Gus Van Sant's Constant Thematic and Cinematic Elements
The differences in these films could not be more blatant, and yet Gus Van Sant has found a way to portray the same messages and use the same techniques in each.

When Private Detective Virginia Martin is suspected of murdering a local call girl, she has two days to clear her name. Under the watchful eye of a police rookie - the alluring Betsy Sloane - the investigation that ensues draws our heroine into the familiar noir landscape of New York in the 1940s. In solving the case, the pair meet a number of quirky characters including a drunken sailor with a violent streak, a Police Commissioner with a secret vendetta and an ill tempered showgirl called Jinx de Luxe.
The differences in these films could not be more blatant, and yet Gus Van Sant has found a way to portray the same messages and use the same techniques in each.
“And I think to myself….what a wonderful world”. Louis Armstrong sang about this notion via his classic 1967 song, an ode to witnessing elements of our life that should be but some reminders of exactly what that concluding line of each verse indicates. Now we see our contemporary realities and, just being honest, it makes a sentiment like this seem SO overtly far away….perhaps even impossible….to accept or believe could be. It sounds harsh, but again, so much of what is occurring speaks not to beauty, but bedlam.
When a group of White women are invited to dinner by an Indian woman and a Black woman to talk about race in America, sparks fly.
The second episode of the highly anticipated Afrofuturism series delivers with a high-speed race teaching us to go far beyond just accepting ourselves.
Americans love the British monarchy. This may seem confusing because only a few short hundred years ago they were our worst enemies, and every year we celebrate our independence from them. The Crown humanizes the monarchy, which might explain its popularity.
Netflix's new thriller Apex, starring Charlize Theron, puts a twist on survival horror. Despite its setting in the beautiful- yet-dangerous Australian wilderness, Apex is not a movie about man vs. nature. Instead, it’s woman vs. man. While checking out the title card and its unpretentious Netflix release might lead viewers to believe Apex is just another celebrity project churned out of the streaming machine, Apex - whether by luck or by intention - is a consistently harrowing film about the reality of being a woman in a public space.