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"Stan eases into the role, suggesting the young Trump without venturing into an SNL-like impersonation. He captures him precisely and believably throughout"

The Deadline Report

‘The Apprentice’ Review: Sebastian Stan And Jeremy Strong Soar As Young Donald Trump And His Ruthless Mentor Roy Cohn In Devilish Origin Story – Cannes Film Festival (click for article)

Pete Hammond

May 20, 2024 10:00AM PDT

But the political Trump is not in Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi‘s compelling film, which instead zeroes in on a specific period of Trump’s life in the early ’70s when he was in his 20s and struggling to make a name for himself in the world of real estate in New York City. But it isn’t just about him — it is equally focused on his unique relationship with his lawyer, the notorious Roy Cohn, often referred to as vicious, cruel, ruthless and sadistic, a take-no-prisoners cutthroat attorney who would win at any cost. The filmmakers have cited movies like Midnight Cowboy, Frankenstein and Barry Lyndon as partial inspirations for their approach, the latter about an 18th century social climber who stands for nothing himself.

Don’t be confused about the title The Apprentice. This is not a movie version of the NBC reality TV series in any way, but instead a smart, sharp and surprising origin story of the man who hosted it. In this case the actual “apprentice” is Donald Trump, infamous real estate developer, former President of the United States and current presumed GOP nominee for 2024.

Trump and Cohn would become an odd couple, helping each other achieve their end goals at the time. That is the story of The Apprentice, which had its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday and still has its U.S. distribution rights for sale.

Will it sell, and will it be released before November’s election? We shall see, but this is not a hit job on Trump, and actually considering the 77-year-old we see today at MAGA rallies and dozing off in courtrooms defending his indictments on various charges including starting an insurrection to overturn the 2020 election. Instead, it presents a person somewhat driven but awkward, a man striving for the approval of a tough-love father, unsure but determined to succeed and even oddly charming at times. Yes, I said that. Cohn, responsible for helping Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s reprehensible anti-communist crusade in the ’50s as well as putting away convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, was the man pulling the strings — until he wasn’t. Think of it as a twisted Pygmalion with Cohn tutoring and training Trump the way Henry Higgins did with Eliza Dolittle.

“Where’s my Roy Cohn?” Trump once uttered after a tirade about a current lawyer he was unhappy with. Cohn (Jeremy Strong) was his first fixer, and basically adopted the uneasy Trump (Sebastian Stan) upon spotting him looking nervous and alone in the exclusive NYC club Trump weaseled himself into. He took him under his wing and drilled into him the three golden rules he lived by, which considering the Trump of today are prophetic to say the least. Rule 1: Attack. Attack. Attack. Rule 2: Admit nothing. Deny everything. Rule 3: Always claim victory and never admit defeat.

The latter was the one Cohn emphasized above all as the most important thing to remember. He also told Trump no one likes a loser. “Everyone wants to suck a winner’s cock,” he tells Trump, who convinced his cold-hearted father Fred Trump (Martin Donovan) that they needed a lawyer like Cohn to take on a case the DOJ had launched over their housing developments (after being indicted for discriminating against Black tenants). In his own inimitable way he got the government to settle with no fines, thus endearing him to Donald. “You have to be willing to do anything to anyone in order to win,” Cohn says.

The lawyer even dresses his mentee, who was born in Queens; not exactly the right breeding ground. “Is this gonna be a guy from Flushing or 5th Avenue?” he asks, getting an affirmative on the latter. He then puts him on the phone with a New York Times society columnist, and the result is a puff piece comparing his looks to Robert Redford and marking him as an up-and-comer. One of the key Cohn lessons is always chase the press, be in the newspapers every day.

Trump started moving up the ladder, with Cohn bringing him to a party with Rupert Murdoch, George Steinbrenner and others, cheekily (and now ironically in hindsight) telling him, “If you’re indicted, you’re invited.” Cohn himself had been in major legal hot water for tax evasion and also handled shady underworld characters, but he knew how to help Trump’s dreams of finishing Trump Tower come to fruition, essentially rigging a planning commission meeting to get $160 million tax abatement for which Trump was begging.

Separately, he introduced him to a friend, Roger Stone (Mark Rendall), whose “specialty” is dirty tricks and who touts candidate Ronald Reagan’s campaign slogan “let’s make America great again” (a slogan Trump would later steal as his own when he ran for president). And when the top of the still unfinished first-ever all-concrete hotel in NYC is set on fire, Cohn brings Trump to a meeting with some of his mob clients who deliver Trump a come-to-Jesus moment demanding the “f*cking concrete guy” gets paid. Trump is shown already as being notorious for not paying his construction workers.

The film shows his darker side, that scene included, as he is changing, becoming more ruthless himself — even to Cohn, by double crossing his lawyer whose partner has contracted AIDS and needed help in getting a room at the Hyatt; Trump reluctantly agreed but later sent him a bill. Soon Cohn himself contracts AIDS, but they make up when Trump comes to his birthday celebration with a gift of “diamond” cufflinks that say “Trump” on each one. Ivana later tells Roy they were fake.

The personal side of Trump is also on display here as he endlessly pursues Ivana (Maria Bakalova) for a date and after several turndowns finally wears her out. They marry, after she at first refuses to sign the absurd pre-nup Cohn had drawn up (she later does), and it is quite the social occasion. She becomes his partner in the garish design of Trump Tower. They have kids, but even before Trump Tower is completed he has set his eye on the casinos in Atlantic City, convincing Cohn he knows what he is doing (they all later went bankrupt). The marriage also went downhill, with the unfaithful Trump admitting to Ivana he was no longer attracted to her after she initially seemed to be in the mood for some lovemaking. She lashes out, calling him fat, ugly, bald, and orange-faced. A physical encounter ensues in which they have intense sex on the floor. Whether or not it was consensual is questionable at best and likely to be controversial, especially in light of sexual assault accusations and the E. Jean Carroll suit which he lost. Public knowledge of these lawsuits (not in the film) could paint the viewer’s opinion. It appears violent though.

This exceptionally well-researched first screenplay by Gabriel Sherman, who had profiled Trump for various publications and thought the Trump-Cohn story would make a good movie, has turned out a tale that is essentially a Faustian deal between the two. Although they have both been described as monsters in different circles, they are really given an empathetic treatment here, at least in part, and at least in an attempt to show us what led to historical change in America, and what may well continue in a story whose end has yet to be written.

Trump has never seemed so, well, human, as his own early years show a man trying desperately for his father’s approval while at the same time trying to come out from under his shadow. Progressively the two-hour film shows him doing just that, but also losing some of that humanity in the process. I wouldn’t describe the portrait as flattering, but it is not a hatchet job — perhaps part of the reason is a foreign director who didn’t even know Trump before he came down those stairs to announce his presidential bid in 2015. The goal is to show the makings of that man, not who he would later become – no matter what your opinion of that man is. I have a feeling his base of voters, the ones he dug up from under a rock, might look at these early years and give their approval, warts and all. Ironically though the first image in the film is that of Richard Nixon swearing “I am not a crook.” What the filmmakers’ intention with that choice is certainly intriguing.

Special notice to Sean Samsom’s seamless hair, makeup and prosthetics work here which never brings attention to itself.

Stan eases into the role, suggesting the young Trump without venturing into an SNL-like impersonation. He captures him precisely and believably throughout. Cohn has been portrayed in other projects like Al Pacino did in Angels In America, but Strong is ideal casting, going all in and delivering a three-dimensional portrait of this complicated man. Bakalova is excellent in her few scenes, as is Donovan as father Fred who early on tries to explain he is not racist. “How can I be racist when I have a Black chauffeur?” he asks at the dinner table while berating his sons. Charlie Carrick as Trump’s older brother Fred Jr. is also very fine, showing a man who just couldn’t live up to his father’s expectations. Scenes between the two siblings show Donald has at least some empathy.

Producers are Daniel Bekerman, Jacob Jarek, Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde, Louis Tisne and Abbasi.

Title: The Apprentice

Festival: Cannes (Competition)

Director: Ali Abbasi

Screenwriter: Gabriel Sherman

Cast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Charlie Carrick, Mark Rendall

Sales agent: Rocket Science

Running time: 2 hr

[sinceileftyoublog]

Pygmalion Festival Preview: 9/24-9/26

BY JORDAN MAINZER

When it became clear in May that the beloved Champaign-Urbana festival Pygmalion wasn’t going to happen regularly, founder Seth Fein refused to simply do nothing. He also refused to settle for the same nostalgic, corporate-sponsored bullshit that other festivals have decided to do, usually a combination of “archival” material discoverable through a YouTube search and low-quality acoustic performances from basements. Instead, Fein took what he could from the more unusual aspects of the planned Pygmalion lineup and did what would have been unthinkable a year ago: curate a virtual festival with no live music. A mixture of timely roundtable discussions, podcasts, table readings, a hackathon, a virtual escape room, and a Zoom version of the festival’s Human Library (“checking out” a person to tell you a story), the pay-what-you-want festival will be unlike any other not only in Pygmalion’s history but in the history of streamed entertainment so far. The action kicks off today at 4 PM CST and runs through Saturday at midnight.

I spoke with Fein over the phone earlier this month to talk about this year’s festival: how it came to be, curating a socially conscious, diverse lineup, what he’s looking forward to, and the sustainability of the virtual festival model. Highlights for the weekend NOT mentioned in our conversation below include Dan Savage discussing the documentary film Jimmy in Saigon, Headlines We Would Have Written featuring writers from the newly-formed sports blog Defector, and as-yet-announced material with the likes of Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner and Algiers’ Franklin James Fisher. Read on, catch the fest, and if you can, donate to the fest, with proceeds going to charities like UNCF and NIVA.

Since I Left You: At what point did you decide to go the route you did with Pygmalion?

Seth Fein: I’d say the middle of May is when my partner Patrick [Singer] and I had enough discussions with sponsors and enough discussions with people in our creative space where we were like, “You know what? I think we should do something.” I’m just not good at doing nothing. I don’t do well with idle time at all. Because it became apparent that our sponsors--not all, but most--were willing to continue to support what we do, we were like, “Let’s do it! Let’s use this as a laboratory to experiment to see what we can create inside of this fucked up moment.” It was pretty inspiring. It’s ironic for me personally because we’ve always resisted doing an online streaming component of Pygmalion. I’m kind of a purist, partially because of my age, partially because of my historical pedigree as a performer in a band. I never wanted to do streaming anything. Every year, we’d just reject companies that would come to us offering to set up cameras and sell tickets all over the world. They’d be like, “It’s no cost to you, you’re just gonna make money!” I’d be like, “Nah. I don’t wanna do that.” I kind of want to preserve the idea of the moment. When you’re there for a show, you want to be able to think back and say, “I was at that show! I was with people and had a human moment.” 

The pandemic has forced me out of that space, and I’m glad. I think that as we get older, we become stuck in particular identities, and nobody is immune to that. Now, I have friends in L.A. and in Tokyo who are like, “I can’t wait!” They get to be a part of it. My best friend from 1st grade is super excited about the programming, and he lives in Tokyo. He’d never in a million years be able to come to Pygmalion. This year he gets to be a part of it, so that’s pretty exciting.

