Aarcflick

As always when I talk about Shakespeare's Othello, I recall the first performance I ever saw, a 1980 Royal Shakespeare Company production at London's Aldwych Theatre, with the late Sir Donald Sinden dressed in black as Shakespeare's moor. (Sinden's slow, deliberate pronunciation of "Des-daaay-muu-naaa" still resonates with me 45 years later.) Thankfully, since the 1980s, it has become the norm for Black actors to play Othello, although at least initially they were overwhelmingly the only non-white figure in an all-white cast.  While not ideal in 2026, this would underscore the play's racism (at least in the early scenes) and Othello's growing isolation once this is set aside, and it is doubts about Desdemona's infidelity that completely unsettle him, leading to tragedy. There would have been ethnic diversity in late 16th-century Venice, and this was reflected in Tom Morris's cast for his production, which featured modern costumes. David Harewoo...

The Indonesian horror film Shutter revolves around a photographer and the ghost from his past that continues to haunt him. The film spends considerable time explaining why Darwin loved analog photography and how there's hardly any room for editing on film, ultimately concluding that if you capture a ghost on film, it can be confirmed that you've actually seen a ghost! On the way home from a wedding, Pia accidentally hit a woman on a deserted road. She suggested they go check on her, but Darwin advised her to just leave. Pia didn't know what to do, so she ended up following Darwin's advice. After the accident, Pia and Darwin began seeing the ghost of the woman they had hit. Pia wasn't afraid; instead, she felt a need to understand what the spirit was trying to tell her. As the ghost continued to haunt them, Pia felt compelled to find out what had happened to the woman they had hit. She and Darwin returned to the same spot and spoke with a shopkeeper. They were surpri...

I think the ending of *In the Blink* is self-explanatory. So why am I writing this? Well, I'm just sharing my thoughts, I guess. Through three thematically connected stories, the Hulu sci-fi drama attempts to talk about life and death and everything in between. Namely, birth, bonding, family, survival, separation, and legacy. I'm sure I missed some because, honestly, there's a lot. That's why I think the movie gets a little overwhelming and repetitive after a while. The first story takes place in 45,000 BC, which marks the end of the Neanderthal Era.  We meet a Neanderthal family of four: father Thorn, mother Hera, daughter Lark, and baby Ebb. They gather shellfish from the shore, know how to make fire to keep warm, and live in a cave. The second story, set in 2025 AD, explores the theme of life and death. The first story focuses on Claire, a PhD candidate in anthropology, and Greg, a statistics professor at the same university. Together, they build a future that propel...

The Crazy Old Woman is the story of Laura and her mother, Alicia. Laura was traveling with her daughter, Elena, when her mother began calling her repeatedly. It seemed Alicia was having memory problems, so she kept asking Laura for the same prescription over and over. Laura was patient at first, but the constant calls left her overwhelmed and worried. She tried contacting Alicia's nurse, but her mother answered the call. She explained that the nurse had left after catching her trying to poison her food. Clearly, Alicia was paranoid, and Laura feared for her mother's health. Laura called her ex-husband, Pedro, to check on her mother. And, well, things soon took a dark turn. Alicia was obsessed with César; she had mentioned him during her phone conversation with Laura, and even confused him with César. So, who was César? Was he real? Considering Alicia was delusional, it seemed that César was a character she had invented herself. She had mentioned that César was her first husband...