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Talk of this film's racist undertones is sophistry; the interesting subtext here is about institutions. The film depicts a future social order that completely lacks an independent politics; the only institutions that appear to have survived are corporations (we get to know an intergalactic mining corporation pretty well) and a semi-autonomous but powerless scientific establishment. Then there's a military that occupies itself exclusively with facilitating commercial endeavors, a situation which in part resembles first wave European colonialism. The people with power in the film are the corporate stooge and the general, but it's occasionally easy to forget that the general, whose official title is "Head of Security," isn't a politician.

Indeed, he sounds all too obviously like a Bush-era politician when he speaks to his troops: "We can’t wait. Our only security lies in preemptive attack. We will fight terror with terror." What's the point of this? I think the thesis is admonitory: the contemporary concern about special interests interfering with the democratic political process may be a distraction. In Cameron's view, a greater threat posed to the future by the market system is the alignment of commercial and military interests to the exclusion of politics altogether. And where would this alignment leave the individual, the citizen? Damned to consuming the "Lite beer and shopping channel" of Jake Sully's scorn?

The film's most harrowing line is at the beginning, during the funeral scene: "Your brother represented a significant investment." Pretty bleak. But then again, so is sleeping in the forest.

Up In The Air

In ultimately affirming the value of love, this film is a romantic comedy; but in its protagonist's contempt for formula (in love, lifestyle, domesticity) it nuances this affirmation in interesting ways.

Every character except Ryan Bingham is capable of being earnest in love; his foils include a woman who uses him as an escape and a pseudo-gamine who punishes him with generic discourse brimming with unchecked conformist cant.

But after he gives sincerity a shot, a disappointed Bingham returns to his starting point only to find that his old game is much less thrilling. The lesson: if you're cynical you better find a good way to stay so. The moment you vacation in hope, trust, belief etc., the poverty of cynicism will come into view but it won't necessarily be easy to change.

A Serious Man

It's not exactly clear what this film sets out to accomplish. Dark comedy? Maybe. But its protagonist's breathless search for answers, and his confusion about suffering, fate and free will makes it a tragedy.

And as a tragedy I think it's a wonderful film. Aside from the Rabbis, no character is spared imminent pain, suffering, or death. The agent of catastrophe appears natural in all cases (tornado, disease), but in fact the implication is that individual deceit or moral failing is responsible.

The reference here is thus not the Job story, but rather classical Greek theatre, where characters witlessly play a role in their own undoing. In this light, the film is an elegant culmination of the era of Jewish anxiety. It's not just neurosis--fear of failure guarantees failure--that is the engine behind horrible events. The serious man's sin is hubris, seeking knowledge beyond its natural bounds.

Tetro

There's a lot to like in this film, but there's even more to dislike. The plot seems painfully formulaic: loveless childhood produces adult mood disorders, and the main character must renew his faith in love through a defiant act of will. Unfortunately, Tetro deviates from the formula with some unlikely (and occasionally impossible) plot lines and revelations. In this case the pure formula would have sufficed.

Praiseworthy here (prior to the unconvincing Sophoclean surprise) is a genuine depiction of the complexities of brotherhood. I like the burden the younger brother suffers under; he relies on others to make sense of his own life and history before feeling ready to live independently. This is easy to identify with.