Even if the world has yet to get a hold of the pandemic, it hasn’t taken long for filmmakers to get a grip.
Less than 18 months after Covid-19 turned the world upside down, directors are filtering the new normal through their lenses. Perhaps it’s no surprise an event that has shaken the globe has been addressed so swiftly.
But is it too soon? Think back to the time of the terror attacks of 9/11, when films such as United 93 and World Trade Centre – both released in 2006 – waited a respectful distance.
Adam Mason's Songbird, a pandemic thriller featuring an ensemble cast that includes Demi Moore and Paul Walter Hauser, is now in cinemas.
It’s set in 2024, in a world where the virus has mutated and the infected are thrown into quarantine camps known as “Q-Zones”. Bracelets signifying immunity go for high prices on the black market, while an app on your phone can immediately detect positive virus transmissions. A terrifying vision of the future? Or simply another Hollywood cash-in?
The makers of Songbird, which was produced by Michael Bay (who is also behind the recent A Quiet Place Part II, with its own mankind-is-stricken tale), have spoken about "opportunistic filmmaking" – a reference to the rough-and-ready use of iPhones, and GoPro and surveillance cameras, for shooting.
But as trade paper The Hollywood Reporter noted, that phrase "could also easily describe this ponderous effort, which would more accurately be described as 'exploitative filmmaking'."
Yet such negative criticism will hardly stop the veritable cottage industry of films that have sprung up about the virus – documentaries such as 76 Days (a chilling look at Wuhan early last year), In the Same Breath (a similarly clinical look at the Chinese and American governments' responses to Covid-19) and Totally Under Control (which zeroed in on the Trump administration's errors).
There's also the television pilot These Days, Adam Brooks' indie drama about dating in the early days of quarantine, which premiered at this year's Sundance.
As for films, the array of pandemic movies ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous. Some, such as The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet – a surreal Argentinian film about a health crisis – were conceived long before the pandemic began and have simply benefited from uncanny timing.
Others, such as Doug Liman's Locked Down, were written, directed and edited on-the-fly in the past year, as a direct reaction to the chaotic world events.
In the case of Locked Down, Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor play a London couple going stir crazy during the pandemic. While their relationship is fraying at the seams, they decide to plot a diamond heist – planning to split the proceeds with the British National Health Service.
The reviews were savage, to say the least. "My advice for surviving 2021 is simple: wear a mask, wash your hands and please, please keep your distance from Locked Down," said The Guardian.
You could apportion some of the blame for this glut of pandemic-related entertainment on Contagion. Steven Soderbergh's 2011 thriller, which detailed with unerring accuracy how government officials might handle a global health crisis, experienced renewed popularity in the early days of the pandemic. In March last year, it became the seventh-most popular film on iTunes (compared to the 270th in December 2019).
Human nature suggests we love to be frightened, which explains the popularity of zombie apocalypse tales, such as TV show The Walking Dead and Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later.
Yet the sight of the undead shuffling towards us is clearly (we hope) pure fantasy. A pandemic story has its basis in something more real, or at least it offers an amped-up, mutated version of what we’re now experiencing. What better way to process the horrors of the past year than from the safety of your own living room?
Some pandemic films have managed to avoid the exploitation route of Songbird. Ben Wheatley's beguiling new work In the Earth – another film shot under strict Covid-19 safety protocols last summer – is set in a time where the world has been ravaged by an unspecified virus.
A scientist, played by Joel Fry, heads into British woodlands to investigate plant life, which soon leads audiences into an adventure that involves myth and mythology (and not a mention of coronavirus).
Reece Shearsmith, who co-stars as a hermit that Fry’s character meets, admits it was eerie making a film that used a virus as a jumping off point.
“I’m chilled to the bone,” he says. “What if Covid was Ebola? Ninety-nine percent … if you get it, you die. This is not that, thank God. But absolutely, it’s horrifying how easy it seems to have slipped into the world and got by everyone. This film is not very far removed, I think, from such a desolate outcome.”
This rush for a pandemic-related catharsis – virus-as-entertainment – won’t be ending any time soon.
On the way, for example, is the post-apocalyptic series Y: The Last Man – about the one remaining male left on Earth.
It seems the sheer guilty pleasure of watching an outbreak-style drama is here to stay. Whether you feel a film such as Songbird is too soon, or in bad taste, there's clearly a pent-up public desire to explore this latest horror to infect our way of life.
Songbird is in UAE cinemas now
Pathaan
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INDIA SQUADS
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20Profile
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Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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Results
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The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
