Professional Documents
Culture Documents
8, 2018
JANUARY 8, 2018
COVER
Jorge Colombo “Ferried Across”
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2 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018
THE MAIL
BEYOND SNOOPING prefer to live” (“Two Schools of Thought,”
December 11th). Most students enrolled
Of the many troubling aspects of Sheelah in New York City public schools already
Kolhatkar’s recent newyorker.com arti- live in communities where the hand
cle about our lawsuit, with the co-plain- of the state is harsh. The pedagogical
tiff Chaz Reetz-Laiolo, against Emma goals that Mead describes—training
Cline for hacking our online accounts, students to overcome their impulses and
we were particularly disappointed by the to conform to a strict code of behavior—
dismissal of violations of our privacy as may seem Draconian. But, in neighbor-
Cline “snooping on . . . two of the for- hoods where even benign behavior can
mer couple’s female friends” (“How the lead to dangerous entanglement with the
Lawyer David Boies Turned a Young criminal-justice system, teaching students
Novelist’s Sexual Past Against Her,” the value of following even the most ar-
December 1st). The screenshot evidence, bitrary rules may be a vital lesson.
collected by the spyware that Cline used Julian Cole Phillips
to break into our online accounts— Brooklyn, N.Y.
examples of which are excerpted in our
complaint—shows her opening and As an educational consultant, I’m famil-
reading our personal e-mails over a pe- iar with the kinds of schools that Suc-
riod of years. It is hypocritical to dismiss cess Academy represents. Schools that
this as mere “snooping” in an article pur- are focussed on “achievement” (which is
portedly about threats to Cline’s privacy. measured mostly by test scores) and on
Further, in not addressing more fully the “discipline” (which usually restricts choice
ways in which Cline and her lawyers have and movement) tend to serve poor chil-
placed gender issues at the center of their dren of color in large cities. In wealthier
publicity response to our case, Kolhatkar neighborhoods, progressive education in
marginalized our role in the lawsuit and the tradition of John Dewey and Deb-
the undisputed invasion of our privacy. orah Meier is the norm. Many of us in
Cline’s attorneys at the time threatened education have long seen the movement
to publicize allegations about our private toward stricter schools in poor commu-
sexual lives, claiming that Cline’s suspi- nities for what it is: an approach steeped
cions about our sexual conduct excused in racism. All children thrive in stimu-
her hacking into our accounts and warn- lating environments with warm, mature
ing us of “reputational injury” if we did adults. Education is about giving a child
not back down. We understand the ur- more respect and care, not less.
gency of reporting on efforts to intimi- Pax Linson
date or silence women. However, if Kol- Takoma Park, Md.
hatkar and The New Yorker want to report 1
on the ethics of litigation tactics, rather EDITORS’ NOTE: Andrew Marantz’s
than on the facts of our case, we ask that “Main Streamers” (December 11th) in-
they consider the ethics of the approach cluded a quotation from Tim Pool that
taken by Cline and her lawyers as well. described a disagreement about the Vice
Kari Bernard, Shushan, N.Y. News coverage of protests in Ferguson,
Kristin Kiesel, Oakland, Calif. Missouri. That quotation contained sev-
eral errors, including a mischaracteri-
1 zation of the various journalists’ roles
HOW DOES A CHILD SUCCEED? at the event.
All pop stars are constructs, but that’s especially true of Shasta Geaux Pop, a glamazon hip-hop icon who
exists, like Tinkerbell, only to the extent that you believe in her and clap your hands. Invented by the
performer Ayesha Jordan and the director Charlotte Brathwaite, who met while working in the Neth-
erlands in 2001, she’s part of this year’s “Under the Radar” festival ( Jan. 4-15), the Public Theatre’s show-
case of the avant-garde, where she’ll be hosting get-down parties on select nights in the Public’s lobby.
MOVIES
1
the authentic grandeur of inner nobility with the
crushing formalities of the royal court. In his vi-
sion, the passion that binds Franz Ferdinand and
Sophie together gives rise to breathlessly splendid
his supporting cast. Kristin Scott Thomas, as Clem- gestures—whether of defiance or of self-sacrifice—
NOW PLAYING entine Churchill, is witty as well as stalwart; Nev- that soar above the petty protocol of imperial spec-
ille Chamberlain, as played by Ronald Pickup, has tacle. The director’s lavish eye for the pomp of
All the Money in the World never looked graver or more aghast. Best of all is power is untinged with nostalgia; his vision of the
The director Ridley Scott reduces the story of the Stephen Dillane, as Lord Halifax, whom Churchill era begins with a phony press release and ends in
1973 kidnapping, in Rome, of the sixteen-year-old called the Holy Fox: cadaverous, principled, desper- disaster.—R.B. (Metrograph, Jan. 5-9 .)
Paul Getty, a grandson of the tycoon J. Paul Getty, ate for peace, and wrong.—A.L. (In limited release.)
then the world’s richest person, to a mere yarn. The Greatest Showman
Charlie Plummer brings pathos to the role of the Downsizing The life and work of P. T. Barnum get Broadway raz-
impetuous and feisty teen-ager who manages to Alexander Payne’s new film stars Matt Damon as zle-dazzle and sentiment in this occasionally rous-
cope with the bumbling criminals who abduct him Paul Safranek, a regular guy from Omaha, who reck- ing, visually smooth, emotionally diluted musical,
but is overwhelmed by the professional gangsters to ons that small is beautiful. He and his wife, Au- set in nineteenth-century New York. P.T. (Hugh
whom he’s ultimately conveyed. As Paul’s mother, drey (Kristen Wiig), decide to take advantage of a Jackman), a tailor’s son, and Charity Hallett (Mi-
Gail Harris, Michelle Williams is focussed and en- recent technological development that can shrink chelle Williams), a socialite’s daughter, are unlikely
ergetic, and, as J. Paul Getty, Christopher Plummer them to a height of around six inches. Imagine the childhood friends who marry. They have two daugh-
(no relation to Charlie), replacing Kevin Spacey by economic benefits! Despite a kink in the plan, Paul ters and are poor and happy, but P.T. has big dreams,
means of recent reshoots, turns a villainous char- duly finds himself in Leisureland, a community of and he borrows and schemes to realize them. His
acter oddly and pleasantly avuncular. Nonetheless, mini folk housed in a biodome. However, regard- circus displays human curiosities who are callously
the cast seems over all unguided, left to their own less of the blandishments of his grinning neigh- called freaks by his critics (including a snooty the-
devices, as if each were acting alone in a booth, bor (Christoph Waltz), who views the tiny life as atre reviewer, played by Paul Sparks) but whose hu-
and the drama is similarly detached and hermetic. a chance to party, Paul remains dissatisfied until manity and dignity his show brings to light. The
Though there’s a hint of Italian politics, a touch of he meets a Vietnamese refugee (Hong Chau)—one impresario’s confrontations with public hostility, fi-
family crisis, and a snippet of the elder Getty’s em- of the miniature poor who dwell at the edge of the nancial difficulties, and romantic misunderstandings
pire-building stuck onto the plot, there’s no sym- dome. The plot stretches further still, to a fjord in form the core of the plot, but another crucial strand
bolic resonance or psychological insight to add to Norway, and to a more utopian brand of existence, involves his high-society business partner, the play-
the curious historical byway or the painful private founded on a fear of planetary disaster. No one wright Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron), who defies his
ordeal.—Richard Brody (In wide release.) could accuse Payne of not thinking big; the movie own family and the conventions of the time by pur-
is his largest and weirdest to date, a sci-fi eco-satire suing a romantic relationship with one of the com-
Call Me by Your Name that can scarcely bind its mass of themes together. pany’s trapeze artists, Anne Wheeler (Zendaya),
The new film by Luca Guadagnino is set in the sum- Damon is ever dependable, but, as his character’s a black woman. (What Anne’s brother, played by
mer of 1983. Professor Perlman (Michael Stuhl- adventures pile up, the film starts to neglect its ini- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, thinks of the relationship
barg) lives with his wife (Amira Casar) and their tial conceit. Does size not matter, after all?—A.L. is never specified.) The director, Michael Gracey,
seventeen-year-old son, Elio (Timothée Chalamet), (1/1/18) (In wide release.) delivers quick doses of excitement in splashy scenes
in a secluded Italian house—a private Eden, where but has little feel for the choreographic action, of-
the fruit ripens within reach, ready for the plucking. Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool fers scant historical substance, and displays slender
The family is Jewish, cultivated, and polyglot; the An unlikely story, but a true one, based on Peter dramatic insight.—R.B. (In wide release.)
whole movie spills over with languages, books, and Turner’s memoir. In 1979, as a young actor in Lon-
strains of music. (The ideal viewer, probably, would don, Peter (Jamie Bell) finds himself in the same Happy End
be André Gide.) Into this enchanted place comes an boarding house as Gloria Grahame (Annette Ben- The joys of family life are brought home to us, once
American called Oliver (Armie Hammer), who is to ing), not knowing who she is, or used to be. Years again, by Michael Haneke, in his first film since
be Perlman’s research assistant; you half expect the ago, she won an Oscar, for “The Bad and the Beau- “Amour” (2012). The setting is northern France, in an
intruder to be a serpent, but instead he deepens the tiful” (1952), but now she is appearing onstage— area that has become home to many refugees. (Now
enchantment. Though the story, adapted by James not even in the West End—in a Tennessee Wil- and then, though not often enough, they enter the
Ivory from André Aciman’s novel, tells primarily liams play. She and Peter dance together, go out for action from the wings.) In a comfortable house, at-
of the love between Elio and Oliver, Guadagnino a drink, and start an affair, doing their enraptured tended by servants, live the Laurents: Georges (Jean-
somehow conjures a free-floating rapture, of which best to ignore the difference in their ages; she takes Louis Trintignant), the elderly and embittered head
all the characters partake. Even a statue, dredged him to California and New York. Paul McGuigan’s of the clan; his daughter Anne (Isabelle Huppert),
from a lake, seems to share in the bliss. What could film tacks back and forth between this sprightly pe- who runs their construction company; and his son
have been too rich or too glutinous is leavened by riod and the more wretched events of 1981, when Thomas (Mathieu Kassovitz), a surgeon. Also pres-
wit and, later on, by a wintry sorrow. How the film Grahame, now extremely sick, seeks refuge at her ent are Thomas’s wife, Anaïs (Laura Verlinden), and
could have thrived with actors other than Chalamet lover’s home, in Liverpool, to be cared for by Peter their baby, plus—a new arrival—the teen-age Eve
and Hammer is hard to imagine.—Anthony Lane and his parents (Julie Walters and Kenneth Cran- (Fantine Harduin), his daughter from an earlier mar-
(Reviewed in our issue of 12/4/17.) (In limited release.) ham). The movie grows dispiriting as she declines, riage. Every relationship we come across feels frayed;
but the central pairing lends it a touching inten- the closest rapport is between Eve and her grandfa-
Darkest Hour sity; Bell, jaunty yet vulnerable, does some of his ther, who compare notes on the harm that they have
How badly we need another Winston Churchill film smartest work, and Bening, wise enough not to at- inflicted. Many of Haneke’s trademarks are in evi-
is open to question. Nonetheless, Joe Wright’s con- tempt an impersonation, conveys both the feline dence, not least the ominous use of private recording;
tribution to the genre is welcome, largely because fragility and, despite everything, the exuberance of in “Hidden” (2005), that meant videotapes, whereas
of Gary Oldman in the leading role. He seems an an extraordinary woman.—A.L. (In limited release.) here it is cell-phone footage. But the result lacks the
unlikely choice, yet the lightness of his performance tenacious bite of his finest work, and one can think of
marks it out from other attempts; this Churchill, From Mayerling to Sarajevo more difficult targets for his unerring aim than the
oddly quick on his feet, with a hasty huff and puff In 1940, as the Second World War began, the di- moral indifference of the rich. In French and En-
in his voice instead of a low, slow growl, suggests rector Max Ophüls, a German Jew who had fled to glish.—A.L. (1/1/18) (In limited release.)
a man in a hurry to fight. None too soon, for we France, filmed, with a romantic champagne froth,
are in the late spring of 1940, with the German war this bitterly ironic drama of how the First World Hard, Fast and Beautiful
machine in full cry and Britain adrift until Chur- War got started—specifically, how the progressive Ida Lupino directed this tough and worldly 1951
chill, to the alarm of many contemporaries, takes Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg drama, about a mother whose ambitions for her
charge. Wright has a curious weakness for the over- throne, ended up in Sarajevo on that fateful day in daughter bring the family to grief. Sally Forrest
head shot, be it of the House of Commons or of a 1914. In Ophüls’s telling, the course of history was plays Florence Farley, a teen-age tennis star from
landscape cratered by bombs, and the musical score changed by Franz Ferdinand’s liberal plan to turn a struggling middle-class family in Santa Monica,
sounds too plush by half. But Oldman is braced by the Holy Roman Empire into the United States of whose mother, Millie (Claire Trevor), envisions
the sport as Florence’s way to the wealth, the plea- against a diverse set of enemies, whites and Native Paul Walter Hauser, as Jeff’s delusional partner in
sure, and the excitement that she herself was denied. Americans alike. Cooper dramatizes the relentless crime.—R.B. (In limited release.)
