The New Yorker - June 27, 2022

76 Pages·2022·31.2 MB·English

JUNE 27, 2022
4 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN
11 THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Amy Davidson Sorkin on the gun deal and the G.O.P.;
Fanny Herrero finds the angle; way down in the depths;
majoring in mindfulness; a call for symphonic interludes.
ON AND OFF THE AVENUE
Patricia Marx 16 Tossed and Turned
A search for the perfect mattress.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Dennard Dayle 22 A Time Line of My Recent Arrest
ANNALS OF LAW
Jeannie Suk Gersen 24 Keep Out
The case for—and against—the right to privacy.
PROFILES
Dexter Filkins 28 Party Crasher
Ron DeSantis’s ambitions in Florida and beyond.
A REPORTER AT LARGE
Ed Caesar 42 Sanctuary
A Ukrainian mother escapes the war with her daughters.
FICTION
Etgar Keret 52 “Mitzvah”
THE CRITICS
BOOKS
Judith Thurman 55 The life of Casanova, then and now.
Kristen Roupenian 61 Patrice Nganang’s epic trilogy about Cameroon.
63 Briefly Noted
Stephanie Burt 65 A pioneering novel of trans identity by Imogen Binnie.
THE CURRENT CINEMA
Anthony Lane 68 “Official Competition,” “Apples.”
POEMS
Deborah Landau 35 “Skeleton” and “Flesh”
Page Hill Starzinger 48 “Helianthus”
COVER
Victoria Tentler-Krylov “Sidewalk Connoisseurs”
DRAWINGS Elisabeth McNair, Hartley Lin, Joe Dator, Mick Stevens, P. C. Vey,
Edward Steed, Roz Chast, Tristan Crocker, Ellis Rosen, William Haefeli, Teresa Burns Parkhurst,
Amy Hwang, Sam Marlow, Suerynn Lee SPOTS Doris Liou
CONTRIBUTORS
Dexter Filkins (“Party Crasher,” p. 28) Patricia Marx (“Tossed and Turned,”
is a staff writer and the author of “The p. 16), a staff writer, most recently
Forever War,” which won a National published the book “You Can Only
Book Critics Circle Award. Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time,”
illustrated by Roz Chast.
Jeannie Suk Gersen (“Keep Out,” p. 24),
a contributing writer to the magazine, Ed Caesar (“Sanctuary,” p. 42) is a con-
is a professor at Harvard Law School. tributing staff writer. His latest book
is “The Moth and the Mountain.”
Etgar Keret (Fiction, p. 52) published
the story collection “Fly Already” in Page Hill Starzinger (Poem, p. 48) is
2019. He writes the newsletter “Al- the author of two books of poems:
phabet Soup.” “Vestigial” and “Vortex Street.”
Kristen Roupenian (Books, p. 61) is the Dennard Dayle (“A Time Line of My
author of “ ‘Cat Person’ and Other Recent Arrest,” p. 22) writes the satirical
Stories.” She is working on a novel. newsletter “Extra Evil.” His début book,
“Everything Abridged,” came out in May.
Anthony Lane (The Current Cinema,
p. 68) has been a film critic for The Judith Thurman (Books, p. 55) began
New Yorker since 1993. His book “No- writing for the magazine in 1987 and
body’s Perfect” is a collection of his became a staff writer in 2000. Her new
writings for the magazine. essay collection, “A Left-Handed
Woman,” is due out in December.
Deborah Landau (Poems, p. 35) directs
the Creative Writing Program at New Victoria Tentler-Krylov (Cover) has
York University. Her poetry collections illustrated several children’s books. She
include “Soft Targets” and the forth- published “Building Zaha: The Story
coming “Skeletons.” of Architect Zaha Hadid” in 2020.
