If a master of genre storytelling makes a comedy-thriller that wins the Palme d’Or, distributors can’t be blamed for feeling cautiously optimistic about it. Except that the movie happens to be South Korean. So? It means that the movie is expected to be slotted into the “Best International Film” category…

Rachel, my assistant, asked me in early February if the media was blowing this “Coronavirus thing” out of proportion. My answer — they weren’t even scratching the surface. Fast forward to six weeks later — The Covid-19 threat has become the biggest crisis of the last 75 years. Our social…