This terrific documentary about a Chinese-run glass factory near Dayton OH won a Spirit Award last night and may well win an Oscar tonight, though we haven't seen the other nominees this year, so can't make an informed prediction. The filmmakers Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, and Jeff Reichert, also won the Directors Guild Award last month.
I found some of the culture clash amusing at the beginning, but the workers' situations aren't funny and are depicted with empathy.
In 2009, Bognar and Julia Reichert made a documentary short The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant in the same building. They returned to Ohio in 2015 to document the new factory, with beautiful cinematography by them, her nephew Jeff (who also co-produced), and more. Included among the producers are some Chinese nationals who greatly helped the Americans and Chinese working together.
Not listed among the producers are Michelle and Barack Obama, whose production company Higher Ground makes its debut with this movie. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (OH) makes an appearance.
Julia Reichert and Bognar were on Fresh Air recently and she announced she has terminal cancer and this is her last film. She has been photographed at the award shows proudly sporting a bald head.
Chad Cannon's lovely soundtrack can be streamed on Apple Music and Spotify.
We're with the critics, averaging 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to audiences at 79. You can see the movie on Netflix, as we did last week.
If you sometimes suffer from MPMS (Motion Picture Motion Sickness), this is a bad one, with lots of hand-held camera operators walking. We have a nice home theatre but I had to move to a chair farther back in the room, despite my usual preventative measures. I have a running list that I began in 2008, with a few entries that predate the blog.
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