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American viewers may know him best as the British correspondent on “The Daily Show,” but John Oliver is also an accomplished stand-up comic. In his first Comedy Central special Oliver tackles the topics that perplex him about the United States. He takes well-aimed shots at the American political process and the invasion of Iraq (including how the Brits would have done it differently), and argues for reparations from the Revolutionary War.
A series of snapshots from the life of a fictional actress named Shirley serves to weave together thirteen paintings by Edward Hopper (e.g. “Office at Night”, “Western Motel”, “Usherette”, “A Woman in the Sun”) into a fascinating synthesis of painting and film, personal and political history. Each station in Shirley’s professional and private life from the 1930s to 1960s is precisely dated: It is always August 28/29 of the year in question, as the locations vary from Paris to New York to Cape Cod.
Continually smiling or laughing, this man, a self-acknowledged Nazi, proudly reveals that he went to the Congo to save Western civilization from Bolshevism — to complete the work of the Nazis. Dressed in his military jungle uniform (with his Second World War decorations) he waxes eloquent about the “colors” of South Africa, “explains” apartheid, and freely discusses his “adventures”. Shots of corpses, tortures, and executions of Blacks are intercut. It is not often that one can see and hear a real, “live” Nazi in action, talking (more or less) freely because he presumed him-self to be among friends instead of with two of the most cleverpolitical propagandists of our time, working for the other side.
In a quiet corner of Seoul, Jung-won runs a small photo studio. A humble shack passed down from his widower father, the studio is a space where Jung-won goes about his daily routine of dealing with fussy customers, enlarging photos of class heartthrobs for the neighborhood kids and photographing pictures to place on funeral altars. For Jung-won, life seems to be a series of peaceful events, but in reality his time on earth is too limited for comfort. Barely in his mid-30’s, but perhaps too aware of the meaning of death, Jung-won accepts his fate despite the subtle gestures of concern he gets from his old father and younger sister. Life goes on as usual until one day he meets Darim, an employee at the Traffic Control Division of the local district office. She is a regular customer at the studio who comes everyday to develop snapshots of parking violations…