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What Movie Stars Really Use to Stay Focused — Every Movie Has a Lesson
by Nancy Fernandez

When we think of movie stars, our minds often jump to red carpets, glamorous photoshoots, and perfectly delivered lines on screen. But behind the glitz and glamour lies an intense world of long working hours, demanding roles, and exhausting shoots. Maintaining focus and energy during this chaos isn’t easy—even for the most seasoned actors.

So what really helps them stay sharp and in the zone during a 16-hour day on set? Surprisingly, it’s not all yoga and green juice. Today’s actors are blending traditional wellness with new-age focus tools to keep their edge. Let’s take a look behind the curtain.

The Demands of Filming

Before we dive into what helps them stay focused, it’s important to understand the demands of a film set. Shooting a film often involves waking up before dawn, waiting around for hours between scenes, memorizing pages of dialogue, and switching emotional gears at a moment’s notice. Factor in time zone changes, back-to-back interviews, and the physical toll of action sequences, and you’ve got a recipe for burnout.

That’s why focus, stamina, and mental clarity are critical tools for survival in the film industry. And that’s also why many actors develop personal rituals and tools that help them stay sharp.

Healthy Habits and Routines

Many stars turn to healthy routines to maintain balance and focus during hectic shoots. These include:
- Meditation and Mindfulness: Actors like Hugh Jackman and Zendaya have spoken openly about their use of mindfulness to stay present during intense filming schedules. A few minutes of deep breathing between scenes can make a big difference in maintaining mental clarity.
- Nutritional Support: Meal prepping and maintaining a balanced diet is essential. Many actors travel with personal chefs or meal kits to ensure they’re getting enough protein, healthy fats, and brain-boosting nutrients like omega-3s.
- Sleep Hygiene: Despite their busy schedules, successful actors prioritize sleep whenever possible. They may use blackout curtains, white noise apps, or travel pillows to catch quality rest in trailers, hotel rooms, or on flights.
The Focus Toolkit: Caffeine and Beyond

Of course, coffee remains a go-to for many. But as people become more conscious of caffeine crashes and jitters, there’s been a shift toward alternatives that offer focus without side effects.
- Matcha and Green Tea: Containing L-theanine along with caffeine, these drinks provide a smoother energy lift, which many actors prefer before emotionally intense scenes.
- Adaptogens: Supplements like ashwagandha, Rhodiola rosea, and lion’s mane mushroom have made their way into wellness routines for supporting stress resilience and mental clarity.
- Nicotine Pouches: A growing number of adults, including those in high-performance professions like acting, are turning to nicotine pouches as a discreet and smoke-free way to boost focus. These pouches provide a mild stimulant effect that can help with concentration during long takes or downtime on set. For those who already use nicotine or are looking to transition from smoking, these pouches offer a convenient alternative.
This is also why there has been increased online interest around options to buy snus or other similar tobacco-free nicotine pouch products—especially among those seeking clean, odorless options that won’t interfere with filming environments.

Staying Focused Without Distractions

Film sets can be chaotic. Between the crew moving lights, multiple takes, and last-minute changes in the script, distractions are constant. That’s why some actors work with focus coaches or use cognitive behavioral strategies to keep themselves anchored in the moment.

For example:
- Visualization Techniques: Before shooting a critical scene, actors may close their eyes and visualize every movement and line delivery to prepare themselves mentally.
- Noise-Canceling Headphones: To drown out ambient noise between scenes, many performers use high-end headphones to listen to instrumental music or white noise, helping them stay locked in before filming.
- Digital Detox: Scrolling through social media is a common time-waster. Many actors put their phones on airplane mode or leave them in their trailers to avoid distractions while preparing for intense scenes.
Personal Rituals That Promote Mental Sharpness

Everyone has their own quirks—and Hollywood stars are no different. Some actors swear by certain rituals that help them get in the zone and stay focused:
- Journaling Before a Scene: Writing down their character’s thoughts or emotional state helps actors dive deeper into their roles.
- Chewing Gum or Using Mints: Not just for fresh breath, chewing helps stimulate the brain and maintain alertness.
- Pre-Scene Workouts: A quick burst of movement—jumping jacks, push-ups, or yoga—can enhance circulation and awaken the body before a big moment.
- Essential Oils: Scents like peppermint, rosemary, and eucalyptus have been used by actors as natural focus aids while waiting in trailers or prepping for a shoot.
The Role of Modern Wellness Products

As Hollywood evolves, so do the tools and products its stars rely on. Many are leaning into biohacking and science-backed performance tools, from nootropic supplements to wearable tech that tracks sleep and heart rate variability.

Nicotine pouches, in particular, have quietly gained popularity due to their ease of use and fast-acting effects. Unlike traditional tobacco, these pouches are discreet, smokeless, and don’t carry the same social stigma—making them ideal for use on closed film sets where smoking is prohibited.

Of course, everyone’s focus strategy is personal. What works for one actor may not work for another. The key is finding a system that supports both their mental sharpness and overall well-being without interfering with performance or the environment around them.
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16/07/2025
Friendship review – The Wario to I Love You Man’s…

Making friends is hard. It’s even harder as an adult – while the media laments the ongoing “male loneliness epidemic”, many men and women are still reckoning with hard truths unveiled during the sudden solitude of the Covid pandemic. The destruction of third spaces, widening gaps in lifestyle exacerbated by lack of disposable income and increasingly unsociable working hours, and the increasing inability to detach ourselves from screens have culminated in a cross-generational crisis whereby plenty of adults – from eighteen to eighty – are realising they just…don’t have friends. The protagonist of Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship is one such case: Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) is a marketing executive with a beautiful wife (Kate Mara), nice house and affable teenage son (Jack Dylan Grazer) but no social circle beyond the occupants of his house, who seem distant from him.

This all changes when the Watermans mistakenly receive a package intended for their new neighbour. Craig drops it off and meets Austin: a handsome, charismatic TV weatherman with a fully-realised sense of self. (Naturally he’s played by Paul Rudd.) Craig is instantly smitten, and despite being the new guy, it’s Austin who welcomes his neighbour into his life, showing him his fossil collection, sharing his love of punk music, and confiding that he secretly yearns to do the morning weather instead of occupying the evening slot. A bromance is born – Craig seems to come alive, a better husband and father while basking in Austin’s light. Then a tragic reality comes to light: Craig can’t hang.