Then, as Florence begins her rise to fame, Millie— kill-or-be-killed ethos of Western life and the severe
whose social striving comes through in sublimely mental and moral toll that it exacts from all who Margaret
observed details—grasps at her own chance for face it. Yet the bare script seems written by tele- The writer and director Kenneth Lonergan’s 2011
wealth and pleasure, too. But Florence’s romance gram, reducing the characters to pieces on a histor- feature (shot in 2005) is a wildly ambitious strain of
with Gordon McKay (Robert Clarke), a serious and ical chessboard, and the portentous pace and lugu- the Upper West Side bourgeois blues; it embraces
independent-minded young man, throws Millie’s brious tone of Cooper’s direction take the place of big, rich themes and sumptuous tones and moods
mercenary plans into disarray. Lupino sees Mil- substance.—R.B. (In wide release.) with a remarkable scope and nuance. It stars Anna
lie’s relentless drive as resistance to a world of ob- Paquin as Lisa Cohen, a headstrong private-school
stacles to a woman’s autonomy, and sees the family I, Tonya teen-ager whose innocent distraction of a Broad-
itself as one of the most formidable of those obsta- This comedic drama, directed by Craig Gillespie, way bus driver leads to a fatal accident. Lisa tries
cles. The drama spotlights the price that love, in a offers a detailed, empathetic view of Tonya Harding, to expiate her guilt by seeking out the victim’s best
time of unquestioned inequities, exacts. Florence the real-life Olympic figure skater who, in 1994, was friend (Jeannie Berlin, in an electrifyingly exact
seems truly free only when she’s competing on the involved in a plot to injure her main rival, Nancy yet freewheeling performance). As Lisa’s little
tennis court, and Lupino films her with thrilling, Kerrigan. (The script, by Steven Rogers, is partly world comes up against the realm of public power
kinetic angles that suggest the real meaning of her based on his interview with Harding.) In the film- (via brilliant character turns from Stephen Adly
amateur status—doing what she loves, for its own makers’ version of the story, Tonya, as a child, is Guirgis, as a police detective, and Michael Ealy
sake.—R.B. (Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jan. 4.) bullied and beaten by her mother (Allison Janney), and Jonathan Hadary, as lawyers), the movie rises
who’s depicted as a brutally judgmental waitress with to a grand symbolic pitch; it’s a city symphony,
Hostiles big dreams for her daughter—and the adult Tonya romantic yet scathing, lyrical with street life and
In this drama, set in 1892, the director and writer (played by Margot Robbie), a bold and gifted ath- vaulting skylines, reckless with first adventure, and
Scott Cooper turns a classic Western setup into a lete, escapes her mother’s clutches by marrying awed by the intellectual and poetic abstractions
Western-by-numbers. Christian Bale plays the griz- Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), who also beats her. on which the great machine runs. Lonergan’s lon-
zled Captain Joseph Blocker, the unwilling leader of Though Tonya rises brilliantly through the sport’s ger, three-hour-plus cut expands some plot points
a military convoy accompanying the aged and ail- competitive ranks, the skating establishment holds and, above all, emphasizes his nearly metaphysical
ing Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and her gaudy taste, rough manners, and rude family vision of New York. The teeming cast includes J.
his family from a jail in a New Mexico fort to their against her. That endemic class discrimination and Smith-Cameron, Matt Damon, Allison Janney, Jean
Montana homeland. Blocker, a veteran of Wounded the ensuing bad publicity are the backdrop for Jeff’s Reno, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Kieran
Knee, hates Native Americans but is ordered to pro- scheme to harm Kerrigan—and for the beleaguered Culkin, and Rosemarie DeWitt—and Paquin im-
tect Yellow Hawk, who fought there, too, against and abused Tonya’s inability to oppose it. The heart pressively stands her ground with them all.—R.B.
him. Early in the journey, the convoy picks up Ro- of the movie is its recognition of Tonya’s dependence (Quad Cinema, Jan. 6, and streaming.)
salie Quaid (Rosamund Pike), a homesteader who on people and institutions that have betrayed her.
survived a Comanche raid in which her husband But Gillespie’s empathy is mixed with condescen- Molly’s Game
and children were killed. En route, the men of the sion; much of the movie’s bluff comedy mocks the The first film directed by Aaron Sorkin, who also
group, including Yellow Hawk, fight for their lives tone and the actions of Tonya and her milieu. With wrote the script, is dominated by the imaginary
ALAMY
Kenneth Lonergan’s melodrama “Margaret,” filmed in 2005 but not released until 2011, stars Anna Paquin as an Upper West Side high-school student whose
life is changed by an accident, and by her sense of guilt. Filled with political debate and an air of mortality, it’s one of the great post-9/11 movies.
NIGHT LIFE
1
and the direction never brings it to life. Based on
the memoir of its real-life protagonist, the drama
presents Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a for-
mer Olympic skier and an academic star who puts
off law school, seeks adventure, and ends up run- and propulsive Batucada samba with nervy, tribal
ning high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and ROCK AND POP post-punk. The composite style is wholly unique,
New York—an enterprise that gets her arrested and and well worth checking out at the new venue Else-
charged with federal crimes. Molly’s voice-over, Musicians and night-club proprietors lead where, which has been bringing an expert curato-
which runs throughout the film, explains the logic complicated lives; it’s advisable to check rial eye to the edge of Bushwick. (599 Johnson Ave.,
behind her practical decisions while also detailing in advance to confirm engagements. Brooklyn. elsewherebrooklyn.com. Jan. 6.)
the skills and the wiles of poker players, yet Sor-
kin narrows her analytical intelligence to superfi- Ja Rule RJD2
cial flash. The same thing happens to the relation- No criminal charges have so far been filed against In 2003, the rapper Jay-Z released the vocals to “The
ships on which the movie runs—Molly’s connection Ja Rule, born Jeffery Atkins, who is a defendant in Black Album” without the beats: an a-cappella album
to the attorney Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), who some of the civil cases brought against the ill-fated meant for musicians to remix in their own image.
warily decides to represent her, and to her father, Fyre Festival. Rule was a partner in the luxury-get- This produced, most famously, “The Grey Album,”
Larry (Kevin Costner), who pops in like a pater ex away festival, which was bested by bad weather and a mashup of Jay and the Beatles. Elsewhere, fifteen
machina to resolve complexities superficially. With poor planning last spring; the concerts never hap- compositions by the underground producer RJD2
Michael Cera, as an intrepid movie star, and Chris pened, and attendees were left stranded on an is- were used for “The Silver Album,” a delightful relic
O’Dowd, as an Irish gambler with a thing for “Ulys- land in the Bahamas, some having spent thousands of the illegal-file-sharing era and the early days of
ses.”—R.B. (In wide release.) of dollars on tickets and travel. These days, live per- the concept mixtape. Ramble Jon Krohn came of
formances likely keep Rule’s mind off of his legal age in Columbus, Ohio, and by the early aughts he
The Post woes. The rapper was a gruff mainstay on pop radio was releasing cerebral instrumentals that raked odd
The new film from Steven Spielberg, like his “Lin- at the turn of the century, during his three-year run soul and funk records for nerdy samples. Fringe rap
coln” (2012), is a solidly rousing act of historical of smash singles, including “Livin’ It Up,” “Put It acts like Cannibal Ox and Aesop Rock tapped him
re-creation. Meryl Streep plays Katharine Gra- on Me,” and “Between Me and You.” He revisits for remixes, as did admen at Saturn, Adidas, and
ham, the owner of the Washington Post, with Tom these heavy hits and more this week, on the same Wells Fargo—his instrumental “A Beautiful Mine”
1
Hanks as its swaggering editor, Ben Bradlee. Most day as a scheduled hearing date, Variety reports. served as the theme for “Mad Men.” (Brooklyn Bowl,
of the story is set in the early nineteen-seventies, (B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W. 42nd St. 212- 61 Wythe Ave., Williamsburg. 718-963-3369. Jan. 3.)
at a vertiginous time for the nation and its capital. 997-4144. Jan. 4.)
The so-called Pentagon Papers, obtained by Dan-
iel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys), unveil a reluctance, The Killers JAZZ AND STANDARDS
on the part of multiple administrations, to inform The Killers rocketed to fame with their 2004
the public about the true state of the Vietnam War. début, “Hot Fuss,” glistening with synthesizers and Ali Jackson
When the Times is prevented, by legal injunction, irony, and their knack for mixing classic rock with Drummers, Miles Davis once said, can make good
from publishing the Papers, the Post gets its chance eighties-inspired dance music became an instant composers—this engagement by the longtime
to step in and continue the job; what will Graham trend. After two more catchy LPs, “Sam’s Town” drummer for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orches-
do, given that further revelations will rock the very and “Day & Age,” and relentless touring, the band tra might make a reliable testing ground for the
establishment of which she is such a doyenne? The members decided, in 2010, to take a break to pursue theory. Jackson, who also finds room for jazz clas-
movie is a little too confident of its own righteous solo projects. But the allure of the crowds proved sics in his repertoire, will front a quartet that in-
stand (listen to the strenuous John Williams score), too powerful, and the Las Vegas foursome returned cludes the guitarist Peter Bernstein and the bass-
but the battle between hesitation and decisiveness in 2012 with “Battle Born,” a radio-ready album of ist Omer Avital. (Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Broadway
is beautifully managed by Streep. With Bob Oden- pristine arena rock. This September brought “Won- at 60th St. 212-258-9595. Jan. 5-7.)
kirk, Tracy Letts, Sarah Paulson, Bradley Whitford, derful Wonderful,” the band’s first record to reach
and a lethally smiling Bruce Greenwood, as Rob- the No. 1 spot on the Billboard chart; they set out Harold Mabern
ert McNamara. Delicious period costumes, start- on a major tour this January, with an early stop in A Memphis-born transplant who has retained the
ing with Bradlee’s striped shirts, by Ann Roth.— Brooklyn. (Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Ave., Brook- bluesy filigree of his home town in his fluent bop-and-
A.L. (12/18 & 25/17) (In wide release.) lyn. barclayscenter.com. Jan. 9.) beyond improvisations, the respected veteran Mabern
will be inviting a slew of guests to the stage during
The Shape of Water Mall Grab this engagement, including the saxophonists Eric
When it comes to many-layered tales, Guillermo At twenty-three, Jordan Alexander, also known as Alexander, Vincent Herring, and another Memphis
del Toro is no novice. But even the fantastic beasts Mall Grab, is keyed into the lo-fi sounds and the hero, George Coleman, as well as the trombonists
of “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), stalking against the out-of-nowhere loops that make young crowds shed Steve Turre and Steve Davis. (Smoke, 2751 Broadway,
backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, could not pre- their cool and dance. “It’s such an issue these days,” between 105th and 106th Sts. 212-864-6662. Jan. 1-7.)
pare us for the wild jostling of genres in his latest he told the d.j. outlet Mixmag. “A lot of people
film, which is set at the peak of the Cold War. Sally aren’t willing to just enjoy themselves and focus Andy Statman
Hawkins plays Elisa, who is lovelorn, unabashed, on the moment—instead, they’re Snapchatting You could call Statman a klezmer musician if classifi-
and mute. She lives alone, next door to a commer- the whole night.” Alexander came to d.j.’ing at the cations were absolutely necessary, but this Orthodox
cial artist named Giles (Richard Jenkins), and works age of twelve, by messing around with his father’s Jewish clarinettist and mandolin virtuoso folds so
as a cleaner, alongside her friend Zelda (Octavia Talking Heads records; by 2008, he was an avid many odd strains into his sound (for instance, blue-
Spencer), at a scientific facility. There she finds an follower of the influential dance label Ed Banger. grass rubbing up against free jazz) that strict cate-
unlikely beau: a scaly creature (Doug Jones) who These days, Mall Grab sets are coveted; the New- gories and definitions make little sense. He’s a phe-
has been brought from the Amazon to Baltimore, castle native makes his Good Room début for what nomenon that only New York could have produced.
where, it is hoped, he may be of use against the Rus- might be the first great rave of the year. The Queens (Barbès, 376 9th St., Brooklyn. 347-422-0248. Jan. 3.)
sians. Elisa teaches him sign language and hatches rapper and d.j. Nasty Nigel plays in the Bad Room.
plans to spring him from captivity. Given the pres- (98 Meserole Ave., Brooklyn. goodroombk.com. Jan. 5.) Ken Vandermark
ence of musical numbers, dance sequences, and for- Becoming a MacArthur Fellow, in 1999, didn’t no-
eign spies, plus a surprising frankness about sex- Ninos Du Brasil ticeably change the game plan for this far-seeing
ual bliss, you would expect the movie to fall apart, The Italian duo known as Ninos Du Brasil is a rem- saxophonist and clarinet player; he still makes Chi-
yet it all hangs together, held tight by the urgency edy for faceless techno lacking in style. Nico Vas- cago his home and remains as committed to the jazz
of the characters’ feelings and the easy force of cellari and Nicolò Fortuni perform lush outsider avant-garde as he has been since his emergence, in
the magic. With Michael Stuhlbarg, as a sympa- techno with amused disregard for music-market the early nineties. Vandermark’s New York residency
thetic soul in a white coat, and Michael Shannon, pressures. Their new album, “Vida Eterna,” re- finds collaborative space for such questing players
as the candy-crunching villain.—A.L. (12/11/17) leased, in September, by the experimental label as Kris Davis, Ikue Mori, and Paal Nilssen-Love. (The
(In wide release.) Hospital Productions, marries industrial techno Stone, Avenue C at 2nd St. thestonenyc.com. Jan. 2-7.)
ART
1
macho posturing, Schneemann swung nude,
from a harness, marking the walls with a crayon.
But the artist’s career adds up to much more
than an extended riposte to the insults of the
Museum of Modern Art male-dominated avant-garde, which this sur-
MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES “Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait” vey makes clear. Moving from her dynamic
Louise Bourgeois is best known for spiders. Big abstract paintings of the fifties to her Fluxus-
Metropolitan Museum ones, like the twenty-two-foot-tall steel marvel inspired events and Super 8 films of the sixties
“David Hockney” from 1997, now installed in the museum’s atrium. and on to recent installations, schematic draw-
This ravishing survey of Hockney’s six-decade It hovers protectively over a wire-mesh enclo- ings, and multichannel videos, the show reveals
career is unlikely to make a bigger splash in sure housing a mysterious assemblage of bone, Schneemann’s quest for a feminist visual vocab-
New York than it did last year in London, where gold, wood, silver, rubber, and glass; it’s draped ulary to be the unifying force of these disparate
almost half a million people lined up to see it with a large fragment of vintage tapestry. The endeavors. In her ongoing series of often hi-
at the Tate Britain. (The Met and the Tate co- last material is the most telling: Bourgeois was larious lecture-performances, she indexes an-
organized the show with the Centre Pompidou, born into a family of tapestry restorers in Paris cient symbols of female sexuality; in grids of
in Paris.) Still, it arrives as a revelation, a retort in 1911. The Brobdingnagian spider is an ambas- color photographs, from the eighties, she doc-
to all the avant-gardist eye-rollers who dismiss sador for the revelatory exhibition on the third uments her unorthodox relationship with her
the eighty-year-old British artist as, at best, a floor, focussed on the artist’s prints and illus- cat; “More Wrong Things,” from 2000, is a fore-
guilty pleasure. The retrospective unfolds over trated books. Bourgeois’s prints, though un- boding tangle of cables and monitors displaying
eight rooms—each so cohesive it’s a show of its derrecognized, are the alpha and omega of her disaster footage and her own archival perfor-
own—as a bracing reminder that beauty and œuvre, her first mature medium—and her last. mance clips. With this decades-overdue retro-
ideas aren’t mutually exclusive and that great art She made about twelve hundred in her life- spective, Schneemann is shown to be a crucial
is always, in some sense, conceptual. From the time, most in the nineties and the two-thou- forebear to younger performance-based artists,
outset, we encounter an artist whose profound sands. The show is structured thematically and and a groundbreaking Conceptualist attuned to
intelligence about picture-making is matched loosely chronologically, beginning with deli- the tactile properties of every medium she takes
by his passion for color—and for passion itself. cate, Surrealist-inflected, black-and-white en- on. Through March 11.
