Each member of the family lives in their own world: a mother obsessed with acting, a father who takes beatings in boxing matches and has become addicted to it, an uncle who takes various drugs to see their side effects, a pessimistic brother who wants to die, and an aunt who has repented of her work as a hired killer and come out of it… One day, they learn from a video that their daughter Zeynep, who has been living far away from them for years, is about to give birth, and they set off from Istanbul to Antalya.
I came across Urchin by chance and decided to watch it because of the title. It made me think of the spiky animal that lives at the bottom of the ocean, and the old Dickensian novels, where an urchin was an orphaned, homeless child in shaggy and dirty clothes.
A direct fall into the white savior narrative
Hiring bias is something that's rampant in all industries (even unconscious bias). But writing a script totally neutral not only opens the door for more diverse actors, but also for characters that are people first.
Remember when there was this amazing comedy titled "National Lampoon's Vacation"? To this day, it is a true classic of the genre and certainly put a new spin on precisely what KINDS of insanity could occur when taking the fam on the road. Then, like with so many successful films, there was the sequel (which for me was even MORE of a classic than the original!). However, the third film emerged....and then a fourth. Suddenly, the luster was gone and disappointment set in.
'Hollywood Stargirl' (2022) is a teen romantic drama film that centers around the title character's experiences in Los Angeles. This film serves as the sequel to the 2020 film 'Stargirl', but unlike the previous film, the events in this movie are shown from the title character's perspective instead of Leo Borlock's.
Fiction doesn't have to be the model for how our real-life pandemic plays out. Here's how we can avoid the dangers shown in "Contagion."
