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The Worst Boyfriend Ever

September 25, 2016 in Country Matters, Feminist Matters

can't post trumpI’m having a nervous breakdown about tomorrow’s debate, mostly because I’m convinced nothing good can come out of it. Sociopathic Trump has treated this country like his romantic prey for a year now. The Democrats are the women he’s dumped (“Don’t listen to that bitch; she’s crrrrazy.”); the Republicans are the sorority sisters he’s still trying to shtup. (“Let me say exactly what you want me to say while I unhook your bra.”) Ultimately, anyone unfortunate enough to date a malignant narcissist knows that there’s no besting such a black hole except to change your number, leave town, and get thoroughly tested for STDs. Pray for Hillary; I’ve been doing it all day.

9/26 Postscript: Given that I have not been able to turn my head to the right for four days (I have a pain in the neck; ah, body as metaphor), I’m leaning toward not watching the debate at all, just turning off my electronics and beaming Mz. Clinton pure light.

Of ‘Goat’ and Toxic Masculinity

September 24, 2016 in Book Matters, Country Matters, Feminist Matters, Film Matters, Reviews

goat_movie_2016-320x320“Goat” is so far from what you’d expect from a Jonas Brother movie that calling it a Jonas Brother movie misses the boat. It is true that it stars Nick Jonas. But given that he delivers a considered, nuanced performance as someone besides himself, and given that this adaptation of Brad Land’s 2004 eponymous memoir is about as far from a pop-star vehicle as an American indie about white men can get, let’s dispense with any biases you may bring to this film. I had to, and I’m glad I did.

Ironically, this is about a fraternity, which easily could qualify it as a boys-will-be-boys lark a la “Animal House” or “Neighbors.” Directed by Andrew Neel, “Goat” is a more serious venture – one that tackles the sadism of this all-American institution with a refreshing candor.

The film begins with a blurred close-up of a mass of shirtless frat brothers bounding up and down and howling in a primal scream drowned out by a wordless, ambient Arjan Miranda composition. It is a shot that summons the ecstasy of a primitive tribe. Continue Reading →

‘Queen of Katwe,’ Queen of September

September 23, 2016 in Book Matters, Country Matters, Film Matters, Reviews

queen“Queen of Katwe” begins with a few bars of “African music” – the sort of Disneyfied fare that is so insultingly generic that I burst out laughing before sobering up fast. It’d be a crying shame, I thought, if chess champion Phiona Mutesi got reduced to the “inspirational people of color” clichés that even now Hollywood hasn’t learned to sidestep. I needn’t have worried. Though this adaptation of ESPN reporter Tim Crothers’s eponymous nonfiction book certainly dips heavily into the inspirational sports playbook, it offers a depth and earned joy that makes Ugandan women its subject rather than its object. Chalk it up to the fact that, though this indeed hails from Disney, it is one of the most female-forward and people of color-led major studio productions ever to come down the pike. Continue Reading →

"All, everything I understand, I understand only because I love."
― Leo Tolstoy