While he was still a student, at the Royal Col- gravings and etchings from the mid-forties,
lege of Art, in the early nineteen-sixties, Hock- which conflate bodies and buildings, and cul- Guggenheim Museum
ney began making explicitly homoerotic work, at minating in an almost overpoweringly visceral “Art and China Since 1989: Theatre of the
a time when acts of queer love were against the room of all but abstract etchings, hand-colored World”
law. In these paintings, we see the artist move in pinks and reds, made in 2007, when the art- In 1989, military tanks rolled into Beijing’s Tian-
beyond the gestural abstraction that was de ri- ist was ninety-six and facing down death. (She anmen Square and massacred hundreds, if not
gueur in the era, and explore the figuration he died in 2010, at the age of ninety-eight.) The thousands, of demonstrators. That violent year
would continue to hone to jewel-toned perfec- series is titled “À l’Infini”—“Into Infinity”— is the starting point for this staggering, illu-
tion. A post-graduation trip to L.A., in 1963, and it rivals any fearless late work by Guston minating, roughly two-decade survey of some
was also a homecoming, as Hockney found his or Goya. Through Jan. 28. hundred and fifty works by seventy Chinese
métier in the city’s sun-dappled swimming pools artists and collectives. It’s a bitter irony, then,
(which feature in his most famous works) and MOMA PS1 that protests by animal-rights activists, which
the beefcakes who lounged in and around them. “Carolee Schneemann: Kinetic Painting” erupted shortly before the show opened, in-
The show slackens a bit when it lingers on land- In one of the New York artist’s iconic per- cluded threats of violence against the museum,
scapes from the nineties, but a cycle of views of formances, “Interior Scroll,” from the nine- leading it to remove two videos and radically
a cerulean-blue terrace in the last room is a joy- teen-seventies, she unfurled a text from her alter a sculpture that was meant to house live
soaked tour de force. Through Feb. 25. vagina indicting the sexism of her experimen- reptiles and insects enacting a brutal eat-or-be-
eaten scenario. This piece, Huang Yong Ping’s
“Theatre of the World” (1993), gives the show its
title and appears at the start, a tortoise-shaped
enclosure under a cagelike bridge, both now
starkly empty. What follows is a thoughtfully
organized, if inevitably overwhelming, array of
paintings, drawings, videos, performance docu-
mentation, sculptures, and installations, as well
as a series of coves in which visitors can hang
out and watch absorbing footage about Chi-
na’s artist-run spaces. Familiar names in the
West—works by the ubiquitous Ai Weiwei ap-
pear throughout—are outnumbered by the lesser
known, such as the Paris-based artist Shen Yuan,
one of the show’s scarce female artists, whose
tender watercolors share the stories of women
COURTESY THE ARTIST AND FREEMAN GALLERY, NY
which was smuggling several hundred migrants ered meditation on the African-American ex- titled “Fecundity,” several curving black lines
1
into the United States, ran aground near Rock- perience implies that the “fiction” may be that evoke the expansive feeling of gracefully open-
away Beach; many of its passengers spent years of social progress. Through Jan. 7. ing arms. Through Jan. 13. (Kasmin, 293 Tenth
in prison. Working in the folk-art tradition of Ave., at 27th St. 212-563-4474.)
zhezhi, the detainees created these often play-
ful, sometimes wistful works to reflect their his- GALLERIES—UPTOWN “The Estate of General Idea”
tories and aspirations. A group of bright sail- General Idea was founded in Toronto, in 1969,
boats—their hulls composed of meticulously “All Good Art Is Political: Käthe Kollwitz by the artists AA Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge
folded yellow paper from legal pads supplied by and Sue Coe” Zontal. The group is best known for its work ad-
their pro-bono attorneys—bear such glad tid- This crackling show, titled after a quote from dressing the AIDS crisis (Partz and Zontal both
ings as “Love” and “Beauty.” Several bald ea- Toni Morrison, displays prints and drawings died from the disease in 1994), which made novel
gles, arranged before a banner that reads “Free- by Kollwitz, a German social realist who died in use of pop-culture forms, such as replacing the
dom,” convey the hopeful adoption of American 1945, and Coe, an English antiwar, anti-capitalist, “LOVE” in Robert Indiana’s famous red, green,
symbols. Wall texts and videos make deft use and pro-animal-rights illustrator who lives in and blue sculpture with the word “AIDS.” This
of these sculptures as springboards for a larger upstate New York. From opposite ends of the show introduces viewers to the group’s less well-
discussion of immigration policy. Though Pres- twentieth century, they prove the capacity of art, known paintings: hard-edged, fluorescent, geo-
ident Clinton released the final Golden Venture when both impassioned and adept, to dramatize metric abstractions that evoke the pixelated sil-
migrants in 1997, the artists featured here chose worldly injustice with fury and flair. Kollwitz houettes of eight-bit video games. They also
to remain anonymous, because, after decades, is the more appealing, with a style of masterly allude to the mystical and political significance
their legal status in the U.S. remains uncertain. touch and tender pathos, notably in delicately of stepped architecture in ancient societies, from
Through March 25. shaded images of mothers and children indom- Mesopotamia to the Mayans, where such struc-
itably bonded in poverty or facing unspecified tures were thought to lead to the gods. Exhibited
Queens Museum threats. Coe makes a burnt offering of her own alongside the paintings are plans for the “The
“Patty Chang: The Wandering Lake” fine artistic gifts by cultivating an ugliness to 1984 Miss General Idea Pavilion,” an absurdist
Since the nineteen-nineties, the American art- befit the targets of her rage, including military beauty-pageant venue that, per the artists’ lore,
ist has been investigating gendered family roles and sexual violence and, especially, the horrors had burned to the ground, leaving only the foot-
and stereotypes of Asian femininity in dead- of industrial slaughterhouses, which, starting print of a ziggurat. Through Jan. 13. (Mitchell-
pan and visually lush performance-based work. in the late nineteen-eighties, she spent several Innes & Nash, 534 W. 26th St. 212-744-7400.)
In this sprawling, essayistic exhibition, which years researching in person. Both artists have as-
encompasses video, installation, photography, signed themselves an evergreen social mission: “Insiders: Henry Ray Clark and Frank Jones”
and sculpture, Chang documents her travels to to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the com- Forget the obsolete term “outsider artist.” This
China, Fogo Island, and the fast-shrinking Aral fortable. Through Feb. 10. (Galerie St. Etienne, 24 show makes a compelling case for two self-taught
Sea. Bleak landscapes illustrate catastrophic W. 57th St. 212-245-6734.) artists as “insiders,” based on their representa-
geopolitical shifts and provide poetic backdrops tions of fantastical interior realms—and because
for momentous personal events. In large projec- “London Painters” they were both incarcerated at Huntsville State
tions, we watch Chang wash an abandoned fish- The American-born painter R. B. Kitaj coined Prison, in Texas. Clark, who was imprisoned in
ing boat and the corpse of a whale; in a video ti- the term “School of London,” in the nine- 1977, used markers on manila envelopes to de-
tled “Que Sera, Sera,” which is more intimate in teen-seventies, to describe a socially and pro- pict a pantheon of characters, announced in the
both size and tone, she sings to her infant son in fessionally linked group of artists, most of them works’ titles—“I Am Vaavka,” “I Am Time”—
a hospital room where her father lies dying. Ac- English, who were devoted to the then unfash- with stylized faces at the center of each compo-
companying a three-part lecture-performance, ionable practice of figurative painting. Works by sition, surrounded by ornate, geometric borders.
which incorporates footage from a trip along seven of those artists, made between 1944 and Jones, who served three prison terms between
the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, 2014, are on view here, including a wiry ink-on- 1941 and 1964, favored skeletal structures against
in China, are dozens of handblown glass objects paper self-portrait by Lucian Freud and Fran- blank backgrounds. “Melentile House—High
that the artist calls “urinary devices,” absurdist cis Bacon’s still shocking canvas “Study after Class People” is characteristic of his style, in
riffs on the plastic bottles she had to use as por- Velázquez,” from 1950, in which the ghostly out- which each line is heavily embellished in red and
table urinals during her journey. The piece epit- line of Pope Innocent X is seen screaming, awash blue pencil. The festive appearance of Jones’s
omizes Chang’s gift for breathing humor into in blood-red stripes. Staking out turf that edges works belie their significance to the artist, who
her rebellious takes on profound, even heart- even deeper into quasi-abstraction are Leon Kos- believed that the act of drawing could trap the
breaking, subjects. Through Feb. 18. soff ’s brownish cityscape “Stormy Summer Day, spirits that haunted him. Through Jan. 13. (Ricco/
Dalston Lane,” whose thickly painted surface Maresca, 529 W. 20th St. 212-627-4819.)
Studio Museum in Harlem is a maze of wrinkled ridges, and Frank Auer-
“Fictions” bach’s “Head of J.Y.M. II,” an intimate, largely “The Shadow Archive: An Investigation Into
This lively exhibition, the museum’s fifth in a se- black-and-white portrait that induces a rolling Vernacular Portrait Photography”
ries of surveys of new tendencies in art, presents vertigo reminiscent of the best work of Chaim The first in a multiyear series of shows about
nineteen emerging artists of African descent. As Soutine. Striking a more joyful note is David photographs made for commercial or practi-
the title suggests, many works imagine fantas- Hockney’s bright back-yard scene “Montcalm cal purposes, curated by Brian Wallis, consid-
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tic or speculative worlds. The painter Christina Pool, Los Angeles.” Through Jan. 18. (Ordovas, 9 ers the portrait. Most of the images date to the
Quarles depicts a surreal scene in which slum- E. 77th St. 212-756-8870.) nineteenth century; all of them fit into typolo-
bering figures occupy parallel planes of exis- gies. Fifteen tintypes of “workers with tools of
tence, delineated by contrasting patterns. Mi- their trade” include a barber, a piano tuner, and
chael Demps’s nearby sculpture—a tilted obelisk GALLERIES—CHELSEA a sword swallower; several mug shots attributed
supported by scaffolding—is inspired by medi- to the California sheriff Thomas Cunningham
eval alchemy; its rough, gray surface of candle Lee Krasner are so picturesque that they could be mistaken
wax and electromagnetic crystals will morph in Working in her late husband Jackson Pollock’s for stills from a Hollywood period piece. Pass-
response to sound waves and humidity during East Hampton studio, often at night, in the port photographers across Africa take full-length
the show. A few installation works stand out years following his accidental death, in 1956, portraits and cut out the heads, leaving behind
as anchors, including Allison Janae Hamilton’s Krasner produced twenty-four paintings in a accidental studies of fashion. A mesmerizing
immersive “Foresta,” which conjures a mythical series she titled “Umber,” five of which are on series of such discards, shown here, were taken
wood with birch logs, horsehair, and a video of view in this small but powerful show. They’re against a red background in Gulu, Uganda, and
raindrops projected onto a wall of tambourines. rough and explosive abstractions in which thick collected by the Italian-born journalist Mar-
In Paul Stephen Benjamin’s “God Bless Amer- strokes of black, brown, and off-white jostle tina Bacigalupo. A found group of forty-eight
ica,” dozens of stacked monitors flash, playing against the edges of the canvas and one another. color snapshots of migrant farmworkers, each
video clips including Aretha Franklin singing While the works clearly suggest an artist try- holding up a paper number—their source is un-
at Jimmy Carter’s Inauguration and Lil Wayne’s ing to externalize grief, there’s a joyful aspect known—takes the idea of identifying documents
“God Bless Amerika” video, from 2015, a des- to them, too. In the center of a brown storm of in a more chilling direction. Through March 31.
olate riff on the original song. Benjamin’s lay- brushstrokes spattered with creamy blotches, (Walther Collection, 526 W. 26th St. 212-352-0683.)
DANCE 212-875-5656.)
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St. 212-242-0800. Jan. 9. Through Jan. 14.) from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd,” esis”). Jan. 8 at 7:30. (80 N. 6th St., Brooklyn. na-
the affecting centerpiece of the 2016 Danspace tionalsawdust.org.)
American Realness Project series remembering artists killed by
This festival of contemporary dance and per AIDS. (Various locations. americanrealness.com.
formance is as packed as ever, with about a Jan. 9. Through Jan. 16.) RECITALS
1
as the mezzosoprano Annie Rosen and the bas
soonist Brad Balliett, offers a sheaf of mélodies by
Berlioz (“Nuits d’Été”), Chabrier, Fauré (includ
(played by Paul Groves, Thomas Allen, and Tay ing “Mandoline” and “Après un Rêve”), and Hahn.
OPERA lor Stayton); Ward Stare. Jan. 5 at 8. • The Met has Jan. 5 at 7:30. (Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierre-
larded its schedule with sweet and delightful hol pont St., Brooklyn Heights. brownpapertickets.com.)
Metropolitan Opera iday fare. In addition to “The Merry Widow” and
There’s a reason that the two most famous one the familyfriendly “Magic Flute,” which played Bargemusic: “Here and Now”
act operas, Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana” and last month, the company is also performing its Winter Festival
Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” are so often performed Englishlanguage version of Humperdinck’s fairy The barge’s semiannual newmusic series flour
together: they both examine the heartbreak of hav tale opera “Hansel and Gretel,” in Richard Jones’s ishes again, at a time when other classical concerts
ing a fickle lover, the former from a woman’s point wonderfully twisted production, suitable for all are thin on the ground. This New Year’s program,
of view and the latter from a man’s. The riveting ages. Lisette Oropesa and Tara Erraught are the full of premières, is appealingly diverse, putting
French tenor Roberto Alagna does double duty as show’s misbehaving siblings, and the powerhouse the spotlight on such admired veteran compos
the cad and the cuckold in the two works, and he’s mezzosoprano Dolora Zajick makes a cameo ap ers as Elizabeth Brown (the world première of
joined onstage by Ekaterina Semenchuk, Aleksan pearance as their mother, Gertrude; Donald Run “Hope in One Glance”), Scott Wheeler (“The
dra Kurzak, and George Gagnidze in David Mc nicles. (This is the final performance.) Jan. 6 at 1. Singing Turk,” a sonata for violin and piano),
Vicar’s worthy, if uneven, staging; Nicola Luisotti (Metropolitan Opera House. 212-362-6000.) and the trombone virtuoso David Taylor; the
conducts. Jan. 8 at 7:30. • Eight years after open other performers include the clarinettist Alex
ing the Met’s 200910 season to a lusty round of Prototype Festival: “Acquanetta” ander Fiterstein, the pianist Beth Levin, and the
boos, Luc Bondy’s rather seamy staging of “Tosca” In this 2005 opera by the composer Michael shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura. Jan. 5-6
is being retired. Equally unsurprising is the person Gordon, a founder of the Bang on a Can collec at 8 and Jan. 7 at 4. (Fulton Ferry Landing, Brook-
who has been entrusted with replacing it. David tive, and the librettist Deborah Artman, details lyn. bargemusic.org.)
