Review

Listening During Covid, Part 4: Fascinating Vocal Adventures from Different Times and Places

January 21, 2021
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I may be in quarantine, but music can transport me back to the Middle Ages, or to the court of Catherine the Great of Russia, or, via Donizetti, to an imagined India.

Film Review: “Azizler” (aka Stuck Apart) — Trapped Again

January 20, 2021
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Azizler is a slow burn; unfortunately, the payoff isn’t worth the wait.

Film Review: “Epicentro” — An Affectionate View of Cuba

January 20, 2021
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Politics is not the filmmaker’s interest in this lovely, affecting documentation of non-bureaucratic, everyday life in Havana.

Theater Review: “The Race” — Business as Unusual

January 19, 2021
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This is a very effective political drama, a relevant warning about what social critic Chris Hedges calls the formation of “corporate totalitarianism.”

Book Review: “Freak Out! My Life with the Mothers of Invention” — Intimate Observations

January 19, 2021
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Fans of Frank Zappa who want to know about Frank the man as well as Zappa the musical and political icon would be wise to seek out Freak Out!

Book Review: Yang Jisheng’s “The World Turned Upside Down”

January 19, 2021
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Those who admire Yang Jisheng’s distinguished career should pick up this book. Those searching for a solid, accessible history of Mao’s Cultural Revolution should look elsewhere.

Film Review: “Nomadland” — “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost…”

January 18, 2021
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Fern may be house-less, but she’s not homeless — there’s a difference, she explains; her home will be the road, and the road is full of life, love, challenges, and surprises, all there for the taking.

Film Review: “MLK/FBI” — A Necessary Cautionary Tale

January 17, 2021
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A powerful document about the persecution of an American icon and the government that tried to destroy him.

Book Review: “World of Wonders” — A Natural Counter to the Chaos of Our Political Moment

January 15, 2021
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These essays aren’t overly scientific; instead, they remind us, with a gentle nudge, to take delight in nature, to pay attention to it, to be observant.

Film Review: “Pieces of a Woman” — “They give birth astride of a grave…”

January 15, 2021
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Pieces of a Woman is an affecting film about the depths of mourning highlighted by Vanessa Kirby’s gut-wrenching lead performance.

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