The Truman Show

Truman Burbank is beginning to wise up. People seem to listen to him, but they never really connect; he feels trapped in a job he doesn’t care about, a marriage he doesn’t believe in, and a small island community he’s never been able to leave. It’s as if his life has been pre-programmed from the start: as indeed it has, for Truman is the unwitting subject of television’s most audacious experiment, a real-life soap following one man from birth to death. When Truman (Jim Carrey) appeals to a higher power, he’s actually addressing the show’s omniscient creator/director, Christof (Ed Harris).

This is more than just a savvy and ingenious satire on media saturation, it’s a moving metaphysical fable, beautifully orchestrated by the great Australian director Peter Weir.

Staff Pick: Ani & Emma

Aug 15: Intro by Christopher Beaubien, filmmaker and critic

A bold, powerful, reverberant fantasy that nails the zeitgeist with enough thematic richness to carry us into and beyond the millennium.

Jay Carr, Boston Globe

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