Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Film
Film Review: “Violation” – Rethinking Revenge
Violation utilizes extreme violence not to revel in a revenge fantasy but to deconstruct the genre’s militantly feminist appeal — “kill your rapist” — as a self-destructive endeavor offering no catharsis whatsoever.
Film Review: “Lapsis” — A Satirical Sci-Fi Send-Up of the Gig Economy
This new satirical sci-fi fable is perfect for home streaming to channel (or perhaps exacerbate) your gnawing anxieties at a world slipping into anti-human automation and free-market desperation.
Film Interview: Bertrand Tavernier (1941-2021) Talks About – What Else? – French Cinema
We mourn the loss of an affable generous man, a bridge to a vast history, who also knew and loved American culture.
Film Review: “Ammonite” — Stark Romanticism
The experience of watching Ammonite may prove slightly unsettling for some viewers because there is so little cinematic artifice at work.
Film Review: Berlin International Film Festival 2021 — a Promising Virtual Detour
This was an improved edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, and a number of films seem poised to travel widely, despite being largely ignored by the US media.
Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Film (Part One)
If you like your films “weird, sexually provocative, and intellectually stimulating” (add violence to the mix) then our critics will feed your appetite splendidly.
Film Review: “The Last Blockbuster” — A Nostalgia Trip to Video Heaven
Could it be, I dream, that a resurgence in local video shops much be in the cards, like the vinyl record stores that are popping up everywhere now?
Film Review: 1930’s “Ingagi” — An Elusive Beast from the Dark Shadows of American Cinema Emerges
In its day, Ingagi raked in the crowds with a promise of weird African animals and “wild” women, and a teasing of bestiality.
Film Review: “The Inheritance” — Brilliant and Necessary
In its celebration of current-day Black culture, and of the vitality of Black youth, The Inheritance is an optimistic work.