Skip to main content

‘Plan 75’ Review: Haunting Japanese Heartbreaker Imagines a Dystopia That Could Start Any Day Now

David Erlich IndieWire
Chie Hayakawa's raw and sobering debut imagines a near-future Japan in which the elderly are encouraged to volunteer for euthanization. The scariest thing about Hayakawa’s film isn’t its familiar depiction of a society that privileges human output over human dignity, but rather its soft dystopian sketch of a society that’s able to soft-shoe around dehumanization and/or sell it as an act of grace.

Big Win for Victims of Racist Restrictive Covenants

James Gregory LAWCHA
The Covenants Homeownership Account Act provides compensation in the form of substantial mortgage assistance to victims and their descendants. It was written with a view to overcoming legal challenges that might derail programs that are overtly race based. Instead, this law is “harm based.”

To Protect Our Children, Let’s Tax Our Rich

Sam Pizzigati Counterpunch
Last week brought the alarming news that three Kentucky-based McDonald’s franchises had kids as young as 10 working at 62 stores in four different states. Some of these under-working age children were working as late as 2 a.m.

The Disappearing White-Collar Job

Chip Cutter and Harriet Torry The Wall Street Journal
A once-in-a-generation convergence of technology and pressure to operate more efficiently has corporations saying many lost jobs may never return.