Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 151

New in Theaters: ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’

Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’ (Sundance Selects)

In Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria,a venerable actress with a prickly assistant agrees to play the older character in a play that made her famous when she was inthe younger role, now cast with a Lindsay Lohan-esque up-and-comer. It’s a rich dramatic environment, suggesting a marriage ofPersonaandAll About Eve.

Clouds of Sils Maria opens this week; my review is atFilm Racket:

In this richly satisfying film...

Writer’s Desk: Getting Paid

There are many satisfactions in the writing life; though they all come with caveats. Setting your own hours—unless you’re on deadline. Being your own boss—unless you have to work closely with a narrow-minded editor. And so on.

But one of the truest joys that comes with being a writer is when you start to think that you can actually make a living at putting words onto paper.

Longtime New Yorker scribeE.B. White recalled that moment of realization forThe Paris Review:

I was twenty-seven or twen...

New in Theaters: ‘About Elly’

Golshifteh Farahani in ‘About Elly’ (Cinema Guild)

AlthoughAsghar Farhadi finished his multilayered mysteryAbout Elly a couple years before his masterfulA Separation, it’s only getting a proper American release now. It’s about time.

My review forAbout Elly is atFilm Journal International:

Like bloodhounds that can’t ignore a scent once they have been put on it, the films of Asghar Farhadi keep circling back to one redolent and persistent problem: the demeaning, low status of women in Iranian...

Weekend Reading: April 10, 2015

Can’t get to Broadway? Just check out whatever musical the local high school is putting on. The Pentagon tries to predict the future. “Catholic for Rand” and other fun items from the Rand Paul website. Forgotten neighborhoods: Downtown Manhattan’s “Little Syria.” So what’s causing all those earthquakes in Oklahoma, anyway? Bowie working on a new musical (sort of) based on The Man Who Fell to Earth. New George R.R. Martin chapter from his upcoming novel. Saudis trying to get Pakistan involve...

Writer’s Desk: Turning Words to Sparks

Even when a piece of writing isn’t about writing it can inspire. Take, for example, Marge Piercy’s poem “The birthday of the world.” It’s a big, declamatory piece all about calling oneself to task for what’s been done and not done for the world and others. Here’s how she ends it:

Give me weapons
of minute destruction. Let
my words turn into sparks.

Smashingly good stuff.

Weekend Reading: April 3, 2015

Remember Planet Hollywood? Reasons you shouldn’t. Bookstore pets of Northern California. A Nevada court might have to shut down because of fewer traffic tickets. Is America actually on the verge of the greatest societal shift since the Industrial Revolution? Women and the online appearance mafia. Time for the Ferguson Alternative Spring Break. Make killing journalists a war crime? A quick history of hell. Print and read: Seymour Hersh, who broke the My Lai massacre story, returns to the sc...

Now Playing: ‘Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter’

Rinko Kikuchi goes to the Great White North in ‘Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter’ (Amplify)

Do you likeFargo? Chances are, even if so, you don’t know it as well as the titular anti-heroine of the Zellner brothers’ chilly odyssey of quirk,Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. It might be one of the first great films of 2015.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter is playing now here and there. My review is atPopMatters:

She’s alone and obsessive, and her particular object of obsession is the Coen brothers’ film Fargo....

Writer’s Desk: Today’s Prompts

The thing with writer’s block is that there’s no way to get around it but by writing. That’s where the prompt can come in handy.

AtPoets & Writers, they have a handy resource that churns up a steady stream of prompts to get you going on that project, regardless of what it is, from creative nonfiction (always a tricky category) to fiction.

Here’s a few:

This week, take a straightforward scene you’ve been working on and insert an awkward mistake made either by a major or minor character.

Do you...

New in Theaters: ‘While We’re Young’

Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts contemplate their oldness in ‘While We’re Young’ (A24)

Noah Baumbach continues his filmic project with Ben Stiller on the agitations of middle age and disappointmentinWhile We’re Young,playing now in limited release.

My review is atFilm Racket:

Age is wasted on the old, especially when they want to be young again. When Noah Baumbach’s hit-and-miss comedy of urbane humiliation catches up with Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), they are stuck dead in midd...

Department of Weekend Reading: March 27, 2015

The X-Filesreturns, because, well, the truth is still out there it would seem. The sad NFL veteran combine. Florida: No longer as great an evil-dictator hideout as it once was. Fighting ISIS with drones and micromanagement; a.k.a., “war is too important to be left to generals watching TV.” More drones: Here are the many ways that robots could kill you. If you keep watchingGame of Thrones, you’ll know how the book series ends before they’re all published. Keeping students safe from ever...