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THE MAIL
COUCH TALK ALICE WALKER’S DIARIES
Alexandra Schwartz, in her article about My memory is porous, and, although
the documentary series “Couples Ther- I don’t remember being offered Alice
apy,” which features the psychoanalyst Walker as a Knopf author many years
Orna Guralnik, emphasizes the impor- ago, as Walker claims in Lauren Mi-
tance of Guralnik’s charisma to her pub- chele Jackson’s recent piece about the
lic persona (“Real Talk,” May 23rd). In publication of her journals, it may
a scene describing a couples-therapy have happened (Books, April 25th &
session, Schwartz quotes from a lengthy May 2nd). What certainly didn’t hap-
monologue in which Guralnik lays out pen is what Walker says “allegedly”
the dynamics of the couple’s relation- took place: that Toni Morrison (al-
ship. Many therapists, myself included, most all of whose books were pub-
see their role very differently—to facil- lished at Knopf) kept me from tak-
itate clients’ own understanding of their ing her on. Toni would never have
emotional lives, rather than to sketch it done such a thing and could never
out for them. Guralnik’s style, while en- have done such a thing—to suggest
tertaining and well suited for television, that she did is an ugly slur on both
may not capture the actual norms of of us.
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contemporary psychotherapy. Robert Gottlieb
Nancy Saunders New York City
Media, Pa.
A KEEN EYE
Schwartz writes that “the promise of
confidentiality” in psychotherapy “is sa- Ben Taub’s piece on Paolo Pellegrin’s
cred.” But there’s reason to be skeptical experience as a photographer with glau-
that treatment remains private. For in- coma caught my attention (“In Search
stance, as more of Sigmund Freud’s let- of the Sublime,” May 23rd). My work,
ters are released by the Freud Archives like Pellegrin’s, has also been full of ad-
at the Library of Congress, historians venture and opportunity: I have tra-
are learning that Freud paid only lip ser- versed Namibia’s Skeleton Coast to
vice to confidentiality; he shared with do research, dived underneath Ant-
his correspondents virtually every secret arctica’s ice, and analyzed pictures of
divulged by his patients. Perhaps because plankton and people. And I, too, have
Freud believed that psychoanalysis might glaucoma. An image, fixed in time and
be worthless—but revealed this view space, offers an abstract view of our
only to his inner circle—he often dis- four-dimensional world; as one’s vi-
paraged his patients in private conver- sion deteriorates, abstraction increases.
sations, calling them “nuts,” “rabble,” and Taub beautifully shows how Pellegrin
“pests.” When a colleague asked what continues to teach us about our world
he thought of those who sought his help, through his increasingly abstract yet
Freud answered, “I could wring their insightful images—proving that dis-
necks, all of them.” In order to market ability can enhance ability.
his psychoanalytic treatment, Freud pub- David Checkley
lished five famous case histories, claim- Emeritus Professor
ing success in each one; in fact, they were Scripps Institution of Oceanography
all dismal failures. I would recommend Solana Beach, Calif.
taking anything that psychoanalysts tell
•
you, especially their “interpretations,”
with a grain of salt. Letters should be sent with the writer’s name,
address, and daytime phone number via e-mail to
Robert Kramer
[email protected]. Letters may be edited
Professor of Psychoanalysis
for length and clarity, and may be published in
Eötvös Loránd University any medium. We regret that owing to the volume
Budapest, Hungary of correspondence we cannot reply to every letter.
JUNE 22 – 28, 2022
GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN
Lincoln Center once again turns its stately campus into a playground for all to enjoy, hosting concerts, dance
classes, readings, and even, on July 10, a mass wedding ceremony for those that were cancelled during the
Oasis,
pandemic. The centerpiece of its Summer for the City programming (through Aug. 14) is the a giant
dance floor under the stars, where, beneath a ten-foot disco ball, people can dance the night away to electro-pop
(Ultra Naté and Bright Light Bright Light, June 23), merengue típico (MaxBanda, July 7), and much more.
