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Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Renoir' Review: An 11-Year-Old Girl Ponders the Mysteries of the Universe in Chie Hayakawa's Extremely Low-Key Coming-of-Age Drama
An article published in a 1982 edition of the research journal Social Science & Medicine found that an overwhelming percentage of Japanese doctors neglected to share terminal diagnoses with their patients, as they felt it was unethical to condemn someone to a death sentence. That information is only glancingly alluded to in Chie Hayakawa's 'Renoir,' a diaphanous coming-of-age story that's only clouded by the burden of unbecoming (no surprise to anyone familiar with Hayawaka's dystopian euthanasia drama 'Plan 75'), but the principle behind it haunts the film's young heroine all summer long. Her name is Fuki (gifted 11-year-old Yui Suzuki), she lives in a sunny Tokyo suburb at some point during the country's transitional period in the late 1980s, and she's almost subconsciously convinced that people aren't telling her something. There's a gap between her and the rest of the world, and it only grows wider after her dad ('Shoplifters' star Lily Franky) is admitted to the hospital during the final months of his bout with cancer. It's not as if the girl doesn't know about death (her short story 'I'd Like to Be an Orphan' has one of her teachers asking a lot of questions answered by the story), but the distance between recognizing mortality and living in its shadow is vast, and Fuki is desperate for someone to help close it for her. More from IndieWire 'Highest 2 Lowest' Review: Spike Lee Returns with a Jarringly Fun and Upbeat Riff on One of Akira Kurosawa's Bleakest Films 'Splitsville' Review: Open-Relationship Comedy from 'The Climb' Team Hits All the Right Notes Of course, Fuki doesn't know what she doesn't know, and her mother Utako (Ishida Hikari) — who often talks as if her daughter weren't able to hear her — has no interest in telling her. 'Do we cry because we feel sorry for the dead,' the girl asks herself in a rare snippet of voiceover, 'or because we feel sorry for ourselves?' Her only answer is to not cry at all; to keep a straight face and listen for the secret frequencies of the universe for guidance. Inspired by an American mentalist she sees on TV, the ever-imaginative Fuki becomes obsessed with telepathy; it starts with guessing what card someone might be thinking of, and quickly evolves into 'hypnotizing' a grief-stricken neighbor into talking about her late husband. Later, Fuki will neigh at a horse in an effort to understand them, listen to her own voice echo around a tunnel in the hopes of hearing something she couldn't distill from her thoughts, and even meet a grown man from a telephone dating service in a singularly harrowing sequence that reflects Hayakawa's continued fascination with the darkest parts of the human psyche. It's a fascination that's on full display from the opening moments of 'Renoir,' and renders the entire film allergic to the cuteness that seeps into so many coming-of-age stories like it. Animated by the creative spark that pops and fizzes behind Suzuki's eyes at all times, Fuki remains a compelling figure despite her refusal to betray her feelings to the outside world, and 'Renoir' leans on the character's quiet mystery as the movie drifts from one semi-connected episode to the next. Hayakawa is a plaintive storyteller who refuses to indulge in emotional cheats of any kind, and would rather a scene be impenetrably oblique than overexplain its purpose. 'Renoir' may not be quite as sterile as 'Plan 75' (a low bar), but the film is reserved enough for its title — a reference to 'the painter of happiness,' whose work is glimpsed for a half-second in the background of one shot — to feel like a perverse joke at Fuki's expense. It's possible that Hayakawa may have been inspired by the warm lighting found in some of Renoir's work, but there are few moments in which she allows her movie to indulge in the effervescence of a Tokyo summer, and even fewer in which she conflates the country's rapid transition with the equally seismic changes that befall her young heroine. Hayakawa's script eschews any sweeping commentary in favor of a more honest and incidental portrait of growing up — one that would rather be true to the reality of Fuki's experience than mold it to fit the poetic forms of adult memory. The film's plotting is elliptical (Utako's maybe affair with the counselor at her anger management seminar is filtered through a child's understanding), its direction unimposing to the point of feeling unformed, and its poignancy more rooted in the slow build of Fuki's snowballing isolation than it is in the moment when someone finally breaks through it. There are a handful of memorable episodes along the way, such as the nightmare fuel of Fuki's aforementioned pedophile encounter, and the much nicer sequence in which she spends a day at the track with her father, but incidents like that only have so much value to a story whose beats only matter so far as they help broker Fuki's connection to the world beyond her. As would be the case in real life, there's no single incident that explains how Fuki grows over the course of that one fateful summer (even if one especially meaningful gesture towards the end helps pull her out of her silent isolation). But 'Renoir' — with its faint traces of sentiment, and complete absence of sentimentality — delicately articulates the girl's inner child in a way that allows us to feel it expand across the season. Life can try to keep its secrets from her, but it's only a matter of time before someone as curious and deprived as Fuki is able to discover them all for herself. 'Renoir' premiered in Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution. Want to stay up to date on IndieWire's film and critical thoughts? to our newly launched newsletter, In Review by David Ehrlich, in which our Chief Film Critic and Head Reviews Editor rounds up the best new reviews and streaming picks along with some exclusive musings — all only available to subscribers. Best of IndieWire The 25 Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies, Ranked Every IndieWire TV Review from 2020, Ranked by Grade from Best to Worst
Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
As India bids for Olympics, what research has found about health, economic impacts on hosts
India is among the many countries interested in hosting the 2036 Olympics, having submitted a Letter of Intent to the International Olympic Committee. As the country makes a strong pitch to bring the Games to India, the officials involved in the process have underlined the potential economic benefits, the tourism boost, and health awareness as some of the pros for hosting the Olympics. But once the flame has been doused and the Olympic rings are a distant memory, what's actually left behind? A study recently published in Social Science & Medicine used data from over 19,000 residents in London and Paris to evaluate the tangible and intangible legacy of the Olympics, particularly focusing on health behaviour, wellbeing, and economic return. The researchers conducted a panel survey over three years, before, during, and after the 2012 Olympics, comparing changes in physical activity in London (the host city) to Paris (which didn't host but had similar traits since they had also bid for the 2012 Olympics). Happiness factor The Paris Olympics was a one big fortnight-long party along the Seine. The London Games, too, were a cultural high point, and a festive spirit gripped the city. In post-Games surveys, 65 percent of Londoners described the summer of 2012 as 'a summer like no other,' while 69 per cent believed the Games would inspire more adults to take up sport. Among children, this figure rose to a whopping 81 per cent. Even economists documented statistically significant improvements in subjective well-being during the Games, suggesting that the feel-good factor of hosting such a spectacle can be real. But there's a caveat: the effects are temporary. The study found that while happiness peaked during the Olympics, it largely returned to baseline within weeks of the closing ceremony. The uplifting emotions, while genuine, did not translate into sustained improvements in life satisfaction or mental health metrics. 'We then observe a gradual return to (almost) baseline during the post-Olympics period, suggesting a temporary effect,' the paper said. Physical Activity One of the key pitches that host cities make is that the Games would spur the public to adopt healthier, more active lifestyles. The assumption is that the visibility of elite athletes and upgraded sporting infrastructure will rub off on the population. The London bid made such claims boldly, promising a legacy that would turn the UK into a 'world-class sporting nation.' Their key finding was this: while average activity levels didn't change significantly, there was an 18 per cent relative increase in physical activity among those who were previously inactive in London. This group was 'activated' by the Games. This was seen as a positive outcome. The bad news, however, was that this burst in activity was temporary. The boost among inactive individuals lasted about 100 days. After that, people had returned to their pre-Olympic routines. There was also no evidence that active individuals became even more engaged in sport. Nor was there a noticeable long-term reduction in smoking or alcohol consumption. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of hosting the Olympics is the financial burden it places on taxpayers. Estimates for recent Games range from $8 billion (Sydney 2000) to a staggering $52 billion (Beijing 2008). The most recent Paris Olympics cost around $9.5 billion. While proponents argue that the Games boost tourism, infrastructure, and jobs, the academic literature is largely sceptical. There's the case of Athens 2004, which ended up costing more than double its initial budget, pushing Greece deeper into debt. Many of the Olympic venues became unused 'white elephants', and while the Games brought temporary pride, they left behind crumbling infrastructure and a financial burden that contributed to Greece's later economic crisis. The study also concluded that 'the London Games simply did not generate enough healthcare savings to justify the billions spent'. The argument about health is that the Games can inspire people to lead a healthier lifestyle, while improved infrastructure and connectivity also indirectly impact a city's healthcare facilities. The study estimated that while the London Olympics may have saved around £4.2 million in healthcare costs, this was dwarfed by the £40 million spent on promoting grassroots physical activity. The result: a net loss of over £35 million. In short, the Games did not offer value for money when it came to public health returns.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Want to live longer? Consider joining a union.
