It’s not just politicians, of course, in our age of surveillance and social media. “Here is someone who – by concealing their identity – can reveal the complete and shocking truth. Many anonymous authors say this is precisely why they’ve chosen to remain hidden. The Secret Barrister, whose anonymous exposé of the [British] criminal justice system was published in 2018, explains from behind the barrier of email: ‘Anonymity means I can criticise institutions, organisations and players in the justice system without feeling that I have to modify my commentary with a nervous eye on my real-life practice.'” – The Guardian (UK)
Author: ArtsJournal2
How Did Margot Robbie Change The (Sexist Hollywood) Narrative About Her?
When journalists tried to pigeonhole her as a “new hot blonde” on the scene, well, Margot Robbie took control. “Robbie has refigured the terms of her agreement with the media. She’s done it gradually, without flash or announcement. … She’s simply refocused the public’s attention away from her body, and the image prefabricated for her in her breakout role in Wolf of Wall Street, and toward her talent and her work, which is shaped by the three goals she and her production team discuss at regular check-ins every month: quality, variety, longevity.” – Buzzfeed News
Parasite Has Won So Much More Than Best Picture
The thing about Parasite is that even before it became the first non-English language film to win a Best Picture statue, it “had already earned all the accomplishments that really matter; it didn’t need an Oscar.” Or maybe it did, or the Oscars needed Parasite. “In taking home the Best International Film trophy and also claiming the biggest honor of the night, Bong’s movie made the Oscars slightly less local.” – The Atlantic
Irish Writer Anne Enright And The Building Of Ambience In A Novel
Then there’s the part about taking a “curly-wurly” book and turning it into direct chronology. But she also says, “There are various threads that are out there that if I was a sociologist or an historian, I would be able to say, this is actually something. … But I’m just picking up the atmosphere, the ambience, and using it.” – The Irish Times
England’s Arts Council Forgot One Major Discussion In Its Ambitious Plan: Women
The women of English theatre are not happy. Sphinx Theatre artistic director Sue Parrish: “All along we’ve been given assurances that our concerns were being taken very seriously and being addressed, and that is clearly absolutely not the case. … I think they think that women’s progress will happen by osmosis, that it doesn’t need direct support, but all the research shows that is not the case.” – The Stage (UK)
Hildur Gudnadottir Becomes First Woman Composer To Win Best Score Oscar
Gudnadóttir won for Joker. She said, “To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up — we need to hear your voices.” – The Hollywood Reporter
The Academy Might Not Honor These Black Actresses, But Alfre Woodard Sure Will
Woodard invites Academy Award nominees from past and present – and, she says, “those who, in a perfect world, should have been.” She also says the Oscars don’t have an impact on good acting. “You know, it’s something entirely separate from what we do. … I liken it to the baby contests back in the Southwest when I was growing up. It was kind of a hilarious thing: ‘Look at this baby with the nice plump legs!’”- The New York Times
An Art Critic ‘Accidentally’ Destroys A Piece She Doesn’t Like At A Mexico City Art Fair
The critic, Avelina Lésper, shattered the installation by Mexican artist Gabriel Rico with an empty soda can. – The Guardian (UK) (AP)
This May Be The Best Time To Go To The Movies On The Big Screen
Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Theatre, which has regularly been selling out his Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood since last year, is but one of many arthouse cinemas being bought, refurbished, and revived by owners with singular visions. Netflix took out a longterm lease on New York’s Paris Theater and is in talks to buy LA’s 1922 Egyptian Theater. The artistic director for New York’s Metrograph, a new indie theater, says, “I’ve been going to the movies pretty much daily for about 25 years now, … and this is probably the best time I can remember.” – The New York Times
An Unsung Belgian Artistic Genius And His Atmospheric, Haunting Canvases
The Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert “is the great night bird of modern art. Restless, insomniac, and suffering from stomach ulcers from a very young age, he would rise in the small hours and walk the dead streets to the long promenade where Ostend meets the shore. His art is captivated by the unnerving solitude and silence. Image after image shows the empty seafront, the lone gaslights along the pier, the vertiginous steps dropping down to the wide blank sands, the black sea turning over and over.” Perfect for February, really. – The Observer (UK)