I judge art documentaries by one of two standards. Does the film tell me something I don’t know about the subject? Is it entertaining or engaging in its own right,… Continue reading "Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman (Stratford, 2020)"
I don’t think you need to know Sophocles’s twenty-four hundred-year-old play to understand Sophie Desraspe’s very loose adaptation of it. You certainly don’t need to know it in order to… Continue reading "Antigone (Desraspe, 2019)"
Ask the average patron standing outside The Getty, The MoMa, or The Louvre to name the best artists of all time, and M.C. Escher probably wouldn’t be in the first… Continue reading "M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity (Lutz, 2018)"
Whether you are a critic, a fan, or something in-between, you have no doubt experienced the delicious pleasure of discovering a show or a band or a film before it… Continue reading "Cobra Kai — Season 3"
When someone he has befriended leaves the Ku Klux Klan, he often gives Daryl Davis the robe he wore as a member of that group. Over the years, Davis, by… Continue reading "Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America (Ornstein, 2016)"
Love Sarah begins immediately after the death of the titular character, whom we are told was a world class chef. Sarah’s partner reluctantly agrees to sell the restaurant space, and… Continue reading "Love Sarah (Schroeder 2020)"
People speak of love, don’t know what they’re thinking ofReach out to each other through the push and shoveSpeak in terms of a life and the learningTry to think of… Continue reading "2020 Top Ten"
Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice had a working title of First Impressions. Although she did not ultimately use that title for any of her novels, it remained a running theme… Continue reading "Modern Persuasion (Appel & Lisecki, 2020)"
The beginning and ending of Another Round are very strong. Thomas Vinterberg’s portrait of an alcoholic culture is quite effective at varying its tone — demonstrating the highs as well… Continue reading "Another Round (Vinterberg, 2020)"
James Erskine’s Billie is a little gem of a documentary, more oral history than biography. That is arrives streaming this week with little fanfare is mildly surprising but entirely shocking.… Continue reading "Billie (Erskine, 2020)"