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This middle-aged middle American, who wants so desperately to be part of something, moves out of step with his peers. He’s assimilated a personality (liking Marvel movies, making crass jokes often at the expense of his wife) but can’t quite cover up the Travis Bickle-level entitled rot that lurks at his core. He parrots humanity but doesn’t exhibit it. There’s something deeply pathetic about Craig Waterman, but also something unfortunately true. This is Robinson’s great gift as a comedian – those familiar with his Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave will recognise his full-body-cringe-inducing style of comedy, which is, admittedly, something of an acquired taste. (Connor O’Malley, a similar cult breakout, delivers the film’s most baffling, brilliant non-sequitur during his short cameo in the film.) That’s not to say Friendship is punching down; Craig is an entirely ordinary villain who is absolutely convinced he’s the good guy. A nice guy, even. It’s evident from the film’s first scene, where – during her cancer survivors support group – he expresses confusion when his wife admits she hasn’t orgasmed since before treatment. “Plenty of orgasms over here!” he declares cheerily.

The same wildcard energy that made Robinson’s sketch series a cult classic is threaded through Friendship (DeYoung wrote the part with Robinson in mind). There’s a feeling that anything could happen at any moment, a strange pedestrian volatility to Craig that makes him just as likely to stew silently as to blow up in spectacular fashion, and the off-kilter sensation of something being not quite right is exacerbated by Keegan DeWitt’s oscillating score, which ramps up the tension with choral arrangements more typical of a horror film than a comedy. But Friendship arguably is a horror movie, evident in more than just its score and high wire tension between characters. The excruciating act of being vulnerable with another human being and the sweaty discomfort of realising a new friend is a bit off are mundane but relatable terrors, after all.

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16/07/2025
Best Irvine Headshot Companies for Corporate and Personal Pictures — Every Movie Has a Lesson

Your LinkedIn profile gets viewed by a potential client. Your company website showcases the leadership team. You have a chance to speak at an industry conference next month. Three distinct situations demand the same resolution: a polished, professional headshot that is versatile enough to serve in a multitude of venues.

More than ever, it takes a special kind of photographer to get a great headshot in Irvine. The right person understands that the image has to do more than just look good. A headshot has to be a workhorse, representing the client in multiple venues and kinds of usage. This isn’t done just for LinkedIn anymore; a headshot must also look good on company materials, in speaking bios, and even on the most personal kind of branding effort: a website.

Irvine’s business landscape demands this level of versatility. With major corporations, medical centers, and UCI creating a hub of professional activity, your headshot needs to compete in a market where first impressions happen digitally before they happen in person.

The good news? Irvine has photographers who get it. Some focus on high-volume corporate needs with quick turnarounds. Others specialize in luxury branding experiences. A few have carved out niches serving specific industries like medical professionals.

We’ve found three companies that approach professional photography differently, each solving distinct problems for Irvine professionals. Whether you’re managing headshots for a 50-person team or building your personal brand as a thought leader, one of these options will fit your situation and budget.

3 Best Irvine Headshot Companies for You

Studio Pod

This is definitely the winner among Irvine headshot services. Studio Pod flips traditional photography on its head. No photographer, no scheduling conflicts, no waiting weeks for edited photos. Just you, a high-tech booth, and professional results in 15 minutes.

Their automated system uses patented technology that sets up lighting configurations that would take traditional photographers hours to perfect. You walk in, follow the guided prompts, and walk out with 15 professional headshots delivered instantly to your email and phone.

The pricing makes sense for volume needs. Individual sessions start at $50, with professional retouching available for an additional $10. Background swaps cost another $10 if you want to match company branding. For businesses with ongoing headshot needs, their Enterprise Plan at $195/month provides unlimited sessions, perfect for companies with frequent hiring or team updates.

What sets Studio Pod apart is their corporate equipment solutions. They’ll deliver and install pods directly at Irvine offices, handling everything from setup to training. Companies can rent starting at $1,750/month or purchase outright for $33,500. The rental includes unlimited headshots, custom corporate portals, and full tech support.

Their Irvine coverage area puts them within 15-20 minutes of central business districts. They regularly serve UCI, the Irvine Business Complex, and Spectrum Center locations. For corporate events, they bring mobile pods directly to your office or conference venue.

The trade-off is obvious: you’re getting efficiency and consistency over artistic direction. But for LinkedIn profiles, company websites, and internal communications, the quality hits the mark. Their 5.0 rating from over 4,000 reviews suggests most clients are happy with the convenience-quality balance.

Studio Pod works best for companies managing large teams, professionals who need updated headshots regularly, or anyone who values speed and predictable results over a traditional photography experience.

Brystan Studios

Lori Brystan brings 30 years of photography experience to what she calls “modern American portraiture.” This isn’t a quick headshot session, it’s a full branding experience designed for executives and professionals who see their image as a strategic business asset.

Located in Aliso Viejo with Orange County coverage, Brystan Studios offers the complete luxury photography package. You receive professional makeup and hair styling as a standard part of the process. You get wardrobe consultation to assist you in selecting outfits that not only photograph beautifully but are also appropriate for your industry. You are allowed multiple changes of wardrobe so that you can create different looks for different uses.

The studio experience includes custom set design and strategic lighting tailored to your specific needs. Whether you’re building a personal brand as a thought leader or need executive portraits for company materials, Brystan approaches each session with an artistic eye and business understanding.

Their corporate services extend beyond individual headshots. They handle company branding photography, executive portrait sessions, and team photography with attention to consistency and brand alignment. The professional direction and posing coaching helps camera-shy executives feel comfortable and look natural.

For personal branding, Brystan Studios creates imagery optimized for LinkedIn, speaker bios, and industry publications. They understand how different platforms use photos and can guide wardrobe and styling choices accordingly.

The investment reflects the service level. While specific pricing isn’t published, expect to pay premium rates for the full-service experience. This positions Brystan Studios for professionals where image quality directly impacts business development—think C-suite executives, high-end consultants, or professionals building thought leadership platforms.

The artistic approach means longer sessions and more collaborative planning. If you need headshots for 20 team members by next week, this isn’t your solution. But if you’re investing in professional imagery that needs to work across multiple high-stakes applications, the attention to detail pays off.

Bizphotographer

Since 2014, Bizphotographer has built a reputation serving Irvine’s professional community from their Venture Drive location. They’ve found their sweet spot serving medical professionals, corporate teams, and international professionals with specific photography requirements.

Their medical specialty sets them apart in Orange County. They understand ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) requirements for medical residency applications, handling the technical specifications that can make or break an application. Medical residents and practicing physicians rely on them for headshots that meet strict professional standards.

The corporate headshot services cover standard business needs, company websites, LinkedIn profiles, and professional marketing materials. Their indoor studio environment provides consistent lighting and professional backgrounds, with quick turnaround times that work for business schedules.

What makes Bizphotographer practical for international professionals is their passport and visa photography services. They handle the technical requirements for official documents while maintaining the quality standards needed for professional use. It’s a unique combination that serves Irvine’s diverse professional population.

