paul2001sw-1

This follow up to the acclaimed documentary 'Leaving Neverland' tells of the fight of the people abused by Michael Jackson for legal justice (that abuse having been the subject of the earlier film). The film is short and doesn't waste time repeating the claims made in the earlier film; it's more of an update for those hoping that after its showing, something would be done. Now justice needs to be timely, but it sometimes seems that with sufficient money, you can basically escape the law simply by fighting on every possible point. One can think about the current U. S. President as one example; and the fact that the case against Jackson's estate will not be held until 2026 while Jackson's music continues to make millions for his heirs is surely a sign that something is wrong with the system. Also, why is it socially more acceptable to be a fan on Michael Jackson than of, say, Gary Glitter? Answers on a postcard...

I don't know the route to a happy Middle East any more than the next person; that it will never be achieved if Israel continues on its current path seems certain. Defenders of the Israeli state dislike the use of the term "settler-colonialism" to describe what has been happening, but it's hard to find an alternative for the bleak reality shown in this film, a collaboration between a Palestinian facing eviction from the family land in the West Bank and a sympathetic Israeli. That collaboration is perhaps the only heartening thing in an otherwise deeply depressing, but important, film. Tellingly, it was all shot before autumn 2023; it's hard to believe that anything has got better since then.

Probably every review of any Wes Anderson film calls it whimsical. In 'The French Dispatch', he satirses both French intellectual culture and upmarket American journalism by imagining a 'New Yorker'-style publication, only operated by expats living in France. As usual, the visuals are stunning, and a lot of cleverness has gone into putting the thing together; but fundamentally, it's a one-note affair, reeking of self-satisfaction amd critically, that one joke is essentially dumb. At one point, the live action is replaced by a cartoon, and I scarecely noticed it had happened. If anything, I found 'The French Dispatch' a little less annoying than his more celebrated movies because of its transparency: the humour may be pretentious, but at least the film itself doesn't pretend to contain anything except for it. And I did like the New Yorker- style magazine covers displayed beside the closing credits.