As the age of Covid-19 more or less wanes, Arts Fuse critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
Film Review: “Living” — Ode to Joy
Featuring a transcendent performance by Bill Nighy, Living inspires viewers to look inward, and then outward, gently begging us to muster whatever power we have to seize the day.
Album Review: A Past Fit for the Future –“Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium”
Projects such as Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium extricate the resilient voice of the people from the cacophony of current ideological intervention.
Rock Concert Review: Elvis Costello — Proudly Flaunting his Dependability and Unpredictability
Elvis Costello loves to visit various regions of the past but wouldn’t dare move to any of them permanently.
Classical Concert Review: The Boston Symphony Orchestra Plays Davis, Dawson, and Bonds
While balancing the scales of justice can be difficult work, the effort is an important act of generosity, even love.
Book Review: “Dave Brubeck and the Performance of Whiteness” — No Way Out?
Dave Brubeck and the Performance of Whiteness has scholarly value but, given its diminution of human agency, it will not significantly impact real life public conversations about ending white privilege and dealing with the complexities of cultural appropriation.
Visual Arts Review: Is There a Boston Art?
Arnold Trachtman, Isabelle Higgins, and Barbara Ishikura are all “Boston Modern” artists who never stray far from communicating all-too-human joys and worries.
Book Review: “Epic Annette” — What Is Heroism?
Surely the selfless subject of Anne Weber’s Epic Annette qualifies beyond doubt as a true heroine of the twentieth century?
WATCH CLOSELY: “Red Rose” is Teen Social Media Horror
Technology-driven horror narratives are ubiquitous these days: Red Rose has an authentic look that makes its creepiness distressingly plausible.
Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse
Here’s this week’s poem, “Time” by Nicole Callihan.