Sequestered: American Crime Story ‘A Jury in Jail’ (Recap)
“Even if the focus on the jurors in ‘A Jury in Jail’ misfires, there’s more than enough territory left to explore as The People v. O.J. Simpson comes to a close.”
Max Bledstein
Max is a freelance writer, musician, and world-renowned curmudgeon. He writes on all things culture for a variety of fine North American publications. His highly anticipated debut novel will write itself one of these days, he assumes.
Realism and Subjectivity in Luis Buñuel’s ‘Los Olvidados’
“The realism of Los Olvidados is balanced by striking moments of subjectivity, and they’re crucial to the film’s particular representation of urban poverty.”
You Better Well Be the Ringmaster: American Crime Story ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (Recap)
“American Crime Story has done an impressive job of imbuing well-known facts with enough intrigue to make them play like gripping fiction, and ‘Conspiracy Theories’ is no exception.”
The Ugliness of Hatred: American Crime Story ‘Marcia, Marcia, Marcia’ (Recap)
“As tempting as it’d be to focus solely on the sexism in the trial, ‘Marcia, Marcia, Marcia’ ultimately works best as an episode due to its unwillingness to forget about race.”
Fair and Balanced: American Crime Story ‘The Race Card’ (Recap)
“‘The Race Card’ succeeds, perhaps better than any other episode in the strong season, by refusing to shy away from the hypocrisy prevalent on both sides of the O.J. case.”
The Plea’s the Thing: American Crime Story ‘100% Not Guilty’ (Recap)
“Racism is, of course, the defining issue of discrimination in the O.J. case, but the show never lets us forget the misogyny which also haunts its characters.”
We Are Kardashians: American Crime Story ‘The Dream Team’ (Recap)
“Throughout the first three episodes, the writers appear to be struggling with the question of how funny it is to riff on the Kardashians’ eventual reality fame, and the opening of “The Dream Team” finds American Crime Story deciding, dubiously, that it’s hilarious.”
Chase the Bronco: American Crime Story ‘From the Ashes of Tragedy’ and ‘The Run of His Life’ (Recap)
“Amidst the personal turmoil, the racial context of American Crime Story comes through even stronger in “The Run of His Life,” building on the insinuation of the Rodney King opening of the premiere.”
A Serious Investigation: The Coen Brothers’ ‘Barton Fink’ (1991)
Leading up to the release of Hail, Caesar!, Vague Visages explores the work of Joel and Ethan Coen.
The Dueling Cavalier: The Horror of Maternal Sexuality in ‘The Boy’ and ‘The Babadook’
“Both films deal with maternal sexuality: The Boy punishes it and rebukes mothers for caring about anything other than their children, and The Babadook acknowledges it as difficult to balance with childcare, but an inescapable part of motherhood nonetheless.”
The Dueling Cavalier: Truth and Cinéma Vérité in ‘Serial’ and ‘Making a Murderer’
“In forgoing vérité techniques, Ricciardi and Demos make their show more compelling as entertainment and less convincing as a thorough and honest investigation of a criminal case.”
The Dueling Cavalier: On (Re)-Reading Raymond Chandler for the First Time
“It was my first time reading Chandler, and yet it didn’t feel like it: I’d devoured so many of his influences that the writing seemed familiar, even if there was nothing quite like getting it from the original source.”
Max Bledstein’s Top 10 Films of 2015
Max Bledstein (@mbled210) is a Montreal-based writer, musician and world-renowned curmudgeon. He writes on all things culture for a variety of fine North American publications. His highly anticipated debut novel will write itself one of these days, he assumes.
Closer to Fine: ‘Transparent’ 2.6-2.10 (Recap)
“The show is moving without being sappy, fast-paced without feeling like it runs at anything other than the speed of life, and insightful without being driven by political messages.”
Eye on Iñárritu: The Misguided Maximalism of ‘Birdman’
“The problem of Birdman isn’t its maximalism, but the direction in which it’s aimed.”
An Intimate Family Portrait: ‘Transparent’ Episode Recaps 2.1-2.5
“Building on the impressive groundwork laid by Season One, the first half of the new season provides a closer look at the trials and tribulations of the Pfefferman clan and also zooms out, giving Transparent both an emotional claustrophobia and a wide canvas.”
A Humanistic Conclusion: Fargo ‘Palindrome’ (Recap)
“Even removed from the extraterrestrials and murderous Midwestern crime families, the world of Fargo is a violent and disturbing one, and Hank attempts to do his part by creating an Esperanto-like universal language.”
A Surreal Massacre: Fargo ‘The Castle’ (Recap)
“Like the film, as much as Fargo looks like it’s set in our universe, dashes of the absurd emphasize that the series works under its own logic.”
Do You Actualize?: Fargo ‘Loplop’ (Recap)
“Will Ed and Peggy get what they deserve? What do they deserve, exactly?”
A Tragic Turn: Fargo ‘Did You Do This? No, You Did It!’ (Recap)
“Throughout Season Two, Fargo has maintained an impeccable balance between comedy and tragedy.”