Techlife News 10.23.2021

51

52

and on its website that Autopilot is a driver-
assist system and drivers must be ready to take
action at any time.

Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle
engineering, said on the company’s April 26
earnings conference call that an inspection of
the badly burned car found that the steering
wheel was deformed, “so it was leading to a
likelihood that someone was in the driver’s seat
at the time of the crash.” He said all seat belts
were found unbuckled.

On Twitter in April, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote
that data logs “recovered so far” in the crashed
show Autopilot wasn’t turned on, and “Full
Self-Driving” was not purchased for the vehicle
in the Texas crash. He didn’t answer reporters’
questions posed on Twitter.

NHTSA has stepped up its investigations into
Tesla Autopilot. In August, it opened a formal
investigation into the system after a series of
collisions with parked emergency vehicles.

The investigation covers 765,000 vehicles,
almost everything that Tesla has sold in the
U.S. since the start of the 2014 model year. Of
the crashes identified as part of the probe, 17
people were injured and one was killed.

NHTSA says it has identified 12 crashes since
2018 in which Teslas on Autopilot or Traffic
Aware Cruise Control have hit vehicles at scenes
where first responders have used flashing lights,
flares, an illuminated arrow board or cones
warning of hazards.

53





Image: Frank May

56

MEXICO: DRUG
CARTELS

RECRUITING
YOUTHS
THROUGH

VIDEO GAMES

Drug cartels in Mexico are recruiting youths
through contacts made on multiplayer online
video games, officials said this week.
Ricardo Mejía, Mexico’s assistant public safety
secretary, said an apparent cartel recruiter
had already bought bus tickets for three boys
between the ages of 11 and 14.
He said the boys met the recruiter in the
online game platform “Free Fire,” also known as
“Garena Free Fire.”The recruiter promised the
boys $200 per week to work in northern Mexico
as drug cartel lookouts.
The boys were found before they could board
the bus in the southern state of Oaxaca. Mejia

57

58

said other cartels have operated in a similar
way by contacting players through online
games and game platform chats, including “Call
of Duty,”“Gears of War” and “Grand Theft
Auto V.”

While there have been documented cases
of recruiting attempts over social media
in the past, officials said violence-soaked
online gaming platforms offer recruiters a
much targeted pool of youths: mainly male,
young, fascinated by weapons and somewhat
desensitized to killing, at least on a virtual level.

The first boy was contacted by the suspected
recruiter in August, and later he told two of
his friends, who also accepted the offer. In a
message to the boys, the recruiter said they
would like the job, “given that you like guns
and you will make a lot of money.”

A woman, who was detained, bought them
tickets to the northern city of Monterrey under
false names.

Mejia did not name the cartel involved, but said
a similar case occurred in September with an
attempt at online recruitment by the Cartel del
Noreste, a remnant of the old Zetas cartel.

The recruiters apparently have enough
technological sophistication to get around
security algorithms on popular consoles.

It is not clear how widespread the practice is.

The Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico
says that, between 2000 and 2019 in Mexico,
21,000 youths under 18 were murdered in
Mexico, and 7,000 disappeared.

The group estimates that some 30,000 youths
had been recruited by drug gangs by 2019.

59

60

61

A report presented last week by Reinserta,
which works to prevent youths from getting
recruited by drug cartels, said kids are
frequently recruited by other children their
own age.
Reinserta interviewed 89 minors held at
youthful offender facilities in several states; 67
of those youths said they had been actively
involved with the cartels. The average age at
the time they came in contact with the cartels
was between 13 and 15. All of them had
dropped out of school and all eventually went
on to use firearms.
The report said drug use is one way to recruit
them, but the cartels also use religious beliefs
and a sense of belonging kids can’t get
elsewhere. Combinations of poverty, abusive
homes, and unresponsive schools and social
agencies play a role.
The report found that previous membership
in local street gangs no longer appears to play
much of a role. Cartels in Mexico are directly
recruiting kids.

62

Image: Michael Kraus

63





66

DENIS
VILLENEUVE’S

DREAMS
OF ‘DUNE’
REACH THE
BIG SCREEN

It was the eyes that drew Denis Villeneuve
to “Dune.”
Long before he’d decided to become a
filmmaker, he was just a teenager browsing a
bookstore when he spotted the cover of Frank
Herbert’s 1965 novel. But it wasn’t a hard sell
for the biology obsessed 14-year-old who had
already learned that science fiction was a way to
dream on a grand scale.
Then he read it and was mesmerized by the
poetic, atmospheric story of a young man’s
heroic journey that dealt with religion, politics,
destiny, heritage, the environment, colonialism
and giant space worms.

67

68

DUNE – Final Trailer

69

“It became an obsession,”Villeneuve, 54, said.

And it was just the beginning of a decade-
spanning dream that is finally coming to fruition
as his own version of “Dune” makes its way to
North American theaters.

