Impressionistic fiction features seemed to be Léa Pool’s forte, especially in a movie like 1999’s “Set Me Free,” an image-driven story about a teen tomboy in thrall to the image of Anna Karina in 1963. But “Pink Ribbons, Inc.,” a raw, angry, bursting-to-overflow agitprop essay-slash-exposé detailing the exploitation of breast cancer charity to corporate ends, or “cause-related marketing,” shows a side of her passions of no fewer valors. What lies behind this “tyranny of cheerfulness,” or what interviewee Barbara Ehrenreich calls the “breast cancer culture”? Profit, wouldn’t you know? A show of compassion, a march of compassion, corporate branding. One of her larger targets, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure group, had other setbacks in February, after the making of “Pink Ribbons, Inc.” over ethical concerns about concerted attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. There are a myriad of other topics in Pool’s busy checklist of concerns, but “Pink Ribbons, Inc.,” based on a 2008 book by Samantha King, is a surefire conversation-starter, and, ideally, controversy-stirrer. It packs pink punch. 98m. HDCAM video. (Ray Pride)
“Pink Ribbons, Inc.” opens Friday at Siskel Film Center.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
A Drag Getting Old: A Review Of Indiana Jones 5 In the protracted opening couple of reels, a very young, computer-crafted Harrison Ford plays a younger cultural marauder who first encounters the dull MacGuffin of the title.
RECOMMENDED
