The specter of Brazilian author Clarice Lispector pervades the stage at Immense Joy, a new production devised and directed by Anna Kohler, and presented by The Tank NYC. At the height of her fame, Lispector’s name (originally Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector at birth) almost always conjured an air of mystery―not just because of her curious UkrainianContinue reading “Joyful Noise: Anna Kohler’s “Immense Joy” Brings the Works of Clarice Lispector to Vivacious Life”
Category Archives: Review
Show Girl Showstopper: Andrea Bell Wolff Dazzles as She Recalls her ‘Adventures in Vegas’
There’s nothing like a pandemic to make you a little nostalgic. At least, that was definitely the case for performer Andrea Bell Wolff, who opens her show Adventures in Vegas with a scene at a pandemic-era birthday gathering. From there, Wolff dusts off from the pages of her diary memories of Las Vegas and suddenlyContinue reading “Show Girl Showstopper: Andrea Bell Wolff Dazzles as She Recalls her ‘Adventures in Vegas’”
Girls Aloud: What I Watched, September-October 2020
As I wrote earlier this year: “The role of third-wave feminism certainly took its hold in the cinema of the 2010s. Women in the 21st century are allowed, more than ever, to be imperfectly perfect creatures: kind and compassionate, cold and calculating, badass…or just plain bad.” Nowhere has this been more evident than in filmContinue reading “Girls Aloud: What I Watched, September-October 2020”
Festival Notes: ‘For the Love of Docs’ 2020
It takes a certain kind of person to imagine a different world than the present one they’re living in. Such seems to be the running theme found in the line-up of DEADLINE’s recent For the Love of Docs Film Festival—or, at the very least, in the couple of films this writer was able to catch. Continue reading “Festival Notes: ‘For the Love of Docs’ 2020”
Best of the Decade: Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’ (2010)
What gave Black Swan its most enduring legacy (aside from the seemingly endless font of memes it inspired that year) was its unique twist on the psychological thriller. A nod to the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classic, The Red Shoes, Darren Aronofsky’s film tells the story of Nina Sayres, a corps dancer who dreams of becomingContinue reading “Best of the Decade: Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Black Swan’ (2010)”
Best of the Decade: Mark Romanek’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ (2010)
In great contrast to fellow best-of entrant Inception and others of its ilk released the same year, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, his adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s eponymous novel, subverts the usual expectations of a science-fiction narrative, taking the dystopian plot from its usual dreamscape futurama and placing it into a time more familiarContinue reading “Best of the Decade: Mark Romanek’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ (2010)”
Best of the Decade: David Fincher’s ‘The Social Network’ (2010)
“Creation myths need a devil.” At the risk of subsequently praising nearly every film released that year (and sounding like a cheap imitation of a sommelier), it must be said that, yes, 2010 was a very good year for film. Kicking off the decade in a major way was none other than David Fincher’s TheContinue reading “Best of the Decade: David Fincher’s ‘The Social Network’ (2010)”
Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019
Over the last decade or so, singer-songwriter-actress Kate Nash has developed a reputation (and obvious penchant) for defying others’ expectations. Filmed over five years as the British singer moved to Los Angeles and began writing and recording new music, Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl (which had its Stateside premiere last week at the DOC NYCContinue reading “Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019”
Music to Move the Stars: Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’ is a Dizzying Confection of Dreamy Nostalgia
For nearly the past twenty years or so, movie-musicals have seen a resurgence in the public consciousness. One such film that has done so, and with as much fanfare (or perhaps even more so), is none other than Damien Chazelle’s own ambitious take, La La Land (2016). Chazelle’s second attempt at a musical (after hisContinue reading “Music to Move the Stars: Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’ is a Dizzying Confection of Dreamy Nostalgia”
A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature
For singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis, it seems as if her identity has forever been inextricably linked with her music. When she arrived on the scene with her 2010 debut The Family Jewels she was known then as Marina and the Diamonds, a moniker which suggested the idea of a band — perhaps one similar to theContinue reading “A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature”
Jessica Taghap 