SILY: You’re also finding a way to stand out among the livestreams. There are zero traditional livestreamed performances in this fest. How did you come up with the components of the fest this year?

SF: A combination of recognizing that I already had stream fatigue and Zoom fatigue, even in the middle of May. In order for this to be a compelling program, we were gonna have to create new content you wouldn’t be able to Google search, where you can be like, “Okay, I wanna see this band perform these songs,” which generally you can do, by and large. Almost every band with any amount of popularity has something you can watch, whether that’s free or you can purchase it. It’s available to you. We didn’t want to replicate anything that was available. 

The other thing that was different from getting baked, staying up late, wondering about my life, envisioning a new future, I really just felt like as a promoter, I’m always very conscientious about what my role is in an artist’s professional engagement. How and why am I earning my percentage of the money? In a traditional sense, there are a lot of reasons: setting up personnel to create the show, hiring the correct sound engineer to be able to run a professional show. There is value in a promoter. But in this particular moment, I’m not so sure I’m needed for a band who is struggling to do a streaming set. They can do that themselves and retain 100% of those profits, and I want them to. If we’re gonna come to artists, authors, or speakers, we’re going to want to present something curated that’s unique and interesting and an opportunity for them to do something they haven’t otherwise thought of. That’s where the programming is coming from: What can we do as promoters to create space for new and unique content that fans and the audience will be interested in?

SILY: What percentage of people taking part in this were on the original planned lineup for this year?

SF: Not a ton. When COVID struck, we weren’t that deep, although what we had was awesome. [laughs] We were in such a good position. We’ve been doing this for quite a long time--it’s one of the oldest events in the country of this kind. Since 2005. Some years are better than others. Some years you just get lucky. It’s never been bad, but some years don’t hit. This year was gonna be fucking great. The artists we had confirmed for live music, we tried to incorporate them in some sort of meaningful way. The one we retained and were able to pivot on was working with the cast of Napoleon Dynamite [for a table reading], which we thought was a fun event we could incorporate in the livestream. We love the movie, we think it’s a wonderful anti-hero tale that speaks to a lot of Middle America. We were able to pivot with them pretty quickly and get them to agree to do a virtual thing. Outside of that, we had to reconstruct the entire thing: the programming, the identity. It actually surprisingly took a lot more work than we thought it was going to. But again: idle time, no good.

SILY: You decided the direction to take in May. Later that month, there were protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd and an awakening among people who weren’t really paying attention before to structural racism. A lot of that conscientiousness seems to be reflected in the programming. To what extent were you reactive to the moment in planning the fest?

SF: We’ve been pretty thoughtful about how we’re programming for a number of years now. If you go back and look at the scope of the programming over the course of 15 years, you’ll see it start to shift around 2015, 2016 in particular, and then a better and more diverse direction in 2017. Part of the problem I personally had as the founder and programmer of Pygmalion early on is I’ve always been a really big believer in presenting what you know and love so that you’re not caught trying to be a poser. I don’t know that I’m always the best person to present hip hop, jazz, or country music. I do like that music, but I was always a British rock and indie rock kid. My favorite bands are XTC and Tears For Fears, Pink Floyd, INXS...Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins. That’s what I was into. The music my bands played reflected those, and when I became a promoter, I was interested in promoting that type of music. I was passionate about it, and I wanted to share that with people. 

At some point, you have to stop thinking of yourself and start thinking about your audience. That’s a growing problem, and it’s painful to recognize you haven’t done right by what you should have been doing. You take it, and instead of pouting about it, you change your program. We’ve been doing that pretty significantly over the past 3-4 years. [Independent of] the re-inspired Black Lives Matters movement, as sad as the circumstances surrounding it are, we were always going to be booking a diverse lineup. But it’s a stark reminder. You hate for these things to be on display because somebody’s life was lost and communities were broken. It feels helpless. How is this still fucking happening? What is stopping people from affecting change? There are answers to that, individually, personally inside of our company. 

Now, we feel pretty enlightened that our festival has promoters inside of a community like Champaign-Urbana, or anywhere, to create a diverse and broad array of art. That’s my and Patrick’s personal take. You become a better listener when you start pushing what people want to see instead of what you’re passionate about promoting. That’s part of the growing process, and I’m grateful for anybody who’s ever challenged me in the past to be like, “Yo. These bands are cool, but it’s too fucking white!” You listen, and you either pay attention and respond or are stuck in a cyclical act of denial, and I didn’t want to be in that place.

SILY: What’s cool about the program is that there are things that have existed in the livestream format before that people are familiar with--roundtable discussions, talks, readings--but there are a few things that jump out as unique, like the virtual escape room with Sudan Archives.

SF: It’s still being built. One of the things we wanted to do was create new content and be playful with our programming. How can we be presenters and offer our audience an opportunity to engage and interact in a way they wouldn’t normally do? We have a lot of talented people in Champaign-Urbana, despite being a small city, due to the University of Illinois being here. Two people [we know] who were videographers and also had jobs at the University of Illinois, creative people, said, “Fuck it,” quit their jobs, and became escape room designers. Their escape rooms are just phenomenal. They’re mind-bending. I suck at this stuff. Every time I go, I go with people far smarter than me because I’d lose every time. But I’m always amazed by all these intricate ways they’ve been able to build in these puzzle pieces. It’s crazy!

We approached [the escape room designers]. We receive a grant from a public arts program for the festival, and traditionally, you have to spend that money on artists and production inside downtown Urbana in order to stimulate the economy. This year with the pandemic, we’re not doing anything live because we fundamentally don’t believe we’re in the position to be doing that. In discussion with the commission, we asked, “How can we spend money on a virtual event but still honor the spirit of the agreement?” We proposed the idea that we would hire a local downtown Urbana business to work with us, and [the commission] thought it was a great idea. [The escape room designers] are able to do some live escape rooms, but it’s truncated, so they accepted our proposal.

Our idea was then: How do we incorporate a music element or an author or someone with a significant pedigree to be part of the game? I had been speaking with my friend Ali Hedrick, who is an amazing agent who has been doing it for 25 years, and she proposed Sudan Archives, who I was familiar with and really liked. The game designers incorporated her music and her instrument, the violin, into the game. While I can’t speak to the specifics yet, because I haven’t played the game, I have a lot of faith in the two of them as creators, and I expect it to be really unique and engaging. It’ll be a situation where 6 people play on Zoom on teams that are randomly put together, so you’re not friends with everyone. You kind of have to have a new experience and work together with people you may not know. There will be a human avatar that will do the escape room for you in these different locations. You’ll be instructing them what to do.

One of the things I’ve been having to come to terms with is that people who are behaving properly, which is to say that you’re not spreading the virus, you’re doing a lot of staying at home and engaging with people through your computers and your phones. The way we’re entertained is different right now, and it will forever be different. This just accelerates where we were going. Now, we have to find a new space for artistic output to enjoy our lives. This is something that people already into this type of stuff will enjoy. The fact that it’s free will make it more enjoyable. The fact that we have sponsorship to pay for the production of this game to be able to offer to it for people for no cost is very exciting, and you hope that people who are of enough means see that it’s a free thing and donate to the charities we’re hoping to raise money for.

SILY: As much as something like a virtual festival is the logical accelerated next step, it’s not a replacement or designed to replace the live festival experience. That said, The Human Library intrigued me. After a Guided By Voices livestream earlier this year, my girlfriend and I were calling out into the Zoom void to see if anybody random wanted to hang out virtually. The Human Library seems to be a nice replacement for what we were looking for, which is randomly bumping into someone you don’t know at a show or festival and hitting it off with them.

SF: The Human Library is such a unique project. We’ve done it for 5-6 years now and have of course done it live in the past. We work with the University of Illinois University Library, who is the local partner. If you’ve ever done it, you’re essentially checking out a book, but the book is a human being. The human being sits down with another human being, and they tell you a story. You can ask questions. Some are choose your own adventure, some are a little more direct, but you walk away with a story. It’s remarkably engaging. There are things that don’t lend themselves well to the virtual space at all, and there are things that do. I think that this is one of the things that does. If I was to tell you a story, we could jump on Zoom together, and provided you weren’t clicking around the internet while I’m talking, we could focus on our Zoom conversation. It’s gonna be a pretty intimate discussion. It’s just me and you with headphones on, looking at each other, through the screen. It provides a lot of opportunities for intimacy and human connection. When we first started analyzing, “What can we take from what we’ve done in the past and try to create a new space for it in the virtual realm?” that was a no-brainer. In the end, people have been telling each other a lot of stories over Zoom in the pandemic era. This is just an extension of that.

SILY: Is there something in the program you’re most excited for?

SF: Quite a bit. I’m a huge fan of Ilana Glazer. I think Broad City is the best sitcom of the last decade. I think what she’s doing with civic engagement right now is important. We were really grateful for the opportunity to book and confirm here and have her do a Generator, where she speaks with people inside of politics to inspire people to not sit this one out. This is a pretty important election. I’m pretty excited to have her present inside the work we’re doing. I’m also excited with what we’re doing with Worst Show Ever, which is gonna be two episodes, 7 guests, and a moderator, my new friend Nabil Ayers, who is a journalist and U.S. label manager at 4AD. He really liked the idea, and the two of us have been working on this for a couple months now and finally have our 7-person collection of artists, authors, and musicians to tell each other about the worst show [they’ve ever played]. We just got done this week doing a pre-filming interview with each of them, and there are some great stories. It’ll be fun to watch them interact and engage. I’m excited to see how that works out. I’m also very excited about the Minecraft Open Pit thing. I don’t play it, but my nephews do, and I know enough that it reminds me of video games from my childhood. They’re going to build an upside-down version of our arena in Champaign-Urbana, Assembly Hall, which is a remarkable piece of architecture that was designed by Max Abramovitz, who is a University of Illinois graduate but one of the more well-known architects of the 20th century. That will be fun to see the virtual space come together.

SILY: To what extent do you see this virtual festival as a sustainable model going forward, whether instead of or in conjunction with in-person festivals?

SF: I don’t totally know. I think eventually, the digital realm will supplant the live experience. I don’t know that I’m going to live to see it totally, but I definitely think there’s going to be a hybridization, and I definitely think there will be room for both. The idea that you live in a different part of a country or different part of the world and there’s something you want to see but can’t afford to get there to see it, I think that has quite a bit of potential. But I don’t see them as the same thing. I think it’s like how you eat food. You can eat this or that, it’s the same item, but it’s done in a different way and served in a different space. I think there will be room for both.

For us, personally, I’m going to always default to doing live events because I believe in the power of being together and having shared experiences. I think it’s the only way we find commonalities. Humans are social creatures. Even the most introverted person in the world generally needs people--just not a lot. I think there will always be innovation that provides opportunity for artists and presenters to try to create something out of nothing. The augmented and virtual reality will continue to develop and become more commonplace and be a piece of the market that’s not so foreign to most people. I think that will be accelerated even further. The idea of an iPod used to be so crazy. Within a few years, everybody had music on their phones. That’ll happen too with virtual reality as technology becomes more affordable and ubiquitous. I think there will be a lot of movement once that becomes more common, whereas right now, looking into a two-dimensional stream and watching a concert is one thing. Putting on virtual or augmented reality equipment and stepping inside a virtual space is probably a much more compelling and sensational opportunity for a person. My experiences with virtual reality have been mesmerizing, and we’re certainly fairly new as to where that goes. It could go in a lot of different directions. There will be room for people to capitalize in it. 