PHOTOGRAPH BY PARI DUKOVIC
As New York City venues reopen, it’s which had, until then, languished in obscurity.) suspected: a sort of fortuitously shared concep-
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advisable to confirm in advance the The works that are visually quoted in the piece tual sensibility that suggests an in-group but is
requirements for in-person attendance. cohabit with furniture and still-life elements. open to all who care about art’s relations to the
Contours tend to be summarily indicated by wide world. My favorite work in the show is
thin yellow lines. Part of a pale-blue window the indelibly disturbing and enthralling “Your
obtrudes. But nothing disrupts the composition’s Eyes Will Be an Empty Word” (2021), by the
ART essential harmony, the details striking the eye all veteran Cuban American artist and singularly
at once, with a concerted bang.—Peter Schjeldahl plainspoken social activist Coco Fusco—a gor-
(Museum of Modern Art; through Sept. 10.) geous twelve-minute video exploration of Hart
Ellie Ga
Island, New York’s potter’s field for unidentified
This Stockholm-based American artist relies on or unclaimed corpses. Shots of the artist labor-
both personal experience and archival research “Whitney Biennial 2022: ing in a rowboat along its shores alternate with
in her riveting visual essays. In her new video, drone overviews of a really quite lovely place,
Quiet as It’s Kept”
“Quarries,” completed this year, voice-over nar- where rows of small stone markers perfunctorily
ration relays a winding account of such seem- This startlingly coherent and bold exhibition is memorialize innumerable lost lives. Beauty
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ingly unrelated subjects as Ga’s brother’s paraly- a material manifesto of late-pandemic institu- stands in for unconsummated mourning.—P.S.
sis, the discovery of ancient stone tools, and the tional culture. Long on installations and videos (Whitney Museum; through Sept. 5.)
neuroscience of insects. Across a three-channel and short on painting, conventional sculpture,
projection, a pair of hands arrange objects and and straight photography, it is exciting without
images on a light table, moving them from the being especially pleasurable—geared toward
center to the margins, and then offscreen. The thought. The innovative, intimately collabo- MUSIC
triptych concludes with a fascinating history of rative curators David Breslin and Adrienne
Portuguese calçada, a near-extinct street-paving Edwards ignore rather than oppose pressures
Dave Holland–Kenny Barron Trio
technique with a complex legacy—the labor was of the ever-romping art market, which can see
often performed by prisoners—that produced to itself. Delayed for a year by COVID-19, the There’s nothing in the stars insuring
JAZZ
dizzying mosaics from irregularly shaped frag- show consolidates a trend that many of us hadn’t that gifted peers will inevitably collaborate,
ments of basalt and limestone. Ambitious in
scope and conceptually complex, Ga’s piece
has a formal simplicity and a poetically di-
rect exposition that make its forty minutes fly IN THE MUSEUMS
by.—Johanna Fateman (Bureau; through July 24.)
Richard Ayodeji Ikhide
The layered compositions of this young Nigerian
artist have a restless, aqueous depth that’s well
suited to his transhistorical scenes. When seen
from a distance, his large works on paper, made
with watercolor, gouache, and collage, can sug-
gest vibrantly stained abstractions. But, viewed
at close range, the interlocking imagery—bor-
rowed from West African art, Nigeria’s Edo
religion, video games, and Japanese manga—as-
sumes a narrative coherence. Typically, a central
figure (equal parts deity and superhero) seems
poised to spring into action. The protagonist
of “Emiomo Ventures Out” assumes a fighter’s
stance; the subject of “(Medicine Woman) En-
counter” meets the viewer’s gaze with a knowing
look, her body a jigsaw puzzle of golden hues. All
the magnetic characters in Ikhide’s world inhabit
a fantastically colorful present. They’re attended
by floating sculptures and artifacts, rendered in
grisaille or sepia—flickering transmissions from
the past and the future.—J.F. (Candice Madey;
through July 8.)