Being situated at 4 Venture #215 places them in the very nucleus of Irvine’s business sector. It puts them right where Irvine’s corporate clientele and UCI-associated professionals conduct their business. Having been in that bull’s-eye since 2014 means they’ve not only penetrated local business culture but also the professional standards of the entities that inhabit it.
The method employed here is totally different. This one focuses on the kind of artistic interpretation that allows for very efficacious results without requiring compliance.

Instead of being direct and dominant, the service allows for some give and take, and it focuses on effective execution not with a straight line but with curves that make the whole process very enjoyable for the client.

Prices seem to be in the mid-range, although specific rates are not advertised. The value proposition is based on a few key elements. One is the specialized knowledge that the company says it brings to the table, especially for medical professionals. Also emphasized is the reliable service that it provides for run-of-the-mill corporate tasks.

Aligning Your Professional Image with Company Culture

Begin your headshot approach by understanding your company’s presentation. A tech startup’s casual-professional energy calls for different dressing than a financial services firm’s formal approach. Looking sharp in a headshot can mean many different things. You want to fit your industry’s look without crossing over into any unintended styles.

In team photography, consistency is more important than individual choice. When the team that runs your company appears on the company website, it makes a similar lighting, background, and styling set a much more cohesive brand impression. This doesn’t mean that the co-founders shot with the same exact pose, but it also doesn’t mean that they shot with any old lighting or styling, either.

Think about the particular needs of your sector. A picture of a medical specialist will need to project competence and trust. A photo of a real estate agent will need to project approachability and confidence. A tech executive can, and often does, project a somewhat more casual style while still looking professional.

The return on investment for having a professional headshot taken is not just about looking good. LinkedIn profiles that have a professional photo see 21 times more profile views and 36 times more messages than those that don’t. For sales professionals and business development roles, this is a direct line to lead generation.

Budget assignment should depend on the amount of use. If your visage is an appearance on company materials, speaking bios, and marketing collateral, plowing money into higher-end photography seems to make perfect financial sense. For internal directories or basic LinkedIn presence, mid-range options seem to provide adequate quality.

Beyond the Corporate Headshot: Building Your Professional Identity

Your professional image extends beyond company requirements. Personal branding through photography helps establish thought leadership, speaking opportunities, and industry recognition. The goal is creating imagery that works for corporate needs while supporting your individual professional goals.

LinkedIn optimization requires understanding how the platform displays photos. Square crops work better than rectangular images. Professional but approachable expressions perform better than overly formal poses. The background should be clean without being sterile.

Photographing engagements where people speak requires the conveyance of authority and expertise. High-resolution headshots are often requested by conference organizers for use in their promotional materials. Being primed with professional options readies you for opportunities that demand swift responses.

Industry thought leadership benefits from consistent visual branding across platforms. Your headshot should work on LinkedIn, company websites, article bylines, and conference materials. This consistency helps build recognition and professional credibility over time.

Multi-platform strategy means thinking beyond the single perfect photo. Having several professional options, different expressions, backgrounds, or styling, gives you flexibility for different applications without requiring new photography sessions.

Investment Considerations for Professional Photography

Choosing the right Irvine headshot company depends on matching your specific needs with their service approach. Budget considerations should include not just session fees but also time investment and usage requirements.

Studio Pod makes sense for volume needs, quick turnarounds, and budget-conscious decisions. The automated approach delivers consistent quality without scheduling complexity. Corporate clients benefit from predictable pricing and unlimited options.

Brystan Studios serves professionals where image quality directly impacts business development. The investment reflects comprehensive service and artistic expertise. This works for executives, thought leaders, and professionals building premium personal brands.

Bizphotographer offers specialized knowledge for medical professionals and practical solutions for standard corporate needs. Their established Irvine presence and industry-specific expertise provide reliable service for professionals with specific requirements.

Questions to ask before booking: What’s included in the base package? Are retouching services available? What’s the typical turnaround time? Do they offer on-location services for team photography? What file formats and usage rights come with your session?

Timeline planning matters for corporate photography. Large teams need coordination and scheduling flexibility. Individual sessions can often accommodate shorter notice, but specialized services may require advance booking.

Making Your Professional Photography Investment Count

Each of these Irvine headshot companies solves different problems for different professionals. Studio Pod delivers efficiency and consistency for volume needs. Brystan Studios provides luxury branding experiences for image-conscious executives. Bizphotographer offers specialized expertise for medical professionals and practical solutions for corporate teams.

Your choice should align with how you’ll use the photos, your timeline requirements, and your budget reality. A $50 automated session might be perfect for LinkedIn updates, while a $500 branding experience makes sense for thought leadership positioning.

The best headshot investment is one that works across multiple applications, corporate materials, personal branding, and professional development opportunities. In Irvine’s competitive business environment, professional photography isn’t just about looking good. It’s about positioning yourself and your company for the opportunities that matter most.

Think about your work objectives, figure out what you need, and pick the professional who gets both your field and your particular demands. Actively looking for a job or not, your headshot serves an essential role in your professional life. Make it work for you.

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16/07/2025
A report from the bleeding edge of non-fiction…

Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz has a diary entry that I think about frequently – one of my favorites in literature. On a Wednesday in 1953, pertaining to a peculiar curiosity he felt developing, Gombrowicz asks: “Around the corner… what will be there? A man? A dog? If it is a dog, what size of dog? What breed? I am sitting at the table and soon from now a soup will appear… but what soup?”. He adds: “This fundamental experience has to this day not been adequately studied by art”. This was, of course, several decades before the CNFW, but it was meaningful for me to recognise, guided by the festival’s programme, just how filming one’s life or endeavour can propose to resolve the phenomenon described by Gombrowicz, that assignment of meaning to the void of possibility.

That’s what happens in the 2004 film Kings & Extras: Digging for a Palestinian Image by Azza El-Hassan who asks in Jordan, in Syria and in Lebanon, “Where is the missing archive?”, referring to the films in the PLO Media Unit that went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. The material is not present, so the film is built around this negative space.

It’s what happens in MS Slavic 7 by Sofia Bohdanowicz and Deragh Campbell, where we follow Audrey, an amalgam of the two directors, as she investigates the letters between her great-grandmother, Zofia Bohdanowiczowa, and fellow Polish poet Józef Wittlin. Like Gombrowicz, Zofia and Józef were also displaced by WW2. Here the box of letters is present, but the material is impassive and monolithic: the filmmakers attempt to find its meaning.

In Shared Resources, the 1PM Sunday screening, filmmaker Jordan Lord procures meaning in their parents’ domestic life, health and financial debt, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina still a stark piece of the past. The film is brilliant. Lord and their parents narrate, comment and discuss over the footage and after the fact, often describing things so minute as hand or face movements, building something like a painting or diorama of their relationship, every detail recognized and cared for as a family.

