Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 57
August 30, 2020
Writer’s Desk: Get Away from Yourself
Anna Deavere Smith’s plays are often discussed in light of their signature method of presentation: No matter how many characters are in the piece, and regardless of their gender or race, they are all played by the same actor. Usually Smith. Smith builds that shapeshifting of perspective and personality on a foundation constructed from hundreds …
August 28, 2020
Screening Room: ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’
The Personal History of David Copperfield opens today. My review is at PopMatters: Bright, sleek, and shiny, Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield revisits Charles Dickens at a time when the Victorian novelist’s work should have new relevance. While the book’s themes of betrayal, identity, class, and survival-of-the-fittest economics are fairly perennial, they align all too …
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August 27, 2020
Song of the Day: ‘Hell You Talmbout’
From David Byrne’s American Utopia show, a cover of Janelle Monae’s protest song “Hell You Talmbout”: Say their names.
August 25, 2020
Screening Room: ‘Epicentro’
In Hubert Sauper’s new documentary Epicentro, he explores the in-between world of Cuba, where utopian dreams meet cinematic propaganda amidst rotting infrastructure and tourist fantasia. It makes for a fascinating mix, even if the result is more essay than movie. My review is at Slant: Epicentro explores some of the filmmaker’s favorite topics, particularly colonialism, apocalypse, …
August 23, 2020
Writer’s Desk: Make a Schedule
The great and highly prolific sci-fi author Jeff VanderMeer (best known for his eco-apocalyptic Southern Reach trilogy) gave an interview to the Chicago Review of Books a couple years back which was just packed with fantastically clear, actionable writing tips. One of my favorites had to do with timing and productivity, two of the great …
August 17, 2020
Screening Room: ‘Coup 53’
The crackerjack documentary Coup 53 opens this week, with a revealing new angle on the infamous Anglo-American overthrow of Iran’s democratic government in 1953. My review is at Slant: When something is an open secret, does confirmation matter? Coup 53, director Taghi Amirani’s crackling, if somewhat hyperbolic, documentary about the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed …
August 16, 2020
Writer’s Desk: Pay Attention
If writing were just stringing words together, literally anybody could do it. Because there is more to it, would-be writers spend many thousands of hours pondering how to do it better, and even read books and take classes to learn how to do something that seemingly anyone can do once they’re in elementary school. In …
August 14, 2020
Screening Room: ‘Apocalypse ’45’
In the new documentary Apocalypse ’45, director Erik Nelson mixes gloriously restored color footage from the Pacific Theater during World War II to illustrate the memories of veterans who witnessed some of that harrowing conflict. It makes for a beautiful and shivery experience. My review is at PopMatters: Nelson is paying homage to a vanishing …
August 11, 2020
TV Room: ‘Lovecraft Country’
HBO’s latest entry into politically relevant genre adventure is Lovecraft Country, an ambitious and messy 10-part series that bites off far more than it can chew but deserves some applause for trying. Lovecraft Country starts this Friday. My review is at PopMatters: Based on Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel, it keeps one foot planted firmly in the real …
August 9, 2020
Writer’s Desk: What Hamill Said
When Pete Hamill died last Wednesday, we lost one of the greats. Once called “a two-fingered typist with miraculous powers,” he knocked out poetic tabloid prose for pretty much all the newspapers worth working for in New York, even editing a couple of them. He wrote novels, a killer memoir, and was old enough to …