I’m always hungry to get back into live rock and hip hop on stage and letting people dance, hopefully finding themselves in trouble, but not too much trouble, if you know what I mean.

[falkenscreen]

The Lighthouse

It was weird.

The most freaked out by a lighthouse Australians will find themselves since Round The Twist, The VVitch Director Robert Eggers’ next feature sees a 4:3 black and white Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, continuing in his quest to venture as far from the mainstream as possible, land on a remote island as solitary keepers.

Shot in a not dissimilar manner to Bertrand Mandico’s The Wild Boys, the stark attention drawn to clearly staged foregrounds and props has the shrewd effect of pointedly pitting our figures against their environments. Heralding some gorgeous images, the production design thankfully remains consistent and once one has settled into Eggers’ style the approach makes it all too inviting to wholly immerse oneself.

It is however the performances which render this grand; nay a viewer might bear to tear their eyes away from the face of Dafoe’s shadow-ridden, browbeating commander spouting sea soliloquies nor Pattinson’s increasingly confused, panic-stricken apprentice capturing some of the best humour herein.

The moments shared between the pair amidst dinners prove highlights, as do excellent attempts at quite literal toilet humour. Pattinson, along with his co-star clearly having no end of fun in such a multifaceted role, gets to do much more physical comedy than in previous efforts to his and audiences’ great delight.

And now; Greek myth. It’s never gone out of fashion and is showing no signs of slowing down.

The Lighthouse will have varied interpretations, this author preferring the overwhelming emphasis on the Prometheus myth which has been very, very well covered in film to date; there having only been a few modern stories fulfil the scope of the archetype without overly relying on unnecessarily direct allusions to the early mythos or distractingly overt symbolism. Alien springs to mind, as does Pygmalion and its adaptations not including My Fair Lady. Frankenstein and the still justly-preferred 1931 adaptation likewise remains in this camp, though not too many of its (nor the Alien) follow-ups.

Eggers’ reliance on the ideation is entertaining if overly obvious and frustratingly diverting, as are reversions to the most fundamental myth’s imagery in the third act which bear much more mythological emphasis than practical weight within a narrative which is overly concerned with the expressive antics of two not entirely well people; dependent of course upon your interpretation.

Not distracting too greatly, The Lighthouse, a Pygmalion and Galatea to Shaw’s Pygmalion, is an entertainment that, given the emphasis on much else, could just as well have allowed its leads more scope.

The Lighthouse screened as part of the Fantastic Film Festival Australia and is in cinemas from February 6

on Festevez

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Pygmalion

Word Count: 2,258 (oops) Character: Sam Adams A/N: I don’t even know what to say aside from that this made me laugh at myself the entire time. Happy Birthday to everyone’s favorite rebel, and a huge shout out to everyone’s favorite custom pop artist. 

(ARTIST APPRECIATION SUBMISSION) 

Happy Sunday friends! And a very happy 298th birthday to the one and only dirty rotten rebel bastard, Sam Adams! This submission made me so happy because it’s SO creative and the artist is incredibly talented and absolutely deserves this spotlight. I have to admit that I was far too terrified to write a longer, period appropriate piece for Sam, but this idea pop-ed (see what i did there??) into my head and I ran with it. 

So thank you to the anon who sent this submission in for @its-my-little-dumpster-fire​ ‘s custom Sam Adams Funkopop! And thank YOU Mrs. Dumpster-Adams, for sharing your incredible artwork with us all! The submission also mentioned the amazing illustrations that you added to your masterlist and the animated art you shared for a few of the characters- Neil in all his sparkly glory was my favorite! You astound me with your ceaseless list of talents, woman. There’s literally nothing you cannot do if you try your hand at it. So from this anon and I to you: THANK YOU FOR GIFTING US ALL WITH THIS FANTASTIC, FUN FANART. YOU ARE TALENTED. YOU ARE APPRECIATED. YOU ARE A WEALTH OF HISTORICAL INFORMATION AND OBSESSIONS, AND YOU WOULD MAKE AN EXCELLENT COLONIAL. Too bad it’s 2020...

(Would you just lookit the detail!!! My goodness.)

Pygmalion

This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening. You kept your hands at ten and two as the city lights faded, giving way to the darker country roads, your grip on the wheel so iron fisted that the bones of your knuckles were straining at your skin. It can’t be happening, because if it is then I’m crazy and I’m not crazy, so… You nodded to yourself. So it’s not happening. I’m going to look to my right and he’s not going to be there because this is not happening. Taking a deep breath to steady yourself, you exhaled slowly and turned your head towards the passenger seat, expecting - hoping- to be met with nothing but the pattern of your material interior. But instead your eyes landed first upon a pair of legs in linen trousers before scanning upwards and taking in a thigh length overcoat atop a dark waistcoat, the color of which you couldn’t be sure was from dye or dirt, accessorized with a mustard cravat. It was strange attire to see sitting in your passenger seat, but even stranger was the man wearing it. A tricorn hat that he’d been wearing was now sitting on his lap, his long hair corralled in a small tail at the base of his skull. Shit. It is happening. I am crazy. Okay. You let out a little puff of air that was part laughter, part disbelief and part surprise as you flicked your eyes back to the road. 

Samuel Adams- or at least that’s who he claims to be- was sitting in your passenger seat. Either that or you were having the most vivid dream that your brain had ever conjured. You cast another sidelong glance at the man, who was gripping the handle above the window with his right hand, his left clutching the chest strap of his seatbelt. You’d had to reach across him to pull the belt down and into the lock, his earthy scent filling your nostrils as you did. Leather. Tea leaves. Gunpowder. Dirt. He smelled exactly as you always thought that he might, which briefly made you question why you’d spent so much time thinking about that, but you were distracted by his startled jump as you clicked the seatbelt into its lock. After convincing him that it was a safety measure and that you would be wearing one, too, he watched in awe as you drew your own seat belt down and pressed it into the locking device, the word ‘remarkable’ slipping from his whiskered lips in an astonished gasp. If this is a dream, I can wake myself up. Keeping one hand on the wheel, you took the other off to pinch yourself, hard, using your fingernail to bite into the fleshy part of your bicep. 

“Ow.” You muttered to yourself. Okay, so it isn’t a dream. I have a founding father in my car… completely normal. 

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  

Your day had started out just like any other; just a humdrum Sunday, which meant taking the dogs out before heading into work for the morning, and running to the grocery store since you’d been putting it off all week and all that was left at home were a few packets of Ramen that were older than the framed degree hanging above your desk. The only exception was that today happened to be Sam Adams’ 298th birthday, and since you were new to the Boston area, and since you were quite possibly the biggest American History buff in the state if not the country, you decided to head downtown to see what kind of festivities that the city had planned. The brewery was more packed than usual, as was Griffin’s Wharf, both locations offering special tours and discounts in honor of Boston’s favorite son. But you weren’t looking for a drink, and you’d already visited the wharf when you had come out to Boston looking for a place, so instead you spent the day at the State House, walking the FreedomTrail, and eventually ending up at Faneuil Hall, where the man of the hour’s likeness stood tall in bronze, surveying his city. “Happy Birthday Sam,” you said to the statue, “wish you were here so you could see all the hullabaloo the city kicked up for you today.” But you hadn’t been expecting a star to shoot across the sky at the very second that those words left your lips, and having had your fill of the city for one day, you turned to head back towards where you’d parked your car. That was when a searing flash of light came from right behind you, making you spin back around to see what had caused it.

What the he- the thought died mid word as your mouth dropped and your eyes grew to the size of the silver coins you’d seen displayed in one of the exhibits earlier that day. Blinking furiously as though the rapid opening and closing of your eyelids would change what you were seeing, you told yourself that what you were seeing couldn’t be real. And yet, the pedestal holding Mr. Adams’ statue was empty, and there was a man standing beside it that looked as though he had just stepped from the pages of one of the many  history texts you kept on shelves and tables and in piles on the floor of your home. What...the...hell? 

The stranger before you seemed just as stunned as you were, the overwhelmed look on his face turning to one of horrified shock as he took in the sites and sounds of the city. Oh my god. This is...this can’t be… Oh. My. God. Just as the bell from a pizza delivery man’s bicycle chimed, the colonial time traveler jumped back, one hand going to the holster on his waist, dirty fingers seeking out the pistol that hung there. Oh, that’s not good. You had no clue what was going on, where the man came from or what kind of trick this was, but you knew for certain that a colonial era gun going off in the city’s center would only make things worse. 

Stepping forward, you held up your hands and approached the man like you might approach a frightened horse. “Hey there, it’s- No! No, I’m not going to hurt you, just…” You pumped your hands, heart racing as he lowered his pistol shakily. Releasing a relieved breath, you wondered how on Earth this was happening, and why on Earth it was happening to you. “There you go, easy. It’s okay.” 

“Who are you, miss, and..and where...what’s…” he worriedly looked around, taking in the tall buildings, streets paved and crowded with vehicles, and bright lights. “What’s happened to Boston?” 

Oh boy. I swear, the crazies really sniff me out, don’t they? But you couldn’t ignore the fact that where just moments ago there was a huge, heavy, solid bronze sculpture of your favorite founding father, there now stood an empty plinth. And a man who looked like he had never taken a shower in his existence. You told him your name, which he repeated immediately in his serious tone as though to commit it to memory. “Um...nothing’s happened to Boston per say, it’s…” you struggled to find the right words. “Do you...do you know what year it is, sir?” 

“What year it is? Why of course I...it’s 1778, but I…” he looked back at the empty structure and then again at you, confusion only growing in his warm brown eyes. “Something isn’t right, something’s…something isn’t right.” 

“Alright, it’s alright, d’you…” you cleared your throat. “What’s your name?” 

“Samuel. Adams.” He reached up to remove the hat from his head, touching it to his chest. Beneath the hat his unkempt hair was flattened aside from the strands that hung free around his forehead. “My friends call me Sam.” 

I was afraid that’s what you would say. You sighed. “Alright, Sam.” I can’t believe I’m… You suddenly realized that while the two of you had yet to garnish any attention, the fact that the Sam Adams statue had gone missing from its pedestal would not go unnoticed for much longer, and you did not want to be anywhere near it when people did notice. But I can’t just leave him here, I have to… “I can...yes, I can help you, but we can’t stay here, alright?”  

He nodded eagerly, thanking you, and against your better judgement, you took his elbow in your hand and led him towards your car, planning to bring him home, let him clean up and get a good night’s rest- but that was the extent of your plans, as you decided that the rest would depend on the next few hours. This should be interesting… 

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

“Are you hurt?” 

He hadn’t said much since climbing into your car, seemingly as shocked to be there as you were to have him there, but his question came without the skittish nervousness that had been present in his voice at first, only genuine concern in his words now. Maybe my brain is hurt, but… Another little burst of incredulous laughter burst from you as you turned your car onto your street. “Uh, no I’m,” clearing your throat you threw him what you hoped was a reassuring smile but what felt more like a hysterical grin. “I’m fine just...this is...I’m fine.”  

