ALAN McGUIRE welcomes a biography of the French semiologist and philosopher
Film round-up: January 18
The Star's critics ALAN FRANK and MARIA DUARTE review this week's releases: The Final Year, Coco, Attraction, and The Commuter
ALEX HALL is frustrated by a book that ducks a clear definition of terrorism and fails to perceive the role of the state in sponsoring it
JOE GILL wholeheartedly recommends an eloquent manifesto: how to change the world one local project at a time
Inspired by a photograph, a unique memorial in Michigan immortalises US true labour heroes. MICHAL BONCZA recalls a great story rarely told
MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians
MARIA DUARTE is entertained by a wry portrait of befuddled resistance to US authoritarianism
The Final Year (12A)
Directed by Greg Barker
3*
WHEN he and his team received unprecedented access to President Obama and his foreign policy team during their final year in office, director Greg Barker presumably believed he was making an unprecedented tribute to the near-sanctified president and the ongoing Democrat grip on power.
Unfortunately, when Donald Trump defeated the tainted Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, real life got in the way.
Barker's intention was to make a film that goes beyond the politics of the moment and “foster a wider discussion about how America can and should relate to the wider world” and, to this end, he filmed at the White House and State Department in Washington, the UN in New York and numerous countries globally as he followed US officials going about their business.
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