Promising Young Woman (UK/USA: Emerald Fennell, 2020)

 Promising Young Woman (UK/USA: Emerald Fennell, 2020: 113 mins) 

Benson-Allott, Caetlin. "‘Promising Young Woman’ confuses viewers. That’s what makes it brilliant." The Washington Post (April 24, 2021)

Bogutskaya, Anna, et al. "Promising Young Podcast #1 - A Woman's Worst Nightmare." The Final Girls (April 16, 2021) ["A mini-pod dedicated to Emerald Fennell's blistering revenge fairytale, Promising Young Woman. The first episode is a (mostly) spoiler-free in-depth review."]

---. "Promising Young Podcast #2 - But I'm A Nice Guy ." The Final Girls (April 24, 2021) [" In this episode we discuss the nice guy trope and the way the film depicts it."]

---. "Promising Young Podcast #3 - Hell Hath No Fury Like a Critic Scorned." The Final Girls (May 3, 2021) [" In this episode we discuss the divisive reaction, accolades and critiques the film has received."]

---. "Promising Young Podcast #4 - Girls Just Want to Not Get Assaulted." The Final Girls (May 17, 2021) ["In this episode we discuss the real big bad of the film: rape culture."]

Cleaver, Sarah Kathryn and Mary Wild. "Promising Young Woman & Violation." Projections (May 12, 2021) ["Mary and Sarah review two recently released rape revenge films; Emerald Fennell's highly anticipated Promising Young Woman (2020) and Madeleine Sims-Fewer's Violation (2020) which several listeners recommended to us."]

Heeney, Alex, Lidsay Pugh and Orla Smith. "Explorations of Rape Culture in Promising Young Woman and The Assistant." The Seventh Row #73 (January 6, 2021) ["This week on the podcast we discuss two explorations of rape culture that approach the topic in very different way. We look at Emerald Fennell’s stylish revenge thriller Promising Young Woman and Kitty Green’s The Assistant, a portrait of a young woman working in a misogynistic office environment."]

McEntee, Joy. "Promising Young Woman and the cinematic renegotiation of gender in rape-revenge." Senses of Cinema #100 (January 2022)

Schnelbach, Leah. "Promising Young Woman Is the Gritty Superhero Movie I Always Wanted." Tor (March 22, 2022)

20th Century Women (USA: Mike Mills, 2016)

 

20th Century Women (USA: Mike Mills, 2016: 118 mins)

Adams, Amy, et al. "Watch Isabelle Huppert, Emma Stone, Amy Adams & More Discuss Acting in 50-Minute Roundtable."  Film Stage (January 30, 2017) [" Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Emma Stone (La La Land), Amy Adams (Arrival), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Annette Bening (20th Century Women), and Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures)."]

Barton-Fumo, Margaret, Molly Haskell and Violet Lucca. "Women in New Hollywood." Film Comment Podcast (February 7, 2017) ["Road-tripping crises of masculinity soundtracked by classic rock, Harvey Keitel making up for his sins in the streets—a laundry list of 1970s New Hollywood highlights can tend to lack a nuanced female presence. But the ’70s also gave us Wanda, Puzzle of a Downfall Child, Girlfriends, A Woman Under the Influence, and even Five Easy Pieces, all of which explore female identity in the era of second-wave feminism. This episode of the Film Comment podcast spirals outwards from From Reverence to Rape author Molly Haskell’s essay on Mike Mills’s 20th Century Women and accompanying interview with Annette Bening, in the January/February issue, taking a closer look at depictions of women in New Hollywood. Some of these were “neo-women’s films,” dealing with disillusioned housewives fleeing the domestic sphere; others took on female friendship without turning a blind eye to its messiness, a line that runs through Thelma and Louise, Frances Ha, and Broad City."]

Bloom, Julie. "A Boy Raised by a Few 20th Century Women." The New York Times (November 4, 2016)

Chang, Justin. "Annette Bening is the Pitch-Perfect Centerpiece of 20th Century Women." The Los Angeles Times (December 27, 2016)

Chocano, Carina. "'I Got Beat Up For Wearing This Shirt': Filmmaker Mike Mills shares seven objects that inspired 20th Century Women." The Cut (January 4, 2017)

Ehrlich, David. "20th Century Women Review: Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, and Elle Fanning Star In Mike Mills’ Best Film." IndieWire (October 7, 2016)

Formo, Brian. "20th Century Women: Mike Mills on the Story’s Response to Beginners, the Necessity of DIY Spaces." Collider (December 27, 2016)

Fujishima, Kenji. "20th Century Women." Paste (October 11, 2016)

Garcia, Mandie. "20th Century Women: 'Can't Things Just Be Pretty.'" Letterboxd (March 5, 2017)

Gilbert, Sophie. "20th Century Women is an Ode to Female Resilience." The Atlantic (January 13, 2017)

Hoffman, Jordan. "20th Century Women: Mike Mills New Film is Poignant and Delicious." The Guardian (October 7, 2016)

Loofbourow, Lili. "20th Century Women, and the Movie as Mixtape." The Week (December 26, 2016)

Mills, Mike. "On Filmmaking." The Close-Up (December 29, 2016)