“I thought I heard...it sounded as though you were in pain, are you certain you’re alright?” 

Pulling into your driveway you fought the urge to laugh, swoon and scream all at once. “Yep, I’m...not hurt. Don’t worry.” You put the car in park and took the keys from the ignition, the sudden quiet startling him just as much as the instant roar when the engine had come to life. “Here we are, home sweet home.” You undid your seat belt, feeling his eyes on you as you did, and then reached over to open his as well. 

“Oh,” he put up a hand and you froze. “May I?” There was an intrigued twinkle in his eyes behind the uncertainty and confusion that made you smile. He wants to… 

“Be my guest, Sam.” You watched as he extended his pointer finger and pressed down on the red button to release the metal clasp of the restraint. 

“Fascinating.” The seat belt snapped back into place and though you could tell that he was still distressed and disoriented, he chuckled in surprise as the harness retracted. 

“If you think that’s fascinating, wait until you try a shower.” You winked at him and got out of the car, helping him open the handle on his side. This is insane. 

“A shower?” He paused in the middle of your walkway and looked up to the night sky. “There aren’t any clouds, it isn't going to rain.” 

“No that’s…” you sighed, turning your key in the lock. “Not what I meant. Just...come inside, okay?” The last thing I need is my neighbor peeking out the window to see this. He agreed, following you inside where you instructed him to wait in your living room as you searched your room for spare sweatpants and an over-sized tee that would fit his tall frame and broad shoulders, depositing the items in the bathroom before getting the water started. There’s no way he would be able to figure out modern plumbing. You chastised yourself for believing even for a second that he was the real Samuel Adams, and not some crazed costumed performer who took the man’s birthday too far. Once the water had reached a decent temperature and you’d set out towels, soap and the clothes you’d gathered, you left the bathroom and headed back out to find him hovering near your desk. 

He pointed at the framed diploma as you entered the room. “I’ve never heard of this University before. Did you attend it?” Of course you hadn’t, it wasn’t founded until almost a hundred years after you… You nodded and he looked impressed. “I had my schooling at-” 

“Harvard,” you said the word with him. “I know.” 

He regarded you curiously, one cheek growing slightly rounded as he gave a sideways smile. “Hmm.” Hmm? What’s he… But before you could wonder what was going through his head, his long fingers closed around a small item on your desktop that made you gasp. Oh, I didn’t even think about… “What is…” He picked up the small figurine which was wearing an outfit stunningly similar to the one that he had on. “Is this...me? What is this?” 

“Uh...yeah that’s um… it’s called a Pop?” You shrugged. This is so stupid. “And I uh...made it. Well I didn’t make it, I…” what am I saying? “I bought it, it looked different when I bought it, but then I customized it, you know, with paint and… um...to make it look like, yes. To make it look like you.” 

He smiled again, still looking just as confused as he was when he appeared out of nowhere, but entertained and interested in seeing where that confusion would take him when it finally lifted. “Fascinating, truly.”  

He set the figurine back down where he found it and crossed the room to where you stood, finally giving him a smile of your own. “If you think that’s fascinating…” You trailed off into laughter. “Come on, bathroom’s this way.” 

You led him down the hallway, trying not to laugh as you heard him exclaim “An entire room just for that bath? Fascinating!” 

.

.

.

I had a blast writing for this amazing artist and her wonderful work! If you are an artist in the Ben Barnes fandom, or if you would like to surprise an artist with a quick little drabble, send me a message or link me to the piece that you would like me to write about. Let’s show these talented folks how much we appreciate them and the beautiful things that they create! 

[tcm]

MAD LOVE (’35): She Loves Me...She Loves Me Not! by Theresa Brown

To say we’re all sorely disappointed that the 2020 TCM Classic Film Festival was canceled this year, is a gross understatement. For many of us, this annual gathering of classic film fans in the heart of Hollywood is the highlight of our year. Hotels...flights...passes, getting together again with new old friends and old new friends is a blast! But a pandemic is nothing to play around with. Better safe than sorry.

Have no fear, though. TCM IS on the case. They have decided to have the TCM Classic Film Festival: Special Home Edition this weekend (April 16-19), where films and interviews from past Festivals are being aired. TCM is screening one of my favorite films from the 1930’s this Sunday, April 18th and it stars the only actor in classic films who fills me with pathos and revulsion simultaneously.

MAD LOVE (‘35) is a remake of THE HANDS OF ORLAC, a 1924 Conrad Veidt film where a murderer’s hands are grafted onto a musician. The movie was made again in 1960 with Mel Ferrer and Christopher Lee playing the symbiotic duo. I’ll wager the doctor in neither the 1924 movie nor the 1960 film could match the disturbing intensity of Peter Lorre:

Gogol: “I, a poor peasant, have conquered Science. Why can’t I conquer Love? Don’t you understand? You must be mine, not his. You ARE mine!” 

Lorre stars as Dr. Gogol in MGM’s turn at horror. This has got to be the more disturbing and macabre entries of this entire TCMFF Special Home Edition weekend. In the movie, Lorre plays a well-respected surgeon with a steady hand who repairs the maimed, deformed and broken. But nightly, he attends a play in the Grand Guignol-style, where the torture porn of a beautiful actress onstage almost sends him into a swoon. Frances Drake plays the actress Yvonne Orlac. I confess, I’ve only seen three of Drake’s films. She left the business early, having a mere 24 credits to her name (See BOLERO [‘34]), but she’s very good here expressing love, revulsion and downright fear as the object of Lorre’s obsession.

In the movie, Lorre is invited to the cast party, where he learns that Drake’s quitting the play to join her new pianist husband on his concert tour. At the party, with a slice of wedding cake, one gets to kiss the bride. When Lorre steps up to the plate, he plants a good one on her to the glee of the cast; we see her swallow her revulsion. However, she’ll soon need the good doctor’s help in performing an operation to prevent her husband’s mangled hands from being amputated due to a train wreck.

Gogol: “Is there no room in your heart, even pity, for a man who had never known the love of a woman, but who has worshiped you since the day he walked by...I can’t be silent any longer. You are a woman, you must’ve known!” 

 Yvonne: “Yes, I know of your feeling for me. I traded on it.”

There’s enough blame on both sides, to be fair. Yvonne knew she was stringing him along to get his help and expertise; and Dr. Gogol knew she would not love him...she’s married. He’s a pitiable strange bird and she’s unavailable to him. He doesn’t take no for an answer. Aye, there’s the rub. There comes a point when unrequited love is truly just emotional masochism. And when Lorre turns that corner and puts a plan in place to really make her his, the movie goes into high gear. He fancies himself Pygmalion, though a twisted one. Lorre, the actor, is fearless. He’s not afraid to look odd. He’s not afraid to give in to the emotion of the insane - wearing it...sitting with it...washing in it. He wallows in it. You’ll know what I mean when you see him. It’s the most unsettling thing I’ve seen in all the 1930s.

You might know Karl Freund from his directing years of I Love Lucy, but he had a hefty, creative career in the movies. He directed the seminal DRACULA (‘31), THE MUMMY (‘32) and lit the screen for Fritz Lang’s masterpiece METROPOLIS (‘27). Now, he doesn’t bring all his German cinematography of shadows, Dutch angles and Expressionism to bear in this film. After all, it is still glossy, shiny MGM. It’s pretty straight-forward directing. Freund does give me a moment I love, however. Drake is in a locked room and through the small window in the door she sees Lorre coming up the stairs totally batshit crazed. The camera dollies in towards Drake as she sees this frightening sight and it draws you in.

Rounding out the recognizable cast of character actors are: the distraught and horrified husband (Colin Clive); some minor comic relief from Ted Healy and Sara Haden as a reporter and maid respectively; Edward Brophy as the guillotined, knife-throwing murderer whose hands are grafted onto Clive; Keye Luke as the doctor’s assistant; and look...it’s child actor Cora Sue Collins, who appeared at the TCM Classic Film Festival in 2019 for the screening of this film.

For this not being an all-out monster movie a la DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN (’31), it is intense and unsettling. It also begs the question, is all fair in love and war? I don’t know. But you know how the old song goes:

If you can’t be with the one you love...don’t do what Dr. Gogol does.

[letterboxd]

Stanning the Ancients.

Valerie Complex probes the intersection of Greco-Roman mythology and queer experience in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Neon Demon, Jumbo and Midsommar.

Ancient stories have a way of influencing modern filmmakers—in part because of their “glorious” approach to love, as actor, writer and Greek-myth-lover Stephen Fry noted at this year’s digital Hay Festival. But even beyond depictions of same-sex love, Greco-Roman mythologies lend themselves well to tales of otherness and transformation.

Mythology isn’t just a bunch of stories from thousands of years ago—it’s something we create every day. Greco-Roman mythology, in particular, has less to do with the “godly” part of the pantheon, and more with their human qualities. Their lust, jealousy, wrath and greed: on display for not just other gods but all mortals under them. These stories were a portal for us to reckon with the less-savory parts of ourselves.

More than that, these stories were a cipher; a way for us to relate to one another without the need for conversation. What are celebrities and the gossip they inspire, if not modern myths? Stans are acolytes worshipping at the temples of their respective gods. They make offerings, pray to them, build altars. Every celebrity’s past is of great interest to their worshippers, who mine their back-stories for nuggets of relatability.

Beyond direct adaptations (Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and the like), these ancient myths have informed many recent films (Prometheus and The Lighthouse; the Amazons and Wonder Woman; Oedipus and Old Boy; Homer’s The Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou? included). But queer scholars have long seen Greco-Roman myths as having a particular way of helping shape queer cinematic experience, because they exist at the same intersections.

Consider the queer sensibilities in the tall tales that feature trans and intersex characters, and all the other ways the ancient poets encompass LGBTQIA expression: through their tales of otherness, outcasts living on the fringes of society, relationships that reject heteronormativity, or that push the bounds of sexuality and identity.

When myth and movie come together to create loose adaptations, film lovers are blessed with art like The Neon Demon, Jumbo, Midsommar and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Let’s look at how Ovid, Euripides and Virgil have woven their way into the fabric of each of these stories. (Spoilers ahead!)

Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel and writer-director Céline Sciamma on the set of ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ (2019). / Photo by cinematographer Claire Mathon, courtesy of NEON

The Melancholy Experience of Finite Love and the Desire of the Gaze: Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire meets Virgil’s ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’

Virgil’s story of Orpheus and Eurydice is woven so literally and metaphorically into Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire that it’s interesting to discover how late in the piece it came. Sciamma told me in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 that the story was one of the last elements to be included in the script. When she re-read the myth, she felt it ran perfectly parallel to Marianne and Hëloise’s relationship because the concept of gaze is extremely important for both couples.

In Virgil’s tale, it was prophesied that the marriage of Orpheus and Eurydice would be short-lived—and so it was. Eurydice dies from a snake bite, and her soul is sent to Hades. While in mourning, Orpheus gets the attention of the gods by singing and playing the lyre.

