Recommendations – Matei Norbert Balan

It has been an incredibly hard month to stomach. WW3 seemed to be a thing for a while and now we’re digitally self-medicating on memes about a pandemic that just might be worse than it looks. But do not despair. Here´s some stuff you can watch, listen to or read in order to take your mind off these horrible subjects and, obviously, set on other (less) horrible subjects.

Copyright: WNYC Studios & Complexly / Photo: Screenshot from Soundcloud

The Anthropocene Reviewed

We refer to the Earth’s current geological time period as the Anthropocene, which means that what defines this era is the influence of humans, of us, on the environment. It is the different aspects of this influence that the writer of The Fault in Our Stars, John Green, set out to review in his monthly podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed. It is a ridiculously broad subject. Yet Green lives up to the task reviewing, in the form of poetic mini audio-essays, everything from sports rivalries to rock paper scissors, and from Velociraptors to the New Year’s Eve song “Auld Lang Syne”. If this podcast won’t help you catch your breath after a busy day, I don’t know what can.

Sex Education – Season 2

Talk about broad subjects. Sex, depending on who you ask, can be one of two things right now: the offspring of Satan or that completely normal thing we can and should discuss without feeling awkward. After a roaring success with the first season, Netflix offers us a second batch of Sex Education which is even better than the first one. The creators of the show explore the two dividing poles of the “problem” I’ve just mentioned, plus a dozen of different relevant shades in between. As one fan put it on Twitter “#SexEducation really tackled: sexual assault, asexuality, pansexuality, bisexuality, internalized homophobia, self-harm, anxiety, bullying, stay-at-home mom isolation, CONSENT, adoptive parent anxiety, slutshaming, fear of intimacy, etc. with humor & love.” So watch and learn. In case you haven’t already.

Copyright: Little, Brown and Company / Photo: Amazon

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

In his 2019 book, Ronan Farrow covers almost all the sexual abuse allegations that came into focus in the late 2010s peaking with the #MeToo movement. The book is one of the most relevant pieces written so far on the subject since Farrow was at the center of the Harvey Weinstein investigations, being one of the first journalists to publish his findings on the case. In the book Farrow describes in detail Weinstein’s efforts to silence his victims using private intelligence services. The insight offered into the world of the abusers within the American elite is all the more valuable as Farrow is Woody Allen’s son, and he has previously written about the tactics his own father used in order to silence his sister, Dylan Farrow, after she had accused Allen of abusing her in 1992.

Copyright: Cineriz & Riama Film / Photo: IMDb

Movie Night: La Dolce Vita

To be able to walk into a movie theater and watch a film that has been out of the mainstream distribution circuit for ages is a truly special thing. It is like witnessing a falling star. On the 11th of February, at the Oslo cinematheque, you can go and witness Federico Fellini’s falling star, La Dolce Vita. It is a truly wonderful movie which allows you to take a good long look (you can also think of it as a hard stare) into the mind of its protagonist, Marcello Rubini, played by Marcello Mastroianni, a journalist writing for a gossip magazine who searches for happiness and love in a world which seems to be banned from accessing such things. Don’t miss it. Not for anything in the world.

Check out the Facebook-event, or Cinemateket.

Copyright: The Hollywood Reporter / Photo: Screenshot from YouTube

Directors Roundtable: Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Lulu Wang, Fernando Meirelles

It is perhaps one of the best roundtables The Hollywood Reporter has managed to give so far. On this edition we have Todd Phillips (Joker), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), Greta Gerwig (Little Women), and Fernando Meirelles (The Two Popes) giving precious insights into how they approach filmmaking, and also what challenges they are facing in a shifting industry that’s more focused on money than auteurship.

Have you seen, heard or read any of these? What do you think? Tell us in the comments below!

NY UKE, NY BINGE - #5