The Arts Fuse Newsletter, August 7
Coming Attractions, August Short Fuses, and reviews of "Sing Sing," "The Global Suites," "The Queen of Versailles,” and "Happy Apocalypse"
From The Editor's Desk:
Advice like “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all” works in family gatherings, but not in professional journalism, particularly when it comes to covering arts and culture. Niceness is an inevitable recipe for blandness, the kind of informative but innocuous talk served up by GBH’s The Culture Show, where art and artists are swaddled in the commercial cotton of self-marketing. Excising criticism dooms coverage of the arts to terminal boredom. Alas, nobody notices when it fades away, including media watchdogs. They are up-in-arms if they hear resources are shrinking for news reporting, but they could care less when cultural reviews and commentaries vanish.
But attention should be paid to how puffery is elbowing movie criticism aside in the Boston Globe. The paper published two publicity pieces on Annie Baker’s film Janet Planet. But it did not review what is sure to be an Oscar-nominated effort. Could that be because, in a story on the New York Film Festival, Globe critic Odie Henderson wrote: “The worst movie I saw? Janet Planet. Despite a great lead performance by Zoe Ziegler as an 11-year-old confused by the adults around her, this cinematic debut by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (and Massachusetts native) Annie Baker was a long, long slog. It’s the kind of twee, new-agey indie movie critics tend to love (indeed, I am in the minority for hating it). But there are three things I’m dangerously allergic to: avocados, bees, and whimsy. That last allergy explains my negative reaction." The Globe didn’t have the editorial nerve to publish a review that countered two pieces of adoration. That might have promoted healthy debate. The truth is, happy talk is spreading like kudzu through the Globe’s dwarf-sized arts section: the paper’s coverage of documentaries and film festivals continues to dwindle, now amounting to no more than a couple of PR-friendly interviews.
Here is a partial list of recent films not reviewed by the Boston Globe, mostly of the non-mainstream, foreign, indie, or otherwise challenging variety, many directed by women and first-time directors: Green Border (Agnieszka Holland), Perfect Days (Wim Wenders), Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt), Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Pham Thien An), Widow Clicquot (Thomas Napper), MaXXXine (Ti West), The Dead Don't Hurt (Viggo Mortensen), Wildcat (Ethan Hawke interview), The Feeling That The Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Joanna Arnow), Housekeeping for Beginners (Goran Stolevski), Sometimes I Think About Dying (Rachel Lambert), Hundreds of Beavers (Mike Cheslik), R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu), Pacifiction (Albert Serra), and Tori and Lokita (Dardenne Brothers). The Globe bills itself as “New England's best source for news, sports, opinion and entertainment.” But, when it comes to film criticism, that is an empty promise: unless you want the latest scuttlebutt on Deadpool & Wolverine (one review and two publicity pieces), you are increasingly out of luck.
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
Note: From the Editor's Desk -- By Popular Demand.
Readers have asked that I post these weekly opinion pieces in the magazine — request granted.
Coming Attractions: Through August 20 — What Will Light Your Fire
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Our expert critics supply a guide to film, dance, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
Film Review: “Sing Sing” — The Truth of Performance, Behind Bars
Compellingly, Sing Sing reinforces the belief that art, no matter where it takes place, has the power to heal, educate, and build community.
Jazz Album Review: Ize Trio’s “The Global Suites” — Exuberantly and Deliberately International
By Michael Ullman
Made up of a Californian, a Palestinian, and a native of Cyprus, Ize Trio is about probing into the meaning of cultural differences as well as learning each other’s personal characteristics.
Book Review: “Happy Apocalypse” — A License to Pollute for Profit
By Preston Gralla
This book argues that environmental and industrial regulations, in place since the early 19th century, weren’t devised to reign in environmental destruction or workplace dangers.
August Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Theater Review: “The Queen of Versailles” — Because She Can
By Debra Cash
This, my friends, is what a capital D Diva looks like.
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Questions, comments, concerns?
Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