O'Malley, Sheila. "20th Century Women." Roger Ebert (December 23, 2016)

Rooney, David. "20th Century Women: NYFF 2016." The Hollywood Reporter

Warne, Jude. "Authenticity in Many Forms: 20th Century Women." Film International (January 4, 2017)

Guide to Louisville Eats

August Moon (Chinese) *

Bar Vetti (Italian)

Con Huevos (Mexican Breakfast/Brunch) *

Dragon King's Daughter (Asian-Latin Fusion)

El Mundo (Mexican)

Everyday Kitchen (Regional Farm-to-table)

Grape Leaf (Mediterranean)

Grassa Gramma (Italian)

Havana Cuba (Cuban)

Jack Fry's (American Fine Dining)

Kashmir (Indian)

La Bodeguita De Mima (Cuban)

Le Moo (Upscale Steakhouse)

Louisville Cream (Premium small batch ice cream)

The Mayan Cafe (Mayan/Latin)

Merle's Whiskey Kitchen (Southern/American)

Mussel and Burger Bar (American)

Pizza Lupo (Pizza/Pasta)

River House (Seafood)

Roots (Vegetarian)

Seviche (Latin)

Simply Thai (Thai & Sushi)

Vietnam Kitchen (Vietnamese)

Nomadland (USA: Chloé Zhou, 2020)

 Nomadland (USA: Chloé Zhou, 2020: 107 mins)

Flight, Thomas. "Why Nomadland Won Best Director." (Posted on Youtube: April 27, 2021)

Freeman, Judith. "A Steady Diet of Low Expectations: A Conversation with Jessica Bruder, Author of Nomadland." Los Angeles Review of Books (April 23, 2021) ["Three years ago, when Jessica Bruder, the author of the Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, published her nonfiction account of the growing tribe of nomads roaming the American West, people who live in their vans or cars or RVs and work seasonal jobs to get by, she couldn’t have known that her book would end up as a movie, directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Frances McDormand, one that is not only sweeping up awards but has also been embraced by a great cross-section of viewers who are enthralled by its generous and moving portrait of humanity. Not that Bruder’s book didn’t get a lot of attention when it first came out: it ended up on half a dozen of the best book lists of 2017. At the time, Rebecca Solnit said of Nomadland, “People who thought the 2008 financial collapse was over a long time ago need to meet the people Jessica Bruder got to know in this scorching, beautifully written, vivid, disturbing (and occasionally wryly funny) book.”"]

Kim, Jean. "Caught Between Worlds Minari, Nomadland, and reflections on Asian-American identity." The American Scholar (August 12, 2021)

McDormand, Frances. "Nomadland." Kitchen Sisters #159 (February 9, 2021) ["Sometimes you read a book and it alters the course of your life. That’s what happened to Frances McDormand. Twice. First it was Olive Kitteridge, the HBO series she produced and starred in based on the book by Elizabeth Stroud. This time it's Nomadland. Academy Award winning Frances McDormand talks about the making of Nomadland which is coming to Hulu and select theaters and drive-ins starting February 19, 2021. Directed by Chloe Zhao, based on the nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving in the Twenty First Century by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland is the first film to ever premiere at the Venice, Toronto and Telluride Film Festivals all on the same night — where it took home all the top prizes. The story is a tale of our times centering on the very “now” many Americans find themselves in. People uprooted from their old jobs and old neighborhoods, places they've called home for decades, now living in DIY customized vans, migrating for work with the seasons. Christmas near the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Virginia, the sugar beet harvest in North Dakota, cleaning latrines and being campground hosts in National Parks. They were already on the road by the thousands before the pandemic uprooted even more. Frances McDormand plays Fern, a woman in her sixties who, after losing everything in the Great Recession, sets out on a journey through the Midwest living as a van-dwelling itinerant worker — a modern day nomad. Frances talks about her experiences making the film in the van-dwelling community with clips from director Chloe Zhao, author Jessica Bruder, van-dwelling guru Bob Wells, and clips from the film. “…Zhao’s fable speaks to us, in 2020, as John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath did to audiences eighty years ago.” Anthony Lane, The New Yorker"]

Webb, Will. "A Beginner’s Guide to Chloé Zhao." Little White Lies (Posted on Youtube: March 1, 2021)

Zhou, Chloé. "10 Screenwriting tips from Chloé Zhao on how she wrote Nomadland - 10 Lessons from the Screenplay." Outstanding Screenplays (April 25, 2021)

Michael Benton: Quicksilver Dreams & Hidden Realities

 Quicksilver Dreams & Hidden Realities

Standing on the shore of Quiddity I cast my consciousness to catch quicksilver dreams that will nurture me with glimpses of hidden realities.

Recognizing that there are other realities, other possibilities, other journeys, other methods, is the path of wisdom. Learning how to engage with them is the essence of Art in all its manifestations.

The possibility for any kind of peace is only ever realized when differences learn to co-exist. No need to assimilate, conquer, conform, or convert. Crusades are for the insecure; instead we need to create an environment in which people will be encouraged to continuously become what they would be.

Peace and love,

Michael D. Benton