At a screening of Robert Bresson’s 1977 film The Devil, Probably, part of BAM’s series Bresson, Richard Hell brought both his punk lineage and his knowledge of film history to open a discussion of the film. Yet Hell wasn’t simply there to extol the virtues of The Devil, Probably; instead, his take on the film was an unorthodox one, both laudatory and — at times — brutally honest about its flaws. For a film with a focus on uncomfortable moments […]
History is Made at Night: Whit Stillman, Lena Dunham, and Chris Eigeman at BAM’s “The Last Days of Disco” Screening
Last Thursday night I saw something rare and rich: movie stars not only living up to who you want them to be in person, but behaving the way they do in their best films. Whit Stillman and Chris Eigeman share a rapport that is not only delightful, but feels true to the words that Stillman has been writing for Eigeman’s roles in his movies for over twenty years. As the two bantered back and forth with a kind of artful, […]
Indexing: Hodgman & Balzac, NYRB Classics, William Faulkner disciples, Walton Ford, Martin Amis, and more
A roundup of things consumed by our contributors. Jason Diamond I went to Walton Ford’s opening at the Paul Kasmin Gallery a month or so ago, and became pretty obsessed with his work. I guess I’m including this because the exhibition closes on December 23rd, and if you’re in New York, I want you all to see it.
Thoughts on Laurie Anderson’s “Delusion” at BAM
Posted by Matthew Caron Laurie Anderson’s “Delusion,” now being staged as the opening feature of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, begins with the words “I want to tell you a story” and ends with the question “Did you ever really love me?” The space between the statement of intent and the final query finds Anderson in a more somber and backward-glancing mode than earlier her works, with death and existential crises taking center stage. Loosely constructed around […]
Passionate Amateurs and Flailing Limbs: A Review of BAM’s “In-I”
To be fair, I am not a theater critic. Juliette Binoche, then again, isn’t really a dancer.