American Cinema in the 21st Century
This class will be exclusively devoted to American cinema from the 21st Century. The class will emphasize films from independent films companies. I hope to put together a fun list of more recent films. As always the goal is to find movies that you’ve never heard of before, but you will excite you when you see them. This type of film is often called hidden gems. That works for me.
The class will be limited to films that were released between 2000 and 2013. We’ll take a close look at the selected films and hold class discussions following the on-line viewing. Everything will be critiqued in its historical context, exploring the political and social issues of the time. Here is a preliminary list of some films I’m thinking of showing. Even if you’re not interested in the class you can consider this a list of my recommended hidden gems.
2000 Requiem for a Dream
2001 Mulholland Drive
2002 Far from Heaven
2003 21 Grams
2003 Lost in Translation
2005 A History of Violence
2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005 Squid and the Whale
2006 Children of Men
2006 Idiocracy
2007 I’m Not There
2007 There Will Be Blood
2008 Wendy and Lucy
2010 Winter’s Bone
2013 12 Years a Slave
2013 Inside Llewyn Davis