Film & Performing Arts Archives - Page 2 of 3

What Are We to Make of Lars von Trier?

The Idiots, the controversial Danish director’s most controversial film, reconsidered

December 19, 2023 • by Emma Slack-Jørgensen

In Denmark, von Trier is both ridiculed and cherished—at best he is terminally misunderstood and at worst a national laughing stock. Yet the Danish director meets his most critical audience within the very film festivals that have showcased his work. ...

Film & Performing Arts

On “Slow Cinema”

Does this contemporary movement represent a gentle resistance to the values of contemporary society—or a surrender to elitist aesthetics?

December 18, 2023 • by Bella Okuya

A thoughtful reflection on the unique allure of "slow cinema", its impact on audiences, and the intriguing debate it sparks about cultural representation and elitism. ...

Film & Performing Arts

Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers

They Cloned Tyrone tries to turn the colonization of Black Americans into a LOL comedy

December 18, 2023 • by Zenzelé Soa-Clarke

As a genre, Blaxploitation films were often morally ambiguous: though made for and by Black filmmakers and audiences, and sometimes depicting a kind of dead-end domestic colonialism, the films often normalized misogynistic treatment of Black women and uncritical ideals of Black capitalism....

Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers

Film & Performing Arts

Singer-Songwriter Indigo de Souza on Death and the Beauty of Life

Only in accepting our mortality can we begin to infuse our lives with purpose

December 13, 2023 • by Robert Noble

The opening track of de Souza’s first album is titled “How I Get Myself Killed.” It’s a straightforward indie-rock cut, with a simple chord progression and cathartic release. “This is probably how I get myself killed,” she repeats in the chorus’s refrain. It’s unclear exactly what she is referring to. ...

Singer-Songwriter Indigo de Souza on Death and the Beauty of Life

Film & Performing Arts

How Deathcore Superstars Lorna Shore Evoke “the Nothing”

Roll over Heidegger, and tell Tchaikovsky the news

December 12, 2023 • by Noah Kupper

As the music begins to swell, colored lights slowly brighten and rise from the floor. The crowd ritually raises their hands in the shape of devil horns as anticipation builds and Lorna Shore, the deathcore band they’ve come to see, walks out. ...

How Deathcore Superstars Lorna Shore Evoke “the Nothing”

Film & Performing Arts

An Experimental Music Community Grows in Brooklyn

International Anthem Recording Company is changing the face of free jazz

December 11, 2023 • by NJ Smith

A key example of the experimental spirit in the artistic community that International Anthem is documenting is the work of Alabaster DePlume, an English saxophonist, poet, composer, and activist. Last year, in producing the album GOLD, DePlume assembled a group of musicians to record in sessions that were both safe ...

An Experimental Music Community Grows in Brooklyn

Activism

A Pioneering Palestinian Film Offers a Quantum of Solace

For those who question the capacity of rap to deliver powerful positive messages of social change, Slingshot Hip Hop supplies an answer

November 29, 2023 • by Zenzelé Soa-Clarke

Slingshot Hip Hop ends with a pan-Palestinian concert in the West Bank—minus the one rap group Israeli officers wouldn’t let exit Gaza. Even in their absence, the other groups maintain optimism: a belief that things can change, including people's minds. ...

A Pioneering Palestinian Film Offers a Quantum of Solace

Film & Performing Arts

Dark Matter: Oppenheimer’s American Sublime

Christopher Nolan limns the limits of what cinema can reveal

September 19, 2023 • by Jacob Walters

Nolan’s version of Oppenheimer fits right in: an aloof scientist tormented by the majesty of the unseen. ...

Dark Matter: <em>Oppenheimer</em>’s American Sublime

Film & Performing Arts

An Overlooked Film Gem from Malta

Why Luzzu represents more than simply one man’s struggle to fish

September 7, 2023 • by Stella Crouch

Luzzu gives viewers a chance to learn about Maltese culture and language through a compelling story. When Luzzu was released in Malta, audiences felt joy at watching a film in their language, starring actual Maltese people. ...

Film

Nihilism for the Whole Family!

How Evelyn misinterpreted Waymond’s rebellion in Everything Everywhere All At Once

April 18, 2023 • by Ken Hu

Evelyn’s response to the multiverse reflects an existentialist resolution that builds upon a particular version of nihilism: if the universe is inherently meaningless, then we are at liberty to create our own meanings within it....

Film & Performing Arts

Entertaining Propaganda: Hate-watching Fauda

The elision of the difference between Jews and Israel is one of the tragedies of the Middle East conflict

March 20, 2023 • by Mitchell Abidor

In Fauda, the Palestinians are often driven more by personal pathology than an outrage at historic injustice....

Entertaining Propaganda: Hate-watching <em>Fauda</em>

Film & Performing Arts

Saving Gay Pornography

An interview with queer film historian Elizabeth Purchell

November 15, 2022 • by Gillani Peets and Elizabeth Purchell

There’s been this explosion of interest in queer cinema history in the past couple years. But to me, at least, I think it’s generally very boring. It’s people just talking about the same films over and over and over again—films like Parting Glances, The Watermelon Woman, Desert Hearts, Tongues Untied—which ...

Film & Performing Arts

What Are We to Make of Lars von Trier?

The Idiots, the controversial Danish director’s most controversial film, reconsidered

On “Slow Cinema”

Does this contemporary movement represent a gentle resistance to the values of contemporary society—or a surrender to elitist aesthetics?

Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers

They Cloned Tyrone tries to turn the colonization of Black Americans into a LOL comedy

Singer-Songwriter Indigo de Souza on Death and the Beauty of Life

Only in accepting our mortality can we begin to infuse our lives with purpose

How Deathcore Superstars Lorna Shore Evoke “the Nothing”

Roll over Heidegger, and tell Tchaikovsky the news

An Experimental Music Community Grows in Brooklyn

International Anthem Recording Company is changing the face of free jazz

A Pioneering Palestinian Film Offers a Quantum of Solace

For those who question the capacity of rap to deliver powerful positive messages of social change, Slingshot Hip Hop supplies an answer

Dark Matter: Oppenheimer’s American Sublime

Christopher Nolan limns the limits of what cinema can reveal

An Overlooked Film Gem from Malta

Why Luzzu represents more than simply one man’s struggle to fish

Nihilism for the Whole Family!

How Evelyn misinterpreted Waymond’s rebellion in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Entertaining Propaganda: Hate-watching Fauda

The elision of the difference between Jews and Israel is one of the tragedies of the Middle East conflict

Saving Gay Pornography

An interview with queer film historian Elizabeth Purchell

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