I wrote last week that the best films at the Tribeca Film Festival tended to be documentaries. Then I saw a scripted German film that turned out to be an exception.
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Film Commentary: More Memorable Movies Turning 50
The clamor to do justice to 1972 did not cease, so here are salutes to four additional films, The Getaway, Last House on the Left, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, and What’s Up Doc?.
Pop Album Review: Florence + The Machine’s “Dance Fever” – Inside the Artist’s Mind
Dance Fever is one of the few pandemic-themed artworks that doesn’t feel contrived — it is specific about the value of music to the individual and by extension to the community.
Film Review: “The Automat” — A Documentary Love-In to the Restaurant Chain
What could have been a fantastic twenty-minute short becomes a tedious slog as a stretched-out feature.
Book Excerpt: Helen Epstein’s “Getting Through It: My Year of Cancer During Covid”
Just after Covid arrived in North America, journalist Helen Epstein was diagnosed with endometrial cancer — one of a predicted 66,570 new cases of cancer of the uterine body in the United States in 2021.
Concert Review: Big Thief at Roadrunner
Big Thief is a largely somber folk-rock outfit fronted by introspective singer/songwriter Adrianne Lenker that doesn’t care much about showmanship.
Film Reviews: “Donbass” and “Babi Yar. Context” — Two Views of Destruction in Ukraine from Sergei Loznitsa
Donbass is a powerfully gritty portrayal of thuggish aggression by people who felt empowered, with Russian support, to steal from, torment, and kill their neighbors.
Visual Arts Review: “Displaced: Raida Adon’s Strangeness” — The Remains of Home
Raida Adon rejects political categories because they fail to capture the utter strangeness of lived experience.
Concert Review/Interview: America at Lowell Memorial Auditorium
In Lowell, America played to a packed, enthusiastic, Centrum Silver-popping crowd who sang along with the band’s impressively deep roster of hits.
Concert Review: Billy Strings Blesses Roadrunner, Memorably
Where Roadrunner goes from here remains to be seen, but Billy Strings did his part to open the room with a bang of a blessing.