Taking Critics to Task

The only thing sour about Francois Ozon’s “8 Women” is Manohla Dargis’ Sept. 20 review, “Sour ‘8 Women’ Needs a Dash of Douglas Sirk.”

“8 Women” is a silly, well-made mongrel of a film that is a bit uneven and highly unconventional but nonetheless succeeds in providing a very fun venue to see France’s greatest actresses singing, dancing and cat-fighting.

Here is a refreshing bubble bath of a film that Dargis, dressed in her scuba gear as film critic, dives into expecting great depths and hits her head. A bubble bath is not that deep, Manohla, and a bonbon like “8 Women,” is not sour.

DAVID KLIGER

Long Beach

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I am disgusted that Kenneth Turan seems to have bought into the kind of mindless, politically correct group-think that says movies like “Trapped” (“ ‘Trapped: That’s Exactly How You’ll Feel,” Sept. 23) shouldn’t be produced because some people find films with such dark subject matter upsetting or because the picture’s release date seems to coincide with troubling current events, such as the rash of child kidnappings supposedly sweeping the country.

Gosh, should studios stop making films about bad cops because of Rampart? Should there be no more movies about rogue soldiers, since we’re at war and they might upset someone? Or do only movies about cute children count?

How about this: If a reviewer hates a film, he should hate it strictly because it fails in its ambitions, basing his comments on how well it handles its subject matter, not on the subject matter itself.

RUS STEDMAN

Encino