If we think of suffering as being linked to deprivation, James Joyce didn’t
“Matisse: The Red Studio”
suffer much. For years, while the Irish author was at work on his landmark
What remains to be said about a familiar icon
of modern art painted by Henri Matisse in novel “Ulysses,” he was financially and emotionally supported by a number
1911? Quite a lot, as this jewel box of a show at of queer women—and some forward-thinking men—who not only believed
MOMA proves. The exhibition surrounds “The
in Joyce’s genius but understood his desire to be beautifully turned out as
Red Studio,” a rendering of the French artist’s
“One Hun-
atelier, with most of the eleven earlier works of he wrote all those beautiful sentences. In the elegant exhibition
his (paintings, sculptures, a ceramic plate) that, dred Years of James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses,’” on view at the Morgan Library &
Y in freehand copy, pepper the canvas’s uniform
T Museum through Oct. 2, manuscript pages from Joyce’s major works are
T ground of potent Venetian red. The ensemble
E
ES; ROM G irmevmoleurtsieosn vtiheawt erress oinna tthees tmo atrhvise ldsa oy.f Gano ragretoisutsic? caocc-oedmitpoarns ioefd T bhye Lphitotlteo Rgreavpiehws (oafn Md, aforgr aar teitm Ae,n ldoveersros,n to aon)d, w Jhano ee nHcoeaupra, gthede
ONS F Oh, yeah. Aesthetic bliss saturates—radically, Joyce by excerpting “Ulysses,” between 1918 and 1920, before Sylvia Beach
JH
N P to a degree still apt to startle when you pause to
BERA reflect on it—the means, ends, and very soul of a published the novel in its entirety in 1922, under the aegis of her legendary
Y G
BO style so far ahead of its time that its full influence Parisian bookstore, Shakespeare and Company—despite the fact that Joyce’s
N T
OO took decades to kick in. (It did so decisively in
TRATICE PH pAabisnttriancgt sE bxyp rMesasriokn Risotst hink oth aen yde aortsh aefrt eArmtheer imcaun- wgaryit pinrgid we atsh bisa mnnoendt hin t sheavne rtaol ccoeluenbtrraietes . JWoyhcea’ts bfreitetnerd wshaiyp two ictohm remmeamrkoarbatlee
SR
LUOU seum’s acquisition, in 1949, of “The Red Studio,” gay women whose own brilliance included recognizing his?—Hilton Als
ILS
THE NEW YORKER, JUNE 27, 2022 5
Sheer Mag
R. & B.
Born of the Philadelphia punk scene, the
PUNK
beloved unit Sheer Mag evokes and subverts
In 2017, the R. & B. singer SZA’s début
riffy seventies hard rock. The band’s brash but
“Ctrl,”
album, opened a portal—one that distilled songs of opposition and desire re-
represented not just a major leap for the mind listeners not only of what they’re against
but of what they’re for. After establishing
artist but a breakthrough for the genre
its pop bona fides on three EPs, Sheer Mag
itself. Her alternative slow jams pushed amplified the political weight of its blazing
her voice to the fore and laid bare all the sound with the full-length début “Need to
Feel Your Love,” from 2017, which contains
quirks of her dating life, establishing her
fight songs that resonate even more now. The
as a distinguished millennial anecdotalist revolutionary anthem “Expect the Bayonet”
engages the electoral process while offering an
in the process. In the years since, her can-
unapologetic threat of direct action. Just try
did, conversational lyrics that speak in-
not to smile as Tina Halladay’s raw, sirening
discriminately about casual relationships voice depicts head-spinning love, or throwing
rocks at the police. The band’s latest record,
and agency have laid the groundwork for
“A Distant Call,” from 2019, is more personal
the many “Insecure”-adjacent songwriters
but equally righteous. Sheer Mag’s next show
who have come after her, including Sum- in Brooklyn is free.—Jenn Pelly (Union Pool;
June 26.)
mer Walker, Ari Lennox, and Ella Mai.
A deluxe edition celebrating the album’s
Summer Recital Series
five-year anniversary comes with seven
In 2009, the Metropolitan Opera’s free
new songs that seem to revel in that in- OPERA
concert series in the city’s parks shifted from
fluence. These sketches exist as glimpses full-length operas with established stars to
into a modern R. & B. world remade in shows of arias and duets with up-and-coming
—Sheldon Pearce singers. As a result, attendees can expect
SZA’s image.
a collection of opera’s greatest earworms,
such as Bizet’s “Au fond du temple saint,”
which Ben Bliss and Justin Austin perform
so when overdue unions, such as that of the in obscurity in 1990. Eastman was always at Brooklyn Bridge Park on June 22. Then
bassist Dave Holland and the pianist Kenny purposeful and sometimes weighty in his singers from the Met’s young-artist program
Barron, actually occur, we can only be thank- explorations of identity, but “Femenine” is offer floating and seductive melodies by Puc-
ful for the fruits of their blended brilliance. beguiling in its loveliness: gentle washes of cini, Saint-Saëns, and Offenbach at Jackie
Although these two masters had a one-off vibraphone and sleigh bells form the percus- Robinson Park, in Manhattan (June 23); the
meeting on a 1985 recording, it took nearly sion section, creating a supple ground for Williamsbridge Oval, in the Bronx (June 25);
thirty years for them to collaborate again, winds and piano to flourish in the course Socrates Sculpture Park, in Queens (June
1
first as a duo, and eventually as co-leaders of sixty or so minutes. Also playing: Last 27); and Clove Lakes Park, in Staten Island
of a sure-footed trio fortified by the drum- year, the musical collective Wild Up selected (June 29).—O.Z.