McVicar has logged more new productions than any from the hazy true story of a nineteenforties
other director of the Peter Gelb era, and he gets an Bmovie actress spark a haunting rumination on Isabel Leonard
ace cast—Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo, and identity and stereotypes; it’s the kickoff event Putting aside song cycles and narrative pieces,
Željko Lučić—to introduce his version of Pucci of this year’s essential festival of new and recent there aren’t many composers whose work can sus
ni’s hairraising melodrama to New York opera “indie” operas. Daniel Fish directs the world tain an audience’s interest for a fulllength song
goers; Emmanuel Villaume conducts (replac première of a new chamberopera version of recital. For American listeners, the exception is
ing James Levine). Jan. 3 and Jan. 9 at 7:30 and the work, with Daniela Candillari conducting probably Leonard Bernstein, and Leonard, a cap
Jan. 6 at 8. • Richard Eyre’s production of Mo Bang on a Can Opera and the Choir of Trin tivating mezzosoprano esteemed at the Met, has
zart’s whirling comedy “Le Nozze di Figaro,” set ity Wall Street. Jan. 9 at 7:30. Through Jan. 14. assembled a bold admixture of his witty, emotion
1
in Spain in the nineteenthirties, provides a dark, (Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, 29 Jay St., Brooklyn. ally direct, and genredefying work for her per
shimmering backdrop for the grownup shenani prototypefestival.org.) formances at the Park Avenue Armory’s Board
gans going down at the Almaviva estate. An im of Officers Room. Jan. 5 at 8 and Jan. 7 at 3. (Park
pressive new cast has arrived to sing the second Ave. at 66th St. armoryonpark.org.)
half of the run, including Ailyn Pérez, Nadine Si ORCHESTRAS AND CHORUSES
erra, Isabel Leonard, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Ildar Music Mondays: yMusic and Gabriel Kahane
Abdrazakov; the estimable Harry Bicket is on the New York Philharmonic Kahane, the genrecrossing singersongwriter,
podium. Jan. 4 at 7:30. • The velvetvoiced Ameri The pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane, hav joins the expert yet freespirited young ensem
can mezzosoprano Susan Graham is accustomed to ing concluded a distinguished twentyseason ble in a broad range of recent works by such com
high tragedy on the opera stage, but she has taken tenure as the music director of the Los Angeles posers as the exciting postmodernist Andrew
full advantage of the two operettas in the Met’s Chamber Orchestra in 2017, comes to the Phil Norman (“Music in Circles”) and the mercurial
rotation, Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus” and Lehár’s harmonic with a can’tmiss program of canoni postminimalist Timo Andres (“Safe Travels”),
“The Merry Widow” (currently playing), to cut cal works. He serves as the soloist in Mozart’s with Kahane performing selections from his own
loose a bit. As Lehár’s wealthy and worldlywise Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major (K. 453), cycles “Craigslistlieder” and “For the Union Dead”
Hanna Glawari, she’ll hold court among a gaggle paces the ardent cellist Alisa Weilerstein through and an arrangement of Paul Simon’s “Train in the
of preening Parisian suitors and fend off designs Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme,” Distance.” Jan. 8 at 7:30. (Advent Lutheran Church,
on her fortune from a motley cast of characters and concludes with Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 Broadway at 93rd St. No tickets required.)
Cardinal
Anna Chlumsky and Stephen Park star in Greg
Pierce’s play, directed by Kate Whoriskey, in
which a woman trying to reinvigorate her small
Rust Belt town clashes with an entrepreneur.
(Second Stage, 305 W. 43rd St. 212-246-4422. Pre-
views begin Jan. 9.)
Disco Pigs
John Haidar directs a twentieth-anniversary
revival of Enda Walsh’s play, featuring Evanna
Lynch and Colin Campbell as dissolute teen-age
friends who call each other Pig and Runt. (Irish
Repertory, 132 W. 22nd St. 212-727-2737. Previews
begin Jan. 5. Opens Jan. 9.)
“Mugen Noh Othello” plays at Japan Society, Jan. 11-14, as part of the “Noh-Now” series.
John Lithgow: Stories by Heart
The actor performs a one-man storytelling eve-
Othello, Masked leading them to imagine that they are ning, re-creating tales by Ring Lardner and P. G.
Wodehouse. Daniel Sullivan directs the Round-
gods. Artists as great as Orson Welles
A renowned Japanese director translates about production. (American Airlines Theatre, 227
and Daniel Craig have immersed W. 42nd St. 212-719-1300. In previews.)
the Shakespeare tragedy into Noh.
themselves in the play, and Miyagi
Satoshi Miyagi is a fifty-eight-year- will stage it in a Noh context, with his Mankind
Robert O’Hara (“Bootycandy”) wrote and di-
old director from Chiyoda, Tokyo. In actors in masks, set to live music. In rects this dystopian comedy, about a male cou-
this part of the city, there are a num- a recent essay, the painter David Salle ple (Anson Mount and Bobby Moreno) dealing
ber of religious edifices, including the discussed how transfixed he was by with pregnancy in a world where women have
gone extinct. (Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd
famous Yasukuni Shrine and the main Noh dramas on his first trip to St. 212-279-4200. In previews. Opens Jan. 8.)
cathedral of the Japanese Orthodox Japan—they are tragedies with music.
Church. Growing up, Miyagi had a Mugen Noh stories often take place “Under the Radar” Festival
The Public Theatre’s festival of new work re-
great interest in rakugo, or “fallen after the protagonists have died: lives turns for its fourteenth year, with participants
words,” a form of theatre where a sin- lived in the past. In Shakespeare, there including Cuba’s Teatro el Público, the singer
gle actor sits more or less in stillness are many deaths and ghosts. In a way, Nona Hendryx, the drag queen Dickie Beau,
the tech-theatre artist Andrew Schneider, and
and tells a comic story, sometimes one could think of “Othello” as an The New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik. For the full pro-
with sentimental overtones. Looking excavation of sorts; the dead are al- gram, visit publictheater.org. (Various locations.
at photographs of rakugo players, one ways with us, as is the treachery of 212-967-7555. Opens Jan. 4.)
can imagine the performer as a wor- language. One of the more unforget- Until the Flood
shipper, or as a priest. Miyagi studied table moments in Sam Gold’s recent Dael Orlandersmith wrote and performs this
aesthetics at the University of Tokyo; production of the play came when monologue, directed by Neel Keller, examin-
ing the shooting of Michael Brown by Darren
1
he also started a theatre company and Craig, playing Iago, was found out, Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri. (Rattlestick, 224
performed as an actor. After college, and the actor curled up in a kind of Waverly Pl. 212-627-2556. Previews begin Jan. 6.)
he worked with classical texts like fetal position and said, “I shall speak
“Electra,” and he and his actors—with no more”: words had made him and NOW PLAYING
another company he started—toured undone him.
not only in Japan but also in India and It will be interesting to see what The Children
In Lucy Kirkwood’s gentle, frightening, and sur-
Pakistan. What audiences seemed to Miyagi does with the politics in prising play, Rose, a retired nuclear physicist, ar-
respond to—and continue to respond “Othello,” and with place. Shakespeare rives at the crooked cottage where her former col-
to in Miyagi’s work—was his interest set his play in Venice, and there is mist leagues Robin (Ron Cook) and Hazel (Deborah
Findlay) now live. A Fukushima-like disaster
in reshaping or reimagining Western there, just as there is mist and mystery has overwhelmed the plant where they all once
ILLUSTRATION BY RUNE FISKER
texts via Japanese theatrical traditions. in Japan. As the world gets smaller worked, irradiating parts of the English country-
Miyagi’s new work, “Mugen Noh and more dense and fascinating, cul- side. Rose (the astonishing Francesca Annis) has
a scheme to put it to rights, recruiting older work-
Othello” (at Japan Society, Jan. 11-14), turally speaking, we look to artists like ers to undertake the dangerous cleanup and spare
is based on Shakespeare’s at times Miyagi to chart wonderful new the- the younger ones. Directed by James Macdonald,
overwhelming tragedy about the cor- atrical territory, making it strange and first for London’s Royal Court and now for Man-
hattan Theatre Club, “The Children” is a drama
rosive—indeed, maddening—effects familiar, all at once. of moral responsibility. Maybe this makes the
that power can have on human beings, —Hilton Als play sound deadly. In fact, it’s an ethical thriller,
a passionate and beautifully acted inquiry into turns out to be an aristocrat, but can Ti Moune’s ers, portrayed by actresses who brilliantly capture
the messes we make—of our lives, of a reactor’s love conquer all? Michael Arden’s warm, hand- teen-age mannerisms, quickly acquire endearing
core, of the downstairs toilet—and into our will- crafted revival doesn’t overplay the Disney cli- personalities and individual voices. DeLappe ap-
ingness to tidy them again. (Samuel J. Friedman, chés—the musical, based on Rosa Guy’s novel plies a delicate touch to such tricky subjects as
261 W. 47th St. 212-239-6200.) “My Love, My Love,” repurposes the “Little body anxiety, the complicated nature of female
Mermaid” myth—but instead frames the action friendships, the formation of identity, and even
Farinelli and the King as a tale told to a little girl (Emerson Davis) in a mortality. Life is never far from the pitch for
1
While Claire van Kampen’s play is lovely to look hurricane-blasted Caribbean slum. The show may these Wolves. (Mitzi E. Newhouse, 150 W. 65th
at and sometimes to listen to, it’s not really a play. share its ingénue’s lovelorn heart, but its biggest St. 212-239-6200. Through Jan. 7.)
Beautifully directed by John Dove, the story con- moment belongs to Alex Newell, who scales vocal
cerns Spain’s Philippe V (Mark Rylance, doing heights as the draggy Goddess of the Earth. (Cir-
his apparently audience-captivating whimsy), a cle in the Square, 235 W. 50th St. 212-239-6200.) ALSO NOTABLE
“mad” king whose lunacy is calmed, somehow,
by a castrato singing star named Farinelli (acted The Wolves The Band’s Visit Ethel Barrymore. • Bright Col-
by Sam Crane and sung by Iestyn Davies), who Since its New York première, with the tiny ors and Bold Patterns SoHo Playhouse. Through
is much admired by the King’s consort, Isabella Playwrights Realm company last fall, Sarah Jan. 7. • Bulldozer: The Ballad of Robert Moses
Farnese (Melody Grove). Of course, there are the DeLappe’s play about teen girls on an indoor Theatre at St. Clement’s. Through Jan. 6. • Cruel
usual court intrigues that show, directly and indi- soccer team has been on quite a voyage: an en- Intentions Le Poisson Rouge. • The Dead, 1904
rectly, that Phillipe is a kind of political genius, core run, acknowledgment as a Pulitzer Prize fi- American Irish Historical Society. Through
but he is made for finer stuff than ruling. Mov- nalist, and now a transfer to Lincoln Center The- Jan. 7. • Hindle Wakes Clurman. • Latin History
ing to the country, in Act II, with Farinelli, the atre. You might say that “The Wolves” has gone for Morons Studio 54. • The Parisian Woman
King, and Isabella—they make a fine little band— to Nationals. DeLappe and the director, Lila Hudson. • Pride and Prejudice Cherry Lane.
the play employs a number of genres at once, Neugebauer, have an uncanny grasp of the girls’ Through Jan. 6. • Shadowlands Acorn. Through
but there is no amount of style that can cover up ambitions, fears, and desires (often so intricately Jan. 7. • SpongeBob SquarePants Palace. • Spring-
the script’s lack of substance. It’s a show without melded as to be indistinguishable). Despite being steen on Broadway Walter Kerr. • Twelfth Night
purpose. (Belasco, 111 W. 44th St. 212-239-6200.) identified only by their jersey numbers, the play- Classic Stage Company. Through Jan. 6.
Junk
Ayad Akhtar (“Disgraced”) is a playwright who
seems the most energized when he has big is-
sues to dive into, and what could be juicier than
Wall Street greed and maleficence? The year is
1985, and Judy Chen (a superb Teresa Avia Lim)
is a business journalist covering new financial
ABOVE & BEYOND
strategies that are redefining the idea of capital
in America. Robert Merkin (Steven Pasquale)
embodies those changes: sleek as a shark, he’s
the head of an L.A.-based bank that’s been very
aggressive about hostile takeovers. Merkin lives
in a world where guilt is a burden and loyalty is
an inconvenience: money is, as Chen says, “the
thing.” Directed by Doug Hughes, this slick pro-
duction of a thin play features twenty-three ac-
tors, so there’s not a lot of room for character
development. But, in a way, that doesn’t matter:
sometimes it’s fun just to sit there and get off on
the testosterone and the swiftness of the action, Three Kings Day Parade newspaper the San Francisco Oracle (1967-
like most of the play’s guys do. (Vivian Beaumont, For many New Yorkers, the holiday season doesn’t 69) and collected the best of its run in a new
150 W. 65th St. 212-239-6200. Through Jan. 7.) end with the calendar year. El Día de los Reyes, which book, titled “Where to Score.” The excerpts
celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the Three Wise bring into focus a youth culture that began in
Meteor Shower Men, gives children one last chance for gifts, on the the late nineteen-sixties, when American ad-
At eighty intermissionless minutes, this intelli- twelfth day of Christmas. For the fortieth annual olescents of all classes abandoned their fam-
gent and surprising work about marital life and Three Kings Day Parade, in East Harlem, families ilies in search of a new life style, which they
modern-day repression, by the writer and per- are invited to join a morning procession through the found in Haight-Ashbury. Between kitschy
former Steve Martin, moves at a fast clip, pro- neighborhood, starting on the corner of 106th Street classified ads for session musicians and head
viding many laughs and “Aha!” moments along at Lexington Avenue and ending at 115th Street at shops are clippings from distraught parents
the way. The plot centers on two couples—or are Park Avenue. Attractions include camels, puppets, trying to reach stray children long off the
they?—who get together to drink a little wine musical performances from local bands, and tradi- grid. Stein, a curator, and Fulford, a visual
and watch a celestial event in Ojai, California. tional Puerto Rican food. El Museo del Barrio, which artist, launch the collaborative book before
Trouble ensues as social decorum gives way to hosts the parade, offers free admission throughout a screening of the 1971 film “Taking Off,” an
the id. The director, Jerry Zaks (“Hello, Dolly!”), the day. (1230 Fifth Ave. elmuseo.org. Jan. 5 at 11 A.M.) early Hollywood attempt at capturing, and
cares about his actors, and he appears to have skewering, the hippie moment. (66 Avenue A,
done a great job making them all feel cared for, Grand Central Holiday Train Show mastbooks.com. Jan. 4.)
from the comedians Amy Schumer and Keegan- At this annual train show, now in its sixteenth year,
Michael Key—in their Broadway débuts—to the the M.T.A.’s history is brought to life with scale 92nd Street Y
stage pros Jeremy Shamos and Laura Benanti, models of classic red subway cars, double-letter On the Netflix series “Master of None,” Lena
who’s never been sexier or funnier. (Booth, 222 trains, and even commuter-rail cars that race past Waithe plays Denise, a sidekick of sorts to
ILLUSTRATION BY PABLO AMARGO
W. 45th St. 212-239-6200.) iconic stops and dart through labyrinthine tunnels. Aziz Anzari’s Dev. Waithe also wrote the
1
The show is open to the public seven days a week show’s Emmy-winning Thanksgiving-themed
Once on This Island through Feb. 4. (New York Transit Museum Gallery, episode, and has now developed her own se-
A calypso fairy tale just this side of treacly, Lynn 89 E. 42nd St. grandcentralterminal.com.) ries, “The Chi,” a coming-of-age show set in
Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s 1990 musical tells Chicago. She marks its début, on Showtime,
the story of Ti Moune (the big-voiced newcomer READINGS AND TALKS this week with a special screening and a con-
Hailey Kilgore), a peasant girl whose island, in versation about her experiences as a writer
the French Antilles, is divided by skin color and Mast Books and actress with the radio host Charlamagne
class. When a boy (Isaac Powell) crashes his car Jordan Stein and Jason Fulford have combed Tha God. (1395 Lexington Ave. 212-415-5500.
in her village, she nurses him back to health. He the pages of the short-lived countercultural Jan. 9 at 7:30.)
