Constant seeker of the sublime.
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In & of Itself 2021
Derek DelGaudio's 2018 magic show In & Of Itself was one of the most astonishing live performances I saw when I was working full-time at TheaterMania. Thus, I was happy to write about the new filmed version of the show for TheaterMania here, which begins streaming on Hulu January 22. It's not quite the same as seeing it live, but DelGaudio and director Frank Oz know this and lean into the differences in mostly intriguing ways.
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Andrei Rublev 1966
Seven episodes in the life of the titular medieval Russian icon painter, all of which add up to one of the most vivid and detailed cinematic depictions I've ever seen of the life of an artist. From naive optimism about human nature to an abject despair that leads him to swear off art-making for about 15 years, then finally a renewal of his passion with the help of a former monk and a young bellmaker (whose obsessive quest to finish…
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Trouble Every Day 2001
An alternately lyrical and brutal vision of desire as pure lust, with cannibalism envisioned as the end result of tossing off one's inner humanity in favor of animal instinct. But then, isn't that what sex essentially is, in some ways? Not that Claire Denis is puritanical about sex; Trouble Every Day is framed not merely as the typical slasher-movie "sex = death" equation, but more as a blood-and-thunder struggle between thought and feeling, scientific detachment and Romantic passion. Certainly, I…