Being the rule-breaker that he is, Orpheus travels to the underworld to bring Eurydice back. Hades and Persephone are moved by his music and grant his wish that he will reunite with his wife, instructing him to keep his eyes front while his wife walks behind him into the living world. Unfortunately, he turns around—and loses her forever. We don’t know why he turned around when he was told not to—did he make the poet’s choice, or the lover’s? Perhaps the memory of Eurydice felt more feasible than having her physically.

In Sciamma’s film, Marianne (the painter), Hëloise (her subject) and Sophie (the maid) are isolated on a small island in eighteenth-century France. The trio carve out a microcosmic community where they are equal peers and status has no power. Hëloise reads the story of Orpheus to her two friends; they discuss whether he makes the poet’s choice, or the lover’s choice. Marianne and Hëloise engage in a romantic relationship, subverting the hostile, patriarchal world they live in. When their time is finally up and Marianne is running to the door to leave, Hëloise requests she turn around to see her one last time, thus imprinting a lasting image in Marianne’s mind. No one dies in their story, but, with a look, their love for one another lasts beyond the physical world.

Watch: Céline Sciamma discusses the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus in this clip from the new Criterion release of Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Elle Fanning as Jesse in ‘The Neon Demon’ (2016).

Reflections and personae in The Neon Demon: Nicolas Winding Refn takes on Ovid’s ‘Echo and Narcissus’

The harsh modeling world is the perfect backdrop for The Neon Demon, which deals with ideals of beauty, deceit and narcissism. The film is also a loose adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s story of Echo and Narcissus from Book III of Metamorphoses. Narcissus is the beautiful hunter who upsets Aphrodite when he rejects a low-level goddess in the most asshole-y way. She curses him, and he ends up drowning when he falls in love with his reflection and tries to kiss it over a pool of water.

In The Neon Demon, Jesse (Elle Fanning) wants to be fashion’s next ‘it’ girl. She has youth and beauty on her side, which invokes jealousy in others. As her star rises, Jesse is consumed by vanity. After her harsh rejection of make-up artist Ruby (Jenna Malone), and going on an egomaniacal tirade, she is pushed into an empty pool by Ruby’s friends Sarah (Abbey Lee Kershaw) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote), thus breaking her neck.

Two stories from different millennia share a common thread: characters who love themselves to death (literally). What separates them is the queer subtext, particularly in The Neon Demon. Does Refn know his film had queer subtext? Perhaps not, though the film itself is often included in modern queer horror lists. There is an explicit attraction between the main characters, and he does an excellent job examining what that looks like when they are clouded by envy. For the women, this desire manifests in the form of companionship (Ruby), status (Gigi) or consumption (Sarah). This queer interpretation aids Refn’s exploration of relationships that exists outside of the typical portrayal of female desire.

There is a debate among viewers regarding the queer subtext and the lesbian body horror aspects of the film. Many of the film’s critics denounced the level of sexual objectification of the young women. However, objectification is a hallmark of the story: it’s a movie about the modeling world. What people miss is not only how the external world oversexualizes these characters, but how they objectify one another, and that gaze lends itself to a strong queer asthetic.

Florence Pugh as Dani in ‘Midsommar’ (2019).

Outcasts and killer cults in Sweden: Euripides’ The Bacchae as told through Ari Aster’s Midsommar

In Greek tragedy The Bacchae, Dionysus tells the citizens of Thebes he is the son of Zeus. No one believes him. He is gaslit to the point of shame. With his reputation in a shambles, the spurned demigod leaves Thebes. He soon returns in disguise with a pack of rabid women who call themselves the Bacchae—they kill King Pentheus and burn Thebes to the ground because they didn’t listen. No-one listens to Midsommar’s main character, Dani, either.

Dani is in an emotionally abusive relationship with the gaslighting Christian, and is surrounded by Christian’s friends who reject her and see her as an emotional burden. Imagine how unhappy they are when Dani accompanies them on their trip to Sweden to visit the commune of the Harga people for their Midsummer celebration. Things spiral out of control when Dani unintentionally rises to godlike status within the Harga cult, which leads to, let’s just say, consequences for her dissenters.

On its surface, Midsommar is not queer cinema—at the center of the film is a heterosexual couple. However, Dani is an emotional outcast and feels like an outsider no matter where she is; it’s an echo of queer experience that is heightened when the women of the Harga embrace Dani. She gains status within the group and receives cathartic support from the young women of the commune. This allows her to purge the toxicity she’s experienced at the hands of Christian, his friends, and the outside world.

Sure, the Bacchae and the Harga are both dangerous, insular, microcosmic communities. Those attributes aside, these are two groups that exist separate from society at large, because their way of life is unique only to them.

Noémie Merlant gazes up at the object of her desire in ‘Jumbo’ (2020).

The Allure of Inanimate Objects: Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo vs Ovid’s ‘Pygmalion’

Another story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses features Cypriot sculptor Pygmalion, who swore off women in his city and took to isolation. In his time away from society, he carved a woman out of ivory and fell in love with it. He prayed to Aphrodite to bring the sculpture to life—and she did! Could this be an early case of objectum sexuality? While there is no divine intervention in Jumbo (which premiered at Sundance this year), Zoé Wittock’s film explores the meaning of objectum sexuality, which is a form of sexual or romantic attraction focused on particular inanimate objects.

In the film, Jeanne (Noémie Merlant—yes, Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Marianne) isn’t interested in human interaction, other than with her mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot). Working for the cleaning crew at an amusement park, she falls in love with the newest attraction, a tilt-a-whirl ride named Jumbo. As Jeanne’s desire grows, the ride comes to life and begins to communicate via colors and sounds.

Jeanne is a societal outcast who rejects human romance; her relationship with Jumbo subverts what society understands about sexuality and connection. Coming out to her mother about her attraction is also a challenge. Margarette isn’t open to what her daughter is feeling and reacts harshly toward Jeanne by coercing her into engaging in sex with men, and, when that doesn’t work, throwing her out of the house.

Eventually, Margarette realizes love is love, and as long as her daughter isn’t hurting anyone, she can learn to accept Jeanne’s love for Jumbo. Being pushed to the fringes of society for being honest (like Jeanne), or isolating yourself (like Pygmalion), is a scenario that queer folks are all too familiar with. At least Jeanne and Pygmalion don’t face tragic ends. The odds of being rejected by loved ones is high.

Coming out to family members is hard enough, especially when your very existence challenges their sense of normalcy. But this is why chosen families are important, and in both stories, the love of an accepting, chosen few is better than the approval of the majority.

Related content

Follow Valerie on Letterboxd

Valerie interviews “Celine the Machine” at the Angelika in New York earlier this year.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Celine Sciamma answers your questions in our Letterboxd Q&A.

Jumbo and Portrait of a Lady on Fire star Noémie Merlant answers our Life in Film questions.

Midsommar director Ari Aster talks pagan rituals and psychedelic drugs in a Letterboxd Q&A.

MundoF’s essential list Opening the Vault: A Chronological History of Queer Interest & LGBTQ+ Cinema.

The Top 100 Narrative Feature Films by Women Directors

The Top 100 Women Directors of the 2010s

The 2010s—Top Romance Films

[dramioneasks]

HP FESTS: TheMourningMadam’s Fests  (Part 2)

Where Gods Dwell Fest 2020:

Forge of Aradia by WordsmithMusings - E, WIP - A dark and angst-filled twist on the story of Pygmalion and Galatea - an enchanting myth about a sculptor who fell in love with his own sculpture and prayed to the goddess Aphrodite to bring it to life. Only here the sculptor is Draco Malfoy, his hands are guided by his three best friends, Hermione Granger is in an abusive marriage with Ronald Weasley, and the Goddess Aradia hears their cries.

Her Only Sunshine by articcat621 - E, one-shot - He was the sunshine in her dark and lonely world.

Sweetest Downfall by BiscuitsForPotter - E, WIP - Seven years after the war began, Hermione is sent on a mission to take down one of the greatest threats to the Order. Rumor has it that this threat has some sort of special power that has made him unbeatable in a duel. Hermione's orders? Find the source of his power and destroy it. Based on a dark interpretation of Samson and Delilah; Written for TheMouringMadam's Where Gods Dwell Fest.

The Clouds, The Wind, The Stars and The Moon Know Not by fandomfairytales - E, WIP - Based on the Polish tale of Miranda and Hero. Draco is the crown prince of a rich island nation, plagued by powers beyond his control and dreams of a woman he has never met; he is stalked, pursued and eventually imprisoned the wicked goddess Astoria (Kosciey) ascended from the underworld.Hermione, a formidable warrior in her own right never put much stock in magic, but when the sun speaks of truths and dangers she had already dreamt, she must embark on a quest to save the man she loves from an impossible, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Tanabata by sleepygrimm - M, WIP - This is a story of a boy and a girl. The way they found each other. The way their love was a force greater than anything that tried to tear them apart. A story of tolerance, respect and trust. That Patience is all you need to deal with life's intricacies.

Taming The Fire by Imotales - M, 2 chapters - can one person change the tide of the war? Voldemort did with her power and politics . So did Draco Malfoy with his love. An old tale of love written for morningmadam's fest with a supernatural twist.The world burned with her power so did she. She remembered only one face. Could he save her? She didn't waned him to.    

The Last Story by TulipsofIsolation - M, 9 chapters - The man could tell a story. That much was a fact. Yet he knew, had been there seen with his own eyes when they pulled Hermione Granger from the woods. She couldn't have possibly survived. Could she? 

Anointed by TheMourningMadam - M, one-shot - The world believes he stole her away, dragged her to his own personal hell. Perhaps he did, but she eventually followed willingly, with her heart full of love. And now, with the world closing in, they make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure they stay together for eternity.Influenced by The myth of Hades and Persephone, though more figuratively than literally.

I Have You Etched on my Skin by DarkAngelOfSorrowReturns - M, WIP -  She wasn’t a muggleborn, and she was magically bonded to Draco Malfoy.Wait, what?

Searching by pixiedustandbluebutterflies - M, WIP - Hermione and Draco’s hearts were tired of hatred and exhausted of prejudice - but the world wasn’t necessarily ready to accept a relationship between a muggleborn war hero and the son of a disgraced death eater. After years of turning enemies into friends, overcoming public scrutiny, and living through a very public engagement, they were ready to spend the rest of their lives together in peace.Unfortunately, sometimes those closest to you have other plans.

A Woman’s Truth by Charlie9646 - E, WIP - A tale of love, hatred, secrets, but most of all what family truly means.Our choices affect more than just ourselves.

How to Grow Anemone by augustine (aramyn) - M, WIP - May the Gods be ever in your favour.

Unveiled by GracefulLioness - E, one-shot - On the eve of her wedding to Ron, Hermione learns exactly what he wants in a wife, and it's more than she can bear. Running from him and everyone she loves, she finds herself turning to an old flame and wondering why they hadn't worked out.Based on the Hebrew myth of Lilith and Samael for TheMourningMadam's Where Gods Dwell Fest.

The Golden Girl and the Dragon by Art3misiA - T, 5 chapters - There's something developing between Hermione and Draco. The only problem is, her two best friends aren't happy about it and are determined to stop things in their tracks. But will they succeed, or will events take an unexpected turn?