Finally, L.A. based filmmaker Julian Castronovo offered a wholly different approach in his fascinating film Debut, or, Objects of the Field of Debris as Currently Catalogued, also a UK Première. It’s a dense, thrilling, slightly terrifying autofiction about a missing filmmaker called Julian Castronovo and his attempt to locate an enigmatic art forger known as Fawn Ma. The film is peppered with meta-commentary, as the protagonist is struggling to find financing for his first feature, and Castronovo has some pretty amazing answers to my questions, claiming that the things he made happen to his character “demanded that a film was made about them”. A clear budding master of the personal film, he equates his method to existence in society; pretending to be a given person has always been a fundamental approach to being that given person.

Things got intensely meta as the festival team themselves appeared to grapple hands-on with these notions, in recursive fashion. At a certain point there was an impromptu showing of personal documentaries that Smith, Ipakchi, and Technical Director Nick Bush filmed about their friendship during the Caveh Zahedi UK Tour they organized this past March, as well as short films made by applicants of the workshop they hosted then. After watching the pieces, a kind of personal-life Q&A slash group therapy session with the co-directors ensued – I remember thinking, can other festivals claim that they have something like this?

We vacate the mysteriously furnished room and the organization resets the placement of things. A single rug lies on the floor. This is the setup for the CNFW’s final surprise: a work-in-progress, brand-new interactive piece by film editor Joe Bini (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, You Were Never Really Here, and 27 films with Werner Herzog). A tablet is set up on a table, and I pick it up for reading. One-person only, this session. It gets really peaceful. A narrator in the book begins to describe a scene in San Francisco. At a certain point, things move to a TV, as I am seeing on screen the results of what I have been imagining. I faintly hear Howard Shore through the basement walls. It’s David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds playing in the other room: the festival’s stay at the Rio is coming to an end.

Bini’s piece is around 45 minutes long. It’s about the interpolating psychologies of being an author and being a reader. We have tea the following morning at the Bar Italia in Soho: this is not autofiction – it really happened. The weekend is over, and the effects of CNFW’s dedication to its world are beginning to be felt; everyone who came out for the festival is already reaping the rewards of a grassroots programme truly dedicated to its craft and audience. If a voiceover played somewhere at that point it would be about my return, camera in hand and all, coming to document the documenters in whatever plans they had next.

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15/07/2025
Harvest review – remarkably compelling work

As much as British cinema loves a period drama, for whatever reason the trials and tribulations of peasants get a lot less screentime than the aristocracy. In fact, probably the most insightful piece of media created around the pre-industrial working class is the Constitutional Peasants scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where King Arthur argues with local serf Dennis about the “anarcho-syndicalist commune” to which he belongs. Dennis would likely have some choice words about the happenings in the remote Scottish hamlet where Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest takes place, as hundreds of years of humble farming are threatened by the unexpected arrival of a mysterious mapmaker.

The local folk are naturally suspicious of outsiders, and after a barn is set on fire, they capture a trio of strangers, stringing the men up in the stocks and cutting off the hair of the woman, who flees into the surrounding forest. Walter Thirsk (Caleb Landry Jones) looks on with his piercing blue eyes; he’s a man of few words, but nothing much escapes his gaze. Walter knows the lands like the back of his hand, having lived there his whole life, but not always among the peasants who work the land. Once the direct employee of the benevolent but meek Master Kent (Harry Melling), Walter gave up his comfortable life when he fell in love and chose to work the land with his wife, until she passed away, leaving him alone and melancholy. His joy comes now from the natural world; in the film’s gorgeous opening sequence, he is seen roaming the wild fields, pausing to gently admire a butterfly upon his hand.

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Walter favours a simple life, but he is decidedly not a simple man; when Kent introduces him to the talented mapmaker Philip Earle (Arinzé Kene) who is to complete a surveyance of the land, Walter regards him with a degree of suspicion. He is well aware that change need not be for the better, and despite how charming Earle is, immediately enamoured of the beauty of the countryside, Walt is right to be suspicious. Several days later, Kent’s decidedly less agreeable kinsman Edmund Jordan (Frank Dillane) arrives with grand plans to turn the land into sheep pastures, signalling the end of Walt’s rural idyll, and the beginning of rising tensions between the serfs and the gentry.

The most impressive aspect of Harvest is Sean Price Williams’ stunning cinematography, which does justice to the rugged beauty of the Scottish coast, capturing every blade of grass and patch of claggy mud in arresting detail. Williams, a mainstay of the hallowed New York indie scene, is every bit as skilled at capturing the blazing sunset of 18^th-century Scotland as he is the gritty streets of the Big Apple, and great thought has been put into the sensory aspects of Harvest, from its sound design that emphasises the howling wind, the lazy buzz of bountiful insects and, of course, the jubilant celebrations that come with the event which gives the film its name.

In 2023’s Venice Film Festival, Landry Jones debuted his Scottish accent, remaining “in character” throughout the press conference for Luc Besson’s Dogman. The dedication has mostly paid off, although he does sometimes slide towards Irish – Walt is a softer character than he typically gets to play, an almost monastic figure as he endures both the ire of his peers and the sneering new overseer, seemingly with no way out of his difficult lot in life. Walt’s persistent inaction and hesitation indicate his reluctance to lead, and the man is most comfortable when roaming the wilderness, but his community looks to him for leadership and Edmund Jordan expects him to toe the line.

Perhaps the inferno which opens the film is an omen, the black smoke billowing into the sky like a signal fire, a warning of carnage yet to come. The kinship that develops between Philip Earle and Walt is the core of the film and perhaps its most tragic element, as they are good men placed in unfortunate positions. Yet sometimes the film’s subtlety is obfuscating, and Harvest could delve more into the almost instantaneous racism Earle faces as a Black man in an all-white community – his character suffers the most, and the film doesn’t have much interest in interrogating how systematic racism has its roots in early capitalism.

It’s a tragic film, but never a melodramatic one – tensions build slowly, and although the sense of impending collapse is present from the start, Tsangari’s sharp sensibilities compensate for any predictability, with the key performances of Landry Jones, Kene and Melling standing out (Melling, it must be said, it’s perhaps England’s greatest hope for the future of character acting, always a delight when he turns up in a part) and providing Harvest’s emotional heft. Those hoping for the satire of Chevalier or absurdism of Attenberg might be surprised by the solemn straight-forwardness of Harvest, but it’s a remarkably compelling work (and even sometimes a funny one!) that mourns a land lost, crushed underfoot by rot that masquerades as progress.

