"You have to learn how to kill." In Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, the vampires aren’t sexy. There’s nothing particularly interesting about them. They’re not Eurocentric romantics; they’re pure Americana, highway drifters chasing the night. They burn. They kill....
It’s easy to forget that safety is a luxury, but Richmond filmmaker Jen Lawhorne is prepared to compel us to remember. Her new documentary, “Fata Morgana,” made in partnership with two African refugees, is meant to reveal and examine the hardships and transition process of the African refugee, the global refugee crisis, and what Lawhorne...
"Stand-up is survival. For me that's jazz, that's what I have to do." It is hard to overstate the impact that Robin Williams had on just about every aspect of comedy since he broke the scene in the mid-1970s. His sheer energy, razor-sharp wit, ability to morph his persona into characters both known and unknown, and genre-defining stand-up shaped...
Anger, frustration, sadness, heartbreak. The air in the theater felt heavy. It was as if you could feel the emotions of the audience dance around you from one side of the room to the other. These were the powerful reactions from the crowd following the Institute for Contemporary Art's recent screening of Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra...
In search of something more rough and real, Pilipino director Lino Brocka’s 1975 docudrama, “Manila in the Claws of Light,” is steeped in social realism in its depiction of the lower-class struggle of a young twenty-something named Julio (Bembol Roco). The film follows Julio into the seedy underbelly of Manila on a search for his lost love,...
My summer Monday night tradition for the past several years: drive to my mom’s and make dinner with my grandmother, crack a bottle of wine, plant on the couch by 8 p.m. and glue our faces to the TV to watch 25 men battle over one lucky lady (I’m a purist, I don’t watch The Bachelor. The Bachelorette is where it’s at.) My grandmother and I will...
To kick off the summer, VCU's Institute for Contemporary Art is premiering a free film series to showcase local and national filmmakers in conjunction with their current exhibition, Declaration. Launching today and running year-round, the ICA Cinema Series will offer free movies at the arts center's auditorium once a month along with...
The term ‘Uncle Tom’ conjures up harsh memories of America’s racist past. Yet to author and filmmaker Jared Brock, the phrase is something different entirely. According to Brock, who premiered his latest work at the Black History Museum & Cultural Center last night, it’s in some serious need of clarification or as he says, ‘redemption’. In...
It’s been about two weeks since I saw Avengers: Infinity War. I saw it twice over the course of 48 hours, on the night it premiered and then again on the next night. Over 10 years of storytelling and 19 films have led up to the ultimate big bad of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the most pearl-clutching post-credits sequence in Marvel...
Richmond provides the backdrop for many productions, from random alleyways on “Homeland” to the Laburnum House on the canceled “Mercy Street,” but it’s rare that the city receives the type of exposure Jai Jamison is aiming for with his forthcoming short, “Slave Cry.” A pilot for a proposed TV series, Jamison said he wanted to tell a contemporary...
