After two desensitizing years of “unprecedented times,” who knew it would be the Academy Awards, of all things, that would remind me what it felt like to be shocked?
Filled with friendship bracelets, chokers, stickers, pads, the Electric Slide and tween magazines, Turning Red is one of the most #relatable portrayals of adolescence that has ever awkwardly gyrated its way onto screens.
It is a tendency of manic cinephiles like myself to believe that we know exactly how a movie is going to be before even watching it. While others jump with excitement when they see their favorite actor dressed in a cape on a poster crowded with superheroes, most of us see another movie with an overused plot and a steadily stalling formula.
After Yang is a science-fiction movie that follows the efforts of a family to repair Yang, an unconscious android who it treats as a son. The movie was written, directed and edited by Kogonada and stars Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith and Justin H. Min. It is based on the short story “Saying Goodbye to Yang” by Alexander Weinstein.
Released on March 4, Hulu’s new thriller Fresh, directed by Mimi Cave, follows the story of a young woman disillusioned by the modern dating scene. The film comments on the serial consumption of bodies from a romantic, sexual and even literal standpoint.
Feel-good and retrospective, Léon’s third album Circles was released this past week on March 4. The Swedish singer’s junior album leaves us with a hint of nostalgia and a desire for transformative change. Léon, whose real name is Lotta Lindgren, utilized the sounds of contemporary synth for her album, in some cases going as far as sampling ‘80s synth for her dance tracks.
Movies can be great or they can be terrible, but in my experience, most are just adequate. These adequate ones might not affect us as deeply as the great one, or grant as much material for jokes as the terrible ones, but sometimes they can be precisely what we need: an escapist, fun ride. Keeping that in mind, I can’t think of a more appropriate adjective for Death on the Nile than just perfectly adequate.
On Wednesday, Feb. 16, the first installment of jeen-yuhs, Netflix’s three-part documentary about Kanye West, was released. Titled “act i: VISION,” the film curates an image of the American Dream seen through West’s relentless perseverance to make it in the music industry and his first taste of success.
2022 is Zoë Kravitz’s year for playing lead female roles in cinema. While most people are anticipating her appearance in The Batman this March, Kravitz has received a lot of praise for her performance in the new HBO Max thriller Kimi. The movie, which was released on Feb. 10, is set in a dystopian pandemic world where surveillance capitalism is at its peak.
The Barnstormers presented the 2022 intersession show, She Kills Monsters, a humorous yet touching exploration of death, family and societal expectations, over the weekend of Feb. 18 – Feb. 20.
After what has seemed like a never-ending dearth of live music and theater these past two years, live performances are finally returning. While livestreams and Zoom performances were certainly better than nothing, there really is nothing like sitting in an audience, watching a story come to life in the same room as you, feeling music reverberate throughout your body and just immersing yourself in a theatrical experience.
There’s something alluring about the snowy, small-town quality of New England. Often in media and art, we’ve painted it as a white, picturesque region attached to a childlike innocence — a sort of coming of age.
Witness Theater, the only student-written, directed and produced theater group on campus, held its Intersession Show last weekend. For this showcase, titled “Cabin Fever,” each story stayed on them by being set in a cabin, at least to some extent.
In an old church on St. Paul Street down the road from Homewood Campus, a group of people congregated to attend a local film screening series known as New Works on Feb. 11. Tote bags and quirky hats abounded; there seemed to be an unspoken dress code among the audience members.
The pandemic has undoubtedly transformed our views of love and relationships. Many in coupledom have remained together despite the untimely arrival of COVID-19 and its spread worldwide, while others have scattered to explore connection through social networks. Nonetheless, quarantine left us with an endless amount of time to reflect on our emotional, romantic and intimate needs.
It’s no surprise that the second season of Euphoria has nearly doubled its viewership from when it first premiered in June 2019. Presented with an alluring cast, the show has had a magnetizing effect on its target audience of young adults. The attractive cast, alongside some of the most iconic cosmetic choices, contributes to our fondness for the show. However, there’s one emblematic component that effectively captures its theme of transcendence: music.
Amid COVID-19 surges and Intersession classes, comedy remains an entertaining relief from life’s many stressors. To celebrate the end of Intersession, the students of Professor Adam Ruben’s comedy class each showcased their unique stand-up routines via Zoom on Jan. 21.
Hundreds of students, staff and community members gathered on campus last Friday to attend Lighting of the Quads, a long-upheld Hopkins tradition. The event was sponsored by the Parents Fund, Hopkins Dining and the Office of Leadership Engagement and Experiential Development, and over 4,000 guests registered to attend.
Last weekend, the Dunbar Baldwin Hughes Theater Company (DBH) performed School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. The play is inspired by the real-life story of Erica Nego, the Ghanaian representative for Miss Universe in 2011, and discourses of colorism and national representation that played out in Ghana based on her appearance.
On the cover of Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett’s third studio album are nine blue paint splotches. The splotches, all various shades of blue, might be interpreted as a gesture to the album’s portrayal of different flavors of sadness or perhaps the raw emotion contained within these 10 songs.
