Posts Tagged cinema

Quick hit: And the Oscar for best performance of gender goes to…

As you’re probably aware, the 84th annual Academy Awards are being handed out this weekend. Jill Dolan, a professor of English and Theater, culture blogger and all-around bad ass public intellectual, has a fascinating post about the performance of gender in this year’s crop of Oscar-nominated movies. From Albert Nobbs to Margaret Thatcher, this year’s nominated movies present us with a range of highly skilled performances not just of characters, but of gender.

Close’s performance of Albert’s masculinity in Nobbs is different from Janet McTeer’s as Hubert Page, the housepainter whom Albert learns is also a woman living as a man. Page’s masculinity is terse, marked by his solitary work. Page takes up space differently than Albert, moving ...

As you’re probably aware, the 84th annual Academy Awards are being handed out this weekend. Jill Dolan, a professor of English and Theater, culture blogger and all-around bad ass public intellectual, has a fascinating post about ...

Pariah: Best movie of last year*

Eesha, Miriam, Zerlina, Lori, Deanna Zandt and myself all went to see Pariah together last week and I think I speak for all of us when I say, if there is one movie you see this year–make it this one.

Pariah is set in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and tells the story of Alike (pronounced A-lee-kay and brilliantly portrayed by newcomer Adepero Oduye) and her trials and tribulations figuring out who she is, managing her middle class family’s expectations, her crushes, her heartbreaks and her best friend Laura–a very lovable AG. She is also a poet, a talented student and loves indie rock. Alike is probably one of the closest depictions of someone I might know in real life, I have ...

Eesha, Miriam, Zerlina, Lori, Deanna Zandt and myself all went to see Pariah together last week and I think I speak for all of us when I say, if there is one movie you see this year–make ...