The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY
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Film round-up: June 6, 2024
An immigrant Western, a bearded lady in love, blueberry pie and a double act ripe for retirement: the Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews new releases The Dead Don’t Hurt, Rosalie, Riddle of Fire and Bad Boys: Ride or Die
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII
MAYER WAKEFIELD is chilled by the co-dependency of two lost souls as portrayed by German communist playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz
The Star's critics BRETT GREGORY, JOHN GREEN, MICHAEL BONCZA and ANGUS REID review The Stimming Pool, Misericordia, La Cocina, Irena’s Vow, and The End
CHRIS MOSS welcomes a radical history that brings marginalised stories and overlooked people and agencies to the centre
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
The Dead Don’t Hurt (15)
Directed by Viggo Mortensen
★★★
ACTOR turned writer-director Viggo Mortensen takes one of my most hated tropes in the Western genre and gives it a fresh twist in this quietly powerful and slow burning drama about two star-crossed lovers and pioneers.
Like most Westerns it involves a woman being raped and killed to propel the action forward which is unacceptable today even if it is portrayed in a surprising way.
Set in the 1860s, it opens with Danish immigrant and former soldier Holger Olsen (Mortensen) watching the love of his life Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps), who’s French-Canadian, die from a terminal illness.
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The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
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