This is a profound loss to cinema and to Boston’s filmmaking community in particular, a close-knit group in which Lucia Small enjoyed many friendships and engaged in fruitful collaborations.
Gerald Peary
November Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Book Review: “Ghost of the Hardy Boys” — The Man Behind America’s Favorite Teenage Sleuths
In this genial, colorful memoir, Leslie McFarlane reveals the long path to how, anonymously, he became author of the most best-selling series of boys’ books in publishing history, twenty million volumes and counting.
Film Review: “A Love Song” — A Marvel of Humanity
Max Walker-Silverman’s first feature, A Love Song, is a character-driven, humanist, and deeply ecological present to someone of my generation.
Film Review: “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” — Close to an Infomercial
If the filmmakers are going to delve into the Jazz Fest vaults, how is it possible to show only a few seconds of Professor Longhair and nothing of James Booker, the Meters, the Neville Brothers? Not good.
Film Review: The Documentary “The Will to See” — Muckraking, Fierce and Absorbing
Again and again, we are taken in The Will to See to places where regular reporters never venture, and certainly not filmgoers.
Book Review: “The Swells” — Expertly Cruising Through Satiric Waters
Is it possible that adventurous readers have a better feel for the virtues of this zany, demanding satire than fuddy-duddy critics?
February Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Arts Feature: Best Movies (With Some Disappointments) of 2021
Our demanding critics choose the best films (along with some disappointments) of the year.
Film Review: “West Side Story” — An Unnecessary Remake
Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is fairly entertaining, fairly decent, but that’s about it.