REVIEW: The Year of Spectacular Men [2018]

My path is a squiggle. The time has come to see the “manic pixie dream girl” trope from the other side. We’ve viewed countless depictions of attractively quirky women serving as plot points pushing their male lead counterparts over whatever hump they find themselves struggling to conquer, each a one-dimensional prop used before being discarded or thanked upon figuring out the solution. We don’t catch even a glimpse of their motivations, emotions, or psychology because their identities are non-existent. Whether they remain in the protagonist’s life or not is inconsequential…

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REVIEW: Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami [2017]

I have to do some emotional blackmail. There’s a moment early on in Sophie Fiennes‘ documentary Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami wherein the titular artist films a new music video-style performance of her 1977 hit disco-era cover of Édith Piaf‘s “La Vie en Rose.” She goes to the studio blind to what the imagery will look like, the director or whomever simply asking her to sit on the chair at the set’s center upon arriving. The crowd is told to cheer and the music begins so Jones can sing as…

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REVIEW: Loving Pablo [2018]

You tell me your secrets and I’ll tell you mine. The latest cinematic look at Pablo Escobar is titled Loving Pablo for a reason: it’s based on Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo‘s book Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar. Fernando León de Aranoa makes a concerted effort to show as much in his opening by following Vallejo (Penélope Cruz) to an American hotel room over a decade after first meeting her long-time, not-so-secret boyfriend. We hear her voiceover explain how this journey’s circumstances are much different than earlier ones, laughing with her when…

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