TABLES FOR TWO which sounds like the ideal winter splurge,
1 BAR TAB
The Loyal involves clunky noodles as thick as udon
and too al dente. But the sliced duck breast
289 Bleecker St. (212-488-5800)
was perfect on a recent night, with rust-
The Loyal, a handsome, highly polished colored, crispy skin, accompanied by a lus-
new brasserie—which appeared on cious farro, leek, and Parmesan porridge.
Bleecker Street just as Matt Umanov Gui- For those who will go straight for the
tars, open since 1965, took its leave—is burger, the Loyal’s is a fine specimen. (It
The Footlight
charmingly eager to please. The chef, John comes with duck tots.) It’s massive, with 465 Seneca Ave., Queens
Fraser, who has shown that he has a per- a soft pink center and topped with Comté
It often feels like the city is boiling over with aspir-
suasive way with vegetables at Nix, Nar- cheese and a complicated-sounding “22- ing talents. Every night, much of that excess spills
cissa, and Dovetail, here crowds enough step tomato”—a whole fruit so unwieldy into outer-borough spots like the Footlight, a new
indulgent items onto the menu to chal- that it’s easier to just remove it. There’s dive in Ridgewood. Early-career artists sometimes
need a liquid leg up, and patrons and performers
lenge one’s duty to decorum. Because you also a spa-worthy black sea bass, straight alike are encouraged to carry their pints of beer and
oughtn’t have bar snacks, raw bar, and from the Riviera, with olives, fennel, and cider from the bar, through swinging double doors,
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID WILLIAMS FOR THE NEW YORKER; ILLUSTRATION BY JOOST SWARTE
appetizers along with pasta, sides, and an tomato broth, and an addictive crown of into the venue space, where rows of stackable chairs
and a stage await them. A well-attended event show-
entrée, you might just start with a cock- salty-sweet, crunchy-soft Parker House casing women and gender-nonconforming artists
tail—perhaps a Flood Gates, a gentle, rolls that are definitely unnecessary and called “Am I Write, Ladies?” featured Cerebral
citrusy take on a Negroni, with Meyer utterly worth it. Pussy, who has cerebral palsy and who undressed
for her “Tiny Tim” burlesque act. She received
lemon—and then let the server guide you. Fraser has said that his inspiration for especially supportive applause from Sky Cubacub,
That way, you’ll probably end up with duck the Loyal was the American tavern, but a gender-nonconforming fashion designer who had
tots—sturdy potato cuboids burnished the white tablecloths and elegant serving recently dressed Pussy for a show at the Whitney.
Cubacub went outside for air at intermission, fol-
beyond golden, tossed in duck fat, aioli on pieces—scallop-edged china, dainty silver lowed by several other audience members, most of
the side—which are all you really need. bowls, gravy boats galore—evoke some- whom then ordered glasses of whiskey before head-
But there’s much more. You might start thing closer to Aunt Sukie’s parlor. Sub- ing back to their seats for an essay about eating
habits, read over acoustic guitar. On another night,
with the raw bar, which could mean the tly hilarious wall illustrations, of lobsters a clutch of hopeful psychics gathered around their
“half lobster,” smaller than it sounds, and in button-downs, cabbages on leashes, teacher after a two-hour lesson in tarot. “I don’t
too bad, because you’ll want more than five and cavorting carrots, cows, and people, always ask my clients what their sign is, but usually
I can tell,” she explained to her astonished pupils.
bites of lobster meat tossed with a tomato- shift the tone to playful, a mood matched Minutes later, an open-mike session began, and a
and-chive dressing that tastes like summer. by a dessert called Sundae Set and Candy rapt group beheld a tap dancer in red tights and a
Appetizers include a lovely little dish of Shop. Served on a silver tray, it feeds at black tutu, moving her hands with erotic flair to
Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time.”
radishes atop a smoked-trout gribiche, and least four, and once you run out of ice Another participant spent much of his set running
a slab of Hudson Valley foie gras the size cream there’s enough candy left to carry the microphone cable between his thighs and mum-
of a stick of butter, larded with chicken you through the week. Go on, get the bling half-formed thoughts. “Don’t let our lack of
any response fool you,” one host said, searching for
liver and bacon and poured over with a sundae. (Entrées $22-$36.) a compliment to sum up his performance. “That
port-wine glaze. Mushroom carbonara, —Shauna Lyon was truly abstract.” —Neima Jahromi
COMMENT that “youthquake” is “a word on the move.” to describe the current state of politi-
WORDS OF THE YEAR Other usage professionals have cal affairs. What is the ideology of this
chosen their own Words of the Year, Administration? It is not social con-
f language, as Emerson said, is fossil 2017 edition, and the honorees have a servatism or neoliberalism, and it is
Ia plastic
poetry, then “youthquake” seems like
bone. “Youthquake” is the ver-
similarly wonky character: “populism”
(Cambridge Dictionary), “feminism”
certainly not populism (though it may
be faux populism). “Nationalism” seems
bal concoction recently declared Word (Merriam-Webster’s), and “complicit” to be the default term, but that does
of the Year (the year being 2017) by the (Dictionary.com). According to Mer- not capture the freebooting and bully-
experts at Oxford Dictionaries. They riam-Webster’s, “feminism” was the most ing behavior of everyday political life.
define it as “significant cultural, politi- searched-for word in its online dictio- Normal terms do not apply. We are liv-
cal, or social change arising from the nary, up seventy per cent from 2016. But ing in a down-is-up, war-is-peace world.
actions or influence of young people.” who in 2017 needed to be told what “fem- It may be that, in the language of
The actions and the influence of young inism” means? Upon searching, these peo- politics, a few words are ready to be
people not being unusually notable or ple would have learned from Merriam- cycled out. Some of these are words
effectual during the past year, you might Webster’s that the definition of “feminism” that ended up on the losing side. It is
wonder whether the Oxonians are con- is “the theory of the political, economic, a good bet that Americans will not be
fusing 2017 with 1967. Actually, “youth- and social equality of the sexes.” Some hearing “diversity” or “together” much
quake” dates from 1965, when it was coined number of them were probably relieved in the next Presidential election.
by the fashion industry. But Oxford says to learn that it is still just a theory. In the lexicon of commentary, some
that the incidence of “youthquake” spiked On the whole, 2017 was not a great terms have suffered serious semantic ero-
around the time of the British elections year for the English language. Reality sion and could be dropped. “Normaliza-
last June, when the Conservative Party is running ahead of our vocabulary. For tion” once meant making the deviant
did worse than expected and a surge of one thing, no good terms have emerged conform to the ordinary, but it now means
votes for Labour was attributed to high the opposite, accepting the deviant as
turnout among younger voters. the new ordinary. “Pivot” used to mean
Given that Labour did not win a ma- “turning one’s attention to,” as in “Obama’s
jority, and Brexit remains in progress pivot to China.” It now means some-
under the auspices of a Conservative thing more like “faking it for political
Prime Minister, it’s a little hard to know effect”—as in “My God, Trump is not
what the quake part was. “Youthquake” pivoting!” (It turned out he didn’t be-
has also been criticized, in Britain, as cause he couldn’t.) It would be nice to
the kind of word that someone sitting see if we can live without “double down,”
at a desk, such as a headline writer, might which now seems to mean “refuse to ac-
ILLUSTRATIONS BY TOM BACHTELL
come up with, a word that no one would knowledge the obvious.” And “breaking
use in speech. People prefer to have their news”: isn’t that a redundancy?
neologisms boil up unbidden from Arguably, the Word of the Year is
the global electronic soup—like, for in- not a word at all. It’s an alphanumeric
stance, “milkshake duck,” one of the character, #. The President speaks in hash-
runners-up to “youthquake.” (You can tag, but so do the President’s opponents,
Google that one. And is it a word, or is and so does, for example, the #MeToo
it a meme?) Nevertheless, we are assured movement. Like most major shifts in
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 15
communicative modes, # democratizes, certificate. It is now used to mean “I This is not true of Presidents, however,
while freaking out traditionalists, who deny your reality.” “Hoax” is used with grownup or not. Presidents are legally
worry, not wrongly, about the loss of am- the same intention. (“Alternative facts,” empowered to make what comes out of
biguity and complexity. But, look, some- another phrase associated with reality their mouths a reality for other people.
thing is being said, and it’s being read. denial, seems to have been mocked out This President has realized that he can
With all the damage that’s being done of existence.) say literally anything and someone will
to the social fabric, in matters ranging Many Americans were shocked to hear pop up to explain it, or explain it away.
from race relations to income inequal- their beliefs characterized as “fake sci- “When I use a word, it means just
ity, to name just two areas where the na- ence” or “fake news.” Those Americans what I choose it to mean,” Humpty
tional leadership seems not only deter- thought that they understood what counts Dumpty says to Alice. How can you
mined to make things worse but weirdly as evidence, what counts as reason, what make a word mean so many different
excited about it, fretting over the state counts as an argument. Suddenly, the things? Alice asks. “The question,”
of the language seems like an indulgence. rules changed. In national politics, you Humpty Dumpty replies, “is which is to
Fossil poetry or not, words are tools, and no longer need evidence or reason. You be master, that’s all.” George Orwell said
what matters is the job that they are no longer need to make an argument. the same thing. Meaning, at bottom, is
being made to do. Still, language is a You need only to assert. If your assertion about power. “Truth,” Oliver Wendell
commons. It’s a resource that we share, is questioned, you need only to repeat it. Holmes, Jr., once said, is “the majority
and the resource is impoverished when “Fake” and “hoax” are the “abraca- vote of that nation that could lick all
words are redefined, weaponized, or oth- dabra”s of the Trump world, words recited others.” A disagreeable thought, but not
erwise co-opted and bent out of shape. to make inconvenient facts disappear. In an inapposite one in 2017.
A good candidate for Word of the most of life after nursery school, “abra- Later on, of course, Humpty Dumpty
Year in this category is “fake.” “Fake” cadabra” doesn’t work, because it stops had a great fall. Something to look for-
once meant “counterfeit” or “inauthen- fooling other people. For grownups, as a ward to in 2018. Happy New Year.
tic,” like a fake Picasso or a fake birth rule, saying something doesn’t make it so. —Louis Menand
DEPT. OF HUSTLE hero hanging in an awkward agony of home much—he was on the road for
DIPLODOCUS unrequited thirst for photographers’ about three hundred days in 2016,
attention? What Diplo did was put performing at Coachella as Diplo, his
his arm around a passing street per- solo d.j. brand; as Jack Ü, his collab-
son, a remnant of the old Bowery, in oration with Skrillex; and as a mem-
a gesture that finally attracted the at- ber of Major Lazer, his three-man
tention of one paparazzo, who took a d.j. troupe.
few listless snaps. He was in town to talk up “Give
aparazzi had staked out the en- Diplo was born Thomas Wesley Me Future,” a documentary about a
P trance to the Bowery Hotel on a
recent Monday evening, waiting for a
Pentz, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and grew
up near Daytona Beach, Florida. He
2016 Major Lazer concert in Havana.
At thirty-nine, Diplo is “a bona-fide
bankable boldface name to emerge. But now splits his time between Los An- hustler,” to borrow a phrase from “Paper
when Diplo came out to wait for the geles and Las Vegas, although he isn’t Planes,” the 2007 hit he created with
car that would take him to Rincon Cri- M.I.A., whom he once dated. He made
ollo, a Cuban joint in Queens, the paps his name, and also some trouble for
showed no interest. himself on Twitter, by splicing together
This placed the d.j., E.D.M. pro- different Caribbean dance-music cul-
ducer, and Major Lazer front man in tures at clubs and on mixtapes.
a situation not unlike the kind regu- “It was cool when it was under-
larly faced by the title character of the ground, but when it got big I became
TV show “What Would Diplo Do?” a target,” he said. Critics accused him
In the show, which airs on Viceland of cultural appropriation. “Culture is
TV, Diplo, played by James Van Der meant to be fused,” he said. “That’s
Beek, deals with the daily humiliations how culture moves. It’s complicated,
of being an E.D.M. superstar who is but I don’t fucking care.” What Diplo
actually a talentless poseur. “I hate it,” does on his E.D.M. hits, which include
Diplo said, of watching himself. He Jack Ü’s “Where Are Ü Now” and
doesn’t mind that it makes fun of him Major Lazer’s “Lean On,” is not al-
(one of his managers came up with ways clear, but he helped create the
the premise), but he thinks it could be conditions in which such E.D.M. acts
funnier. as the Chainsmokers and Martin Gar-
What would “What Would Diplo rix have flourished.
Do?” do in this situation? Leave its Diplo “I’m not mad at the Chainsmokers,”
16 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018
he said, looking out the car window
as he passed through Corona. “I’m a
little jealous of them, to be perfectly
honest.” Like the enormous sauropod
from which he took his name (there’s
a diplodocus tattooed on the under-
side of his right arm, the only untanned
part of him showing), Diplo has to
worry about going extinct—as a brand.
“I don’t want to be, like, an aging d.j.
That’s not very cool.” Hence “Give
Me Future.”
Diplo always wanted to make films.
He won a scholarship to Temple Uni-
versity, which got him out of Daytona
Beach, but he dropped out and d.j.’d
parties in Philadelphia instead, to make
money. Major Lazer’s Cuban adven-
ture was a natural evolution in Diplo’s
efforts to bring dance music to places
rarely or never visited by touring acts.
“Pakistan was a crazy show,” he said of
a 2016 gig in Islamabad, explaining that,
for security reasons, the venue could be
announced only the day before the con- “Perfect. Kate and Eli are suckers for bold graphics.”
cert. “It was one of the most beautiful
1
shows I ever did. Kids were crying.”
The Havana show occurred during
• •
what was something of a Prague Spring
for Western culture imports in Cuba. Mailer’s début novel, “The Naked and
INK
“We were the first,” Diplo said, noting the Dead,” and when he heard that the
HOT TYPE
that the Rolling Stones had followed novelist had a manuscript, “The Deer
them. “But we thought we would be Park,” that no publisher would touch be-
the first of many—the beginning of all cause of a passage involving oral sex, he
these Cuban music festivals. People pursued it. Bennett Cerf, a co-founder
don’t want to go to Mexico, it’s not safe. of Random House, phoned to dissuade
In Cuba, it’s extremely safe. There’s zero him: “Cerf said, ‘Walter, I know you’re
crime.” Donald Trump’s election, eight ne recent afternoon, Walter Min- young, but if you publish this book, you’ll
months after the concert, effectively
ended Havana’s nascent festival scene.