Meet Me at Greenhouse Three by HollyBrianne - T, 3 chapters - A pair of star-crossed lovers, a whispered invitation, a date at greenhouse three. / Dramione fest piece

to seek the light of truth by sparrow_ink - T, WIP - A retelling of the myth of Eros & Psyche.An ancient artifact awakens in Magical Britain, and much drama ensues. Hermione Granger doesn't have time for nonsense like having her marriage arranged by a semi-sentient cup, only it seems she doesn't have much choice in the matter. How is she supposed to help replenish the population of magical Britain when she doesn't even know her husband's name, and she's never seen his face? And is she actually falling in love with someone who might as well be a ghost? Of course not. That would be ridiculous.Herein contains: a library as a bribe (a bribrary, if you will), too much magical chess and tea drinking, and more nonsense than you can shake a wand at. Enjoy

Killing Hermione Granger by NotSoSirius92 - E, one-shot - He intended to kill her. Falling in love was never apart of the plan.

Shriek by Rosella_Burgundy - M, one-shot - He wants her. He'll do anything in his power to get to the object of his desire.

Then We Found Us by CindyBarnard - M, WIP -  Prompt: Adam and Lilith - Dark Festival: TheMourningMadam's Where Gods Dwell Hermione had a life plan, and it was going exactly according to schedule, thank you very much. If only her husband hadn't decided he did not like her plan. . . Which led to her finding out exactly what her husband had done... Maybe she would never have known his secret then, living in blissful ignorance. But he did have an issue and therefore she did find out. And now? Well, Hermione never did want to be the supporting character, did she? And if they did not want to change, then she would fix the problem. So she had to do what she had to do. Besides, the devil is not always wrong you know.

Living Death by Kyonomiko - T, 2 chapters - To Hermione Granger, forgetting who she is might just be worse than death. Looking for forgiveness, even absolution, Draco Malfoy gives her a hidden place in his world.

The Equinox and the Garden by Pandorascube - T, 4 chapters - One night at the Malfoy Harvest ball, everything changes.Modern retelling of Ariadne, Theseus, and Dionysus through Hermione, Ron, and Draco. Written in the style of Greek Tragedy complete with purple prose, Deus ex Machina, the three unities, and a poetic chorus of House Elves.

Accidentally in Love by grace_lou_freebush - T, 2 chapters -  Theo is brewing a potion when Draco barges in and ruins his night. Now he needs revenge. A Dramione reimagining of the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne.

Like Souls that Balance by savedprincess85 - T, 2 chapters - Hermione is captured. Harry and Draco must rescue her. Based on the Myth of Lancelot and Guinevere. Written for TheMourningMadam's Where God's Dwell Dramione Fest

This fest is onging.

[brookston]

Holidays 10.16

Holidays

Air Force Day (Bulgaria)

Bells Across America for Fallen Firefighters

Blog Action Day

Clean Your Bug Zapper Day

Department Store Day

Ether Day

Global Cat Day

Learn a Word Day

Maintenance Personnel Day

National Cut Up Your Credit Card Day

National Department Store Day

National DGS Day

National Dictionary Day

National Feral Cat Day

National Report Truth in Negotiations Act Fraud Day

National Wolf Awareness Day

Pope John Paul II Day (Poland)

Population Control Day

Restart A Heart Day (UK)

Steve Jobs Day (California)

Teachers’ Day (Chile)

World Allergy Awareness Day

World Anesthesia Day

World Spine Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Liqueur Day

National Veterans BBQ Day

United Church of Bacon Day

World Food Day (UN)

3rd Sunday in October

Brown Ale Day [3rd Sunday]

Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day [3rd Sunday]

World Toy Camera Day [3rd Sunday]

Feast Days

Balderic (a.k.a. Baudry) of Monfaucon (Christian; Saint)

Bercharius (Christian; Saint)

Bertrand of Comminges (Christian; Saint)

Blue Whale Contemplation Day (Pastafarian)

Colmán of Kilroot (a.k.a. Colman mac Cathbaid; Christian; Saint)

Eliphius (Christian; Saint)

Feast of ‘Ilm (Knowledge; Baha’i)

Feast of the Ingathering [21 Tishrei] (a.k.a. ... 

Feast of the Tabernacles (Christian)

Festival of Shelters (Christian)

Harvest Home (UK)

Kirn (Scotland)

Mell-Supper (Northern England)

Sukkot (Judaism)

Fortunatus of Casei (Christian; Saint)

Gall (Christian; Saint)

Gerard Majella (Christian; Saint)

Hedwig of Silesia (Christian; Saint)

Hugh Latimer (Anglicanism)

Junian (of Saint-Junien; Christian; Saint)

Lullus (a.k.a. Lullon), Archbishop of Mentz (Christian; Saint)

Malcolm the Lion (Muppetism)

Marguerite Marie Alacoque (Christian; Saint)

Marie-Marguerite d'Youville (Christian; Saint) >li>Mummolin (a.k.a. Mommolin), Bishop of Noyon (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas Ridley (Anglicanism)

Opening the Bosom of Women (Hathor’s Temple; Ancient Egypt)

Pamela Anderson Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Pascal (Positivist; Saint)

Silvanus of Ahun (Christian; Saint)

Thevarparampil Kunjachan, Blessed (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Catholic Church)

Victor III, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [42 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [48 of 60]

Premieres

Bridge of Spies (Film; 2015)

Crazy, by Patsy Cline (Song; 1961)

Dare by the Human League (Album; 1981)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train (Anime Film; 2020)

Electric Ladyland, by Jimi Hendrix (Album; 1968)

Fry Me Cookie, With A Can Of Lard, recorded by Will Bradley (Song; 1941)

It’s Only Rock N’ Roll, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1974)

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë (Novel; 1847)

The Kids in the Hall (TV Series; 1988)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1950) [Book 1 of The Chronicles of Narnia]

The Lobster (Film; 2015)

Pierrot Lunaire, by Arnold Schoenberg (Melodrama; 1912)

Practical Magic (Film; 1998)

Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw (Play; 1913)

The Sensual World, by Kate Bush (Album; 1989)

Today’s Name Days

Hedwig (Austria)

Hedviga, Margareta, Marija (Croatia)

Havel (Czech Republic)

Gallus (Denmark)

Siret, Sirja, Sirje (Estonia)

Luna, Sirkka, Sirkku, Stella (Finland)

Edwige (France)

Carlo, Gallus, Gordon, Hedwig (Germany)

Gál (Hungary)

Edvige, Fortunato, Irene, Margherita (Italy)

Daiga, Daigone, Dainida, Egils (Latvia)

Ambraziejus, Dovaldė, Gutautas, Jadvyga, Margarita (Lithuania)

Finn, Flemming (Norway)

Ambroży, Aurelia, Dionizy, Florentyna, Galla, Gallina, Gaweł, Gerard, Gerarda, Gerhard, Grzegorz, Radzisław (Poland)

Vladimíra (Slovakia)

Beltrán, Eduviges, Eduvigis, Florentino, Gerardo, Margarita (Spain)

Finn (Sweden)

Avice, Avis, Gerar, Gerard, Gerardo, Gerrard, Hedda, Hedwig, Hedy, Heide, Heidi, Jerard, Noah, Noe (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 289 of 2022; 76 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 41 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Júyuè), Day 21 (Red-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 21 Tishri 5783

Islamic: 20 Rabi I 1444

J Cal: 19 Shù; Foursday [19 of 30]

Julian: 3 October 2022

Moon: 60%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Descartes (11th Month) [Pascal]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 24 of 90)

Zodiac: Libra (Day 22 of 30)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 10.16

Holidays

Air Force Day (Bulgaria)

Bells Across America for Fallen Firefighters

Blog Action Day

Clean Your Bug Zapper Day

Department Store Day

Ether Day

Global Cat Day

Learn a Word Day

Maintenance Personnel Day

National Cut Up Your Credit Card Day

National Department Store Day

National DGS Day

National Dictionary Day

National Feral Cat Day

National Report Truth in Negotiations Act Fraud Day

National Wolf Awareness Day

Pope John Paul II Day (Poland)

Population Control Day

Restart A Heart Day (UK)

Steve Jobs Day (California)

Teachers’ Day (Chile)

World Allergy Awareness Day

World Anesthesia Day

World Spine Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Liqueur Day

National Veterans BBQ Day

United Church of Bacon Day

World Food Day (UN)

3rd Sunday in October

Brown Ale Day [3rd Sunday]

Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day [3rd Sunday]

World Toy Camera Day [3rd Sunday]

Feast Days

Balderic (a.k.a. Baudry) of Monfaucon (Christian; Saint)

Bercharius (Christian; Saint)

Bertrand of Comminges (Christian; Saint)

Blue Whale Contemplation Day (Pastafarian)

Colmán of Kilroot (a.k.a. Colman mac Cathbaid; Christian; Saint)

Eliphius (Christian; Saint)

Feast of ‘Ilm (Knowledge; Baha’i)

Feast of the Ingathering [21 Tishrei] (a.k.a. ... 

Feast of the Tabernacles (Christian)

Festival of Shelters (Christian)

Harvest Home (UK)

Kirn (Scotland)

Mell-Supper (Northern England)

Sukkot (Judaism)

Fortunatus of Casei (Christian; Saint)

Gall (Christian; Saint)

Gerard Majella (Christian; Saint)

Hedwig of Silesia (Christian; Saint)

Hugh Latimer (Anglicanism)

Junian (of Saint-Junien; Christian; Saint)

Lullus (a.k.a. Lullon), Archbishop of Mentz (Christian; Saint)

Malcolm the Lion (Muppetism)

Marguerite Marie Alacoque (Christian; Saint)

Marie-Marguerite d'Youville (Christian; Saint) >li>Mummolin (a.k.a. Mommolin), Bishop of Noyon (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas Ridley (Anglicanism)

Opening the Bosom of Women (Hathor’s Temple; Ancient Egypt)

Pamela Anderson Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Pascal (Positivist; Saint)

Silvanus of Ahun (Christian; Saint)

Thevarparampil Kunjachan, Blessed (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Catholic Church)

Victor III, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [42 of 53]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [48 of 60]

Premieres

Bridge of Spies (Film; 2015)

Crazy, by Patsy Cline (Song; 1961)

Dare by the Human League (Album; 1981)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train (Anime Film; 2020)

Electric Ladyland, by Jimi Hendrix (Album; 1968)

Fry Me Cookie, With A Can Of Lard, recorded by Will Bradley (Song; 1941)

It’s Only Rock N’ Roll, by The Rolling Stones (Song; 1974)

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë (Novel; 1847)

The Kids in the Hall (TV Series; 1988)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1950) [Book 1 of The Chronicles of Narnia]

The Lobster (Film; 2015)

Pierrot Lunaire, by Arnold Schoenberg (Melodrama; 1912)

Practical Magic (Film; 1998)

Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw (Play; 1913)

The Sensual World, by Kate Bush (Album; 1989)

Today’s Name Days

Hedwig (Austria)

Hedviga, Margareta, Marija (Croatia)

Havel (Czech Republic)

Gallus (Denmark)

Siret, Sirja, Sirje (Estonia)