mer Johnathan Blake. The group’s début “Femenine” for the first volume of its East-
album, “Without Deception,” released in man anthology, a welcoming introduction
2020, didn’t turn the jazz world upside down, to the composer’s output. Volume II, “Joy
but it firmly exhibited the maturity of two Boy,” enlarges that portrait with an album DANCE
time-honored luminaries and their spirited of scrambling, discordant, meditative music
interaction with a younger acolyte—potent that ends with the uplifting “Stay on It,” an-
American Ballet Theatre
chemistry that will surely repeat itself for other moment of lightness and insistence in
this residency.—Steve Futterman (Blue Note; Eastman’s œuvre.—Oussama Zahr (Streaming Alexei Ratmansky’s new ballet, “Of Love and
June 21-26.) on select platforms.) Rage,” continues through June 25. With the
work’s grand score, by Aram Khachaturian,
and plot, drawn from the first-century novel
Dee Diggs Ty Segall
Callirhoe, one might be tempted to think of
Sometimes a d.j. set comes along Even at its most unkempt, the rock it as the balletic equivalent of “Ben Hur.”
ELECTRONIC ROCK
that seems to define its moment, and Dee and roll discharged by Ty Segall seems gov- Then the company brings back one of its most
Diggs’s “Dekmantel Podcast” installment, erned by the stringent aesthetic rules of a familiar productions, “Swan Lake” (June 27-
from May, is one of them: the Brooklyn secret fusspot. The California musician, July 6). There are many intriguing casts to
dance spinner has long played a rangy mix of long entrenched at the border of garage choose from, and also several débuts, but,
house, techno, and disco, but this set main- rock and psychedelia, has broadened his if one has to pick a single pairing, one could
tains an almost absurdly euphoric tone— sound by exploring the various nooks of do worse than that of the highly musical and
with R. & B. as the key ingredient. (Mariah his chosen terrain. Prolificacy has led him spontaneous Isabella Boylston with Daniel
Carey makes an appearance.) A special Pride down unexpected paths, including “First Camargo, a dancer of great lyricism, based
edition of Diggs’s monthly House of Diggs Taste,” a flammable rock album recorded at the Dutch National Ballet, who appears as
party, hosted by the drag performer Cherry without a drop of guitar, and “Whirlybird,” a guest with the company (June 28 and July 2
Jaymes, features the fellow-d.j.s BEIGE, a documentary-film soundtrack that pul- matinée).—Marina Harss (Metropolitan Opera
from Detroit, and the Brooklynites Kim sates with Krautrock and, more surprisingly, House; through July 16.)
Anh and Rose Kourts.—Michaelangelo Matos anxiety. Segall recorded his forthcoming L
A
T
(Public Records; June 25.) album, “Hello, Hi,” primarily by himself, R
at home. But, behind its tender West Coast Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana K ZE
slack, beware the snarl, deployed in bit- The best part of this company’s thirty-fifth- LE
Julius Eastman: “Femenine” ing solos that snake through his ballads. A anniversary program, in 2018, was a work by ME
Y
To commemorate the anniversary month ahead of the record’s release, Segall José Maldonado. It set the dancers loose. Now B
CLASSICAL N
of the Stonewall Riots, on June 28, the Or- fronts his boisterous Freedom Band, with he returns, collaborating with the Mexican O
chestra of St. Luke’s offers a free live stream an opening set by the serene folksinger dancer Karen Lugo; they choreograph and ATI
R
(at oslmusic.org) of “Femenine,” by the gay Shannon Lay.—Jay Ruttenberg (Brooklyn star in the première of “Fronteras” (or “Bar- T
S
U
Black composer Julius Eastman, who died Steel; June 25.) riers”). With an original score by José Luis de L
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6 THE NEW YORKER, JUNE 27, 2022
la Paz, the piece addresses limits, including the bed almost every night, and if her secret Breslin and Foley each play several characters,
those that might be keeping flamenco from leaks she’ll be sentenced to the social guillo- changing costumes at an incredible pace, and
reaching wider audiences.—Brian Seibert (Joyce tine. The musical is goofy, sweet, and hopeful Cat Rodriguez plays their diabolical online
Theatre; June 21-26.) in a way that may make budding cynics roll creation, Eva Maria. The show, which risks a
their eyes but touched the heart of this aging lot in its ice-cold satire, pays off even better
one.—Alexandra Schwartz (Reviewed in our in person than it does onscreen.—Vinson Cun-
Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival
issue of 6/20/22.) (Atlantic Theatre Company; ningham (Connelly Theatre; through June 25.)