O ton, the ninety-four-year-old for-
mer president of G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
bring down the great veil of censorship.’ ”
Minton laughed.“We published it and
In the restaurant, Diplo asked not sat in the study of his house in Saddle ran ads: ‘The Book Six Publishers Re-
to be seated facing the mirrored back River, New Jersey, and reminisced about fused to Bring You!’ ”
wall. “I don’t want to see my face,” the controversial novels he championed Mailer and Minton, Second World
he said. in his youth and the trials of getting them War veterans a year apart in age, shared
A waiter brought a menu. “The ac- into print. Minton was dressed in slacks a pugnacious streak. “Check this out,”
tual food in Havana was pretty bad,” and a cardigan, with a thinning head of Minton said, pulling down a copy of “The
Diplo said, studying the selections. white hair; he still wears the trim, boxy Deer Park,” inscribed by its author. “To
“They just didn’t have anything. Salt beard that he adopted mid-career. He Ernest Hemingway,” it read. “I am deeply
and ketchup is hard to find. You had was thirty-one when he took over Put- curious to know what you think of this—
to put hot sauce on everything.” nam’s, in 1955, and the shelves of his liv- but if you do not answer, or if you answer
“Do you have mangú?” he asked the ing room offer a higgledy-piggledy tour with the kind of crap you use to answer
waiter. “It’s a big bowl of rice, meat, of his route through twentieth-century unprofessional writers, sycophants, brown-
and cassava mixed together.” publishing, from John le Carré to Mario noses, etc, then fuck you, and I will never
“That’s Dominican,” the waiter said. Puzo to Scott Turow. attempt to communicate with you again.”
It was another “What Would Diplo Of all his writers, Minton said, the He shook his head. “Mailer asked me to
Do?” moment. Diplo did not miss a most difficult was Norman Mailer. “Mailer get this to Hemingway. I told him I mailed
beat. He ordered the cassava and gar- was a quite ordinary writer type, until he it to Cuba and it came back ‘Addressee
lic instead. got angry,” he said. “Then he was a differ- Unknown.’ ” Mailer, who referred to Min-
—John Seabrook ent kettle of fish.” Minton had admired ton as “very bold,” once called him “the
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 17
lished “Fanny Hill,” in 1963, New York cidentally making things worse. “The
City officials suppressed the book for most interesting cases are probably the
obscenity (the publisher was eventually psychiatric ones,” she said. “And for one
vindicated by the Supreme Court). case I had to learn to use makeup to
Mailer, in a letter, affectionately addressed draw heroin tracks on my arm.” The
Minton as a “litigious prick.” greenroom (which actually was green)
“I honestly didn’t see anything wrong was in a building at the Albert Einstein
with those books,” Minton said. “None College of Medicine, in the Bronx.
of them!” Wilder checked the time; in a little while,
In 1975, Putnam’s was acquired by she would need to swap her regular
MCA, and Minton was forced out— clothes for a hospital gown.
whereupon, at fifty-five, he became a Wilder’s boss that day was Anna Lank,
law student at Columbia. He talked about who is the managing director of C3NY,
what killed the publishing industry he an organization that supplies S.P.s to
had known: the rise of agents, the in- medical programs throughout the met-
fluence of Hollywood. “Traditionally, ropolitan area. Lank is in her early six-
publishers and editors talked to their au- ties. “I have a degree in theatre from
Walter Minton thors,” he said. “When the agents came U.C.L.A., and I did the whole thing—
along, that became much rarer. Now summer stock, Off Off Broadway, Off
only publisher I ever met who would you went to lunch with them.” Broadway, whatever—but I had to stop,
make a good general.” Nabokov referred to Minton’s house, because I was having fertility treatments,”
Emboldened by “The Deer Park,” a 1960 Colonial with tall white columns, she said. She got into standardized-pa-
Minton followed with a bigger coup: as “the house ‘Lolita’ built.” Minton tient work as a way to supplement an
“Lolita.” A long list of American pub- looked out his study window and watched unreliable income from the stage, and
lishers too timid to issue the book had a family of four deer that had made its then made a career of it.
forced Vladimir Nabokov, at the time a way into the back yard. “See that buck? “Most of my S.P.s are actors,” she
little-known émigré writer, to turn to He sends the does out first. He won’t said, as she ran down her cast list. “Na-
Maurice Girodias, whose Paris-based stick his neck out.” He paused. “You can talie is married to Patrick, who’s also
1
Olympia Press churned out erotic pot- learn a lot from watching those deer.” here today—they met when they were
boilers. Minton got hold of an excerpt —Rand Richards Cooper in a play in Vermont. Erin has a mas-
of the novel, via the unlikely agency of ter’s in Shakespeare and is teaching a
an exotic dancer named Rosemary IN THE WINGS stage-combat class. Nadine is a grandma
Ridgewell, in whose living room he once SAY “AHHH” and a singer. Megan acts, and she and a
fell asleep after a night on the town. “I partner do workshops for kids at which
woke in the middle of the night and they teach manners. I think of them as
there was this story on the table. I started my theatre troupe.”
reading. By morning, I knew I had to S.P. work figures in a 1998 “Seinfeld”
publish it.” episode, “The Burning,” in which Kramer,
Visits to Paris ensued, to deal with with help from a cigarette and a maroon
the mercurial Girodias, as did a flight atalie Wilder was sitting on a couch smoking jacket, dramatically describes
to Cornell during a storm to woo
Nabokov. Minton saw the novel as a
N in a greenroom, using her iPhone
to apply for a part in a film. Back in June,
the romantic entanglement that resulted
in what the medical students examin-
marketer’s dream. “It had a reputation she starred in a one-woman play, “Fresh ing him are eventually able to identify
of being very sexy, though it really wasn’t, Hell: The Life and Loves of Dorothy as gonorrhea. Kramer’s performance is
and a lot of publishers who wouldn’t Parker,” at the Oldcastle Theatre Com- funny but unrealistic: standardized pa-
bring it to you, because it was too ‘dirty.’ pany, in Bennington, Vermont. In an tients are standardized. Their characters
To me, that was an opportunity!” Sure hour, she was going to reprise a differ- are based on tightly circumscribed bi-
enough, when Putnam’s released “Lo- ent solo role, one of dozens she’s per- ographies, which are developed in col-
lita,” in August of 1958, Orville Prescott, formed multiple times in recent years. laboration with medical-school faculty.
in the Times, called it “repulsive . . . high- “Today, I have lower-back pain,” she said, “An actor who would not be good at
brow pornography”—and the novel as she scrolled through her calendar. this is someone who wants to act, you
zoomed to the top of best-seller lists. Wilder has shoulder-length brown know?” Lank said. “You have to be at ease
After “Lolita,” Minton poached Gi- hair and was wearing jeans and a tur- in imaginary circumstances, and be able
rodias’s list for Terry Southern and Mason tleneck sweater. That afternoon, she was to re-create things time after time in a
Hoffenberg’s bawdy comedy “Candy” working as a so-called standardized pa- reasonable way that’s not robotic, and ac-
and also published “Memoirs of a Woman tient, or S.P.—someone who has been tors are very good at that. But anyone
of Pleasure,” better known as “Fanny trained to portray specific symptoms or who wants to give too much informa-
Hill,” John Cleland’s 1749 chronicle of illnesses, so that medical students can tion or withhold too much information—
erotic adventure. When Putnam’s pub- practice on a living person without ac- those are not the ideal people to employ.”
18 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018
A little later, in a room at the far end telligence Agency. “Every profession has the Tet story had intelligence value, es-
of a hallway, Lank gave an introductory its own literature,” Andres Vaart, the pub- pecially for paramilitary types in Afghan-
lecture to four third-year M.D.-Ph.D. lication’s editor, said the other day. Since istan and Iraq. “As an intelligence officer
candidates, who were about to spend the 1955, when it began, intelligence officers abroad, you just don’t know what kind
afternoon individually examining eight have filled its pages with analyses of old of life-threatening situations you’re going
different S.P.s. Medical students usually spy operations, book reviews, and tales to face,” he said.
say that working with imaginary patients of derring-do. “We have some great writ- Before becoming the journal’s editor,
is more nerve-racking than working with ers here,” Vaart said. “Studies is where Vaart was a China analyst at the C.I.A.
real ones, partly because the sessions are they get to speak their minds.” He’d also done editorial work, of a kind.
videotaped and partly because examin- Vaart, who typically works off-site, in For two years, he helped to write the
ing people who aren’t really sick forces northern Virginia, was at the C.I.A.’s President’s Daily Brief for George H. W.
the students to be actors as well. Lank headquarters, in Langley, to discuss the Bush; he knows what it feels like to labor
said, “The best, most valuable advice I journal’s latest issue with his boss, Peter over a passage, only to have a superior
can give you is to think, I am a doctor, Usowski, the director of the C.I.A.’s Cen- hammer the prose into bland P.D.B. style.
this is my patient, I’m curious about ter for the Study of Intelligence. They “That can be demoralizing,” he said.
what’s going on and how I can help. The were seated at a wooden table in a win- When asked about President Trump’s
minute you flip into This is fake, these dowless room. Usowski was wearing a disparaging remarks about the C.I.A.,
are actors, nothing’s really wrong—that’s suit, but Vaart had a jauntier look, with Vaart was evasive. “It hurts to see our
not going to help.” a white turtleneck under an Argyle business denigrated at any time,” he said.
An additional source of anxiety is sweater-vest. Outside, snow dusted the “I think, definitely, there’s a feeling among
that S.P.s are, in effect, adjunct medi- wings of a decommissioned spy plane in a number of folks that the way intelli-
cal-school instructors. They’re trained the parking lot. gence is treated by others in the public
to give detailed feedback about the way Vaart riffled through a pile of back can be very disappointing and mislead-
they’ve been treated, with the long-term issues. One featured an article titled ing and downright makes one angry.”
goal of helping doctors improve their “Cold War Spy Fiction in Russian Pop- The new issue of Studies was almost
notoriously uneven record as listeners, ular Culture”; another was called “Sput- ready to go to press. A review board was
empathizers, and non-interrupters— nik and U.S. Intelligence: The Warning still scrutinizing the Tet piece to make
a job that becomes more difficult as the Record.” Vaart said, “We want to be of sure that it didn’t contain any state se-
students become more experienced. the moment.” crets. (Each issue appears in classified
“The first-years take it all in, and “In the aftermath of Snowden, we and unclassified forms—a classified ver-
they’re so happy about it,” Lank said. published a piece on the psychology of sion was already up on government Web
“And the second-years are the best. But leaks,” Usowski said. With a touch of sites.) After that, hard copies would go
then, in the third year, they begin doing embarrassment, Vaart confessed that out to the journal’s roughly five hundred
rounds, and they start to cut corners, be- the journal’s most-read piece was one subscribers (subscriptions are free—costs
cause, hey, that’s what real doctors do. So from 2007: “The C.I.A.’s Role in the are covered by taxpayers). Several copies
we have to try to bring them back.” Train- Study of U.F.O.s.” (In sum: the agency would also be catalogued down the hall,
ing has an effect on S.P.s, too. “You be- looked for proof of flying saucers, but in the C.I.A. library.
come much more discriminating in your didn’t find any.) One of the librarians showed a vis-
caregivers,” Lank continued. “I have two Vaart talked about the cover story he’d itor around. She wore a “Star Wars” lan-
knees that are not God-given, and the commissioned for the latest issue, to com- yard and horn-rimmed glasses.“This is
physical exam was dreadful. It was, like, memorate the fiftieth anniversary of the what we’re interested in at the moment,”
Seriously, you would not pass my courses.” Tet Offensive. The story was by Ray- she said, pointing toward a glass dis-
“We like to say that we’re using our mond Lau, a retired C.I.A. officer who’d play case. It contained books on Iran
1
acting powers for good,” Wilder said. served in the Marines during the Viet- and North Korea—a mix of academic
—David Owen nam War. In January of 1968, Lau was works (“Iranian Entrepreneurship: De-
ambushed in Hue during the offensive ciphering the Entrepreneurial Ecosys-
TRADE MAG and was trapped for days behind enemy tem in Iran and in the Iranian Dias-
CLASSIFIED lines, hiding out in a pigsty. Vaart de- pora”), contemporary histories (“Under
scribed the piece as “gripping.” the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader:
Usowski chairs the journal’s editorial North Korea and the Kim Dynasty”),
board, whose sixteen members, current and travel guides. “We love ‘Lonely
and former intelligence officers, consider Planet,’ ” she said. A nearby shelf
submissions. They were lukewarm at first overflowed with DVDs. Apparently,
on Lau’s Tet story—not enough spy craft. spies not only like writing about their
EXPOSURE
playground; our kids are close in age.
It was Andrew Kreisberg, who over-
saw several DC Comics shows at
In the wake of scandal, can Hollywood change its ways? Warner Bros., for Greg Berlanti. The
comments following the story were
BY DANA GOODYEAR damning—about the companies in-
volved, about the culture of silence and
denial, and about Kreisberg’s behavior,
which allegedly included subjecting fe-
male colleagues to belittling remarks
and uncomfortable physical situations.
But the most memorable contribution
came from a commenter called Andrew
Kreisberg, who provided an index to
these disturbing and exhilarating times,
a Polaroid we can refer to if we one day
want to remember what life was like
during the fall of 2017:
Nobody has accused me of rape like
Weinstein.
Nobody has accused me of drugging them
like Guillod.
Nobody has accused me of groping like
Landesman.
Nobody has accused me of abusing minors
like Spacey.
Nobody has accused me of exposing my-
self like Louis CK.
Nobody has accused me of asking for fa-
vors in exchange for work like Ratner.
“Blade Runner 2049” takes place and is all the times he got hit in the head. I’ve ture not stirring”-ness of home before col-
thus very far in the future. If this were never boxed and have had only one con- lege-age kids awake, begins wondering how
1917, and I died in 1949, I would still get cussion. Also, no one has had to gain many Christmases left, anxiously awaits
to enjoy the Jazz Age and the Second sixty pounds to play me. Arrow way up. push notifications from Times obit desk.]
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 27
My father, eighty-three, had been de-
PERSONAL HISTORY clining for several weeks. The late-night
phone calls had tightened in frequency
BODIES AT REST
and enlarged in amplitude, like waves
ahead of a gathering storm: accidents
AND IN MOTION
were becoming more common, and their
consequences more severe. This was not
his first fall that year. A few months ear-
The puzzle was not that my father was dying. It was that he was still alive. lier, my mother had found him lying on
the balcony floor with his arm broken
BY SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE and folded underneath him. She had
taken a pair of scissors and cut his shirt
off while he had howled in double
agony—the pain of having to pull the
remnants over his head compounded by
the horror of seeing a perfectly intact
piece of clothing sliced up before his
eyes. It was, I knew, an ancient quarrel:
his mother, who had ferried her five boys
across a border to Calcutta during Par-
tition and never had enough clothes to
split among them, would have found a
way to spare that shirt.
