Chagrin Valley review – the ins and outs of care home life inside an uncanny artificial paradise

Beneath painted skies and birdsong, film-maker Nathalie Berger’s observational documentary exposes hidden labour and quiet turmoil In the main hall of the Lantern, a retirement home in Ohio’s Chagrin valley, the ceiling consists of glass panels painted to resemble blue skies. The chirping of birds wafts through the corridors, styled after the front porches of typical mid-century houses, except these are all indoors. Like the lighted roof, the sounds of nature are entirely artificial. For the residents of this care facility, such designs seek to inspire feelings of calm and familiarity, yet they also induce an atmosphere of uncanniness. Exploring the parallel worlds of the inhabitants and their caregivers, Nathalie Berger’s observational documentary finds real love and care in this strange simulacrum of home. Captured in static vignettes, life at the Lantern appears quite tranquil. The retirees live together in a kind of resigned harmony. Some are bewildered as to why they are in a ca...

‘It’s unsustainable’: can Hollywood survive without transformation?

Despite the success of Barbenheimer, the industry faces strikes, AI concerns and an untenable situation for those not at the top

It was a pink mushroom cloud that even enveloped the White House. “Did you see Barbie or Oppenheimer this weekend?” a reporter asked the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. She replied: “I knew I was going to get that question. I did not. But heard that it did very well.”

Both films did very well: Barbie collected $162m in ticket sales while Oppenheimer, about the father of the atom bomb, earned $82.4m. It was comfortably the best weekend at the domestic box office since the coronavirus pandemic. But when future historians come to study the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, they may still have a question: was this the dawn of a Hollywood renaissance or glorious last stand of an industry in decline?

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