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...Gattaca sucks you in visually, drawing attention away from the dramatic flaws. There's a cool, postmodern bleakness to Niccol's vision, and a deftly understated mingling of present-day genetic and computer/technological paranoia, which proves more effective than a flashier sci-fi approach would have been. Niccol also has a way with suspended images, and his most inspired moments, in fact, are purely visual: a pool of blood, spreading from an unseen source, blots the frigidly hygienic, monochromatic polish of Gattaca; a conventionally romantic evening at a piano recital turns suddenly surreal with the appearance of an immaculate...
...ninth essay, David B. Morris' "Placebo, Pain, and Belief: A Biocultural Model," which departs from the heavily clinical investigations of preceding chapters to reestablish the broader, sociological approach utilized by the Shapiros. Linking human behavioral biology to cultural conceptions which range from early Native American culture to present-day society, Morris' argument discusses the resurgence of placebo research and the role of endorphins with vivid allusions to historical and religious conceptions of pain. The capstone of the essay section of the book, Morris' work also prepares the reader for the long-awaited highlight of Harrington's concoction: an interdisciplinary dialogue...
Unlike Nair's sexy ancient love story, however, Mehta (director and writer) weaves a much more accessible plot in the modern, if less romantic, setting of a present-day middle class family in New Delhi...
...Thousand Acres" is derived from Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, itself a loose adaptation of King Lear that carries Shakespeare's plot into present-day Iowa. The film veers wildly between a pedestrian fidelity to Smiley's words and a surprising negligence of her plot sequence. The film works, but not nearly as well as it should...
BRATTAHLID, Greenland: Vikings: not just in Minnesota anymore. Travel writer W. Hodding Carter and 11 other hardy souls set off today on a 1,900 mile trip to retrace the voyage of Viking explorer Leif Ericsson from Greenland to present-day Newfoundland. Squeezed into a 54-foot wooden boat (called a "knarr"), expedition members will chart their course by the stars and sun and dine on the succulent Viking staples of freshly caught fish and moss and lichens to be gathered at beaches along the way. In true Viking style, crew members will rely on just six oars...