Stuart Klawans reviews three new films, Gomorrah, The Class, and Coraline.  Gomorrah, he assures us, is not merely a hyper-violent Italian gangster movie, but a critique of globalization, a portrait of “what the world looks like when it has been remade by gangsters.”  As a teacher myself, I was intrigued by Klawans’ description of The Class.  Evidently the film depicts two hours in the life of a grammar and composition class in a French public school, taught by a man with a daring,  aggressive technique.  “François has no fear of sharp distinctions. His pedagogical method is to push his students and then to shove, so that he’s always on the verge of going too far with them–or finally steps over the line.”  Coraline is evidently a reimagining of Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony.”  While the story centers on a son’s obscure sense that his father has rejected him, the main action of the film begins with a girl openly rejecting her parents and leads her toward the same kind of destruction as Kafka’s character had witnessed.   

Richard R. John explains how recent changes in rates and policies at the US Postal Service have rewarded mass-circulation magazines and penalized low-circulation magazines.  A look at the subcategories under “Periodical Notes” will show that this is a matter of vital concern to your humble correspondent.  (more…)