Seth Harris

Movie Review – Public Housing

Public Housing (1997)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman didn’t slow down in the 1980s or 1990s. He continued to put out a film almost every other year about topics as varied as horse racing, a Neiman Marcus department store, Central Park, and a series of docs about people with disabilities. In 1997, he delivered this three-hour exploration of the politics that governed the Ida B. Wells public housing development in Chicago, Illinois. Much like Welfare, Wiseman is trying to capture the voices of the people in power within the institutions as well as the recipients (or people who should be getting, but often don’t get) these services.

Movie Review – Welfare

Welfare (1975)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman has made his career focusing on institutions, and while he has branched off in later years ever so slightly, the most significant change in his method of filmmaking is going from tight 90-minute movies to large sprawling epics. It makes sense; the topics of his work are vast & challenging to grasp. You need time to let them breathe and for narratives to emerge. Welfare clocks in at nearly three hours long. I argue passionately that not only is this Wiseman’s masterpiece, but it is also one of the greatest documentary films ever made. Within this relatively short time, the audience will experience every stage of life and almost every element that brings drama into our lives.

PopCult Podcast – Dune Part 2/Polytechnique

It’s all things Denis Villeneuve this week. We watched his latest, the second chapter in a legendary science fiction saga. Then we went back to see a film that garnered his first major attention.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Ironsworn: The City of Eternal Night Part Two

Check out Part One

(Undertake a Journey – Strong Hit)
(First waypoint: Oracle: Strange Hill)

Uram of the Greywolves stumbled upon a peculiar sight that halted him in his tracks—a towering hill crafted entirely from the bones of various creatures. As he stood in the heart of the dune valley, the bone structure loomed above him like a macabre monument, a testament to some prolific killer. Bones intermingled seamlessly, forming a mosaic of animals, orcs, and other poor creatures. The air around him tingled with an otherworldly energy, and an unsettling feeling gripped Uram’s heart. It was not the hand of humans that had brought demise to these creatures but something far more sinister and elusive.

PopCult Presents: Screenplay – Corp Borg Episode 1

The first of our next six-part Screenplay series is here!
And you can listen to it for FREE!

Comic Book Review – Monica

Monica (Fantagraphics)
Written & Illustrated by Daniel Clowes

When I think of the great indie comics creators from my younger days, I typically think of three names: Charles Burns (Black Hole), Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth), and Daniel Clowes (Ghost World). Each artist has a distinct style, and their personality comes through in all their work. The common theme between them all is a bleak look at humanity. Clowes’ work, in particular, focused on the alienation of Generation X, whose identities were tied to ironic nostalgia and difficulty being vulnerable with others. But time has passed, and Clowes is no longer a young man. As good as his early work is, he’s matured into something incredible, and Monica is a perfect example of this sophistication.

Movie Review – Juvenile Court

Juvenile Court (1973)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman’s seventh film, Juvenile Court, came after producing at least one documentary a year from 1968. High School & Law and Order each contemplated how American institutions subjected people to forms of control. The former sees how we teach children as wrapped up in authoritarian ends, while the latter is about how authoritarianism is exercised in the community. It makes sense that Wiseman would make Juvenile Court as it is where these two paths converge, the place where young people are brutally institutionalized to “get them in line.” In a film that foresees Wiseman’s magnum opus, Welfare, he constructs tighter narratives, following a small number of young people and families through the court process.

Patron Pick – The Zone of Interest

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

The Zone of Interest (2023)
Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer

A droning echo from deep in the bowels of the underworld is the first thing you hear as the screen remains black. This is a descent into Hell. The music distorts and warps, communicating this mood of decay & rot. It is also a signal that this will not be a film about the spectacle of war or even the direct horrors of the Holocaust. Instead, this will be a story from right on the periphery. The title, The Zone of Interest, was a term Nazis used euphemistically to refer to the complex of over 40 death camps in Auschwitz, Poland. Filmmaker Jonathan Glazer uses his talents to deliver a story about genocide unlike any other I’ve seen. This is a film where the details are withheld, and it is through inference that the true horror emerges.

Movie Review – Law and Order

Law and Order (1969)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

The police are not your friends. They are, in fact, an occupying force planted by those in positions of power who have tremendous wealth. The police are actually state-sponsored gangs, as you can see from their origins and the ongoing criminal money-making schemes so many of them have going on the side. Many articles on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s deputy gangs and their activities can be found if you want to know more. This is standard practice when you give a select group of people in a society permission to commit nearly unaccountable acts of violence under the guise of “protect and serve.” In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the police have no obligation to protect any person from harm. The police exist solely to protect the interests & investments of the ruling class. They would easily kill any one of us in service to that duty.

Movie Review – High School

High School (1968)
Directed by Frederick Wiseman

While the asylum featured in Frederick Wiseman’s debut documentary Titicut Follies is not an institution most of us would ever experience firsthand, America’s education system is far more universal. Asylums and schools are strangely similar. They house people who would otherwise be deemed a danger to themselves and others if they roamed the streets unattended. They are run by rigid rule followers under the guise of caregivers. While the individual nurses and teachers at each respective institution may be doing their best, those higher up on the chain of command who control the purse strings often overlook great suffering that they could otherwise alleviate. In 1968, the American high school was a powder keg on the frontline of growing cultural discontent, making it a fascinating environment.