Freedom jonathan franzen review

See the article in its original context from June 10, 1994 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The Gothic horror film "Jack Be Nimble" has a hallucinatory power and psychological refinement that you won't find in any number of movie adaptations of Stephen King novels, including "Carrie." Written and directed by Garth Maxwell, a young New Zealander, it tells the story of Jack and Dora (Alexis Arquette and Sarah Smuts-Kennedy), a young brother and sister whose mother's nervous … [Read more...] about Review/Film; Gothic Horror With a Point to Make

See the article in its original context from April 21, 2000 Section Page Buy Reprints View on timesmachine TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Lux Lisbon, one of the five self-doomed sisters whose lissome dance toward extinction is the subject of Sofia Coppola's first movie (and of Jeffrey Eugenides's first novel, on which it is based), is first glimpsed in the act of finishing a red Popsicle. As played -- incarnated might be a better word -- by Kirsten Dunst, Lux is at once a blond icon of girlish suburban innocence and an emblem of womanly eroticism. Like Sue Lyon in Stanley Kubrick's ''Lolita,'' with her lollipop and her heart-shaped sunglasses, Ms. Dunst turns Lux's every glance and gesture into an ambiguous provocation. In Mr. Eugenides's book, and in the script Ms. Coppola has reverently carved from it, Lux and her sisters exist only insofar as they are the objects of masculine desire, which upon their deaths … [Read more...] about FILM REVIEW; Evanescent Trees and Sisters In an Enchanted 1970’s Suburb

“The Chambermaid,” Lila Avilés’s quietly stunning debut feature, is a work of closely observed workplace realism, but at times it achieves the strangeness and intensity of science fiction. The camera never leaves the high-rise Mexico City hotel where the title character is employed, and in spite of spectacular views from the picture windows, the building can feel as claustrophobic and isolated as a space station drifting in a distant galaxy. A civilization unto itself, with a rigorous hierarchy and unspoken taboos, the hotel hums with mystery and menace. Even when nothing much is happening, there is the lurking sense that anything might. The viewer shadows Eve (Gabriela Cartol) through her daily routines, though it isn’t entirely clear how many shifts we are witnessing. The job has a way of swallowing up time. As for Eve’s life outside of work, all we really know is that she has a 4-year-old son named Ruben. She periodically checks in with him and his caregiver, and sometimes a … [Read more...] about ‘The Chambermaid’ Review: Amid Luxury, an Entrancing Drudgery

The Russian director Kira Kovalenko’s moody, miserablist drama “Unclenching the Fists” captures a turning point in the life of Ada (Milana Aguzarova), a young woman trapped under her father’s thumb. The chilly mountain region where they reside is in a mining town in North Ossetia, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus, an area still raw with the memories of civil warfare and extremist violence. Zaur (Alik Karaev) is a possessive and domineering single parent, forbidding Ada from wearing perfume should it attract male attention, and — most alarmingly — locking his daughter and youngest son into their shared apartment in the evenings, only allowing them to exit when he sees fit. Distrustful of institutions, Zaur refuses to allow Ada to get the treatment she needs for injuries sustained during a terrorist attack, forcing the young woman to wear adult diapers. Ada rebels as best she can, meeting up with her dimwitted pseudo-boyfriend, Tamik (Arsen Khetagurov), between … [Read more...] about ‘Unclenching the Fists’ Review: The Cost of Freedom

Up until about 10.45 p.m. on Thursday evening, this critic thought he had seen the best coup de théâtre of this Broadway season at the end of A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain , in which her Nora walks out of her home and… well, it will still go unrevealed here in case any readers have bought a ticket. But then came the last thrilling moment of the zipping, glorious revival of Stephen Sondheim ’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, booking to Jan 14, 2024) —and, sorry A Doll’s House , you have been aced. It is not just a visual feat in that last second. A tangibly delighted audience was ready to applaud. The final exits from the stage were in process, the last crescendo of notes reached. And then, bam , the ecstatic response of the audience anticipating their cue to stand suddenly gained the cherry on top of a gasp of collective shock. In that closing moment—like much of the show, thrilling and arch all at once—an exquisite … [Read more...] about ‘Sweeney Todd’ Review: Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford Shine in Broadway Revival

0 Kids & Family The critters, rescued during the 2014 nesting season, were released into the Gulf of Mexico. Sherri Lonon , Patch Staff Posted Reply Keeping up with one baby can be tough enough, but imagine having to care for more than 2,600. There was no imagining for the folks at the Mote Marine Laboratory ’s Hatchling Hospital this sea turtle nesting season. The hospital served as the rescue site for hundreds of hatchlings between May 1 and October. While most of the critters were released earlier in the season, 200 had to stay behind for extra care so they could recover from injuries and regain strength, an email from Sarasota Police Department spokeswoman Genevieve Judge explained. The final two baby loggerhead turtles were released into the Gulf of Mexico Oct. 30. Sarasota Marine Patrol Officer Bruce King and Officer Travis Forrister teamed up with Mote Marine scientist Karen Schanzle for the special … [Read more...] about Watch: 2 Loggerhead Hatchlings Swim to Freedom