Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 87
June 28, 2018
Reader’s Corner: Black Lit on ‘Luke Cage’
Those who track the ever-evolving ecosystem of Marvel series on Netflix have been generally pleased with the current season of Luke Cage, following the further exploits of the superhuman-strong fugitive just trying to build a quiet life in Harlem. At least one watcher has noted the prevalence of call-outs to works of black literature. Some …
June 27, 2018
Screening Room: ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldado’
Sicario: Day of the Soldado opens this week. My review is at Film Journal International: The portentously named follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s moody and murky 2015 cartel thriller starts with a pair of bombings and a declaration of war. A Muslim man blows himself up in Texas after being caught by the Border Patrol while stealing …
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June 25, 2018
Screening Room: ‘The King’
The new documentary from Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) tries to figure out the legacy of Elvis and turns into a big, messy and overheated but fascinating metaphor for America. The King is playing now. My review is at The Playlist: Jarecki isn’t the first artist to turn a pop culture icon into a metaphor for America — …
June 24, 2018
Writer’s Desk: Listen to Obama’s Guy
Jon Favreau—the other one, not the actor/director/occasional Tony Stark wingman—spent years as President Obama’s director of speechwriting. He distilled much of what he learned in that highly precise and pressurized job into “Five Rules of Storytelling.” They are: The story is more important than the words Keep it simple Always address the arguments against your …
June 17, 2018
Writer’s Desk: Anthony Bourdain Said Stop Complaining
In honor of the (sadly) late great Anthony Bourdain, here’s a little reminder from him about just how great it is to be a writer: Cooking professionally is hard work. Writing is a privilege and a luxury. Anybody who whines about writers block should be forced to clean squid all day. As some of us …
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June 11, 2018
Reader’s Corner: Beckett and Terror
With his bleak sketch fictions and disembodied existential plays, Samuel Beckett feels about as removed from the muck and mire of daily human life as you could get. That’s why it’s fascinating to read this opening to Fintan O’Toole’s piece in the New York Review of Books about Beckett’s political conscience: In April 1962, Samuel Beckett sent …
June 10, 2018
Writer’s Desk: Read to Write
Like all the greats, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an unrepentant bookworm. As she told Stylist: Read, read, read. I’m not sure that one can be a good writer without being a good reader. If you’re going to build a desk it’s very good to see what other carpenters have done. It seems obvious, but you would be …
June 7, 2018
Screening Room: ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’
The truly heartwarming new documentary from Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom) explores the unlikely phenomenon that was Fred Rogers. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? opens this week. My review is at Film Journal International: It says something about the oddball uniqueness of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” that almost nowhere in Morgan Neville’s magnetic, soulful documentary about …
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June 5, 2018
Screening Room: ‘First Reformed’
In Paul Schrader’s latest, First Reformed, a minister finds more to believe in an eco-activist’s radicalism than his own pulpit. My review is at PopMatters: Ethan Hawke at his most pained plays the Reverend Toller. Minister for a tiny museum of a church in upstate New York that’s about to celebrate its 250th anniversary, he’s at the …
June 4, 2018
Screening Room: ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t’
A new restoration of Agnes Varda’s One Sings, the Other Doesn’t from 1977 is in limited release now. Check it out while you have the chance. There’s absolutely nothing else like it playing at any theater anywhere near you. My review is at The Playlist: When Agnès Varda’s delightfully gonzo song-studded paean to sisterhood “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t” …
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