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15/07/2025
Scholars’ Spotlight: Claudia Cardinale – Cinema Scholars

Early Years

Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale in La Goulette, French Tunisia, on April 15, 1938, to Sicilian parents. Growing up, she was trilingual, mastering French, Sicilian, and Arabic. Cardinale was educated at the Saint-Joseph-de-l’Apparition School of Carthage. She then studied at the Paul Cambon School, where she graduated intending to become a schoolteacher.

Modeling and Acting in the 1950s

In 1956, a Brigitte Bardot-obsessed Cardinale appeared in a short feature, Anneaux d’or, by French director René Vautier. This turned Cardinale into a local celebrity in French Tunisia. The following year, she won the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia” contest. This, in turn, earned her a trip to the Venice Film Festival as 1st prize.

In Venice, several producers were interested in her shooting a screen test for them in Rome. The results of these tests weren’t good, as they felt she was incapable of giving a credible acting performance. Discouraged, she returned to Tunisia. In 1958, she appeared in Goha with Omar Sharif, which was her first appearance in a feature film. The producers of this picture wanted an actress from Tunisia specifically to play opposite Shariff.

Claudia Cardinale stars in “Upstairs Downstairs” (1959). Photo courtesy of The Rank Organisation.

Soon after, Cardinale discovered that she was pregnant. She decided to keep the child, and soon she signed a seven-year exclusive contract with Italian producer Franco Cristaldi’s production company, Vides.

Cardinale filmed two movies while secretly pregnant: Big Deal On Madonna Street and Three Strangers In Rome. She then traveled to England to give birth to her son, who would be raised by her parents, as her brother. As the decade came to a close, Cardinale appeared in a few more movies. However, nothing she appeared in was very notable. Yet, in the next decade, the actress would appear in some of the most acclaimed and most famous movies of all time.

Breakout in the 1960s

The 1960s began with Cardinale working with Italian director Mauro Bologini in Il bell’ bell’Antonio. She would collaborate with the director several times over the next few years. Cardinale would also star in several European movies, including Cartouche, Napoleone ad Austerlitz, and Time of Indifference.

Tony Curtis and Claudia Cardinale on the set of “Don’t Make Waves” (1967). Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Her breakthrough year would come in 1963. First, she would star opposite Burt Lancaster in The Leopard, as well as a memorable appearance in Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2. These acclaimed movies were filmed simultaneously, with Cardinale bouncing between the strict, disciplined set of The Leopard to the chaotic and improvisational set of 8 1/2. These two films would be the first in which her voice was not dubbed.

Next, Cardinale would appear in The Pink Panther (1963), which starred David Niven and Peter Sellers, and Time of Indifference (1964), with Rod Steiger and Shelley Winters. After the completion of the latter, she would begin to star in Hollywood movies.

Hollywood Years

From 1964 to 1967, Cardinale would appear in several American movies. She took the risk of not signing an exclusive contract, which was being offered by Universal.

“…I took care of my own interests, blankly refusing to sign an exclusive contract with Universal Studios. I Only signed for individual films. In the end, everything worked out fine for me…”

– Claudia Cardinale

Sergio Leone and Claudia Cardinale on the set of “Once Upon A Time In The West” (1968). Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

The first of her Hollywood movies was Circus World, which starred Rita Hayworth and John Wayne. She also starred in Blindfold with Rock Hudson. Cardinale and Hudson would subsequently become the closest of friends.

Next, Cardinale appeared with Anthony Quinn in Lost Command, which she followed up with her best American movie, The Professionals – a Western that also starred Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, and re-teamed the actress with Burt Lancaster. After starring in the critically panned comedy Don’t Make Waves with Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate, she returned to Italy. During her time in Hollywood, she became friends with Steve McQueen, Barbara Streisand, and her then-husband Elliot Gould.

End of the ’60s

In 1967, she married Italian director Franco Cristaldi in Atlanta; however, the marriage was never made official in Italy, and so it wasn’t legally binding. Cardinale and Crisaldi would eventually split up, ending their marriage in 1975.

The following year, Cardinale appeared in The Day of the Owl, in which she won the David Di Donatello Award for Best Actress. She followed this up with the Italian comedy A Fine Pair, which co-starred her friend from Hollywood, Rock Hudson. Next, Cardinale would appear in Sergio Leone’s classic Western Once Upon a Time in the West, co-starring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson. The actress would end the greatest decade of her career playing opposite Sean Connery in The Red Tent.

Claudia Cardinale stars in “A Girl in Australia” (1971). Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

Later Years

Claudia Cardinale has had a steady acting career from the 1970s through today, most recently appearing in a 2020 Swiss mini-series, Bulle, as well as the French Netflix movie Rogue City, released that same year.

“Usually, you live only one life but I have lived 154 lives.”

– Claudia Cardinale

Her work during these several decades has predominantly been in Europe. Other notable roles over the years include 1971’s The Legend of Frenchie King with Brigitte Bardot and 2010’s Signora Enrica, for which she won the Golden Orange Best Actress Award at the 47th Antalya International Film Festival.

Cardinale lived with Italian film director Pasquale Squitieri from 1975 until he died in 2017. Still going strong at 87, Cardinale currently resides in Paris. Since 2000, she has been a UNESCO goodwill ambassador for the Defence of Women’s Rights and is an outspoken supporter of both women’s and gay rights.

If You Enjoyed This Article, We Recommend:

Scholars’ Spotlight: Brigitte Bardot (Click Here)

Scholars’ Spotlight: Sharon Tate (Click Here)

Scholars’ Spotlight: Bond Girls – Part 1 (Click Here)

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15/07/2025
When the Orchestra Becomes the Narrator — Every Movie Has a Lesson
Imagine sitting in a grand hall as the lights dim and the opening scene of a beloved film flickers to life on a giant screen. Suddenly, a live orchestra strikes the first note of the score in perfect sync with the action. In that moment, the music isn’t just background sound – it’s telling the story right alongside the characters. Welcome to the world of live film concerts, where the orchestra becomes the narrator of the cinematic tale. Music has long been “the emotional backbone of any film,” amplifying each scene’s drama, romance, or suspense. Now, audiences are discovering that experiencing those melodies performed live can transform a familiar movie into something profoundly new.

A Tradition Reborn in Symphony Halls

This fusion of cinema and concert hall might sound like a novel trend, but it actually revives a tradition as old as movies themselves. In the silent film era, before movies had recorded dialogue or sound, theaters hired pianists, organists, even full orchestras to “give voice” to the on-screen story. Back then, music literally narrated the film’s emotions and action. Today’s live film concerts carry that legacy forward using modern technology: the film plays with dialogue and effects, but the musical score is performed live by an orchestra, synced meticulously to each scene.

