the company men (2010). directed by john wells.

just on the day that donald trump is elected as president. poor alienated white men wanting to be heard in the era of recession and globalization, pining their hopes on a man known as a pussy grabber and doesn't pay tax. are we that naive?

not that i don't sympathize with the struggles of the men in this movie. i do - of the middle class dealing with its sense of insecurity in corporate jobs. it's an easy watch that doesn't make demands for us to think of the underlying issues - like why job creation is retarded, why CEOs are paid big bucks while ordinary workers are laid off in droves, why men still put their self worth in a job in order to be men. 

something worth reading on the last point - men at work

august: osage county (2013). directed by john wells.

with this kind of violence, one would think there will be blood spilled. and that's the nature of verbal abuse and emotional manipulation, everybody's hurt but no one can see the scars. 

the patriarch of the weston family had killed himself, leaving his widow and 3 daughters to pick up the pieces of their estranged life. violet, the mother, is an unpleasant person - the remains of an older generation who had it too hard that her meanness is the only way to survive in an unforgiving environment. her daughters can't bond with her - barbara openly rebelled against the emotional abuse and left, middle daughter ivy cowed into being passive to take care of her ailing parents and karen escaped her mother by trying to figure out life as it dealt its cards. they are all so mean to each other, that one can understand why the adult children can't live closer to home should one day they themselves turned into their parents. 

a great assembled film about inter-generational conflict - that one is forced to remember that the past is not always the best place to dwell in, and that the future doesn't have to carry the sins of their forefathers. 

no matter hard things get, but hey, easier said than done.