On the heels of Reed’s Metropolitan and Barcelona review comes a companion review by guest writer John Adair. Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco came out over a decade ago, but its directionless youth who overestimate themselves seem even more prescient today than they did in 1998. That Stillman avoids making his characters hateful […]
Armond White comments that Stillman’s singular interest in character “reveals each one’s moral quest. The effort to behave decently, even by the most eccentric (self-serving) standards, gives Stillman’s upperclass stories a surprising kick and a fine grain.” It is marvelous to see these moral quests extend beyond the confines of a single movie, as a handful of familiar characters in fascinating variations are stripped of superficial childhood securities to make their slow, stumbling journeys toward grace.
In this wide-ranging interview, Jeffrey Stout discusses themes from his 2004 book DEMOCRACY AND TRADITION, including such topics as religion, democracy, secularism, piety, and the intellectual orientation he, following Stanley Cavell, calls “Emersonian Perfectionism.”
This exhibit, which is currently showing at the New Museum in New York City, showcases the works of Emory Douglas, a former Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party.
Current discussions in the church—from emergent “postmodern” congregations to mainline “missional” congregations—are increasingly grappling with philosophical and theoretical questions related to postmodernity. In fact, it could be argued that developments in postmodern theory (especially questions of “post-foundationalist” epistemologies) have contributed to the breakdown of former barriers between evangelical, mainline, and Catholic faith communities. Postliberalism—a related […]
Late last month Michael Govan, the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, announced that the museum’s acclaimed 41-year-old weekend film series would end in November “in order to reconsider the nature, scale and scope” of the program. One big problem, he added later, was that the series had lost well over $1 […]
Criterion has just released Whit Stillman’s marvelous 1998 film The Last Days of Disco, and Filmwell will be celebrating the event with a series of reviews that consider all three of the director’s pictures.
It is a truism universally acknowledged, that Whit Stillman is the Jane Austen of indie film. But truisims only become truisms because they’re at least partly true, and this one most certainly is. . . .
Willie Jennings discusses the racial disfigurement of the Christian social imagination and how its heritage continues to plague our view of people and the world.
Last week, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) posted its complete line-up of films. As usual, it’s a veritable smorgasbord for cineastes and filmlovers, containing a diverse array of movies that span as many genres as they do countries. The fact that I won’t be at this year’s TIFF has not stopped me from pretending that I’m […]