Identity politics and classical music need to stay out of bed with each other.
The new music director of the San Francisco Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen, has created a collaborative council to do, uh, something.
Garrett Harris 3 p.m., Feb. 20
Movie Reviews
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Beanpole makes Cries and Whispers look like Blazing Saddles
Long on misery
If you thought Russian interference with the last election was reprehensible, wait until you see what Putin’s putas are doing to the movies. When was the last time a picture scraped the humor right out ...
The Traitor: Family unfriendly
What’s it going to take to get Tommaso Bruscetta to testify?
Family. It’s why Charlie lent a helping hand to his hair-triggered cousin Johnny Boy in Mean Streets. But go against Mr. French in The Departed and he’ll soon forget how once upon a time your ...
Created Equal: an unduly sympathetic portrait of Clarence Thomas
My sworn duty is to review the film, not the man
Spectacles, or no spectacles? That is the question that opens Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words. (Thomas settled upon two eyes instead of four.) The next voice you hear is that of writer ...
Quezon’s Game: A Filipino Schindler’s List?
“Could I have done more?”
For a month, the link languished in my mailbox — I put off playing Quezon’s Game until the latest possible moment. Frankly, the thought of a Filipino Schindler’s List held about as much interest as ...
Dolittle: Robert Downey, Jr. goes down
Does a dragon even qualify as an animal?
It is with deep and abiding regret that we report the passing of Robert Downey, Jr. — one of the last of his generation of trailblazers — over to the dark side. Admittedly, the transition ...
The best and worst films of 2019
Scott Marks’ picks
Of the nearly 250 films I viewed in 2019, here are the front-runners and slopsuckers. For more on this year in film, visit the Big Screen. Favorites: 10.) Last Letter A romantic drama void of ...
The reign of Dag Hammarskjöld
Documentarian Mads Brügger is in it to monitor “the evil that white men do”
Where were you when you first learned of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld? For some, it will be wherever they’re reading this review. But at the time, his mere existence was viewed by some as ...
Uncut Gems: Adam Sandler plays a bad man with a plan
His day consumed with robbing Peter to pawn to Paul
Who says television isn’t educational? Ever hear of African Jews? Diamond man (14 carat, not baseball) Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) hadn’t, not until the night a documentary introduced him to a tribe of landlocked nomads ...
Richard Jewell: American hero
Bronson was a popcorn salesman. Eastwood is an artist.
Were cash and prizes all that motivated Clint Eastwood, he’d have had himself de-aged, made another Dirty Harry sequel for Netflix, and been done with it. But there’ll be none of that small screen hoo-hah ...
63 Up: Grow old along with me
The world’s first and longest-running reality television show
The late ’50s-early ‘60s proved to be a wellspring of worldwide experimentation in documentary realism. Banking on unscripted reactions to outrageous situations as his key to success, American television personality Allen Funt tucked his Candid ...
The Wolf Hour: Prisoner of the past
Locked away on a mysterious journey with a brooding agoraphobic
A shade of wet newsprint grey smudges the facade of the still-standing South Bronx apartment. From the opposite side of the street, the only visible sign of life in the tenement is a faint glow ...
