadyac sought to answer when he set out to make the documentary that became I AM. What he discovered, and what he created, is not really a documentary at all. Instead, it’s an intellectual and spiritual journey, a quest for the truth about the nature of humanity, and, ultimately, a lesson in how we should all be striving to live. Guided by some of...
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
October 18, 2012 - 3:03pm
The survival of humans, and of every ecosystem on Earth, relies on water. As one of our most essential resources, we cook with it, bathe in it, wash with it, and play in it. And, of course, we drink it. Water strengthens us, nourishes us, and purifies us—body, and soul. But why, when safe drinking water is available almost anywhere to Americans at the simple turn of a tap, are we continuing to spend billions of dollars to buy bottled water? And perhaps more importantly, what exactly is...
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
October 10, 2012 - 9:30am
Samsara, a non-verbal, visually astounding documentary, is the second feature film by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, the creators of 1992’s critically acclaimed Baraka. Filmed in 25 different countries over a period of five years, Samsara was shot entirely on 70mm film. The result is a quality of image resolution that audiences are rarely used to seeing, with a picture so clear and dynamic, it seems as if you could reach your hand through the screen to wipe the dew from a leaf, or, with one...
Posted by: Ariana Hendrix
September 26, 2012 - 3:06pm
The Latin origin of the word “companion” literally means “one who eats bread with another,” and anyone who has ever walked past a bustling restaurant on a Friday night and listened to the harmony of clinking forks mingled with laughter and conversation knows that this etymology hasn’t lost any of its cultural force. Eating and sharing food with our companions is one of the few truly cross-cultural human universals; the processes of finding, preparing, and eating food have been among the...