Then, too, my mother had tried to
play it down. “Kicchui na,” she had said:
Look, it’s nothing. It was a phrase that
she, the family’s stabilizing counter-
weight, often clung to. “We’ll man-
age,” she’d said, and I took her word
for it. This time, I wasn’t so sure.
hen the Chinese action little of that story would have made World War, the United States has ad-
sprung up in western China. It features replicas of the Great Sphinx and the Parthenon, as well as a dinosaur-themed water park.
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 47
he Silk Road was established during the coherent framework within which the Asian coun-
—Jiayang Fan
Ten years ago, Su Xiaolan moved to Turpan, China, an important trading post along the ancient Silk Road.
Chongqing, one of China’s fastest-growing cities, is the starting point of a seven-thousand-mile railway to Europe.
The Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway required three hundred miles of windproof walls to shield it from gales in the Gobi Desert.
The trade market in Yiwu, in eastern China, covers two square miles and contains more than seventy-five thousand mini-showrooms.
Freight trains now carry goods from Yiwu across Central Asia to Tehran, Prague, Madrid, and London.
The Western Europe–western China expressway will run from the Baltic Sea in Russia to the Yellow Sea in China.
Thousands of people have moved to the once empty expanse of sand around Khorgos, Kazakhstan, to build a new trade hub.
Workers harvest cotton in Turkestan, in southern Kazakhstan. The city was an important stop for the ancient caravan trade, and
its location puts it at the heart of the planned network of roads and rails connecting China to the West.
FICTION
We are a sucking people . . . we look to week later, Hassan got home from
each other for nourishment . . . Afraid of what
will happen to us if we feed in public . . . we
A work to find that Sara had set the
table with crystal wineglasses, yellow
hide in broom-closets and restrooms . . . supermarket roses, and cloth napkins.
take cover here in the Central Maze of the She was wearing a long diaphanous
Forking Paths . . . to snack freely . . . lull with tunic over slim pants, her hair blow-
moss and mushroom and the nine-banded dried straight and her eyes painted a
armadillo . . . with caterpillar and butterfly and dark, smoky blue. Hassan hadn’t seen
butterfly bush . . . amid the odor of wild her dressed this way in ages.
thyme which, to deter predators, has evolved “You didn’t need to go to all this trou-
to become more pungent . . . ble,” he said, gesturing around at the
clean apartment. “I mean, it’s only Hina.”
. . . among sow and puppy and piglet . . . among He had resisted the idea of inviting her,
whatever milk-producing mammal survived but Sara had insisted on it.
the Era of Cancers and Guns and held on . . . “Don’t be silly,” Sara said. “We have
each of us is alive only by the teat of the other to be hospitable.”
... In the dim light of their apartment,
Hina seemed softer. Instead of the boxy
—J. Hope Stein jackets and long skirts she wore to work,
she had come dressed in a maroon shal-
war kameez and a matching headscarf.
in Pakistan as part of the majority. What “You have exciting plans for Thanks- Her outfit looked freshly ironed.
would it feel like, he wondered, to con- giving, Hina?” Hassan asked. He as- “Such a pleasure to meet you, fi-
sider America home? sumed she’d be heading back to Al- nally!” Sara said, kissing Hina on both
bany. The dutiful daughter. cheeks and showing her to the couch.
Itionnthemselves
November, Hassan and Sara found
trying to explain the elec-
results to their families in Karachi.
Hina didn’t look up from her moni-
tor. “Well, my friend Mona Ahmed wants
me to join her family in Florida, but I’m
Hassan asked Hina if she’d read the
latest report on a toll-road project about
to be scrapped by lawmakers in Texas.
Yes, they said, it was true that a hand- not sure if I will or not,” she said. “Might be something we should be aware
ful of states had the power to determine Hearing the name spoken aloud gave of,” he said, calling up the article on his
the winner. Yes, a candidate could win Hassan an odd feeling in his stomach. phone so that he could read it aloud.
the most votes and still not become “How do you know Mona?” he asked. “Hassan,” Sara said, rolling her eyes
President. In that case, Hassan’s mother “From the Islamic Center,” Hina ex- for Hina’s benefit and handing her a glass
said, the Americans were even more plained. “She’s been very kind to me. of fresh orange juice, “don’t be a bore. I
foolish than she’d thought. At least in And I’m fond of her children.” Hassan want to hear about Hina’s family.”
Pakistan, she said, they hadn’t chosen suddenly couldn’t stand those Ahmed Hina rested the glass in her lap and
their own dictators. brats. Their precious matching shirts and smiled cautiously at Sara. Her father,
One afternoon, Hassan toggled be- haircuts. she told them, had come from the Pun-
tween numbers in a spreadsheet and “You babysit for them?” Hassan asked. jab with the help of his older brother.
bullets and graphs on a presentation, “No,” Hina said, drawing herself up- He had settled first in Michigan, then
unsure of what to work on next. The right in her chair. “We’re friends. Mona in upstate New York. Hina had three
hours between lunch and dinner and I are in the same women’s group. younger sisters and one brother. She was
stretched out in front of him like an We went canvassing together. And I’m the first college graduate in her family.
interminable sentence. On the other in her multicultural book club.” “Isn’t that lovely,” Sara said, turning
side of the desk, Hina looked deeply That evening, Hassan told Sara what to Hassan.
engrossed in her work, her face inches he’d learned. He nodded, his smile tight. It was
from her monitor. She was reading “How could you not realize that slightly embarrassing, watching Sara try
traffic studies, prepping for a meeting she’s known them all this time?” she to ingratiate herself with Hina.
in which she’d most likely not even be asked, exasperated. She was sitting on “And Hassan tells me you know
called on. This was the difference, he the floor of their bedroom folding Mona and Ali Ahmed?” Sara said.
realized, between Sara and Hina. Sara laundry, stacking socks and underwear “Yes,” Hina said. “Mona has been a
would talk about graduate school for into little piles. “You sit across from mentor to me.”
another year and probably not do any- her all day.” “Isn’t that wonderful. Mona is a dear
thing about it. Hina would have been “It’s not as if we compare social cal- friend.”
halfway to a degree by now. endars,” Hassan said. He sat down on “I didn’t realize that,” Hina said.
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 63
“What’s the big deal?” Hassan asked.
“I mean, it’s not like anyone is forcing
you to drink it.”
“I don’t think you understand,” Hina
said, tipping her head to one side and
giving him a long look.
“Understand what?” Hassan asked.
“What it means to stick to your prin-
ciples,” Hina said.
BESPOKE
“Phantom Thread.”
BY ANTHONY LANE
he new Paul Thomas Anderson in a tranquil London square, and he appears to have lost his appetite.
T film, “Phantom Thread,” is about
many things: clothing, sewing, driv-
who despises any threat to that tran-
quillity. It is morning, and his sister
Breakfast No. 2. Reynolds drives
to the coast and arrives, famished, at
ing, the risk of love, the exercise of Cyril (Lesley Manville), who helps a hotel restaurant. A waitress named
power, and, above all, breakfast. “I to run the business, is at the break- Alma (Vicky Krieps) takes his order,
can’t begin my day with a confron- fast table, as is a plate of iced buns, which goes on forever, like the end
tation.” So says Reynolds Woodcock which he disdains, and an elegant credits of a Marvel movie. Welsh
(Daniel Day-Lewis), a celebrated young woman named Johanna (Ca- rabbit with a poached egg; bacon,
fashion designer, who lives and works milla Rutherford). For her, likewise, scones, butter, cream, jam; a pot of
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie, Daniel Day-Lewis plays a society fashion designer and Vicky Krieps is his muse.
ILLUSTRATION
BY SARA ANDREASSON THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 67
Lapsang souchong. Pause. “And some is a film possessed by a fear that style rosy cheeks and sensible smiles, is defi-
sausages,” he adds. Only Day-Lewis alone, or the quest for it, can cramp nitely not a Hitchcock heroine, yet
could make a list of foodstuffs sound the soul. even she will go to venomous lengths,
like the Ten Commandments. Alma we realize, to keep her man. Weirder
blushes easily, yet there is no twitch s in “The Master” (2012) and the still, Reynolds will play along.
of shyness; she bears herself with
confidence, and, when Reynolds asks
A more jovial “Inherent Vice” (2014),
Anderson conducts much of the ac-
The upshot is that “Phantom
Thread,” though expert and engross-
if she will dine with him that night, tion in closeup. “I like to see who I’m ing, is also cloistral and sickly, and I
she accepts. Thus does she enter the talking to,” Reynolds says, wiping off found myself fighting for fresh air.
sanctum, or the gentlemanly minefield, Alma’s lipstick, as the camera looms There are notable excursions, includ-
of his life. so near that it might as well be an- ing an Alpine holiday where Reynolds
And so to the third breakfast, later gling for a kiss. Is that doting, or in- gets to swathe himself in immaculate
in the film. By now, Alma has become vasive? One welcome trait of the film knitwear, plus a New Year’s costume
his favorite model and muse. We are is that its erotic politics are evenly ball, in Chelsea, but the first is like a
back in London. A ruminative Reyn- poised, and that, in the matter of scru- snowy stage set and the second is as
olds sits with his sister. Beside them, tiny, the woman gives as good as she writhingly oppressive as one of Felli-
Alma is buttering toast, with firm gets. “If you want to have a staring ni’s Roman jamborees. If anything does
swipes of the knife, and, to judge by contest with me,” Alma cautions Reyn- snap the claustrophobic spell, it is
the expression on Reynolds’s face, every olds, “you will lose.” Time and again, Reynolds’s road trips, when he guns
swipe is like a nail being driven into throughout the story, they wrestle for his beauteous British sports car, a red
his flesh. (Anderson, to be honest, the upper hand. “I think you’re only Bristol, along country byways, with
cheats a little here; the scraping is so acting strong,” she says, to which he the camera peering forward and rav-
loud that a microphone must have replies, “I am strong.” Although there ening up the miles. Then we have the
been hidden in the marmalade.) On is no visible sex or violence, the movie pleasure of observing the smile that
the basis of this upsetting scene, two feels extreme in the way that produc- comes and goes on his handsome face,
things can be assumed. First, Alma is tions of Ibsen can feel extreme, as well- as if he were tacitly conceding that,
fast turning into another Johanna, and dressed, well-behaved people try to yes, these genteel shenanigans, done
will soon be dismissed from Reyn- colonize one another with a tenacity in the name of a few pricey frocks for
olds’s service. And, second, he is, in that borders on the savage. “There is a handful of spoiled clients, are ab-
his own way, a perfect specimen of the an air of quiet death in this house,” surd. You hear a similar hint of mock-
nobly suffering artist, who will not Reynolds says. Hedda Gabler would ery in the querulous fluting of his
sacrifice his craft, let alone submit his not disagree. voice—“Are you sent here to ruin my
will, to the dictates of somebody else. Another point of reference is Hitch- evening? And possibly my entire life?”
Both assumptions are wrong. cock. As Cyril, Lesley Manville is a Yet, despite everything, we continue
“Phantom Thread” is Anderson’s paragon of frosty decorum, and one to cling to the problems and pursuits
eighth feature, and the first to be set glance at her sombre high-necked of this obsessive dandy. And why? Sim-
almost exclusively in Britain. The era dresses and her tightly coiled hair sends ply because there has never been an
is the mid-nineteen-fifties, which you back to Mrs. Danvers, in “Re- actor as obsessive as Day-Lewis. He
means that the gowns created by becca” (1940). Then, there is Jonny dons the role as if it were a handmade
Reynolds for his wealthy (and some- Greenwood’s music, largely for piano suit. I happen to revere him most in
times royal) clients are of a rarefied and strings, which is far less jagged motion, as in the hotfooted thrill of
and formal allure that feels as distant than the work he composed for “The Last of the Mohicans” (1992),
as the court of Versailles. Not the Anderson in “There Will Be Blood” but he is equally a champion of still-
least of the movie’s joys is the roster (2007), and summons, instead, some ness, and he seems, like certain rare
of unflappable seamstresses, with years of the troubled lushness that Franz sportsmen, to be preternaturally blessed
of experience, on whom he relies; in Waxman brought to his scores for “Re- with time—enough time, that is, to
the course of one especially taxing becca” and “Suspicion” (1941). More take stock of a situation, while people
night, they have to repair a wedding than anything, however, what “Phan- bustle around him, and to ponder his
dress that has been tainted and torn, tom Thread” borrows from Hitchcock next move. His thoughts look more
to be ready by 9 a.m. As for Day- is his clammy-comic touch—a sense dramatic than other actors’ deeds, and
Lewis, he strikes the eye as ineffably that love, at its fiercest, can be both his deeds are done with a deliberated
dapper, with a hint of the sacerdotal; protective and toxic. Remember Claude grace. If it is true, as Day-Lewis has
in the opening minutes, he pulls on Rains’s terrifying mother, in “Notori- declared, that “Phantom Thread” will
a magenta sock, buffs the toe cap of ous” (1946), slipping something nasty be his final movie, we will miss him
a shoe, and, wielding a pair of hair- into his wife’s coffee, or the glowing when he retires from the game that he
brushes, sweeps back his lightly glass of milk that Cary Grant takes has crowned. He is the Federer of film.
silvered locks with solemn care, as upstairs to Joan Fontaine, in “Suspi-
if robing himself in a vestry. Yet this cion,” like a poisoned chalice. Alma, NEWYORKER.COM
is not a film that dwells on style. It in Krieps’s winning performance, all Richard Brody blogs about movies.
BEEN THERE
Massachusetts, where he took a lesser
job with, I assume, a lower salary.
In his address, Johnson announced a
The Presidential election of 1968. reduction of American air strikes and
said that he would seek a negotiated set-
BY LOUIS MENAND tlement, but he also said that he was
sending more troops. Then he said, “I
have concluded that I should not per-
mit the Presidency to become involved
in the partisan divisions that are devel-
oping in this political year.” My father
perked up. He did not, however, turn
around. “Accordingly,” Johnson went on,
“I shall not seek and I will not accept
the nomination of my party for another
term as your President.”
“He’s not running!” my father shouted
to my mother, who was upstairs. She
had refused even to listen to Johnson.
That’s the kind of house I grew up in.
“He’s not running!”
For antiwar liberals like my parents,
who had marched in Washington the
previous October in a giant demonstra-
tion organized by a group known as the
Mobe (National Mobilization Commit-
tee to End the War in Vietnam), John-
son was a monster who had betrayed lib-
eralism, and the knight who slayed him
was Eugene McCarthy.
McCarthy was the senior senator from
Minnesota, a liberal anti-Communist
whose roots, like my parents’, were in
New Deal politics. Unlike my parents,
McCarthy had a spiritual side. As a young
man, he had entered a monastery under
the name Brother Conan but was kicked
lmost fifty years ago, on March 31, but that only made the war seem more out for the sin of intellectual pride. Mc-
A 1968, Lyndon Johnson stunned ev-
eryone by announcing that he would not
horrific and out of control.
