Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 39
October 20, 2021
Screening Room: ‘Dune’
Denis Villeneuve’s gorgeous adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction epic Dune has been pushed back from theatrical release almost as frequently as the last Bond. Chances are, it will have a little more staying power, even if Timothée Chalamet’s take on Paul Atreides is not the most memorable acting you will see this year. …
October 17, 2021
Writer’s Desk: Harness Your Creativity
What does a writer do about their spark, their inspiration, their creativity? Sometimes it comes (often when you are not at your desk, can’t find a pen and paper, and unable to thumb text into your phone’s notetaking app fast enough) and sometimes it doesn’t (generally when you are on deadline and running on fumes). …
October 12, 2021
Screening Room: ‘Bergman Island’
In Mia Hansen-Love’s Bergman Island, a filmmaker couple plans a vacation to the island of Faro, writing their next movies in Ingmar Bergman’s old house. His shadow looms large while their imaginations start to overtake their quiet domestic squabbles. Bergman Island opens this Friday. My review is at PopMatters: The island’s serene vistas of breeze-ruffled …
October 10, 2021
Screening Room: ‘The Last Duel’
Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Erik Jager’s nonfiction book The Last Duel is, well, far more than another medieval jousting movie. The Last Duel opens this Friday. My review is at Slant: …a film that’s not only set during the Hundred Years’ War and turns on an abstruse question of jurisprudence, but also features multiple Rashomon-esque takes …
Writer’s Desk: How to Get Published
So, how do you get published? A lot of writers have thoughts about that. But it tends to derive from when they were first coming up, which is often decades ago and relevant to an entirely different industry. In this piece from Locus magazine, science fiction author Cory Doctorow (Little Brother) talks about what he …
October 6, 2021
Screening Room: ‘Ascension’
Everybody’s hustling in Ascension, an eerie and hard-to-look-away-from documentary about the new China and its headlong rush into a particularly rapacious form of capitalism. My review is at Slant: The majority of Ascension is taken up with fly-on-the-wall footage of people at work. Often they’re assembling vast quantities of disposable material, including plastic water bottles and jeans, …
October 3, 2021
Writer’s Desk: Take a Stand
This ever-timely reminder about the responsibility that comes with creating comes from the one and only Rod Serling: The writer’s role is to menace the public’s conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus on the issues of …
September 26, 2021
Writer’s Desk: Figure it Out Later
In a famous 18th century parable, Rabbi Jacob ben Wolf Kranz (better known as the “Dubno Maggid”) relates a fantastic story about the creative process: Once upon a time, I was walking in the forest and I saw all these trees in a row with a target drawn on them, and an arrow right in …
September 21, 2021
Screening Room: ‘The Power of the Dog’
The newest film from Jane Campion is a somewhat tortured and brooding but still surprising drama set on the high plains where Benedict Cumberbatch makes a surprisingly believable rancher. The Power of the Dog is playing on the festival circuit right now in what looks like a pretty certain play for the Oscars before being …
September 20, 2021
Screening Room: ‘Encounter’
The new thriller Encounter is perhaps not the most original genre movie you are going to see this or any year. But as seems to keep happening, it is more than worth your time for the lead performance from the ever-underestimated Riz Ahmed. Encounter is slated for release on Amazon in early December. My review …