What started as a niche experiment has now “become a global phenomenon,” embraced by major orchestras around the world. From Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings, screenings with live orchestras routinely sell out concert halls. Far from just a gimmick, these events have given a boost to symphonies by drawing in new audiences. “Every orchestra is participating in these programs… a tremendous way to engage new fans,” notes composer-conductor David Newman, a pioneer of the format. In other words, film concerts are a win-win: movie lovers get to hear their favorite scores in full fidelity, and orchestras get to showcase their art to a broader, often younger crowd.

Music as Storyteller: The Power of Live Soundtrack

Why is hearing a film score live so impactful? For one, film music has always told a story in its own right – sometimes more than we realize. As David Newman explains, a movie’s score “tells the story in a different language, a language we all intuitively understand”. The swelling strings, triumphant brass, or haunting choir inform our emotions moment by moment, essentially narrating what the characters feel when no words are spoken. When those musical storytellers are performing live in front of us, their narrative power is at its peak.

According to conductor Anthony Parnther, experiencing a score live is “a whole different element that you just don’t get in a theatre” with the standard recorded soundtrack. The synergy of live musicians with on-screen drama creates an immediacy and energy that even the best surround-sound system can’t replicate. Below are a few key ways this live orchestra experience can reshape how we perceive a film:
- Emotional Amplification: In a concert hall, you don’t just hear the music – you feel it. The vibrations of a live orchestra can literally move through your body, intensifying the emotional highs and lows of the story. A tense chase feels more urgent with the orchestra racing along, and a poignant farewell can draw tears when the strings cry out in real time.
- New Dimensions to the Story: Live music can reveal details in the score that might have been missed before. You begin to notice musical motifs tied to characters and themes, and how they recur to foreshadow events or recall memories. Audiences often find that the live music adds a new dimension to a beloved story they thought they knew by heart. By watching the orchestra, you might even catch which instrument carries a melody at a crucial moment, gaining fresh appreciation for the composer’s craft.
- Shared Experience and Energy: Unlike a typical night at the movies, film concerts are communal and interactive. You’re enjoying the film with an audience of fellow fans and an entire orchestra on stage. The crowd might cheer when Indiana Jones heroically swings into action, laugh at a witty line, or boo when a villain like Snape appears – all spontaneous reactions that feed the excitement. Some superfans even attend in cosplay or dress up to match the movie’s theme, turning the event into a celebration. This lively atmosphere transforms movie-watching into a collective adventure, where everyone is tuned in to the musical storytelling together.
All of these elements deepen our engagement with the film. The live orchestra doesn’t replace the on-screen narrative; it enhances it, guiding our hearts through the journey in a way that feels immediate and alive.

Barbie The Movie: In Concert – A Soundtrack Spectacle

One of the most talked-about new film concert events brings Barbie from the big screen to the stage in style. Barbie The Movie: In Concert invites fans to re-enter the vibrant world of Barbie (2023) with a unique twist: an all-female ensemble called the Barbie Land Sinfonietta performs the film’s music live as the movie plays. The record-breaking blockbuster’s score and its pop hits are all delivered by this orchestra in real time – from the sweeping instrumental themes to the catchy songs that had everyone dancing last summer. This means you might hear a rich string arrangement of Billie Eilish’s soulful ballad or a powerhouse orchestral rendition of “Dance the Night” as Barbie and Ken dazzle on screen.

What does this hybrid experience achieve? For one, it turns a film known for its music into an even more immersive concert-like party. The audience isn’t just watching Barbie and Ken’s adventure; they’re also responding to the groove of a live band, effectively living in Barbie Land for the night. Hearing those familiar songs backed by a full orchestra can send chills down your spine one moment and get your toes tapping the next. It highlights the emotional beats of the story – the wonder, the humor, the girl-power triumphs – by letting the music lead the celebration. Barbie The Movie: In Concert exemplifies how a live orchestra can narrate a modern film’s story in a fresh way, elevating its most memorable moments through sound. And judging by the enthusiastic multi-generational audiences (little kids in pink dresses and nostalgic adults alike), it succeeds in deepening fans’ connection to a film they already love, making the experience feel brand new.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Magic of Stage and Score

Meanwhile, on the theatrical side, the world of Harry Potter has found a different kind of live storytelling magic. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not a film concert but a Tony Award-winning stage play – yet it deserves a spot in this conversation for how it uses live performance and music to expand a beloved narrative. As a sequel to J.K. Rowling’s saga set years after the books, Cursed Child has been enchanting audiences in London, New York, and beyond. The show became a phenomenon in its own right, winning a record-breaking nine Olivier Awards in London and selling out shows internationally. Part of its spell comes from the staging and special effects (you’ll swear you’ve seen real magic happen live), but another powerful ingredient is the original score and sound design that accompany the drama.

Unlike film-to-concert events that bring familiar movie music to life, Cursed Child does the opposite – it introduces an entirely new musical experience for the Harry Potter universe. In fact, the play’s creators intentionally avoided using John Williams’ iconic movie themes. Composer Imogen Heap crafted a modern, otherworldly soundscape from scratch, aiming to distinguish the stage experience from the films. They “didn’t want any reference to the music in the films” so that the play would offer “a completely different experience,” Heap has explained. This bold choice means that as an audience member, you aren’t triggered to simply recall the movie scenes; instead, you’re drawn into uncharted emotional territory with Harry, Hermione, and their children. The music, whether it’s a subtle ambient hum or a swelling motif in a duel scene, becomes an unseen character on stage – guiding your feelings and building suspense just as a traditional narrator might, but through melody and rhythm.

The result is an even deeper engagement with the story. Without the comfort of the old film score, viewers find themselves leaning in, hanging on the new notes to sense the mood. Every flourish in the orchestra pit (or from the speakers in the auditorium) is telling part of the tale – from the nostalgic warmth of returning to Hogwarts, to the eerie tension of dark magic unfolding. By the end of Cursed Child, many fans report that they have not only witnessed a thrilling new chapter of the Potter story, but also gained a richer appreciation for how sound shapes the experience of storytelling. It’s a testament to what live music and theater can do: reshape our perception of a world we thought we knew, making the magic feel as real as ever.

Bringing the Magic to the Audience

As these hybrid film-concert and stage experiences grow in popularity, fans have more opportunities than ever to step into these story worlds. Securing a ticket to a high-demand show, however, can sometimes feel like its own adventure. This is where having a reliable, transparent source for tickets matters. Platforms like tickethold make it easier to find and book seats for special events – whether you’re chasing the next big concert tickets in your city or a must-see theater tickets production. With a user-friendly interface and clear pricing (no hidden sorcery or surprise fees), tickethold allows you to focus on anticipating the experience itself. For shows like Barbie The Movie: In Concert or Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, knowing you have your tickets secured through a trusted outlet means you can sit back and look forward to the moment the orchestra tunes up or the curtain rises – the moment the magic truly begins.