This festival’s first iteration in the Ted Shawn through July 10.)
Theatre, in Becket, Mass., in 1942, featured a
Snow in Midsummer
lot of folk dance, reflecting what its founder,
Circle Jerk
Ted Shawn, considered quintessentially Amer- Something is badly amiss in the Chinese
ican. This year, it opens with a contemporary Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley—the cre- town of New Harmony. The rain has dried
echo or answer, “America(na) to Me,” in the ators of “Circle Jerk,” which premièred as up; ecological catastrophe looms. But this
renovated theatre. A mixed bill of artists are a streaming production and was a finalist is no ordinary drought, as Tianyun (Teresa
invited to present their ideas of American for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for drama—are Avia Lim), a self-made businesswoman who
identity, and the range is wide: the ballerina formidably smart writers and performers. arrives in New Harmony to purchase the
Sara Mearns, the tap queen Dormeshia, the Their references range from Greek antiquity town’s factories from a local scion, Hand-
flamenco dancer Nélida Tirado, the bhara- to the TikTok hyper-present, and they show some Zhang (John Yi), discovers. Nearly three
ta-natyam artist Mythili Prakash, and the precisely zero fear of informational overload years earlier, a poor widow named Dou Yi
Warwick Gombey Troupe of Bermuda.—B.S. and occasional near-incoherence. Now “Circle (the powerful Dorcas Leung) was executed
(Ted Shawn Theatre; June 22-26.) Jerk,” under Rory Pelsue’s direction, is up in for a crime that she professed not to have
person at the Connelly Theatre and, again, committed, swearing that the town would be
streaming online. It’s set on Gayman Island, blighted until her name was cleared. Fran-
Pacific Northwest Ballet
which looks like a tweaked-out version of ces Ya-Chu Cowhig’s play, directed by Zi
One of the country’s finest ballet companies, the Fire Island Pines, where two villains are Alikhan, is based on a thirteenth-century Chi-
based in Seattle, returns to New York (with its hatching a white-supremacist plan to conquer nese drama and falls, tonally, between opera
own orchestra) for the first time in six years. the world for their kind—gay white men— and soap opera. Identities are disguised and
At Lincoln Center’s Koch Theatre, presented through the suggestive power of the Internet. revealed, improbable family secrets abound,
by the Joyce, the company performs three
programs, a gala lineup plus two more. All
include Twyla Tharp’s “Waiting at the Sta- OFF OFF BROADWAY
tion,” made in 2013 for P.N.B., a father-son
tale set to music by the R. & B. composer Allen
Toussaint. Crystal Pite’s “Plot Point” (2010),
which is on the latter two programs, offers a
stylish deconstruction of storytelling through
movement, in which masked dancers interact
with dancers in street clothes, creating situa-
tions reminiscent of classic film noir.—M.H.
(DavidH. Koch Theatre; June 22-26.)
River to River Festival
The dance events of this free festival in lower
Manhattan continue. Beth Gill returns to Fed-
eral Hall, the site of her slow, spellbinding
“Catacomb” in 2017, with a preview of “Nail
Biter,” a psychodrama that pushes into sci-
ence fiction and myth (June 22-23). Over on
Governors Island, Heather Kravas presents
“duet/duet” (June 25-26), a pair of duets in-
1
vestigating simple shapes and lines, with a
score by Zeena Parkins.—B.S. (June 22-26.)
