Smoking

In the midst of the academic crunch I took some time to go see Thank You For Smoking with Jeff and Kara last night. A dark and cynical comedy about a tobacco lobbyist named Nick Naylor. If you've seen the trailer I should let you know that you saw most of the zingers in the film. Kara thought that 90% of the plot was also given away in the trailer and I'd tend to agree most people will go into this film knowing what it's about.

All that aside, what I found interesting were the underlying comments on truth & knowledge. Whether or not TYFS advocates an epistemology founded soley by superior debate skills it certainly gives that kind of thinking a lot of attention as Naylor never really deals with truth but is constantly reframing questions and countering with comparisons. Twice in the movie he mentors his son in the techniques of "moral flexibility" and truth-dodging through superior skills in argument. While Naylor is really the epitome of the souless lobbyist without a hint of conscience you really can't help but like him on some level, I especially liked his critique of his son's grade-school teacher. But that's part of his character, the guy you know you should hate, but find yourself caught off-guard by his charm or how he convinces you that by agreeing with him you're finally "thinking for yourself."

The other movie I saw this week was the 80's remake of The Thing from Another World titled The Thing. Kurt Russell is great as the cowboy helicopter pilot who has to hunt a shape-shifting, biology-mimicking alien down in the middle of a scientific base in Antarctica... with a flame-thrower! Because the alien can mimic any lifeform, everyone is suspicious of everyone else... who is the Thing?

Labels: Film