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.”