THE THEATRE
For an experimental-theatre company to break through is a challenge;
The Bedwetter
Mabou
for it to survive more than half a century is a miracle. And yet
This new musical, directed by Anne Kauff-
Mines,
man, with music by Adam Schlesinger, who founded in 1970 by a group of five ambitious artists, including
co-wrote the lyrics with the comedian Sarah
the then married JoAnne Akalaitis and Philip Glass, is still going strong.
Silverman, and a book by Silverman and
From the start, its mission was collaborative and cross-disciplinary, its
Joshua Harmon, is based on Silverman’s 2010
memoir. It’s 1980 or so, and Sarah (the plucky output heavy on Beckett and influenced by the Polish theatre guru Jerzy
Zoe Glick) is a new fifth grader in a small
Grotowski. The name came from a mining town in Nova Scotia, near
New Hampshire town, whose parents have
where the group developed its first original piece, Lee Breuer’s “Red Horse
recently divorced. Her dad, Donald (Darren
G
N Goldstein), likes to share dirty jokes with his Animation.” Mabou Mines now has an East Village home, at 122CC,
A
Z L kids; Sarah’s Nana (Bebe Neuwirth, a delight where it will hold its pandemic-delayed fiftieth-anniversary celebration,
N to witness at close range) says things like “easy
A
R June 23-25. The program, sure to harken back to a time when experimen-
F peezy, titty squeezy” between sips of her serial
Y
B Manhattans. Sarah’s mom, Beth Ann (Caissie tal theatre was as essential to the city as subway tokens, includes readings,
N
O Levy), has responded to the pain of divorce
concerts, installations, and such downtown luminaries as Akalaitis,
ATI by taking to her bed. Sarah’s ready self-depre-
R David Greenspan, Kathleen Chalfant, Bill Irwin, David Neumann, Dael
T cation and celebrity-fart impressions win her
S
U —Michael Schulman
L a ticket to inclusion in school, but she wets Orlandersmith, Bill Camp, and Elizabeth Marvel.
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THE NEW YORKER, JUNE 27, 2022 7
and ghosts prowl the land in search of rest. with his own mother (Leslie Mann) is shad- teacher, is repressed, both emotionally and
More modern-day subplots, involving the owed by his strained one with his stepfather sexually; she tells Leo that she has never had
ethics of organ donation and changing atti- (Brad Garrett); meanwhile, David (Evan As- an orgasm and led a dull sex life with her
tudes toward gay love, add some contempo- sante), Andrew’s thirteen-year-old brother, late husband, the only person she’s ever been
rary flavor, but the drama works best when it is planning his first kiss and craves Andrew’s with. Though she summons Leo for sex, she
1
stays true to its rich old bones.—A.S. (Classic advice. Raiff depicts Andrew as faux-flawed— also craves a relationship, and the movie is
Stage Company; through July 9.) too caring, too honest, too full of love—and filled with their conversations, in which she
similarly spotlights the goodness of the sup- discloses the story of her unfulfilled life and
porting characters (except the blatant vil- pressures Leo to talk about himself, which,
lains). The simplistic plot and psychology and unsurprisingly, proves liberating for him,
MOVIES the lack of directorial creativity are balanced too. The movie is coy about sex, however.
by the performance of Burghardt, a poised It’s centered on Nancy learning to love her
and distinctive actor, neurodivergent in real own body; the script, by Katy Brand, comes
Cha Cha Real Smooth
life, whose authenticity outshines the movie’s to the subject by ricochet, and Thompson
Cooper Raiff is the writer, director, and star thudding artifice.—Richard Brody (In theatrical defies movie stereotypes in nude scenes that
of this sticky-sweet comedy-drama, about a release and streaming on Apple TV+.) are less significant as drama than as affirma-
college graduate’s fraught transition to adult- tions.—R.B. (Streaming on Hulu.)
