Nice review Glenn. While I agree that the writing was a notch above other films in the "genre", I still feel it's all a bit too self-satisfied. "Dunham's depiction of Aura has an insufficient amount of distance..." -- Yes, and this is precisely my problem with it. Several months back I got into an argument with somebody about the film, and after an exasperating back and forth he simply said, "It isn't made for people your age." If that's the best defense, well....

Fair enough. Cheeseburgers can have that effect. However, regarding your question about the need for parentheticals, I feel that there's a difference between Karina writing at Spout (where she was both author and sole editor, if I'm not mistaken) and at the L.A. Weekly. There are (and always will be) plenty of films that have tremendous festival success but don't land distribution deals, for a whole host of reasons. Karina, who attends many festivals, knows this. Had the piece been less specific, I wouldn't have minded as much, but as it stands it reads like little more than a bit of free publicity for the film. It's more of a press release than the kind of investigate think-piece that Karina normally excels at. I don't question or doubt her feelings towards the film, but I think a brief statement at the beginning piece was in order. (I'll add my own parenthetical -- I am solidly neutral about HARMONY AND ME. I thought it was fine, nothing more. There are more deserving films lacking distribution, IMO.)

"We need to meet each other and network and be at these festivals in order to gain access and then form an opinion." Don -- I've read this sentence a handful of times, and I simply don't get it. Gain access to what, exactly? But more troubling is the idea that networking with other critics/bloggers and/or filmmakers is a prerequisite to forming an opinion.

Hello Jim -- First off, I love the Journal theme - thank you for sharing it. I have one question - is it possible, using custom CSS, to change the widths of the content columns? I'd prefer if the alpha was wider, and I'm willing to sacrifice some space on the right column. I've tried making changes myself with custom CSS, but when I do so I lose the right column (I'm using the two-column-right version). Any ideas? Thanks!