Make the time to read A.O. Scott's article in yesterday's New York Times Magazine on what he calls "Neo-Neo Realism."  Scott poses an important question: What kind of movies do we need right now, in the times we face?  He finds the answer by looking back to similarly hard times in the 1930s and immediately after the Second World War.

Arguing against escapism, which I see even in the documentary genre (think Man on Wire or Encounters at the End of the World), Scott reflects on several small Neo Realist movies that have come out in the last year, and several more coming up.  In these films, "Characters undergo a painful process of disillusionment, and then keep going. The disappointment they encounter — the grit with which they face it, the grace with which it is conveyed — becomes, for the audience, a kind of exhilaration."

One film highlighted here—Chop Shop (Bahrani, USA, 2007)—was one of my favorites to come to the Northwest Film Forum last year.  And next month, Bahrani's new film, Goodbye Solo, will play at NWFF for one night only with the director in attendance.  He'll even be giving aworkshop.  Don't miss it.