(Above: Reliable ticket platforms ensure you’re all set for the show, so you can immerse yourself in the experience when the time comes.)

The Lasting Echo: Sound, Memory, and Meaning

When the final triumphant chord echoes and the screen fades to black, you may find that a live film concert or theatrical performance lingers in your heart far longer than a typical trip to the movies. The reason is simple: you haven’t just watched a story, you’ve felt it unfold through music. The orchestra’s narration – those lush strings, bold brass, and ethereal choral notes – etches the emotions of each scene into your memory. In the hush that follows the encore, we’re left reflecting on just how profoundly sound shapes our memories and the meaning we draw from them.

Think about it: would the **shark in **Jaws strike the same fear without John Williams’ two-note motif? Would the triumph of your favorite hero feel as sweet without the swell of an orchestra behind it? Live concerts like these remind us that music and story are inextricably linked. They invite us to cherish not just what we see on screen, but what we hear and feel in the experience.

So next time you find yourself humming a film tune on the way home – heart still thumping from the excitement of a live crescendo – take a moment to ponder the lesson in that melody. Why did that particular swell of sound move you? How has it colored your memory of the story? In this thoughtful pause, every movie becomes a lesson and every concert a classroom, teaching us to listen closely to the narratives that live in the music. The orchestra has spoken; now it’s our turn to reflect on what its story means to us.

Let the music play on in your mind, and you’ll discover that the notes of these experiences continue to shape your memories, long after the final bow. ?
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14/07/2025
Long Hot Summer: The mythos of the pool on screen

Later on, we see Ned teaching a little boy to swim in an empty pool, the water having been drained over safety concerns. Upon witnessing the boy’s skepticism, Neddy says, “If you make believe hard enough that something is true, then it is true for you,” because, “when I was a kid people used to believe in things.” This scene effectively summarises Neddy’s own delusion, with his attempts to revert to a state of childhood innocence shattered in the film’s final pool scene. Unlike Odysseus, Ned’s ending is not one of triumph. For the first time, we see him outside of the pool setting; having finally reached his own home, he finds the property overgrown with weeds, the tennis court unusable, and his family long gone. Back on dry land, Neddy’s childish illusion and dream of his “all-American family” is no longer contained in a pool-shaped fantasy.

If The Swimmer is considered the pinnacle of the swimming pool canon, then 1967’s The Graduate is a worthy companion. The film follows Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), who has just graduated from university. Upon moving back into his parents’ house, as he desperately tries to figure out what he wants to do with his life, he soon finds himself pulled into an affair with bored housewife Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft).

Benjamin’s feelings of uncertainty and loss of freedom are best summarised in an extended sequence depicting a bronzed Benjamin floating at the bottom of a pool after being forced into a scuba suit on his birthday for the amusement of his parents and their friends. By shooting the scene from Benjamin’s submerged perspective – through narrow goggles, completely surrounded by water – director Mike Nichols invites us to view the world as Benjamin does. The camera pans to take in the suffocating blue abyss, emphasising Benjamin’s feelings of isolation in his own home.

In this moment, the film also masterfully utilises sound, with the only noise being Benjamin’s exaggerated breathing as he drowns out the sound of the party and therefore the expectations and responsibilities of adulthood. Later, we see Benjamin lounging on a lilo, after sleeping with Mrs Robinson for the first time. He remarks to his father upon his questions about whether he will be attending graduate school, that “it’s very comfortable just to drift here”, perfectly summarising his feelings towards this shift. Lying on the lilo, he doesn’t have to choose between swimming or not swimming; the pool is a liminal space representing his awkward transition from boy to man.

Elsewhere, Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 road movie Y tu mamá también, charts the transition of late teenagers with similar intensity, at a time of sociopolitical upheaval in Mexico. In a recent interview with Movie Maker, Cuarón revealed the film’s intrinsic link to youth: “For us, this movie is about identity. Two young men seeking their identity as adults…together with that is an observation of a country that in our opinion is a teenage country looking for its identity as a grown-up country.”

Both Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) have finished school and are seduced by the allure of being by the water during the long hot days of summer, free from their highschool girlfriends and as fluid as the element they inhabit. In a demonstration of their infantile energy, we see these two boys compete against each other in swimming and masturbating contests in the Olympic-size pool at the country club where Tenoch’s father is a member, while fantasising about Salma Hayek and Luisa (Maribel Verdú), “la españolita”, the wife of Tenoch’s cousin. A high-angle long shot shows the boys side by side lying on adjacent springboards, engaged in simultaneous masturbation, before an underwater shot shows a squirt of semen entering the water, foreshadowing their journey of sexual discovery.

As their relationship with Luisa intensifies, the boys once again swim together, this time in a distinctly less well-kept motel pool overflowing with leaves. This change in setting embodies the boy’s evolving relationship, which is now entirely symbolic of their competition for Luisa’s affection. Julio has seen Tenoch and Luisa having sex and walks out to sit at the edge of the pool. The narrator says that Julio has only ever felt anger like this when he saw his mother with a man when he was a child. Instead of talking, they decide to race again. A victorious Julio reveals that he slept with Tenoch’s girlfriend; the narrator states that Tenoch had only ever felt like that when, as a child, he read an article about his father selling contaminated corn to the poor. It is critical that the boys’ ambivalent relationship with one another is backdropped by swimming pools because it allows us to understand how they each construct their concept of sexual identity in relation to their own youthful experiences. They are not yet mature enough to express certain emotions which continue to bubble under the surface.

At the end of the film, a significant shift occurs when the constrictive, self-contained pool is exchanged for the vast expanse and unknown of the ocean. Choosing to stay in rural Mexico alone, Luisa submerges herself in the ocean, and so enacts a kind of symbolic death. Tenoch and Julio were drawn to Luisa just as they are drawn to water, yet their eventual return home signals their acceptance of meeting their parents’ expectations. As both the boys and country open themselves to the unknown, Cuarón leaves us with a final message: “Life is like the surf. Give yourself away like the sea.”

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14/07/2025
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele review Disapproving Swede Great
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele) is the latest film directed by Kirill Serebrennikov. The director has become a staple at the Cannes Film Festival, with his last five films being presented there, including the previous four that competed for the Palme d’Or, among them Tchaikovsky’s Wife and Limonov: The Ballad. Surprisingly enough, the new work only made it to Cannes Première. Given its compelling narrative, visual flair, and other qualities, the story about the “Angel of Death” would have placed it in the higher echelon among the competition films. The film is an adaptation of a non-fiction novel by Olivier Guez, published in 2017, which won the Prix Renaudot.

