Greetings, everyone. Some career news. I have decided to pause work at Bellaonline and create my own website. My new endeavor is called Selective Focus: Family Dysfunction in Film. Type in selectivefocusblog.com to find three new articles posted on 4/4/2024.

While writing about Swedish filmmaker Amanda Kernell’s second feature “Charter”, I started to notice some similarities with the American film “Kramer vs. Kramer”. Both films have a female protagonist who leaves her spouse but returns to reclaim custody of her children. You can read the article at Selective Focus.

My second article examines the French comedy “Mon Cousin”. The film is directed by Jan Kounen. I reviewed his previous feature “Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky” on the Drama Movies site. “Mon Cousin” is a return to form for Kounen and features dream sequences (both comic and serious) and a short film within the film. While the movie offers a mild critique of capitalism and marketing, the real subject is the relationship between the two adult cousins portrayed by Vincent Lindon and Francois Damiens. Both actors are excellent in their roles.

My third article on Selective Focus is a revision and expansion of an article I originally wrote for Bellaonline. I discuss two films from Danish writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen. Jensen is particularly obsessed with how childhood experience forms the adult personality. All the features he has directed star Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen recently revealed that the pair are in pre-production on their sixth project. Tentatively titled “Back to Reality”, the story revolves around two brothers. Mikkelsen plays a thief who must cure his brother’s amnesia to successfully retrieve their ill-gotten gains.

I hope you find the new site enlightening and thought-provoking. Please visit and thank you!

Angela K. Peterson
Selectivefocusblog.com
X at AngelaKPeterso1