Smith’s 1998 film exudes the DIY charm of a low-budget, first-time feature while keenly depicting the complexities of both race- and gender-related inequalities.
Eileen G’Sell
Eileen G’Sell is a poet and critic with regular contributions to Hyperallergic, Reverse Shot, The Hopkins Review, and The Riverfront Times, among other publications. In 2019 she was nominated for the Rabkin Prize in arts journalism. She teaches at Washington University in St. Louis. More on her writing can be found here.
Posted inFilm
Achingly Intimate Doc About Ukrainian Orphans Insists on Hope
A House Made of Splinters bears witness not only to children’s ongoing trauma, but to their enduring ability to seek out and sustain their own support networks.
Posted inFilm
The Women Who Dominated This Year’s Sundance
At this year’s Sundance International Film Festival, more than half the feature-length movies were made by directors who identify as women.
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Why The Rules of the Game Is Still Required Viewing
Jean Renoir’s newly restored 1939 classic proves that lawless wealth — then as now — makes a marvelous farce of us all.
Posted inArt
Barbara Chase-Riboud Breathes Life Into Bronze
The aggressive kineticism of Futurism in Chase-Riboud’s sculpture is tempered by a keen appreciation of the erotic and lyrical.
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Set in a Lesbian City in the Year 2700, Flaming Ears Is Queer and Campy Fun
For those up for seriously weird, naughty “cyberdyke” mayhem, this movie will likely disturb and delight.
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All That Breathes Redefines the “Nature Doc”
Capturing an urban ecosystem of animals and humans, Shaunak Sen’s second feature sits somewhere between a nature doc, political drama, and touching family portrait.
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Claire Denis’s New Film Is Stronger on Steam Than Story
Just as sex with a revolutionary does not make one revolutionary, a penchant for setting films in developing countries does not make Denis a resident expert.
Posted inArt
Sandra Payne’s Bling Manifesto
The unabashedly feminine oeuvre of the collagist, sculptor, and conceptual artist is a smorgasbord of shimmer and sequin, a bling manifesto for the senses.
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A Feminist Film Classic That Has Its Cake and Eats It Too
With its recent 4k restoration, Daisies endures as a New Wave masterpiece and hyper-feminine smorgasbord of sensory pleasure.
Posted inArt
Documenta 15 and the Power of Productive Disruption
The most fruitfully jarring artistic disruptions at documenta 15 unsettle their own settings, stealthily intervening in traditional German institutions or landmarks.
Posted inArt
Nicole Miller Bears Witness Through Sound
The engulfing vocal testimony of Miller’s audio-visual art speaks to the threat of death faced by people of color in this country.