New "generation overloaded with old definition of political consciousness"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: This Year's Films Push Messages in Different Directions
By KRISTOPHER TAPLEY
Published: April 9, 2006
LOS ANGELES

WHEN Fox Searchlight's "Thank You for Smoking" pitted its hero, Nick Naylor, a charming tobacco lobbyist, against a villainous senator bent on labeling cigarette packs as "poison," an unusual note joined the recent chorus of ideas within movies: Jason Reitman, the writer-director, had brought his staunchly libertarian views to the screen.

"The upcoming generation has been overloaded with the old definition of political consciousness," Mr. Reitman said. "They are attracted to a character like Nick Naylor, who is saying 'Let's calm down and stop telling everyone how to live their lives.' "

Whether refreshingly bold or just plain wrongheaded, Mr. Reitman's take was clearly out of sync with the straightforward liberalism of last year's "Good Night, and Good Luck," or the bluntly anticorporate message of "Syriana" and "The Constant Gardener." Yet it was of a piece with more than a few of this year's planned "issue" movies, which, in one way or another, promise to push boundaries with their methods and messaging. These are some examples:

AKEELAH AND THE BEE (Lionsgate Films). Set for release in theaters later this month, "Akeelah" breaks ground with a promotional plan under which Starbucks will sell it on DVD — but it also stands out for an unabashed individualism that to some extent recalls the much-discussed achievement ethic of "The Incredibles." The script by the writer and director Doug Atchison, which won the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000, tells the story of a young black girl who must overcome resistance from the system and her own well-meaning mother to excel....

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THE LOST CITY (Lionsgate Films). Andy Garcia's take on the Cuban revolution comes, if not precisely from the political right, from a place that is deeply critical of the left — and well outside the Hollywood-progressive consensus celebrated by George Clooney on Oscar night. A love letter to Mr. Garcia's homeland and its decidedly bourgeois popular culture of the time, the film — a project he nurtured for 16 years — tells the story of a country ripped apart by what it portrays as the hijacking of a good cause by bad people and worse ideas....

(NOTE: Four more films are discussed in the article.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/movies/09tapl.html