School desegregation reached Boston in 1974. It turned into violent confrontations, especially in South Boston. It was a time of racial animus and tension. It was disruptive to both White and Black families. The Walk, from director Daniel Adams, is a story of two families who are brought together by those events. Bill Coughlin (Justin…
The innocence of childhood may present an opportunity for magic to happen. The openness of a child can allow for things that we might think impossible. If we allow ourselves to be carried along in that openness and innocence, we may find ourselves enchanted by Petite Maman, from C?line Sciamma. [Note: It is impossible to…
Charles Murray?s The Devil You Know openly invokes the biblical story of Cain and Abel to consider what it means to be one?s brother?s keeper. It is the story of a close-knit family that faces being torn apart by the struggle between brothers about truth and secrets. To what extent should family be a trump…
?And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.? (Gen. 4:8 NRSV) It is worth remembering that humankind?s first murder was a family affair. Ridley Scott?s House of Gucci is the newest way of telling the story of a family that destroys itself because of the greed,…
In Jeanette Nordahl?s Wildland, family is the most important thing in life. But is that good? Can a source of love also be a place in which one is broken down? Is the call of family worth giving up one?s sense of right and wrong? And what will we sacrifice to belong? Following the death…
?You don?t have to love me just because I?m dying. But I need to know that you?ll help me.? A diagnosis of terminal cancer inevitably brings upheaval and stress into any family. Hope, Norway?s official Oscar Submission for Best International Feature Film (it made the shortlist, but wasn?t nominated), is an intimate and intense look…
?Where we come from is who we are, but we choose every day who we become.? J. D. Vance?s bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy has been brought to the screen by Ron Howard. The memoir recounted Vance?s childhood in the Ohio Rust Belt, where he was raised by a mother struggling with addiction and his grandparents…
?I?ve got to go to work. I have not got a choice.? We are told that if we work hard, we will find success. For many the ?gig economy? seems to be the way they can take control of their lives and find the financial success they need. Ken Loach?s film Sorry We Missed You…
Dementia can be a nightmare for families. It?s not just watching a loved one becoming lost as their memory deteriorates. It requires making hard choices that can put family members at odds with each other. What They Had is a look inside a family that is struggling to deal with a wife and mother as…
The dynamic of change and lack of change is explored in the family drama Back to Burgundy. It is the story of the reunion of three siblings on their family?s vineyard. There is much that is the same as it has always been, but also much that changes day by day.
