Flight (Robert Zemeckis, 2012)
No one likes to take responsibility for the bad things that happen. It is easiest to blame someone else. We accept accolades for success but always shift the blame for the failures. If that is true of individuals it is just as true of the institutions we build. Families, governments, corporations, schools, even churches. It is the root of social diseases ranging from extraneous litigation to alcoholism. In that way, Flight is pertinent and hard-hitting. Not just because it deals with alcohol addiction, but because it deals with the root of addiction: the refusal of culpability. And, even though it paints a far-reaching societal portrait, it is also bold enough to admit that there is a way beyond it.
The Color Wheel (Alex Ross Perry, 2011)
There is a moment about a third of the way into The Color Wheel where Colin's thoughts toward his sister are summarized in the statement, "You've always been a hot commodity in the world of perverts." Not that his insults are one-sided, as the entire relationship of this brother and sister is based on their annoyance with one-another and the ability to place uniquely searing insults at the feet of the other. Colin lambasts J.R. mostly for her failed dreams of being a news anchor and her taste in men (most recently illustrated in her affair with a broadcasting professor); J.R. lambasts Colin for his apathy and lack of imagination. But, as the story unfolds, it turns out that J.R. and Colin -- as cruel as they are to one another -- are only slightly less cruel than the world of their fairly privileged bubble.
