The New York Times - USA (2020-08-03)

MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020 C1

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NEWS CRITICISM

2 BOOKS

Raven Leilani speaks to her

time. BY CONCEPCIÓN DE LEÓN

5 POP MUSIC

The most soothing man on

TikTok. JON CARAMANICA

2 FILM

How do you teach

an android to be

a movie star?

BY SARAH BAHR

If you want to know what it feels like to be

listened to, if, in our moment of detachment

and division, you’ve forgotten the basic

pleasure of revealing something delicate

about yourself to another person, and of

having that person respond by taking a sin-

cere and sustained interest, allow Anna

Sale to remind you.

I experienced it this summer when I

made Sale pretend that I was a guest on her

acclaimed interview podcast, “Death, Sex &

Money.” With little more knowledge of her

subject than could be gleaned from an email

signature and a few minutes of small talk,

she felt her way toward a line of questioning

that left a lump in my throat and a storm of

memories flashing before my eyes.

What was the career arc that led you to

The New York Times at this moment? When

did you feel like “I’m uncertain if I can get

paid writing about the things that I love and

think are important?” Have there been mo-

ments when it didn’t feel like that was going

to be possible? How did you figure that out?

Were there people in your life who were there

to support you?

Listeners to Sale’s show are familiar with

questions like these, questions that lock on

to moments of unease, irresolution or ten-

derness that we don’t always put into

words. Since she created “Death, Sex &

Money” for WNYC in 2014, Sale has asked

them weekly of both famous people (Bill

Withers, Jane Fonda) and nonfamous peo-

ple, many of who send in letters and voice

memos inspired by the show’s tagline: “The

things we think about a lot and need to talk

about more.”

Guests have included a copywriter who

paid her bills by working as a “sugar baby,”

The Calm Podcast Voice

Asking Thorny Questions

Anna Sale created the podcast “Death, Sex &

Money” for WNYC in 2014.

DEVIN OKTAR YALKIN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

CONTINUED ON PAGE C3

By REGGIE UGWU

In ‘Death, Sex & Money,’

Anna Sale inspires her guests

to share their darkest thoughts

and deepest secrets.

IF YOU WATCH ONLY ONEdocumen-

tary about immigration, then by all

means make it “Immigration Na-

tion,” a six-hour Netflix series that

mixes reporting with an impres-

sive amount of vivid ride-along ob-

servation.

Parts of it may start to drag or

feel padded, but its see-the-whole-

elephant approach to one of Amer-

ica’s most divisive issues has in-

herent value. It will almost cer-

tainly leave you better informed

than you were before, even if its

net effect may be to further en-

trench people on whichever side of

the debate they already occupy.

Immigration to the United

States is a story spread across

thousands of miles, a variety of

faceless government agencies and

a tapestry of determined, often

desperate petitioners, and “Immi-

gration Nation” tries to cover as

many of its facets as it can cram in.

This includes the widely known

ones, like child separation at the

border, as well as less familiar an-

gles, such as the exploitation of mi-

grants who take on the work of

natural-disaster recovery and fed-

MIKE HALE TELEVISION REVIEW

“Immigration Nation,” a film by Christina Clusiau and Shaul Schwarz, examines the tactics used by federal agents.

NETFLIX

A Deep Dive Into Deportation

A Netflix documentary

looks at the bureaucracy

of immigration

enforcement.

CONTINUED ON PAGE C6

Immigration Nation
Streaming on Netflix

When Beyoncé took a speaking role as Nala

— the eventual queen — in the 2019 remake

of “The Lion King,” she decided to delve be-

yond Disney’s Hollywood version of Africa.

She added a new, gospel-charged song,

“Spirit,” to the film’s soundtrack, and gath-

ered an international coalition, featuring

up-and-coming African songwriters and

producers, to join her on a full-length al-

bum, “The Lion King: The Gift.” Now she

has turned songs from that album into a

film of her own, working with various direc-

tors as she did on her visual albums “Bey-

oncé” and “Lemonade.” Here, critics for

The New York Times discuss the imagery

and implications of “Black Is King.”

WESLEY MORRIS

Critic at Large

Let’s take a moment, shall we, to appreciate

that beauty will make you tolerate any-

thing, including waking up at the crack of

dawn to behold it. Very little compares to

the rising sun. Often not much tops Beyoncé

and the extremes sometimes required to

experience her (canceling an evening,

dropping everything, getting filthy at

Coachella). “Black Is King” is rather hu-

mane. You simply drag yourself from bed,

head to Disney+, and the beauty begins.

Well past the halfway point, Beyoncé is

just facing Kelly Rowland, serenading her,

beaming at her. The sincerity is so intense,

Rowland has to avert her eyes. She’s girl-

ishly overcome. The sunrise is too much.

Beyoncé, center, contains

multitudes when it comes to

artistic collaboration, and

when it comes to fashion

designers, too.

ANDREW WHITE/PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT AND DISNEY+

Beyoncé’s ‘Black Is King’: Let’s Discuss

Six critics for The Times talk about the imagery and implications of the visual album, a statement

of African-diaspora pride and creative power, based on the performer’s ‘The Lion King: The Gift.’

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