I was at home, sitting in the base-
Carthy had always had a bit of contemp-
tus mundi about him. Turning your back
run for a second term as President. John- ment, where we kept our television set, to the television set was the kind of ges-
son had gone on television at nine o’clock listening to Johnson’s speech with my ture he would have understood.
that evening to address the nation on father. He was standing with his back to In the beginning, McCarthy was a
the war in Vietnam. It was not going the screen, so that he would not have to single-issue candidate. He was a dove.
well. In the past three years, the United look at Johnson. He was protesting John- He ran against continued American mil-
States had dropped more tons of bombs son’s policy on Vietnam. The only per- itary intervention in Vietnam. But he
on Vietnam than were dropped by all son present in the basement to appreci- was also offended by the Administra-
the belligerents combined in the Second ate the symbolism was me. tion’s insistence that its war powers were
STEVE SCHAPIRO/CORBIS/GETTY
World War. Twenty thousand Ameri- My father had already registered his absolute, and by its increasingly trans-
cans had died there, four thousand in opposition in a more substantive way. parent lies about the progress of the war.
the previous two months, following a He had been working in Washington, He had come to see the Administration
surprise attack, known as the Tet Offen- D.C., for one of Johnson’s anti-poverty as a danger to democracy. He was an
sive, by North Vietnamese and Vietcong programs, but he had resigned because enemy of what used to be called “the im-
forces. Enemy losses were much higher, he felt he couldn’t work for an Admin- perial Presidency.”
As unpopular as Johnson was in 1968
R.F.K. had a rawness that seemed to match the national mood. with Democrats like my parents, he was
THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 69
a man politicians thought twice about If Kennedy hadn’t entered the race, It was as though they had forgotten
crossing. He had won the 1964 Presi- Johnson could have fended off Mc- that Johnson had pushed through two
dential election, against Barry Goldwa- Carthy. In 1968, the primaries played major pieces of civil-rights legislation:
ter, with the highest percentage of the a minor role in the delegate-selection the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made
popular vote in American history, and process. Thirty-six states did not even discrimination by race or religion or sex
he knew how to squeeze his opponents. hold them.The parties controlled the pro- illegal, and the Voting Rights Act of
Even Democrats in Congress who knew cess. The man who eventually won the 1965, which guaranteed the franchise to
that Johnson was driving the country Democratic nomination, Hubert Hum- African-Americans in the formerly seg-
off a cliff—and by the end of 1967, when phrey, Johnson’s Vice-President, did not regated South. Those were the greatest
four hundred and eighty-five thousand enter a single primary. legal advances in race relations since the
Americans were stationed in Vietnam, Robert Kennedy is one of the great Civil War amendments. But by 1968 Viet-
the folly of intervention had become what-ifs of American political history. nam had eclipsed them.
plain—were loath to break with him In 1968, he was just forty-three years old. Johnson had no experience in for-
publicly. But McCarthy did. In No- He had the most glamorous name in eign policy. Much as Harry Truman had
vember, 1967, he announced that he politics; he wore the mantle of martyr- done, in 1947 and 1948, he allowed the
was entering the Democratic Presiden- dom; and he had transformed himself generals and the policy hawks to con-
tial primaries. He was running against from a calculating infighter—he had vince him of a central fallacy of Cold
a sit ting President of his own party. managed his brother’s Presidential cam- War thinking: that America’s standing
Many people thought that he had com- paign, in 1960, and served as his Attor- was at stake in every regime change
mitted hara-kiri—a noble act, possibly, ney General after the election—into a around the world. He did not want to
but politically insane. kind of existentialist messiah. At the be the President who lost Southeast
1964 Democratic National Convention, Asia to Communism.
he New Hampshire primary, held in Atlantic City, he had received a By 1968, Johnson’s Great Society pro-
T on March 12, 1968, made those peo-
ple think again. It wasn’t because Mc-
twenty-two-minute standing ovation
just by appearing at the lectern.
grams—legislation on education, health
care, urban renewal, and transportation
Carthy did especially well. Johnson’s name There was a rawness in Kennedy’s face whose scope rivalled that of the New
was not on the Democratic ballot, but and voice that seemed to match the na- Deal—were dying because of the cost
he won easily as a write-in candidate, tional mood. He was the personification of the war, and he had imposed a ten-
with forty-nine per cent of the Demo- of the country’s pain over its fallen leader. per-cent income surtax, a dependable
cratic vote. McCarthy got forty-two per And he had the ability to reflect back way to become unpopular with just about
cent, despite the fact that his name was whatever voters projected onto him. He everybody. Inflation, which had been low
the only name on the ballot, and even seemed to combine youth with experi- for most of the postwar era, had reached
though he had five thousand New Hamp- ence, intellect with heart, street sense with four per cent. (It went much higher: the
shire students and two thousand out-of- vision. He was a hero to Chicano grape country was on the brink of an economic
state volunteers canvassing pickers, to inner-city African- retrenchment that took fifteen years to
the state for him. McCarthy Americans, to union work- work through.)
received about twenty-two ers. He was a man of the The message of New Hampshire,
thousand Democratic votes, times when the times they therefore, was not that McCarthy was
roughly three votes for every were a-changin’. Kennedy the answer to the nation’s troubles. It was
campaign worker. had haters. Having haters is that Johnson was the face of what many
In national politics, twen- part of the job of being a mes- voters wanted to get away from. New
ty-two thousand was not siah. But he was salvific. He Hampshire did not make McCarthy seem
an intimidating number of could rouse audiences to a electable so much as it made Johnson
votes—twenty-two thou- frenzy and he could make seem beatable. That was the message that
sand people would not even hardened politicos weep. Peo- Kennedy had been waiting to hear, and he
fill half of Yankee Stadium— ple thought that he could go wasted little time jumping into the race.
and New Hampshire was not a state to the Convention and steal the nomi- He was accused, rightly, of opportunism.
that Democrats needed to carry. In the nation from Johnson. People thought that Although Johnson had served as
previous five Presidential elections, it he could beat Nixon. John F. Kennedy’s Vice-President, there
had voted Republican four times. (The Johnson was not salvific. “Waist deep was no love lost between him and the
exception was the Johnson landslide in in the Big Muddy, and the big fool says Kennedys. He was not cut out for a part
1964.) The winner of the Republican to push on,” I heard Pete Seeger sing in in Camelot. Colonel Cornpone, Jackie
primary, Richard Nixon, got eighty-four Washington in 1967. It’s a song about a Kennedy used to call him. At the first
thousand votes, thirty thousand more platoon in the Second World War, but Cabinet meeting after J.F.K. was assas-
than Johnson and McCarthy combined. everyone knew who the big fool was. sinated, Robert arrived late, and every-
But blood was in the water, and four The line was electric. Pete was a sing- one in the room rose as a sign of respect,
days later, on March 16th, Robert F. Ken- along performer, and the liberal audi- except for Johnson. Five years later, John-
nedy, the junior senator from New York, ence (who else would be at a Pete See- son was losing one war overseas; he could
declared his candidacy. ger concert?) roared it out. not engage on a second front at home.
70 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018
So, on March 31st, two weeks after Ken-
nedy entered the race, Johnson made my
father, briefly, a happy man.
SAD RAP
indeed, these artists are far more like-
ly to worship Kurt Cobain or Marilyn
Manson than Jay-Z or Kanye West.
A morose sound goes from underground to the charts. This loosely connected network, which
has its roots in the streaming platform
BY CARRIE BATTAN SoundCloud, is now large enough to
have its own offshoots and subsets,
ranging from the violently depressive
nineteen-year-old Floridian XXXTen-
tacion (born Jahseh Onfroy) to the
more radio-ready Lil Xan, who hails
from Redlands, California—or “Dead-
lands,” as he calls it. More concerned
with aesthetics than with craft, Xan
and his peers meld the visual signifiers
and the spoken-word cadences of hip-
hop with the gritty production values
of D.I.Y. punk music.
Despite its abrasiveness, the music
has experienced extraordinary commer-
cial velocity. Over time, Billboard has
broadened the qualifications for its
charts, counting online streams as
well as traditional album sales. Emo
rap, which lives online, has benefitted:
on its release, XXXTentacion’s début
studio album, “17”—a confessional,
genre-bending scrapbook of teen-age
morbidity and mania—landed at No. 2
on the Billboard 200 chart. That week,
it was topped by “Luv Is Rage 2,” by the
more pop-oriented but still anguished
Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
Uzi, who is twenty-three, can be
considered a stepfather of the move-
ment. His single “XO TOUR Llif3,” one
of the most popular tracks of 2017, has
ate in November, Lil Xan made Halfway through his brief set, he brought become an anthem for an era of artists
L his New York début, at the down-
town club S.O.B.’s. The level of ex-
out Cole Bennett—a twenty-one-year-
old music-video director with whole-
and fans who like to revel in misery,
whether sincerely or for play. “I don’t
citement was unusually high, even for some, Zack Morris-esque looks—and really care if you cry,” Uzi sings in bratty
the much anticipated rap shows that the crowd shrieked with the delight melancholy, over a mournful low whis-
the club tends to book. “Xanarchy! of recognition typically reserved for tle of a beat, which was created, by the
Xanarchy! Xanarchy!” the crowd chanted those who live in front of the camera producer TM88, using a handheld
as the diminutive twenty-one-year-old rather than behind it. “I wake up / I portable speaker. “All my friends are
rapper, with shaggy brown hair and throw up / I feel like I’m dead,” Xan dead / Push me to the edge.” When the
the face of a blissed-out toddler, took rapped coolly over one of his glum, song was released, at the beginning of
the stage. Some audience members low-range beats, flanked by his friends. the year, it felt like a revelation: an ode
sported fake face tattoos. (Lil Xan, Lil Xan is just one member of a co- to depression that also got people mov-
whose real name is Diego Leanos, has hort of young musicians who, by em- ing at night clubs. Now it sounds stan-
“Zzz” tattooed under one eye, “Candy” bracing a morose sound, have trans- dard. In Lil Xan’s breakout hit, “Be-
under the other, and “Xanarchy” above formed from underground curiosities trayed,” released in August, he warns
one eyebrow.) Multiple cameramen into stars in the past year. (Last month, of the dangers of prescription pills
and videographers joined him onstage. “emorap” was an answer to a crossword one moment and brags about the
women he scores the next. The song
The rapper Lil Peep had the word “Crybaby” tattooed over his right eyebrow. has amassed about a hundred and fifty
76 THE NEW YORKER, JANUARY 8, 2018 ILLUSTRATION BY KEITH NEGLEY
million streams on various platforms, per 6ix9ine, whose hit song “Gummo” on “OMFG,” a standout on his mix
resulting in a majorlabel deal. blends the brazen lofi aesthetic of tape “hellboy,” from 2016. “My life
If hiphop has historically focussed SoundCloud with New York street rap, is goin’ nowhere / I want everyone to
on invincibility, this generation is fix is making headlines for appearing in know that I don’t care.” (Peep had the
ated on mortality. Nihilism, taken to sexual videos with an underage girl. word “Crybaby” tattooed above his
an extreme that feels almost competi (He pleaded guilty to the charge of “use right eyebrow.) The day before he died,
tive, has become its own form of brag of a child in a sexual performance” in he posted a photograph on Instagram
gadocio. The sound is a sincere expres 2015.) Is the tormented ethos of the of his torso, with the caption “When
sion of anguished youth, but it’s also songs spilling over into real life, or is I die you’ll love me.” Maybe it was a
a backlash against a previous micro the brokenness of these young stars warning shot; maybe it was another
generation of hiphop artists obsessed being put to music? Listening to XXX exercise in image building; most likely
with selfactualization and revelry. Post Tentacion’s “17” or Lil Peep’s “Come it was both.
Malone, a singer and rapper tangen Over When You’re Sober, Pt. 1,” two of Onstage, Lil Xan wore a pink
tially connected to the SoundCloud the more impressive examples of the hoodie bearing Lil Peep’s image. Just
community, rose to the top of the Hot genre, can be a means of understand as he was about to finish his set, he
100 toward the end of 2017 with “rock ing the artists’ pathologies rather than launched into a tirade about the pit
star,” a song that makes success sound glorifying them. falls of Xanax abuse. Artists of the
as joyless as possible. sadrap movement possess a world
In some ways, this movement is in espite the excitement at S.O.B.’s, weariness that makes them seem older
keeping with the dreary sensibility pop
ularized on the radio by such artists
D a dark cloud lingered. Two weeks
before, Lil Peep, a twentyoneyear
than they are, and Lil Xan has spo
ken many times, in a harrowed tone,
as the Weeknd and Lana Del Rey. A old rapper from Long Island, had died about battling a Xanax addiction. “Fuck
symptom—or perhaps a cause—of this after taking Xanax and fentanyl. Lil Xanax 2018!” he told the crowd. But
dim world view is the widespread use Peep, born Gustav Åhr, had been one he added a footnote, lest he start to
of prescription drugs like Xanax. (Lil of the more talented and brutally de sound like too much of a killjoy: “I’m
Xan is not short for Lil Xander.) It is pressive members of the SoundCloud still Lil Xan, though, at the end of the
difficult to grasp how these musicians rap community. A master of aesthetic day.” In tribute, the d.j. played Lil
can be so prolific and make such high signifiers, with an ear for melody, he Peep’s “Beamerboy,” perhaps the most
voltage songs while under the influence sampled both Lil Wayne and the early morbid song about luxury cars ever
of substances notorious for putting aughts emopunk band Brand New; recorded. “I’m never comin’ home
people to sleep. he could also rap with the cool forti now / All alone now / Can’t let my bros
As in all popular music, there is a tude of an Atlanta trap rapper over a down / Can’t let my bros down,” Peep
strong element of fantasy here, and some minorchord guitar riff. And his hag sings. Most of the people onstage and
of these artists seem to be creating fic gard good looks made him an ideal off bobbed along, unsure of whether
tional characters as much as they are entrant into the fashion world. (That to celebrate or to mourn. When the
expressing their natures. But the line he was white was perhaps not unre song finished, Lil Xan returned to
between fantasy and reality has grown lated.) But his musical sensibility and the microphone to perform his hit
blurry: live shows have been marked by his selfpresentation were underlain “Betrayed,” three consecutive times.
widespread violence; XXXTentacion is with a genuine sense of despair that The crowd hollered the chorus—“Xans
currently awaiting trial for a horror not even artistic success could placate. don’t make you / Xans gon’ take you ”—
show of domesticabuse and witness “I used to wanna kill myself / Came up, exulting in an opportunity to return
tampering charges. Meanwhile, the rap still wanna kill myself,” Peep rapped to the present.
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“It’s cheaper than coach, and he gets more legroom.” “Don’t worry. He won’t last long.”
Eric Weingarten, Bloomington, Ind. Jane Richmond, Cleveland Heights, Ohio