Author: Renee Leck

Renee Leck is a recent graduate of Tufts University with a B.A in English and Political Science and spent a year studying at University College London. A native of northern New Jersey, Renee often ventures into New York City to take in an exhibition, an outdoor concert, or indulge in a great meal. She hopes to pursue a career in the publishing industry and just keep writing, writing, writing. Her perfect Sunday involves a mug of coffee, the New York Times Book Review and a yoga class.

Granik/Lawrence Amaze in the Ozarks: Winter's Bone Review

By 5 Mins Read

Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody,When I was a little child upon my Mommy’s knee;The old folks were hummin’; their banjos were strummin’;So sweet and low.These lines, taken from the song Missouri Waltz, waft over the opening shots of Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone (winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize) with a haunting, melancholic subtlety that defines the film. Its lead character, Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) is a girl of seventeen trying desperately to hold together a family of two young children and a mentally unstable mother. Lawrence, bringing a gravity and wisdom to…

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PERSEPOLIS, A hard-hitting coming of age tale of an individual and a nation

By 4 Mins Read

A child’s perspective is at once naïve and pointedly insightful. Their gaze often pierces the layers of pretense that surround matters of politics and religion. Stripping away these outer coverings exposes the core of these issues in a way that renders them both vulnerable and unforgivable. Marjane’s Satrapi’s autobiographical Persepolis is the epitome of this process. Part personal, part national history, the film explores Marjane’s (voiced by Chiara Mastroianni) childhood in an Iran in the midst of violent change that paves the way for a deeply repressive Islamic revolution. Fearing for her safety, Marjane’s parents send her to school in…

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