The Republican coup d'etat's recent second phase has done more than turn stomachs and induce seizures — it's also reversed the cliché about learning to crawl before you walk. The formerly upright should now expect to go horizontal, and prone. (Supine is out; you can't look up.) Yes, get ready to kiss the pavement as you slither your way through the horrors of the apocalyptic Bushscape. While you're busy perfecting your grovel, learning your new mantra (a simple "Yes Sir"), and teasing out your understandably reluctant inner slave — and before you become completely mindless and inchoate — may we suggest you sample the tasty goods in the first post-"election" Bright Lights?

Despite all indications to the contrary, the bliss ninnies at BL insist this is a happy, hopeful world. And how better to make the case than with this issue's reassuring lineup? A peek inside the articles antechambers uncovers BL newbies Mark Kelly and Manfred Weidhorn examining, respectively, Training Day as an unconscious precursor of the Iraq mess and the political underpinnings of High Noon. Also here are two recent BL inductees: Ian Johnston giving Wong kar-wai's 2046 the once-over, and Boris Trbic taking on Kusturica's Life Is a Miracle.

BL is all about "the new," of course, so the features foyer introduces two more first-time writers to our ranks. Paul Brand explores zany Howard Hughes as man, filmmaker, and entrepreneur, while Matthew Iannucci excavates the nightmare that is Travis Bickle, Everyman. Here too is BL veteran Andrew Grossman, diving into the roiling waters of the rape-revenge film and a lot more.

Entering the interrogation alcove, we encounter Clint Eastwood, talking with Tony Macklin about Million Dollar Baby and his long career; Mania Akbari, chatting with Dorna Khazeni about 20 Fingers; Hirokazu Kore-eda, adding insights to Cleo Cacoulidis' review of his four features to date; and animation fave Bill Plympton, nattering with Scott Thill (guru of the mega-cool Morphizm website) about Hair High and other joys.

Looking upward, ever upward, to the film festival flying buttress brings us to part 2 of Bob Keser's juicy survey of the 2004 Chicago International Film Festival. The recent cinema roundabout maintains BL's "with-it" thrust with BL associate editor Alan Vanneman's skewerings of Closer, Sideways, and The Aviator; Megan Ratner's honoring of Mike Leigh's Vera Drake and Naked; and Tony Macklin's thumb's up to Million Dollar Baby. This issue's "distribute this!" column features Marilyn Ferdinand's backward glance at the worthy Kent Mackenzie's little-known 1961 indie The Exiles.

Strolling into the vale of video reminds us of one of our favorite quotes, from Dr. Soberin in Kiss Me Deadly: "As the world becomes more primitive, its treasures become more fabulous." Surely the wealth of DVDs on view here proves how right the good doctor was. Megan Ratner contemplates the documentary Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue; Matthew Kennedy assesses Criterion's five-DVD Cassavetes set;. Ian Johnston contrasts the Renoir and Kurosawa versions of The Lower Depths; and yours truly discusses the Bresson masterworks A Man Escaped and Lancelot of the Lake. A skip to the cornucopia corner for the latest "little stabs of happiness (and horror)," also by yours truly, completes your visit to La Casa de Bright Lights, where happiness is our most important product!

Ciao.