Striking Minneapolis parks workers, unionized with LIUNA Local 363, march to the park headquarters on July 24, 2024. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer. A remarkable phenomenon that's emerged in the past 50 years is that Americans who earn a college degree will live considerably longer than those without. Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have shown that the mortality gap between Americans with and without a college degree has widened from about 2.5 years in 1992 to over 8.5 years post-pandemic. As a result, Americans with a college degree are on a similar upward trajectory of life expectancy compared to those in other rich democracies, whereas Americans without a college degree are distinct in their stalled and falling life expectancy. In a paper recently published in the academic journal Social Science & Medicine, my colleagues and I show an important but unappreciated contributor to widening mortality inequality: the decline of labor unions. Labor unions were once seen as a major holder of power in American society, with one-third of the private sector unionized in the mid-1950s. Since then, labor power and membership have declined rapidly, so that today only about 6% of the non-agricultural private sector is unionized. Economists, political scientists and sociologists have long recognized the economic importance of unions — that they reduce overall inequality and boost the earnings of otherwise lower paid and less powerful workers. When we gave a broad reading of the literature on unions, we suspected that a unionized career had an impact on America's worsening mortality crisis. In addition to higher wages, unions also provide a wide range of superior benefits to otherwise less powerful workers: health insurance, time off and a pension, occupational security, a path for upward attainment, and workplace safety, to name a few. Unions also tend to push for more egalitarian and protective policies which might have downstream health consequences. And, unions tend to foster community and social connection — you'll see union picnics at many of the Twin Cities' decent-sized parks every summer — and even marital stability, all of which are well-established predictors of mortality. We therefore set out to assess the extent to which union membership can help explain disparities in mortality. To do so, we used a dataset called the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, or PSID, which is the longest running longitudinal dataset in the United States and widely considered one of the highest quality datasets in the social sciences. The PSID began in 1968 with a nationally representative sample of respondents. It tracked a variety of demographic and economic information from people and their families and followed those who split off and descended from these original families. The survey is still running and completed its most recent wave of data collection in 2023. We followed people who were in early adulthood in the initial waves of the data collection. We tracked the amount of time that these respondents were members of a union during their working years. We then tracked mortality to assess whether people who spent more of their working years as union members had lower risks of mortality in comparison to otherwise similar non-unionized individuals. We found that union membership was a key predictor of mortality. Each additional year that a respondent spent as a union member associated with about 1.5% lower odds of mortality after the age of 40. Furthermore, these union mortality effects were concentrated among the groups that Case and Deaton have flagged as at risk and largely driving America's mortality crisis: people without a college degree, and the white men who once comprised the bulk of union membership. Is 1.5% lower odds of death significant? We compared the size of this union protection to a broader and potentially more fundamental effect, that of employment. The influence of union membership on mortality was about half the size of employment more generally. This in itself was unsurprising given the well established importance of work as a fundamental social determinant of health. Yet the fact that our observed effect of union membership was comparable to employment suggests that the decline of union membership and power over the past 75 years has had much broader reaching consequences on American health and well-being than previously appreciated. Unions have historically been one of the few institutional anchors of support and stability for less powerful American workers. Their demise has unsurprising consequences beyond mere pay, but these broader consequences on life expectancy have not been fully appreciated by the research community, let alone by a political system that has spent decades eroding the power of unions. What are the broader implications of our finding? We urge public health officials to consider worker power and worker voice a fundamental social determinant of health, one which has helped create the mortality crisis that we currently face. Can we realistically call for a re-invigoration of the American labor movement that occurred in the mid 20th century? We are skeptical. Unions face substantial opposition and pushback from employers and a byzantine system of policies and regulations that make organizing extraordinarily difficult. Workers and labor leaders need to be creative in reinvigorating collective action, and we are heartened by the ingenious and creative actions that many are taking. To them, our research shows the fundamental payoff of their efforts. Labor organizing puts more money into the wallets of ordinary workers — and gives them more years to enjoy with their loved ones.
