When Dr. Mahinder Watsa was starting out his career as a doctor, he wrote a medical column in the back of a ladies’ journal. At the time, young women were dying from back-alley abortions while others committed suicide, unwilling to let their prospective husbands know they were not virgins (due to sexual abuse). Dr. Watsa knew then that there was a problem in India. He wasn’t particularly specialized in human sexuality, but through research, hard work, and years of experience, he made himself so. He was a pioneer of human sexuality education in India, a position still necessary today when many provinces still ban sex education in schools, and a position that he still occupies at 
the age of 91. With teachers unable and parents unwilling to discuss sexuality, there’s a huge chasm of ignorance in India, and Dr. Watsa is still doing his best to fill it.
I find it utterly impossible not to be charmed by Dr. Watsa and by extension, by this documentary by Vaishali Sinha. A newspaper sex column, seen as a lark in the lifestyle section of our newspapers, a laugh on late night TV, is vitally important in a country like India. Dr. Watsa writes plainly, even conversationally, to his readers with honesty, openness, and precision – three things otherwise completely missing from the field, which is astounding considering they are confronted by the same internet porn and HBO programming that we are, and yet are completely in the dark about even the basics of reproduction let alone pleasure. What a 10 year old Canadian could answer here, a mother of 4 may be mystified with over there. Of course, it isn’t just ignorance but shame and fear that keep this subject deeply shrouded. It’s discouraging to see the mountain yet to be climbed, but Sinha instead heartens us with the people at the forefront of this movement toward education.
Dr. Watsa is a humble figure, unassuming and prone to humour. He knows his work is important but seems a little struck by his own inadequacy, likening his column to a “drop in the ocean.” In a country of over a billion in population, sex is definitely happening if not openly discussed – or admitted to. Dr. Watsa is a bright light. As a good director, Vaishali Sinha knows that every hero needs a good villain, and he has one: a woman hellbent on inflicting her own “moral” standards on everyone else, and not afraid to take the matter to the courts. Indeed, at the age of 91, both Dr. Watsa and the newspaper he writes for, the Mumbai Mirror, are charged with obscenity, with Dr. Watsa possibly facing jail time if convicted.
This is a fascinating documentary. Sinha has found a brilliant subject and has the good sense to stick with him. I’m positive that he will endear audiences near and far.
Sunday Beauty Queen examines these workers, and the pastime they enjoy in their very limited time off: beauty pageants. Every Sunday they gather in events they organize themselves, strutting their stuff in costumes equal portions prom dress and cardboard accoutrements.
sent to Auschwitz. Philippe Mora is an artist of all mediums; while he did not direct this particular documentary, he did write and illustrate the graphic novel of the same name.
Mayonnaise, both the comic and the film. Director Trevor Graham films the madcap artist as he careens around the world, meeting up with heroes, villains, and the ordinary people still alive today because of his father’s efforts – teamwork improbably involving Marcel Marceau – smuggling Jewish children across the border.
sister also got one, a brunette named Valerie, which I felt was unfair because she’d done nothing to deserve it besides poop and scream and steal my parents’ love.
this stuff at the time, but I have certainly been aware of them in retrospect. These bubblegum comic artists tapped into a vein of childhood rebellion and ended up making lasting work.
He’s got a bag of rice, and a bag of flour that looks almost identical to the bag of rice. How these are fun toys I have no idea. We usually pile them on Lightning McQueen and race. But Brady’s own counter culture is already budding at 5 years old: Shopkins are parodied by the Grossery Gang, the same basic shitty toy, but disgusting (ie, mouldy cheese). I don’t get it, but adults aren’t meant to. It’s kind of cool that he’s got his own little act of rebellion, but if you’re in the mood for some throwback rebellion, here’s a hint: the Garbage Pail Kids are back.
up some hangers-on (Jenny Slate among them) and proceed to have a very weird weekend.
She plays the mother of sons, a hard thing to be in 1942; Marcus, who is off to war (played by Jack Quaid, Ryan’s actual son), Homer (Alex Neustaedter) who struggles with being the 14 year old man of the house now that his father (Tom Hanks) is gone, and little Ulysses (Spencer Howell) who doesn’t remember anything different.
there, she finds that he’s also helping the Palmach to smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine. This only makes her love him harder, but his reality is very different from hers, a drama student and theatre lover who is reluctant to give up a life of creativity. Her love is strong enough to make the necessary sacrifices, but the turbulent state of things in Israel means that love will not be enough to overcome all.
Shiners gives a good sense of the universality of pride in one’s work. However, it is also clear that the profession is not viewed the same from one country to the next. In America it is being reclaimed by hipsters who deride the neglect of older crafts. In Japan we see a lot of honour in the skill, in making something old new again. But in other places, it’s seen as degrading work, and the shiners work on the street, earning little money and even less respect.
If you’ve seen more than 5 movies, then you already know what’s going to happen: she’s going to hate the hell out of Jeffrey Dean Morgan right up to the moment when she falls madly in love with him. She will ditch her fiance, who is not a bad guy, whose only flaw seems to be believing his girlfriend isn’t a complete whack job.
How do donkeys cry? Do they tremble inside? Do they dream? These are the types of insights and reflexive cues provided by poetic narration provided by Willem Dafoe. We might spend several minutes just gazing upon a bunch of donkeys eating communally from a trough. We may consider the different utterances we hear and attempt to interpret each one. The donkeys are communicating – are you listening?
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 