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Film Review: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
What do jazz drummer Max Roach and Russian head of state Nikita Khrushchev have in common? According to the stunning new documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat, they both had rhythm. Director Johan Grimonprez trains his eye on the “cool war,” focusing on a protest led by Black artists like…
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See It or Skip It – November ’24
The end of the year is an odd time for film releases. In between all the Christmas schlock and bombastic franchise installments, small indie greats are unceremoniously dumped into theaters for a limited time to make the Academy Awards qualifications. They’re easy to miss, and with the sheer number of…
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Film Review: Teaches of Peaches
Explosive, orgasmic, sleuthing, and sexy—Everything there is to say about the iconoclastic rockstar Peaches has already been said. The 2024 documentary Teaches of Peaches attempts to demystify the mythology of Peaches, exposing audiences to a less extreme Peaches as she celebrates the 20th anniversary of the seminal album of the…
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Film Review: All Shall Be Well
If your media diet consists solely of TikToks, you might be led to believe that one is a queer elder by the age of 25. Still, for all the lip service people pay to “queer elders,” there is a severe lack of stories about queer people growing into old age.…
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Sean Wang, “DIDI (弟弟)”: Interview
Of all the facets of adolescence in the digital age DIDI 弟弟 captures impeccably, the total blank stare on Chris’ (Isaac Wang) face as he scrolls through MySpace and AoL is quietly the most genius. Even in reaction to risky texts and awful updates, his eyes and face sit motionless, illuminated…
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NYFF Review: The Beast (2023)
Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast is, at its core, a tragedy. It’s fate weaponized; watch as these two people, whose love spans entire lifetimes, end in ruin again and again. Bonello warns the audience from the get-go, but that doesn’t make it any less soul aching. Composed of three vignettes in…
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NYFF Review: La Chimera (2023)
Why does every movie released today have active contempt for their audience? Saltburn by Emerald Fennell treats its viewers as fools incapable of parsing any subtlety, and any number of action movies topping box office charts right now can be considered slop at best. There’s no sense of wonder, no…
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NYFF Review: Strange Way of Life (2023)
Comparing every movie about two men in love set vaguely around farms to Brokeback Mountain feels like a cop out, but with Pedro Almodóvar’s latest English-language short Strange Way of Life, it’s impossible not to. The short is a clear reaction to his decision to turn it down almost 20…
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Neo Sora “Opus”: Interview
When news of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s death last March was announced, the world bid a loving farewell to one of its most influential and innovative figures yet. A pioneer of early synth-pop, his innovative use of synthesizers and drum machines in the late 70’s and early 80’s changed music indefinitely. Spawning…
