Movie Diary 5/6/2009

The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008). Bigelow in form, with the kind of potent war film that makes you wonder (among other things) why nobody else has made this kind of “Iraq movie” in the last five years. (full review 7/10)

24 City (Jia Zhang-ke, 2008). Another study of displacement from Jia, this time a peculiar mix of documentary interviews with former employees at a major weapons factory, and staged interviews with actors (including Joan Chen) playing people giving such interviews. (full review 5/8)