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Homage
Reviews
It's Like, You Know... (1999)
I like, y'know, miss it
Don't be put off by dismissals of this show as depressing or anti-LA. It's a refreshingly above-par satire of American life, focusing on but not limited to Los Angeles foibles and culture. What Seinfeld is to New York, this show is to LA; and whoever said that it was exclusively mocking of Los Angelinos obviously missed all the New Yorker and Midwestern jokes directed at the NY and Ohio characters respectively. Where other sitcoms are content with being passably funny, this one is also clever and unpatronising. If you get the chance to catch reruns of this show, you should.
Saimin (1999)
Sixth Sense goes to Japan (and becomes much darker)
Not many movies are as effectively scary as Saimin manages to be. While filmmakers in the West (and, often enough, the East) build the scares on a central premise that, once revealed, loses its mystique, Saimin just gets more frightening the deeper the viewer is led into the plot. This said, revelation of the twists of Saimin's narrative wouldn't be very nice. Suffice to say, then, that (warning: comparison laced with hyperbole approaching) like The Shining, all is never completely revealed; and that what does gradually become apparent is that the mind is a pretty scary place to be. But in a good way, not, like, a Primal Fear way or nothing.
Ethnic Notions (1986)
Fascinating academic study
I saw this doco as part of a racial studies course, and as such found it to be a fascinating and, at times, disturbing, picture of the misconceptions circulated in popular culture regarding African-American culture. While an academic study, this is by no means dry or over-intellectual - in fact if anything it comes across as a little sensationalist at times. However, interesting points are made nonetheless.