“On a clear day you can see the class struggle from here”: Mike Leigh’s Career Girls
Following the success of the apocalyptic Naked (1993) and the harrowing Secrets & Lies (1996), at the end of the nineties Mike Leigh turned to a smaller, more intimate subject, the nostalgia for youth. Leigh’s been vocal about his motivation for Career Girls, explaining that he was interested in the large life differences in what happens to us between ages 20-30.
When You Try Your Best But You Don’t Succeed: Shtisel Season 3 Review
Reviewing Season 3 of Shtisel brings back memories, since the series was the very first thing I wrote about for The Moviegoer! At the time of my initial review, Shtisel was one of my favorite shows. It had the cultural intrigue of Hasidic Jews without the sensationalism that usually characterizes other shows about these ultra-Orthodox communities. Instead of exoticizing the Hasidic community, the series sought to familiarize the audience with it by telling raw, human stories that touch on universal experiences.