Medium Cool

Tonight we kick off Episode 2 of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

Tonight’s Topic: Noir!

Take it away, BG!

In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk about noir.

Typically, noir is defined by the moody, dark, psychologically-acute films of the ‘40s-‘50s, involving femmes fatales, gumshoe detectives, pessimism, etc. Contrarily, New Yorker film critic Richard Brody argues that, while this genre is difficult to define, “film noir is historically determined by particular circumstances.” Let’s use this as our jumping-off point.

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Noir!Post + Comments (260)

Tonight we kick off our first episode of the weekly Guest Post series: Medium Cool with BGinCHI.

In case you missed the introduction to the series last week:  Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living In

BG sent me this last night:

“Fresh off re-watching The King, and am doubly, triply amazed by it. I have tons to say, and will do so in comments as the thread unfolds.”

Without further ado, I bring you Bradley Greenburg on The King:

This week’s Medium Cool takes a look at “The King” (2019, dir. David Michôd). The film showed up on many people’s radar because it stars Timothée Chalamet and features Robert Pattinson. As I said in the comments of last week’s introductory thread, this past fall I taught a grad Shakespeare seminar devoted to the Henriad (Richard II, 1 & 2 Henry IV, Henry V). So, when “The King” came out I was dreading seeing it, and held off til the end of the semester.

Watching it, I was floored by its smart, insightful interpretation of its source materials. Especially interesting is its portrayal of filial & fraternal relations, its keen attention to the brutalities of power, a reinvigoration of Falstaff’s character and relationship with Hal, and a savagely confrontational Catherine.

Let’s use this thread to discuss how the film tells the story of Henry V, the so-called “mirror of all Christian kings,” who united England after many years of civil unrest and beat the French against all odds at Agincourt.

What works? What doesn’t?

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Medium Cool with BGinCHI – The King (2019)Post + Comments (196)

I have always loved the threads where we talk about movies and books, and some of our best open threads of long ago were when BGinCHI would toss out a question or a comment about a book or a film, and the thread would be off and running for a good, long time.  In that way, I have always kind of thought of BGinCHI as the John Cole of movies and books, who can start a 300-comment thread with a single thought.

So I am happy to announce that BGinCHI has agreed to do a regular weekly guest post on Balloon Juice, where we can all talk about popular culture.  Books, films, TV.  This is something we can count on once a week, same time, same station, as one more hedge against this soul-sucking political miasma we’re living in.

Who knows, it might help us all remember why we liked each other and started spending so much time here in the first place!

If you are a newer commenter, or a recent lurker, you might not know BG, but you are in for a real treat. This guest post series will be featured every Sunday, starting at 5pm Balloon Juice time.  (Also known as eastern time in some circles.)

I’ll let BG tell us more about himself.  We are lucky to have him!

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Culture as a Hedge Against this Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We’re Living InPost + Comments (197)