The opening scene, set in 2023, depicts medical students analysing Josef Mengele’s skeleton. From there, the film follows Josef Mengele (August Diehl) as he evades justice after World War II, starting with his 1949 escape from Europe through the “ratlines”—networks of Nazi supporters and Catholic clergy aiding war criminals. Spanning three decades, the narrative highlights pivotal stages of his fugitive life in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil, culminating in his 1979 drowning. The film employs a jigsaw narrative structure, effectively juggling timelines and locations. One thread follows Mengele’s son, Rolf (Max Bretschneider), as he travels to São Paulo in 1977.

The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

August Diehl in The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.

A Hidden Life of a different kind

The framing to present times might make the film sound like The Secret Agent. However, very little unites the two films, apart from their respective cinematic mastery. Serebrennikov has reunited with Vladislav Opelyants, and the stark, monochrome images, combined with his signature long takes, create a spellbinding effect. A much-discussed colour sequence is bound to be divisive, but it provides context in a manner that is less obvious than it might appear to be. August Diehl played a decisively different character in Terrence Malick’s masterful A Hidden Life (2019), and he is a towering presence in this role, bringing the proper qualities to the part. The Disappearance of Josef Mengele offers an impressively objective view of its main character.

However, that kind of perception doesn’t impress everyone. A bizarre, emotional review (I use the term loosely) in The Hollywood Reporter by someone called Jordan Mintzer, already in the first paragraph, spouts the question, “Why am I watching this?” Even more incomprehensibly, he claims that the film embellishes Mengele’s ignoble reputation. This is yet another sad yet illuminating example of what passes for film criticism nowadays. In my Sound of Falling review, I mentioned the podcast from an outlet that used to be one of the best in the world, but now has been toppled by DEI hiring. The THR review also rehashes the tired thought that “fascism is on the rise” today.

The titular character is caught from behind in The Disappearance of Josef Mengele.

The host of the aforementioned podcast initially sat down at my table. While trying to discuss the film, I posited that the cinematic aspects alone would make Sound of Falling worthwhile. The notion was harshly dismissed with the comment, “How would cinematic expression be enough?” Meanwhile, she refuted the notion that she was looking for a straight-out statement, even though that was literally what she said.

A comparison between The Disappearance of Josef Mengele and The Zone of Interest clearly results in the former’s favour. Not only because Ilya Demutsky’s score is vastly superior to Mica Levi’s soundscape, but more crucially, for the intellectual rigour missing in Glazer’s film, which clearly bit off more than it could chew.

Whether Mengele is hiding at a farm protected by a Hungarian couple or outsmarting people trying to catch him to bring him to justice, he is always a mesmerising personality, and even his most egregious statements manage to make a certain sense. The producer, Felix von Boehm, noted in a press release that the film aims to “precisely depict ideological narrowness”. That is, unfortunately, all too topical today and clearly visible in current conflicts, where people struggle to distinguish between democracy and dictatorship. With that in mind, the meaning of the word disappearance might not merely be about how seemingly effortless it was for Mengele to hide, but more wide-ranging current disappearances as well.
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele

Director:
Kirill Serebrennikov

Date Created:
2025-07-13 18:08

Pros

Stunning cinematography

Great performances

An objective view of the topic.
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14/07/2025
Brats in Bondage: Lessons in defiance from Tank…

AI overlords, environmental deadlock, obscene wealth inequality, and emergent authoritarianism – it all reads like the opening crawl of some cult-classic dystopian flick, but unfortunately for us, it’s just the state of things in 2025. Dystopia looms. How is one to manage? One suggestion: Fight fiction with fiction and cope like a main character.

For inspiration, look no further than the petulant, performative, and perpetually horny protagonist of Rachel Talalay’s Tank Girl (1995). Sure, Tank Girl is raunchy and ridiculous (and that’s what makes it wonderful) but look closer. Beneath the absurdity lies a playbook for protest and defiance that (also unfortunately for us) feels disconcertingly relevant. Although every third country or so seems to be making a hard turn right, there’s still time to course correct – time to push back against the fledgling dystopias.

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And Tank Girl tells us how.

It’s 2033. Eleven years previous, a comet crashed into Earth and destroyed the climate. The resulting drought led to the creation of Water & Power (W&P), a corrupt corporation led by the comically depraved Kesslee, who “control[s] most of the water and got all the power.”

Enter Tank Girl, played by Lori Petty: A water-stealing, tank-obsessed wastelander living it up in the desert until a W&P raid destroys her happy-go-lucky life and launches her into a kink-coded bid for revenge.

Let’s be clear: There are a lot of differences between a bad dom with a poor grasp of kink essentials and an authoritarian régime like W&P (and its non-fictional equivalents) …but there are also quite a few similarities.

In her dalliances with W&P, Tank Girl illustrates an ethos most in the kink community will recognize. Control is achieved consensually, or not at all. It exists only when given, and can be revoked at any time. In this equation, submission is an informed, freely-made choice, and defiance is always an option. For Tank Girl, defiance is just a way of life – she’s a quintessential brat and recognizes power struggles for the poorly disguised game that they are.

These moments of defiance often hinge on Tank Girl’s understanding that her appearance and mannerisms create a set of assumptions about her strength and intelligence. She uses these assumptions as ammunition, transforming them into a weapon rather than a tool of her own subjugation.

During the W&P raid, for instance, Tank Girl unknowingly performs a strip tease for a W&P guard she incorrectly assumed to be her boyfriend. As the barrel of a gun intrudes upon the scene, the dynamic changes: The guard nods for her to continue, and she does, leaning into his (false) assumption that she is a sexual, submissive creature for the taking.

That assumption is his undoing. She knows the role expected of her and plays it well. The illusion of control lasts until the very moment she decides to revoke it – the very moment the guard meets his fate at the end of his own grenades. The strip show turns into a murder scene. Conventional power dynamics turn on their head. And Tank Girl emerges on top.

Whether facing imprisonment in a claustrophobia-inducing torture device aptly named “The Pipe” or shivering after a night spent in a freezer, Tank Girl defies fear. She elects not to give her captors the response they expect. In doing so, she disarms them.

This philosophy is implicit throughout the film, but is at its most overt while Tank Girl is imprisoned in a W&P labor camp. There, she meets Jet Girl (Naomi Watts), a beaten-down prisoner. After Tank Girl saves her from yet an obsessed prison guard who doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer, Jet Girl explains her ethos for surviving under W&P’s thumb: “The better you behave, the more they leave you alone.”

Yet audiences of 1995, 2025, and 2033 all know this to be patently untrue. In restrictive environments such as these, no one is safe, no matter how meekly they submit to the shackles. Tank Girl knows it too.

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14/07/2025