Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 128

Screening Room: ‘The Wait’

InL’Atessa (The Wait), a grieving mother played by Juliette Binoche meets her son’s girlfriend for the first time after a funeral that’s left her emotionally devastated. Emotional gamesmanship ensues.

The Waitis playing now in limited release. My review is atFilm Journal International:

Holding the center of Piero Messina’s dark oil painting of a story is Juliette Binoche, deftly submarined as Anna, the mother in mourning, with a grief-etched countenance as striking as worn granite. Unable to...

Weekend Reading: April 29, 2016

Maybe now polls might be somewhat worthwhile to look at. Maybe. Is it even possible? Saudi Arabia and an economy not based entirely on oil. Consolation prizes that won’t happen: Cruz for the Supreme Court. And here’s how the Democrats could win back the House(and no, it won’t be easy). But some states should be easy for them if Trump is the nominee, “unless we throw up on ourselves.” Game of Thronesbooks vs. series in one easy graphic. Beyonce, the CIA, and other … ideas. A scientist on rea...

Screening Room: ‘How to Let Go of the World…’

The new environmental documentary from Josh Fox (Gasland) starts off as a terrifying plunge into what climate change will be doing to the Earth, and the human race, over the next few decades. But then Fox does something unusual: He tries to find what there is to behappy about in all this terrifying prognostication.

How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change is playing now in limited release. My review is at Film Journal International:

Josh Fox’s first two films—G...

Writer’s Desk: Pay Attention, Damnit

According to possibly (but let’s hope not) apocryphal story, thegreat Vladimir Nabokov—born this week in 1899—once gave the following advice to a writing student:

Nabokov looks up from his reading he points to a tree outside his office window. ‘What kind of tree is that?’ he asks the student. ‘What?’ ‘What is the name of that tree?’ asks Nabokov. ‘The one outside my window.’ ‘I don’t know,’says the student. ‘You’ll never be a writer.’ says Nabokov.

Is that rule absolutely true? Of course not...

Weekend Reading: April 22, 2016

No, John Oliver (wonderful though he is) will not be enough. Prince: the oral history. All Prince, all the time, right here. Awesome: Ramin Bahrani to write and direct new adaptation of Fahrenheit 451for HBO. Barry goes to Saudi, just as the place starts coming undone. Tom Hayden’s reasons for going Hillary. Some great bookstore cats. Print and read: The legacy of the Mad Men of St. Louis; or, how deregulation and consolidation kills America’s smaller cities. Bonus print and read: All t...

Screening Room: ‘Sing Street’

The newest musical from John Carney (Once) is an ’80s-set romance set in (of course) Dublin.Sing Streetis playing now. My review is atPopMatters:

When first glimpsed in John Carney’s newest musical confection, ruddy-cheeked teenager Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) looks like the kind of kid who’s set to be chewed up and spit out by the music industry, not to mention life itself. The setting for Sing Street is Dublin, circa 1985, where the black-robed authority of the Church still rules all and th...

Quote of the Day: When Questlove Roller-Skated with Prince

From Questlove’s 2013 memoir, Mo’ Beta Blues, a story of that time Princewanted to know if he wanted to go to a roller-skating party on Valentine’s Day.

Questlove, of course, said yes. He brought Eddie Murphy along. Then, after Prince asked Questlove to put his phone in coat check, he brought out his skates. And not just any skates:

Prince had the briefcase out on the floor. He clicked the lock and opened it, and took out the strangest, most singular pair of roller skates I had ever seen. T...

Writer’s Desk: Clancy’s Rules

The late and arguably great Tom Clancy—born this past week in 1947—was never going to be remembered as a stylist. The characters in his techno-thrillers like The Hunt for Red Octoberand Patriot Gamesgenerally talked alike (unless they were villains) and he was never good at setting a scene.

However, before bestseller bloat started turning his ever-denser plots into 1,000-page bores, he could crank out a perfectly good wargame scenario for the kind of readers who liked theorizing over who wou...

Rewind: The Real Anita Hill Story

Tonight, HBO is premieringConfirmation, their fictional take on the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1991. It was the first of the decades televised scandal melodramas, not least for the spectacle of the Senate’s hostile grilling of Anita Hill about her accusations of sexual harassment by Thomas.

Freida Lee Mock’s documentaryAnita(2014) is an instructive take on Hill’s experience under the spotlightand how the resulting controversy changed the country.

My review is atFil...

Rewind: ‘In Bruges’

With Martin McDonagh’s killer new play Hangmen having sold out on the West End—and now available in some theaters via National Theatre Live digital broadcast—it seems a good time to look back at his debut film, 2008’s hitman comedyIn Bruges.

“Assassins on Vacation” is atEyes Wide Open:

The Bruges Chamber of Commerce was probably delighted with at least part of Martin McDonagh’s 2008 debut film In Bruges, as it delivers a ravishing viewpoint on this gorgeous Belgian town that appears to have...