Luna, Sirkka, Sirkku, Stella (Finland)

Edwige (France)

Carlo, Gallus, Gordon, Hedwig (Germany)

Gál (Hungary)

Edvige, Fortunato, Irene, Margherita (Italy)

Daiga, Daigone, Dainida, Egils (Latvia)

Ambraziejus, Dovaldė, Gutautas, Jadvyga, Margarita (Lithuania)

Finn, Flemming (Norway)

Ambroży, Aurelia, Dionizy, Florentyna, Galla, Gallina, Gaweł, Gerard, Gerarda, Gerhard, Grzegorz, Radzisław (Poland)

Vladimíra (Slovakia)

Beltrán, Eduviges, Eduvigis, Florentino, Gerardo, Margarita (Spain)

Finn (Sweden)

Avice, Avis, Gerar, Gerard, Gerardo, Gerrard, Hedda, Hedwig, Hedy, Heide, Heidi, Jerard, Noah, Noe (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 289 of 2022; 76 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 41 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Gort (Ivy) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Júyuè), Day 21 (Red-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 21 Tishri 5783

Islamic: 20 Rabi I 1444

J Cal: 19 Shù; Foursday [19 of 30]

Julian: 3 October 2022

Moon: 60%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Descartes (11th Month) [Pascal]

Runic Half Month: Wyn (Joy) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 24 of 90)

Zodiac: Libra (Day 22 of 30)

[musiconanironingboard]

27 June 2020: GoGo Penguin. (Blue Note, 2020)

This band is a jazz trio from Manchester whose piano/bass/drum arrangements are heavily influenced by modern music not in the jazz idiom, such as Radiohead. I happened upon them the last time I went to Pygmalion Festival in Champaign, Illinois. Every bro in town was outside at the main stage watching yet another jazz combo, BadBadNotGood, and acting like they were in the dance tent at Lollapalooza. I was bewildered by how and why frat types even liked a jazz group, let alone flipping out like party animals about it. True to their name, I didn’t think the band was very good at all; so, I walked over to the High Dive, one of numerous venues hosting the festival, and as I went in GoGo Penguin were just walking onstage. I watched their whole set, glad that I caught the good jazz group of the afternoon and wondering what the party boys outside would make of it. (And do all modern jazz groups that cater to rock audiences have terrible names? Also, after writing the above, I googled BadBadNotGood: they have hip-hop connections, that’s why every white frat boy at the festival knew and loved them.)

When I saw them in 2018, GoGo Penguin was touring for their fourth album A Humdrum Star. They didn’t have any merchandise for sale at the gig I attended, so I had to track that down later. I eventually saw them again when they came through my own town; I think that’s actually where I finally bought A Humdrum Star. The album I’m posting today is their fifth full-length, despite the eponymous title. Both albums are good, but I don’t know if I’ll be getting any more of them. The band just released a remix album, where a bunch of electronic artists fiddle with the tracks from the self-titled album. Even if it weren’t vinyl only—I prefer this band on CD—I doubt I’d get that.

The artwork here is minimal. Above we see the front cover, hype sticker, and back cover. Below is the opened gatefold and the disc itself.

[haut-bailly]

Cultural outings for summer 2020

This summer, discover a few events and exhibitions in Bordeaux. Here is our selection: 

Pulsations Festival from July 23rd to 31st

From July 23rd to 31st, experience "Pulsations", the unexcepted festival imagined and put together in a couple of weeks by Raphaël Pichon and his musicians from Pygmalion. Operas, recitals, classic music concert... Almost twenty events (including free activities) allow visitors to discover the city of Bordeaux. There are a few days left to book your tickets!

Click here for more information

Playground - The design of sneakers

until January 10th 2021 at the MADD

Basketball shoe, tennis shoe, trainer or sneaker, regardless of the name, they have influenced the way we live and the way we dress since the early 20th century. With over 600 pairs, films, archive documents, photos and personal accounts, the exhibition will present all the facets of this iconic object. A basketball court is available in the museum's main courtyard.

Click here for more information

Bassins de Lumières  until January 3rd 2021 at the submarine base of Bordeaux

Bordeaux’s submarine base invites you to discover the art of Gustave Klimt and Paul Klee through  a unique sound and light installation. An immersive experience for the whole family and a great opportunity to discover this historic location in Bordeaux.

Click here for more information

[haut-bailly-fr]

Sorties culturelles pour l’été 2020

Cet été, de nombreuses expositions et événements sont à découvrir à Bordeaux. Retrouvez ci-dessous notre sélection :

Pulsations Festival du 23 au 31 juillet à Bordeaux

Du 23 au 31 juillet découvrez "Pulsations", le festival inattendu pensé et monté en quelques semaines par Raphaël Pichon et ses musiciens de l’ensemble Pygmalion. Opéras, récitals, concerts de musique classique... Près de vingt événements (dont certains en accès libre) à découvrir dans différents lieux en extérieur, en plein coeur de Bordeaux. Plus que quelques jours pour prendre vos places !

Plus d’informations ici 

Playground - Le design des sneakers jusqu’au 10 janvier 2021 au MADD

Baskets, tennis, trainers ou sneakers, peu importent leurs noms, elles marquent notre façon de vivre et de nous habiller depuis le début du XXe siècle. Avec plus de 600 paires, films, documents d’archives, photos et témoignages, l’exposition retrace l’histoire des sneakers, simples chaussures devenues véritables objets iconiques. Vous pouvez même user vos baskets sur le terrain mis à disposition dans la cour du musée !

Plus d’informations ici

Les Bassins de Lumières jusqu’au 3 janvier 2021 à la Base sous-marine de Bordeaux

La Base sous-marine vous invite à découvrir l’oeuvre de Gustave Klimt et Paul Klee à travers  une installation son et lumières unique. Une expérience immersive à faire en famille, l’occasion de découvrir ce lieu historique de Bordeaux. 

Plus d’informations ici 

[newyorktheater]

Broadway from A to Z, 26 profiles that I completed over the (first) six months that Broadway has been shut. https://newyorktheater.me/category/broadway/alphabet-series/

To mark the six months of Broadway’s shutdown this past weekend, we could look back, as I did — The Best Theater in Six Months of No Theater — or we could compile suggestions for a changed theater of the future, as the New York Times did (see below.) But we couldn’t answer the question everybody has had from the start of this unprecedented moment: When will Broadway reopen?

This past week, Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in, in an interview with the actress Jennifer Garner. The first article I read about his remarks quoted him as saying it won’t be safe to return to theaters until “almost a year” after an effective vaccine was widely distributed. But later in the day, the publication “updated” (i.e. corrected) the article: The government’s infectious disease expert had said not safe without a mask. That reassured some people for some reason.

Andrew Lloyd Webber reportedly wants the British government to “give us a date” when theaters will reopen, telling a committee of Parliament “We simply have to get our arts sector back open and running … We are at the point of no return, really,” But of course the coronavirus doesn’t care about human deadlines and timelines.

Still, we look to the future with hope. At Miscast20, the twentieth anniversary of MCC Theater’s popular annual gala, which for the first time was presented online, the last two singers Joshua Henry and Heather Headley, sang about the sun coming up,  “Tomorrow” (Henry from “Annie”) after an “Endless Night” (Headley from “The Lion King.”)

For some, the sun is already out, as Hannah Grannemann chronicles, from museum-goers in New York to theatergoers in Tokyo.

  Week in Reviews and Previews

  Incidental Moments of the Day, the final Apple Family on Zoom play. (Watch the video and read my review)

Eisa Davis in Lynn Nottage’s play for the virtual Theatre for One, “What Are The Things I Need to Remembe?”

Lynn Nottage on Theatre for One, and theater for many, and keeping busy during COVID

Update: Due to popular demand, extra late-night performance times have been added through September 24 and performances have extended through October! 

Paul Rudnick

Paul Rudnick On Coastal Elites, Trash-Tweeting Ivanka, and How Bette Midler and Theater Give Him Hope

  Week in Theater News

Ben Brantley will no longer be a theater critic for the New York Times, starting on October 15. “This pandemic pause in the great, energizing party that is the theater seemed to me like a good moment to slip out the door,” He’s been a critic there since 1993. we plan to take our time during this pause selecting Ben’s full-time successor.

The Pulitzer Board had changed its eligibility requirements for its Drama award. Eligible plays for Pulitzer Prizes will include those “that were scheduled to be produced in theatres in calendar 2020 but postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic, as well as plays produced and performed in places other than theater” (ie online or outdoors)

Theater artists and activists will gather September 21 for Lights Up on Voter Mobilization, a virtual town hall, will be presented by the Broadway Green Alliance September 21 at 8 p.m., to share  “actionable steps to mobilize and register voters, break down candidates’ positions on climate issues, and explore the intersection of environmental and racial justice issues.”

“Bulrusher” announces its swoon-worthy cast, the next livestream of Paula Vogel’s Bard at the Gate, starting September 17.

32nd Annual Festival of New Musicals from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre will occur online November 19 and 20th, with video excerpts of eight new musicals

20 Theater Figures on How to ‘Revolutionize’ Their World

Director Lavina Jadhwania loves watching plays with captions, hopes such access continues post-pandemic

Director Jay Stull suggests universal basic income/medical insurance from a pool created by artists who make it

Also: A new Federal Theater Project – director Lear deBesonnet Works that span traditional theater venues, digital media and the streets – artistic director Niegel Smith

Eliminate unpaid internships – dramaturg Lauren Halvorsen

institutionalize media production departments- #Psalmayene24

Five New York Times critics on what must change Open up the canon – Maya Phillips Embrace streaming – Jesse Green Make affordable tickets available for essential workers – Laura Collins-Hughes (how about for everybody?) Pool resources among for-profit and non-profit theaters (the way sports leagues do) – Elizabeth Vincentelli Relax theater etiquette – Alexis Soloski

June 14 Lloyd Suh King Henry V

Congratulations to Lloyd Suh for winning the Horton Foote Prize + $50,000 for his play at MaYi Theater, “The Chinese Lady,” based on the true story of the first female Chinese immigrant to the U.S.

Isabelle McCalla and Caitlin Kinnunen as high school girlfriends in The Prom

The filmed version of the Broadway musical The Prom will make its Netflix debut December 11

Ayad Akhtar novelist and Pulitzer-winning playwright (Disgraced, The Invisible Hand, Junk) will be the new president (starting Dec 2) of Pen America,, the literary and human rights organization. In interview: “I’m not convinced that literature is the best way to form political opinions. It’s the great form of nuanced intellectual discourse. We can have profound conversations about literature, but I’m not sure that political opinions — like who to vote for — are the purview of literature. But increasingly everything has become politicized, and I think an organization like PEN has to acknowledge that.”

Tonya Pinkins among an all-woman cast for Moliere in the Park’s School for Wives, which will be live streamed at 2pm and 7pm on October 24th

X is for Xavier Rubiano, a Broadway casting director who likes Miscast

Xavier Rubiano is the last in the Broadway Alphabet series — not as well known as most of the previous 25. But he represents the many behind-the-scenes folk who have always made Broadway possible.

