stability

‘Familiar Touch’ examines the fragility and wonder of memory

Memory is one of those phenomena that makes the human experience unique and captivating. It plays a central role in defining the character of that experience and, in turn, helps us to define our very own individual nature. It provides a sense of continuity and stability, an assumed, seeming knowledge of what constitutes our lives and existence. It fundamentally allows us to believe in what we know and to know what we believe. However, it also possesses an innate fragility, and, when memory – and the underlying beliefs that support it – begins to fail with age, we’re frequently left confused about the essence of our world.

Brent Marchant2025-10-31T05:01:11-05:00September 3rd, 2025|Conscious Creation, Drama, Movie Reviews|

‘Wallis Island’ contemplates recapturing the past

Recapturing the past may be an enticing, seductive prospect, especially when it involves revisiting pleasant memories of days gone by. If nothing else, it can help to plug holes of loneliness and despair in our psyche, filling us with feelings of warmth and happiness. But is it realistically achievable or just wishful thinking? At most, it may only provide fleeting relief, not nearly enough to satisfy us for the long term or to resolve the source of the underlying anguish.

Brent Marchant2025-08-20T17:59:13-05:00June 26th, 2025|Comedy, Conscious Creation, Movie Reviews, Romance|

‘Bare Necessity’ inspires us to strip away the clutter

“The Bare Necessity” (“Perdrix”) (2019 production, 2020 release). Cast: Swann Arlaud, Maud Wyler, Fanny Ardant, Nicolas Maury, Patience Munchenbach, Alexandre Steiger, Bastiste Kerroué. Director: Erwan Le Duc. Screenplay: Erwan Le Duc. Web site. Trailer. How often have you wanted to rid yourself of the unnecessary elements of your life, removing the clutter and seriously focusing only on what’s most important? Like cleaning an overstuffed closet, it’s something many of us say we have to get around to doing one day but somehow don’t manage to find the time – that is, until our hand is forced and we have to do it out of necessity. Wouldn’t it be easier if we made peace with the idea and just went ahead with [...]

Brent Marchant2020-10-12T20:32:22-05:00September 11th, 2020|Comedy, Conscious Creation, Movie Reviews, Romance|

‘The Land of Steady Habits’ experiments with limits, change

“The Land of Steady Habits” (2018). Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, Thomas Mann, Bill Camp, Connie Britton, Elizabeth Marvel, Michael Gaston, Charlie Tahan, Victor Slezak, Josh Pais. Director: Nicole Holofcener. Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener. Book: Ted Thompson, The Land of Steady Habits. Web site. Trailer. For many of us, certainty and stability have a definite comforting appeal. We enjoy the predictability and reliability, a soothing reassurance that life will go on as we’ve known it. However, such an existence can also become a stifling trap, one that suffocates us, often without us becoming aware of it until it’s almost too late. This is where the value of change and pushing past established limits becomes desirable, if not essential, to our happiness, [...]

Brent Marchant2018-10-31T12:02:49-05:00September 18th, 2018|Conscious Creation, Drama, Movie Reviews|