hood. Raiff plays Andrew, who gets his degree
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
from Tulane, returns home to Livingston, New
A Man of Integrity
Jersey, takes a fast-food job, and—thanks to his Sex positivity is both celebrated and trivial-
eager, enthusiastic manner—quickly gets hired ized in this chipper, earnest, and treacly Brit- Mohammad Rasoulof’s new drama denounces
as a bar-mitzvah party-starter. His watch- ish comedic drama, directed by Sophie Hyde, Iran’s authorities—political, religious, and
ful concern for an autistic teen, a frequent which is set almost entirely in a posh hotel patriarchal—as corrupt, hypocritical, and
party guest named Lola (Vanessa Burghardt), room. There, Nancy Stokes (Emma Thomp- oppressive. Reza (Reza Akhlaghirad), a thir-
leads to a too close friendship with her mother son), a middle-aged widow, arranges meetings tyish man who was expelled from college for
(Dakota Johnson), who’s engaged to a lawyer with a younger man called Leo Grande (Daryl his outspokenness, has fled to a rural village,
(Raúl Castillo). Andrew’s warm relationship McCormack), a sex worker. Nancy, a religion where he owns a fish farm and where his wife,
Hadis (Soudabeh Beizaee), is a school princi-
pal. A tentacular company, known ominously
WHAT TO STREAM as the Company, dominates local affairs, con-
trolling businesses, courts, schools, and gov-
ernment; seeking Reza’s land and home, it
shuts off his water and kills his fish. The indig-
nant Reza—facing inspection by the religious
police, confronting predatory bankers, and
enduring false arrest—refuses to pay bribes.
Hadis intervenes on his behalf, to disastrous
effect, and their young son, Sahand (Sepehr
Ebadi), is persecuted, too. As the ropes of
power tighten around the family, Reza—his
dark eyes blank with rage—puts a complex and
ruthless plan into action. Rasoulof, who has
faced arrest and imprisonment for his work,
films the tale with a cold fury of his own; his
realistic style is fiercely defiant. Though the
drama is rushed, its grim urgency is palpa-
ble.—R.B. (In theatrical release.)
Ophelia
The director Claire McCarthy is hardly the
first person to approach the story of “Hamlet”
from an unfamiliar angle. (Tom Stoppard,
John Updike, and Ian McEwan are just some
of those who have made the attempt.) But
McCarthy’s 2018 film, adapted by Semi Chel-
las from a novel by Lisa Klein that tells the
Raoul Walsh’s 1946 film-noir musical, “The Man I Love” (streaming on the story from Ophelia’s perspective, is unusual
in devising a whole new set of circumstances
Criterion Channel), one of Martin Scorsese’s prime inspirations for “New
with which to thicken the play’s plot. Daisy
York, New York,” is set almost entirely in Los Angeles, where a hardboiled Ridley plays the title character, who is raised
but lonely night-club singer named Petey Brown (Ida Lupino) returns at Elsinore and taken on as a lady-in-waiting
by Gertrude (Naomi Watts), before falling
home to visit her three younger siblings for Christmas. Two of them
for Prince Hamlet (George MacKay), who
(including a sister whose war-veteran husband is in a mental hospital) looks thoroughly tragic, or at least a bit
are entangled with a slick gangster named Nicky Toresca (Robert Alda, miserable, from the start. The dialogue is
in prose, boiled down from Shakespearean
Alan’s father), at whose night club Petey finagles a job in order to watch
verse, and the drama is no longer a tragedy
out for them. But Petey’s past catches up with her when she runs into San but a fairy tale—almost, at times, a farce.
Thomas (Bruce Bennett), a brilliant yet troubled jazz pianist who’s the ex Naomi Watts has a second role, as a woodland
witch in charge of all the potions; Clive Owen,
she’s never got over. Lupino’s flinty performance and Bennett’s haunted
as Claudius, steals both the crown and the
1
one infuse the movie’s pugnacity and violence with tender vulnerability, show.—Anthony Lane (Reviewed in our issue of
and Walsh, a cinematic poet of brassy urbanity, stokes the story’s volatile 7/8 & 15/19.) (Streaming on Netflix.)
elements—artistic passions, high-society temptations, streetwise brav-
T
ery, postwar trauma, family loyalty, and the secrets and lies that pass for For more reviews, visit ET
R
romance—to a crescendo of abraded grandeur.—Richard Brody newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town VE
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8 THE NEW YORKER, JUNE 27, 2022