Category: Review
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Rebel Yell: ‘Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl’ at DOCNYCFest 2019
Over the last decade or so, singer-songwriter-actress Kate Nash has developed a reputation (and obvious penchant) for defying others’ expectations. Filmed over five years as the British singer moved to Los Angeles and began writing and recording new music, Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl (which had its Stateside premiere last week at the DOC NYC…
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Music to Move the Stars: Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’ is a Dizzying Confection of Dreamy Nostalgia
For nearly the past twenty years or so, movie-musicals have seen a resurgence in the public consciousness. One such film that has done so, and with as much fanfare (or perhaps even more so), is none other than Damien Chazelle’s own ambitious take, La La Land (2016). Chazelle’s second attempt at a musical (after his…
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A Diamond in the Rough: Marina’s ‘Love + Fear’ Explores Multiple Facets of Human Nature
For singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis, it seems as if her identity has forever been inextricably linked with her music. When she arrived on the scene with her 2010 debut The Family Jewels she was known then as Marina and the Diamonds, a moniker which suggested the idea of a band — perhaps one similar to the…
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The Star Who Fell to Earth: Christine and the Queens Showcase Their Mettle at Brooklyn Steel
Many might claim Christine & the Queens’ frontwoman, Héloïse Letissier, as many things. She’s Jacques Brel and the Cocteau Twins, with a bit of David Bowie and Laurie Anderson thrown in for good measure. She’s Bob Fosse and Pina Bausch reincarnate — or better still, Michael Jackson and Beyonce’s long-lost, would-be French love-child (apologies to…
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Twee and Twang: Stuart Murdoch’s ‘God Help the Girl’ is a Delightful Burst of Quirk
Some of you already know how much I love my movie-musicals — and recently, I’ve become very much obsessed with one in particular that I’ve been meaning to see for a while now: God Help the Girl (2014). The brainchild of Belle & Sebastian musician Stuart Murdoch, the film also happens to be the offshoot…
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The Pulchritude of Passion: Wong Kar-Wai’s ‘In the Mood for Love’ and Luca Guadagnino’s ‘I Am Love’ Showcase Beauty in Tragedy
There’s no question about it: I am a very visual person. As this blog will certainly attest to, it’s perhaps no surprise that the films I gravitate towards are ones that not only strike the viewer emotionally, but also aesthetically. In this edition of #FilmStrips, we’ll be looking at two films that do just that…
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The Body Keeps the Score: Marta Mondelli’s ‘Toscana, or What I Remember’ Exercises Some Muscle Memory
For many, memories can be a wonderful thing. They have the ability to transcend time and space — perhaps to when things were simpler or more innocent. For others, they can often leave one paralyzed in more ways than one, stuck on a never-ending loop. In the case of Marta Mondelli’s Toscana, or What I…
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Brief Encounter: Richard Linklater’s ‘Before’ Films Stand the Test of Time
Those who know me personally (or have read my literary blog, starts & stops.) might also know of my particularly soft spot for Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. (And when I say soft, I mean like…ooey-gooey-caramel-filled-Stroopwafel-melting-atop-your-espresso soft.) (Yeah…that soft.) (Can you tell what I’ve just been snacking on before typing this?) (This is a lot of…
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A Bittersweet Symphony, Served With Zest: Heather Litteer Peels Away the Layers of the Past
The prospect of seeing a solo performance often, admittedly, triggers a silent panic in one whose job it is to dole out an objective opinion about it. As that they are often based upon a performer’s life experiences, one-man (or, in this case, one-woman) shows often carry with them the possibility of turning out to…
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Girl Anachronism: Aquila Theatre Company Reveals the Feminine Side to Literature’s Most Famous Private Eye
Just as a certain wildly popular celebrity departed from New York to commence production on a certain wildly popular television show based on a certain wildly popular, old-timey-but-updated sleuth, another iteration made its way back to the city. Over at the Queens Theatre, Aquila Theatre Company presented an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic…
Resident Artist Productions 