Hard Truths

Aftersun (2022) is Charlotte Wells's luminous debut about a young woman looking back at a formative holiday with her father, starring Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio.

An incredibly perfect adaptation of a cultish in 50' Jack Kerouac's novel which became a huge landmark in its time, On The Road immerses us into the atmosphere of that paranoidal decade where any discrepancies of "normal" behavior was a suspect. There were the times of Second Red Scare incepted by McCarthyism which led the nations of USA and USSR to Cold War. In these ambiguous times a just-married couple, a young ex-prisoner Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) and his beautiful wife Marylou (Kristen Stewart) travel across the America in pursuit of new sensations. In their voyage they meet young writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) , who recently buried his father and who decides to break with the past and heads into the new future where he hopes to find the inspiration for book he writes. This autobiographical storyline which is prominently implemented in the book runs through the movie too. The fact is that Jack Kerouac was really in the crisis when he started the book, and he actually was traveling across the USA with his friends to find an inspiration for the book he later named On The Road, which became a basis for Walter Salles movie of the same name in 2012.

"John Q" is a drama movie released in 2002, directed by Nick Cassavetes. The movie follows John Quincy Archibald, a father whose son is in desperate need of a heart transplant. However, John's insurance company denies coverage for the operation, and he is unable to pay for it himself. With no other options, John takes the emergency room hostage and demands that his son be put on the transplant list.

Rami Malek's psychiatrist duels Russell Crowe's Hermann Göring before the Nazi war-crimes trial in James Vanderbilt's historical drama. Streaming on Netflix.

Directed by Gus Van Sant and featuring Matt Damon in the leading role, Promised Land centers on the ace of the oil industry, Steve Butler, a corporate salesman, who is sent to rural American town to secure the drilling rights of his company to tap into the local resources. The town is going thru an uneasy times after the world financial crisis, and, in these times, the establishing the office and production platforms could be in-need for the locals, especially considering the buying drilling rights from local authorities. However, what seemed as easy procedure at the first look, turned to uneasy challenge for Steve. Now he has to rethink all of his beliefs and approaches to life. The movie is a subject of criticism concerning the facts that the major sponsor of its production is Abu Dhabi Media, which is totally owned by United Arab Emirates. It's believed that due to this sponsorship, the film puts shale fracking being described in the movie in a bad light, as it significantly increased the oil-producing capabilities of USA and reduced the oil import from UAE. Nevertheless, Promised Land allows us to enjoy brilliant play of Matt Damon, which is considered to be as "top-level" as it was in The Adjustment Bureau, True Grit and The Informant!

Blue Crush taught us surfer-girls can have guts and soul. Now, considerably raising the stakes and the bar, Soul Surfer shows us just how courageous and soulful real-life surfer girls can be. Please do not allow Carrie Underwood's cameos to distract you from Soul Surfer's true heroine--Bethany Hamilton, on whose real-life triumph the movie is based. At 13, Bethany Hamilton lost part of her arm to a hungry shark, and her battle for survival garnered world-wide attention. The loss of the arm represents the loss of Bethany's dream: she aspired to a career as a pro surfer, and she had been well on her way. "At low ebb, Bethany discovers no surfing, no self. Travelling with a youth group to Phuket, Thailand, in the wake of the tsunami, Bethany discovers the possibility of making a difference in others' lives, and she pursues recovery and career with new-found purpose and resolve. The results: inspirational drama, and great surfing. In Soul Surfer's climactic scenes, we witness Bethany pushing her physical limits for the sake of inspiring others. In these scenes, we also credit director Sean McNamara with understanding the difference between "homiletic" and inspirational and keeping the most soulful parts of Soul Surfer genuinely tear-worthily inspirational."The Hamilton family collaborated in Soul Surfer's development, adding parts of the story Bethany had felt unwilling or unready to discuss in her autobiography. Welcome (almost) grown-up AnnaSophia Robb, who pours her own heart and soul into her portrayal of Bethany Hamilton. Welcome back Helen Hunt, beautiful and beguiling as ever, and extremely well cast as Bethany's mom. Also welcome back Dennis Quaid, reprising the good dad, and doing it well."