Villeneuve is not the first filmmaker who has
dared to fantasize about making “Dune,” but
he’s the first to see his vision realized in a way
that might satisfy both fans and novices. For a
book that has inspired so much science fiction
over the past 50 years, from “Star Wars” to
“Alien,” filmed adaptations have proved difficult.
First there was Alejandro Jodorowsky’s near-
mythic movie slash 14-hour event that would
have starred Mick Jagger, Orson Welles, Gloria
Swanson and Salvador Dalí (chronicled in the
2013 documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune”).
Then David Lynch’s swing was a critical and
commercial flop when it was released in 1984.

“Dune” seemed cursed until producers Mary
Parent and Cale Boyter acquired the rights
through Legendary and found out that
Villeneuve, who had established himself as a
filmmaker with that rare ability to make large
scale films that are cerebral and commercially
viable, was a lifelong fan. Plans were set in
motion to try to make “Dune” once more — with
a $165 million production budget.

“My movie is not an act of arrogance,”Villeneuve
said. “It’s an act of humility. My dream was that
a hardcore fan of ‘Dune’ would feel that I put a
camera in their mind.”

The book was his bible and compass throughout
the process. He kept it close on set so that the
spirit of it was always nearby and encouraged
his crew and cast to read it closely as well.

70

71

72

73

And he wasn’t daunted by the outsized
expectations. He’s the one who made a sequel
to “Blade Runner” after all (although that is
a whole different story and one that he still
thinks was a bad idea even though he’d do it
again in a heartbeat).

“I will not say ‘Dune’ is an impossible task.
I think it’s a difficult one,”Villeneuve said.
“Creativity is linked with risk. I love to jump in
with no safety net. It’s part of my nature.”

Part of that difficulty was homing in on a
film that would appeal to die-hards and
newcomers. The first step was convincing the
studio that he’d need two films to complete the
story. Although they agreed, the second has
yet to get the official “go.”

He and screenwriters Jon Spaihts and Eric
Roth simplified the structure to focus on Paul
Atreides, the young aristocrat whose family
takes control of the dangerous, desert planet
Arrakis, home to the universe’s most valued
resource, as an intergalactic power struggling
between ruling families heats up. He had only
one name in mind for the part:
Timothée Chalamet.

“There’s not a lot of actors like Timothée
in the word,” he said. “Timothée has an old
soul. For a young man of his age, he has a
really impressive maturity. At the same time,
Timothée looks really young on camera.”

And there’s that “rock star” charisma that would
lend credence to his evolution into a messianic
figure that “will lead a world into chaos.”

The film is packed with lauded actors, including
Rebecca Ferguson as Paul’s mother and Oscar

74

75

76

77

78

Isaac as his father. The movie also has Jason
Momoa, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier
Bardem, Charlotte Rampling, Stephen McKinley
Henderson and Zendaya, whom he led on a
globetrotting journey to Hungary, Jordan, Abu
Dhabi and Norway.

“I’ve been in these adventure films that really try
to add a lot of emotion. But there’s something
that is so poetic in the way that Denis
approaches this massive film and the scale of
it,” Isaac said. “Even if there’s explosions, even if
there’s giant worms, he’s just always looking at it
through his poetic lens, which for me is totally,
totally unique.”

It was especially important to be in the desert
to film the Arrakis scenes, which meant harsh
conditions and sand getting, well, everywhere.
But it was vital to do it on location.

“It would have been impossible to do on the
stage or on a backlot,”Villeneuve said. “Maybe
I’m too old fashioned but that’s the way I work.”

“Dune” was originally slated to come out last
year before the pandemic upended most
theatrical releases. Villeneuve used that time to
his film’s advantage.

“It was very nice for me to have the chance to let
the movie sleep a little, coming back to it, sizzle
it,” he said. “If people don’t like the movie, I have
no excuses because I had the time to do it and
the resources.”

But as welcome as the added time was, the
pandemic also led to the decision to release all
of Warner Bros. 2021 slate simultaneously in
theaters and on HBO Max. Villeneuve responded
at the time with a strongly worded open letter

79

80

81

82

that ran in the trade publication Variety, that
wasn’t just about his film but the implications
for the future of cinema.
Ten months later, the pandemic is still going and
the release strategy has held its course, even as
theatrical attendance ramps up.
“We are in a pandemic and that reality is twisted
right now, and I totally understand if people
can’t go to the theater or people are afraid of
the theater. I respect that and that’s the priority.
Health is the priority,”Villeneuve said. “But the
movie has been made, designed, dreamed to be
seen on a big screen.”
The film has made $129 million so far during its
international roll out. Now comes the test of the
North American audience, who will have the
option to go to the theater or watch it on HBO
Max. Hanging on the line is the sequel — or,
more accurately, the conclusion to the first film.
“I don’t know when it’s going to be decided,
but it will come down to if the movie generates
enough enthusiasm, if there’s enough passion
about it. We’ll see. I’m at peace with that. I hope
there will be a Part 2,” he said.
Villeneuve’s grateful that he gets to show the
world at least part of what he’s been dreaming
about for almost 40 years.
“I had the time of my life making ‘Dune,’”
Villeneuve said.