Rest in Peace

Diana Rigg portrayed Eliza in a 1974 production of Pygmalion in the UK. Forty-four years later, she portrayed Mrs. Higgins in the current Broadway production of My Fair Lady

Medea

Lauren Ambrose as Eliza and Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins

 Diana Rigg, 82, memorable for her performances on Broadway (Medea, My Fair Lady), TV (The Avengers, Game of Thrones) and for her witty book of bad reviews through the ages, “No Turn Unstoned”

After Six Months, What? #Stageworthy News of the Week To mark the six months of Broadway’s shutdown this past weekend, we could look back, as I did -- …

[biofunmy]

George Bernard Shaw’s 6-Hour ‘Beast’? She’s All In

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO — “Sweets.”

“Honey.”

“Homie.”

“Angels.”

“Sweets” again.

“Darling.”

In the space of less than an hour, these were just a few of the terms of endearment lobbed from the dimly lit seats of the Festival Theater, one of the three venues that make up the Shaw Festival campus.

Tech rehearsals — the millisecond-by-millisecond calibration of every lighting cue and sound effect — can sap the will of even the hardiest theater folk. But Kimberley Rampersad, the issuer of those kind words, wasn’t having it one recent afternoon. Not with the festival’s marquee event entrusted to her — on just her second time directing here.

A bronze statue of George Bernard Shaw may stand in the center of this bucolic town 20 miles north of Niagara Falls, but only two plays by the festival’s namesake are on offer in this year’s 11-play season.

Some would argue, however, that there are actually three Shaws in a 12-play season. Because one of the two — the one that Ms. Rampersad was overseeing — is the “glorious beast” (to use her phrase) known as “Man and Superman,” which took Shaw a decade to see mounted in its entirety. Ms. Rampersad had her work cut out for her.

The play’s 1905 premiere came minus its third act, an extended dream sequence known as “Don Juan in Hell,” in which four of the play’s characters morph into their 16th-century forebears. Several theater companies have embraced Act III’s blend of philosophical phantasmagoria and staged it on its own; others have jettisoned it and zipped ahead to the fourth and final act. Many others have taken one look at the published script (complete with a 58-page appendix devoted to the lead character’s “Revolutionist’s Handbook and Pocket Companion”) and opted for “Pygmalion” instead.

The Shaw Festival, however, is all in — with a full six hours (including a lunch break) given over to Shaw’s musings on anarchy, proto-feminism, the Fabian Society and many, many, many other ideas. It began last weekend and will be performed a total of 17 times through Oct. 5.

“‘Man and Superman’ is one of the reasons I took this job,” said Tim Carroll, who became artistic director of the festival in 2017. “I really think it’s one of the great things made by a human, right up there with [Bach’s] B minor Mass and ‘The Magic Flute.’”

But what human should direct it? Here Mr. Carroll’s decision-making process was informed by his own experience working for Mark Rylance at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London.

“Early in my time there, Mark approached me about what I wanted to do the following year, before he saw what I did,” Mr. Carroll recalled. “I asked him, ‘Don’t you want to see how this goes first?’ And he said, ‘I trust you.’

“I’ve been a freelancer most of my life, and I came here determined not to forget how that feels.”

Enter Ms. Rampersad, a midcareer dancer and choreographer from Winnipeg who first came to the festival in 2015 to appear in both “Sweet Charity” and “Pygmalion.” (The use of repertory casting, a hallmark of the festival, means all 13 “Man and Superman” cast members are also appearing in either “Cyrano de Bergerac” or Howard Barker’s scabrous play “Victory” — though never on the same day.)

She returned in 2017 as one of the festival’s intern directors, where she assisted Mr. Carroll on Shaw’s audience-friendly “Androcles and the Lion.” On the strength of this apprentice work, he asked her to direct the following season’s lunchtime one-act, “O’Flaherty V.C.,” also by Shaw. (He also cast her in “Grand Hotel” that year.)

Then, before “O’Flaherty” even opened, he followed Mr. Rylance’s example and offered her “Man and Superman.”

“She’s a first-class motivator and setter of example,” Mr. Carroll said. “And she clicked with Bernard Shaw right away, as I learned from ‘Androcles.’”

Ms. Rampersad, who began her shift to directing about a decade ago when she sensed the window for dancing jobs begin to shrink, said this connection to all things Shavian didn’t happen overnight. As she moved from performing Shaw to directing Shaw, she assigned herself a reading list of one play a week for several months. (“Man and Superman” took a bit longer, she admits.)

“He’s an industry,” she said of Shaw, “but he’s also a lens on the world. And every time we solve one of his mysteries in the rehearsal room, two new ones pop up.”

And then there’s the 80-minute mystery known as “Don Juan in Hell,” which many Shaw scholars have argued fares better as its own entity. Ms. Rampersad disagrees.

“It adds the magic to the play,” she said. “It adds the cosmos, which then gives real gravitas to Act IV. To me, it’s a golden thread that would be missing from this tapestry if it wasn’t there.”

Finding room for the magic but also the logic is where Ms. Rampersad’s gifts come to the forefront, said Sara Topham, who plays the enigmatic female lead in “Man and Superman.”

“Kim has an insatiable drive for explanation, which is vital for any director,” Ms. Topham said. “The only word I can think of to describe her is ‘extraordinary.’”

Ms. Topham’s co-star Gray Powell also commended Ms. Rampersad’s knack for making these idea-stuffed plays accessible to the audience. “The clarity of the arguments is the toughest thing about Shaw — they need to sound like real thoughts happening in real time,” he said. “And Kim really gets that.”

Mr. Carroll’s faith in her surfaced in another way this year: He and his associate artistic director, Kate Hennig, created the new position of intern artistic director. “Kate and I were looking at the Canadian theater landscape,” he said, “and we thought, ‘We really should be setting Kim up to land one of those big jobs.’”

She is automatically invited to every one of Mr. Carroll’s meetings — there are many — and the two meet at least once a week to discuss big-picture ideas as well as scheduling minutiae. (Not that her other skills have been forgotten: Ms. Rampersad will appear in the festival’s “Holiday Inn” this winter and then direct as well as choreograph “Gypsy” here in 2020.)

“It is an opportunity for me to learn what it means to hold spaces for other people,” she said of the new position. “The role of artistic director is where my art meets my politics.”

But first Ms. Rampersad needs to wrangle Shaw’s towering work — which she described as about “getting off on the rigor of being your best self and getting others to be their best selves” — up from hell and back to earth. And as she slips in and out of all (or at least a fair number) of those meetings, she said she returns to “Man and Superman” buoyed by her boss’s rallying cry, one that emphasizes both rigor and abandon.

“Tim’s like, ‘Go, go! Be excellent, but go!’”

Sahred From Source link Arts

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[the-blind-assassin-12]

All the questions that start with a letter in your first name. GO

All the... that start with a... letter in my... oh boy alright. 

ALYSSA. 

Least favorite fic you wrote this year: 

Does an individual chapter of a fic count? Because if so then chapter 10 of I See You which I wrote back in January and really liked at the time and now I look at it and just see all the things I should have done better. 

Least popular fic this year: 

Like always it’s a Ryan piece. It’s relatively new, and not as many people read Ryan as they do other characters, so though it makes me sad that he doesn’t get the attention that Billy gets (even though I feel that my writing with Ryan is WAY stronger than it is with almost any other character)- I’m not surprised. The individual piece is Canary Mary & the Miners and it’s actually one of my favorite things I’ve written about Ryan Brenner’s past. 

Longest completed fic you wrote this year: 

Bold of you to assume that I completed a fic this year. Technically I finished Jigsaw this year, because Black was posted early in 2020. I completed The Jilted Tourist, which is only a three-part mini series at roughly 12k. I’ll be done (completely) with the first portion of Core Drive within the next day or so, and I’ll be finished with The Last Dream (another short three-parter) before the year ends. If anything else gets finished in the next few weeks it will be miraculous.  

Shortest completed fic you wrote this year: 

Oh I jumped the gun on the last question. So it’s The Jilted Tourist. Which was honestly a lot of fun to write because Joss is a hoot. 

Longest wip of the year: 

Core Drive is the longest ongoing WIP that I started this year, and it will absolutely be the longest thing I have ever written by the time it is all said and done. It (And it’s accompanying side stories) sits right now at just over 54k and it’s not even half way cooked. 

Shortest wip of the year: 

Let’s Face the Music & Dance. Like John, I rushed in and got in over my head and had to take a step back but once I clear a few things out of the way I plan on coming in hot with this one because I still believe in it. I also started a new Billy story that is only around 6k ish but I’m really stoked about it more than I’ve ever been stoked to write Billy so that’s cool. 

A fic you didn’t expect to write:

Pygmalion- I never expected to write about Sam. Or a Funko Pop.  Lonely Stranger- I never expected to get to play in the Neon Lights world but @something-tofightfor gave me the okay and I was giddy about it.  Core Drive- I thought it would sit on the back burner for a long ass time but nope.  In the Arms of the Ocean- lol i write about Caspian now so that’s a thing. and this came out of no where and jumped to the top of my favorites. 

Something you learned this year: 

That I shouldn’t second guess myself as much as I do when it comes to characterization. I have my reasons for things and I should stand by them because when I do I am happier with the end result. 

Any new fics to start next year: 

I technically started it this year, but it will start seeing the light of day next year- Damned if I Do-  which is going to be a twist on the most canonically compliant yet still very AU Billy that I’ve ever written. Also already sort of started but in a constant state of flux is Not if it’s You- which will be Benjamin. 

A fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read: 

Ransom by @something-tofightfor . It’s literally got everything. You will not be sorry. 

Longest fic you read this year: 

Saving the last part of it for my Christmas Eve festivities because covid christmas is going to be just me and J sitting at home like any other day and I want SOMETHING holiday centered to look forward to... but Steel City also by @something-tofightfor was the longest fic I read this year. 

Shortest fic you read this year:

Oh gosh I don’t know I’ve read so many fun littler drabbles. 

phew. that was a lotta questions. thanks for askin’ em. 

[musiconanironingboard]

17 February 2020: Supermoon (EP), Charly Bliss. (Barsuk, 2020)

This companion piece to the Brooklyn band’s 2019 album Young Enough was released digitally toward the end of that year, the vinyl appearing in early 2020. They’ve become a minor favorite of mine after stumbling upon one of their shows by accident at the Pygmalion Festival in Champaign, Illinois, in 2017. The artwork on Supermoon matches that of Young Enough, with highly stylized, staged scenes, almost like from movies. As I type this, I realize I didn’t spend very much time with Supermoon. Maybe I should listen to it again soon.

Above are the front cover, the two hype stickers, and the back cover. My goodness; someone at Fader calls them “One of the best guitar groups in the world”—I think the definition of “guitar group” has changed significantly if Charly Bliss qualifies. I have to imagine that writer would call any group that has at least one guitar in it a “guitar group.” No one is going to confuse Charly Bliss with Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Below we see side one’s label, and then a view of the entire record, clear with a blue blob in the middle.

Last, here is the way Barsuk Records presents download-code information. Most every other label tosses a card in the album sleeve, but Barsuk puts it on a sticker attached to the inner sleeve. This fools me every time, as I look for a card and conclude that it is missing! I’ve also known Mute Records to use this sticker approach.