august 19–september 1, 2019 | new york 79do this? you’ll think as your heart thanks artists,
nature, and another summer in the city. j.s.
MOVIES
(^) See After the Wedding
Remaking Susanne Bier’s 2006 drama.
In theaters.
Bring a hankie to Bart Freundlich’s American
remake of Danish director Susanne Bier’s gorgeous
weeper, the emotionally convoluted—in a good
way—story of a do-gooder (Michelle Williams)
reluctantly forced to fly from an Indian orphanage
to New York at the summons of a magazine impre-
sario (Julianne Moore) thinking about donating a
couple of million. There’s a big twist and then
another big twist and then a couple more big twists
to round things out. There’s a third superb perfor-
mance after Moore’s and Williams’s: Abby Quinn
as Moore’s upended stepdaughter. d.e.
TV
(^) Watch Wu-Tang:
An American Saga
The story “ain’t nuthin’ ta f ’ wit.”
Hulu, September 4.
If Showtime’s doc Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and
Men wasn’t quite enough Wu for you, Hulu offers
this scripted series about the rise of one of the
greatest hip-hop acts of all time. j.c.
BOOKS
(^) Read Fleishman
Is in Trouble
Toby Fleishman, ladies’ man.
Random House.
For years, Taffy Brodesser-Akner has written
swoon-worthy celebrity profiles with superhuman
levels of empathy, writes Vulture’s Maris Kreizman,
so it’s no wonder that her debut novel features blis-
tering observations about unforgettable charac-
ters, some of whom are more flawed than others.
Fleishman Is in Trouble subverts the narratives
that Great Male Writers have been putting out for
centuries and does so with authority and grace.
POP MUSIC
(^) Listen to Forever
Turned Around
Via Chicago.
Secretly Canadian, August 30.
Chicago indie rockers Whitney formed in the wake
of the Smith Westerns, serving up feathery, fey folk-
rock tunes on 2016’s Light Upon the Lake.Forever
Turned Around is a wonder; smooth and slight but
somehow filling. It crosses the creative arrange-
ments of indie outfits like Beirut with earnest vocals
and peak yacht rock’s laconic beauty. c.j.
TV
& 18. Rewatch
The Dark Crystal and
Watch Age of Resistance
You’ve been (theoretically) waiting nearly
40 years to see this prequel.
Netflix, August 30.
Fans of Jim Henson’s 1982 movie TheDarkCrys-
tal will undoubtedly be intrigued by this Netflix
prequel series. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resis-
tance brings to life events that occur in the world
of Thra before the movie with a combination of
old-school puppets and new-school visual effects.
If you need a refresher, The Dark Crystalis also
streaming on the platform. j.c.
BOOKS- (^) Read The World
Doesn’t Require You
Magical realism.
Liveright.
We know Cross River, Maryland, the setting of
Rion Amilcar Scott’s stories, is fictional because it’s
supposed to have been founded by slaves who suc-
cessfully overthrew their masters. We also know
this because God was resurrected there, which we
learn from his progeny in “David Sherman, the
Last Son of God,” and because in another futuristic
story, slave history is reenacted by cyborgs. Scott
joins a growing tradition of African-American
authors fusing the folksy dystopian humor of
George Saunders with the charged satire of Ish-
mael Reed and expands on it brilliantly. b.k.
MOVIES - (^) See Hamlet
A 70-mm. film.
Museum of the Moving Image,
August 24 and 25.
As part of its “See It Big!” series, the Museum of the
Moving Image presents 70-mm. screenings of
Kenneth Branagh’s insanely ambitious 1996 adap-
tation. With a cast to die for—Julie Christie, Robin
Williams, Derek Jacobi, Kate Winslet, and, of
course, Branagh as the Melancholy Dane—the
director-star went for broke: His highly stylized
camerawork, which tries to match the ornate
poetry of Shakespeare’s words, deserves to be seen
on the biggest screen possible.
TV - (^) Watch Neon Genesis
Evangelion
Starring eerily humanoid robots.
Netflix.
Dedicated anime fans have always found creative
ways to watch their favorite shows, but now that
Netflix and other streaming services have entered
the game, anime can have new audiences.Neon
Genesis Evangelion, widely regarded as among
the greatest anime of all time, was added to the
platform this summer and holds up well for being
almost 25 years old.
THEATER - (^) Go to The Rave
Theater Festival
Emerging playwrights.
Teatro SEA and Teatro LaTea Theatres,
107 Suffolk Street, through August 25.
In a new- ched by Broadway
producer original works take
the stage on the Lower East Side. Vikings, white
whales, private eyes, pilgrims, presidents, pipers,
Brazilian mothers, Austro-Bohemian composers,
and more are on tap till the end of August. s.h.
BOOKS
23.ReadEmptyHearts
A dark, funny dystopia.
NanA.Talese.
The German author Juli Zeh’s latest novel is
about as plausible as any fast-paced thriller—
which is to say, not very. Protagonist Britta runs a
website that links up the deeply depressed with
organizations in need of suicide bombers, which
makes a little more sense in 2025, by which point
the EU has fallen apart and sinister populists run
Germany. Britta is forced to go white-hat when
confronted with a competitor who threatens far
more than her livelihood. b.k.
MOVIES - (^) See Olivia
Before Carol.
Quad Cinema.
It’s high time to rediscover the work of Jacqueline
Audry, one of the few female directors who
actively worked in the postwar French film indus-
try, creating elegant, moody dramas of great
beauty and subtlety. Start with this new restora-
tion of her lush, controversial 1951 lesbian
romance, adapted from Dorothy Bussy’s anony-
mously published 1949 novel. In it, a new student
at a 19th-century French boarding school
becomes obsessed with her teacher, played by Cat
People’s Simone Simon, and a deeply twisted love
quadrangle ensues.
TV - (^) Watch Mayans M.C.
The next chapter.
FX, September 3.
This Sons of Anarchy spinoff took a while to find
its footing, but its story of assimilation and infil-
tration in the world of Mexican-American motor-
cycle gangs added a unique new flavor to the
gangster genre. More leisurely and introspective
than you might expect, but peppered with the
expected bursts of savage violence, the show at its
best has a boozy Peckinpah vibe. m.z.s.
OPERA OUTDOORS
While the Met’s auditorium slumbers
as the company gears up for opening night,
catch these larger-than-life ( free)
performances screening at Lincoln Center
for the Summer HD Festival,
August 23 to September 2.
Aida, August 24
The Met retired Franco Zeffirelli’s three-
decade-old swords-and-sandals production
last spring, and the director died in June,
so Anna Netrebko’s performances as
the proud Ethiopian princess constitute
the end of an epoch.
Dialogues des Carmélites, August 27
A tour de force of intense characterization,
this production of Poulenc’s martyrdom opera
shouldn’t be missed. Karita Mattila dies with
a diva’s panache, Isabel Leonard lets wildness
peek through the poise, and conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin keeps the whole thing
hurtling toward the guillotine.
La Fille du Régiment, August 31
Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena flirt,
cavort, toss high C’s by the fistful in this
spirited production.