83





IN ‘MASS,’ A
WRENCHING
DIALOGUE AFTER
TRAGEDY

The piercing traumas of school shootings, when
they’ve made it into the movies, have seldom
carried quite the right tone. Even the best
intentions in wading into such tragic horrors can
come off as insincere, even exploitive.
“Mass,”Fran Kranz’s meditative chamber piece, is a
sober and wrenching exception. Kranz’s film, the
veteran actor’s first as writer-director, is about two
sets of parents who meet, cautiously and with
still raw wounds, to talk six years after a school
shooting that brought their families together.
Gail (Martha Plimpton) and Jay (Jason Isaacs)
lost their son in an attack by the son of Richard
(Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd, ), who also
died that day. Their meeting, in a nondescript
church across from a broad field and snow-
dusted mountains, makes up the entire film, one
built around an intensely emotional dialogue of
86

87

88

89

MASS | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street

90

grief, regret and maybe catharsis, as performed
brilliantly by a quartet of actors.

We don’t immediately know the reason for the
get-together. Kranz, whose film feels meant for
the stage, begins with the anxious table-setting
at the church, an Episcopalian chapel. A church
volunteer (Breeda Wool, also excellent) makes
nervous preparations with a mediator (Michelle
N. Carter) who arrives in advance for a meeting
that’s never specified, as if it’s too sensitive to
even voice. In its restrained way, “Mass” makes
an argument for carefully creating “a space,”
literally and figuratively, for speaking about
the unspeakable,

“I don’t know if I can do it,” Gail tells her husband
as they arrive. “I mean, I don’t know if I can say it.”

Once they’re all seated, the talk is initially timid
and polite. For us, the sense that we’re slowly
moving closer to an iceberg of grief only grows.
It’s the first time they’ve met but, as we gather
in small allusions, they’ve been through years of
public debate. Lawsuits, not between them but
from other families of victims, have limited what
Richard — a clinical analyzer of the situation,
the only one in a business suit — and Linda — a
soulful, soft-spoken woman with sensitive, sad
eyes — have previously been able to say. She
and Gail have written each other before. But
slowly the pitch rises.

“Tell me about your son?”

“Why?”

“Because he killed my son.”

The anguished dialogue flows remarkably
naturally, even as all struggle to articulate their
feelings. Jay and Gail fight to hold down their
rage. The fraught conversation sometimes

91

92

MASS | Your Son | Bleecker Street

93

MASS | Everything You Cannot See | Bleecker Street

94

slides into familiar debate points about guns ,
videogames and mental health, but it mostly
steers toward grasping at some understanding.
Why did he do it? Could they have done better
as parents? Is the loss of one couple greater than
the other? Is forgiveness possible? How can they
make any sense of it?

“The love we had, it was real. And the truth is,
we believed we were good parents, and in some
awful, confusing way, we still do,” says Linda. “Is it
worse that I thought I was a good mother?”

None of this may be anyone’s idea of a happy
movie night. But in scratching at real wisdom,
“Mass,” which begins playing in theaters Friday,
is stirring in its humanity. Kranz’s film isn’t
perfect. As the conversation ebbs and the four
parents stagger out of the room and awkwardly
part, the movie, too, struggles with how to
walk away. But in this plainly photographed,
mournful, restrained movie, the back-and-forth
is bracingly sincere.

Each actor deserves praise but Plimpton, as a
hardened woman trying to unburden herself
of her sorrow without at the same time losing
a piece of her son, is magnificent. Dowd’s
performance, too, is so richly empathetic; Linda’s
melancholy is bottomless but there’s something
spiritual in how eager she is to ease Jay and
Gail’s suffering, if she can. The performances are
too internalized to seem theatrical. Often, “Mass”
is most moving when they’re simply listening.

“Mass,” a Bleecker Street release, is rated PG-13
by the Motion Picture Association of America
for thematic content and brief strong language.
Running time: 110 minutes. Three and a half
stars out of four.

95





98

MacBooks
The most powerful Pro
lineup ever created

99

After what feels like a lifetime of waiting,
Apple has finally unveiled its next-generation
MacBook Pro line-up, bringing the power of M1
and stepping it up a gear. The new M1 Pro and
M1 Max chips bring Apple’s vision for a world
beyond Intel to life, no doubt sparking the
interest of creatives around the world. Apple
has finally put the Pro back into the MacBook.

MINDBLOWING CAPABILITIES

There has been much speculation about the
new MacBook Pro range, and though Apple
took a little longer to give its 14-inch and 16-

100