Roger O Green

Movie review: The Color Purple (2023)

Fantasia Barrino’s first film

My wife and I saw the remake of the movie The Color Purple on December 26. It opened on Christmas Day and is likely the earliest I’ve ever seen a film in its theatrical run.

Two things ran through my head afterward. While I had seen the original 1985 version in the cinema – nominated for 11 Oscars and winning exactly none – a factoid I did not need to look up – I have a difficult time recalling more than a feeling of mostly despair. The director of that film, Steven Spielberg, is an executive producer of the new one.

I get what Taraji P. Henson said about the earlier take. “’The first movie missed culturally. We don’t wallow in the muck. We don’t stay stuck in our traumas. We laugh, we sing, we go to church, we dance, we celebrate, we fight for joy, we find joy, we keep it. That’s all we have.’”

Black joy doesn’t seem to dominate the media narrative. When I watched Making Black Grapevine, as I described here, I realized how much it’s often missing.

Promotion

Conversely, the movie was so hyped I was nervous. A star of the film appeared every day on CBS Mornings the week before the film opened, plus Oprah Winfrey, an executive producer of this iteration and a star of the 1985 take. My wife assumed it was a Paramount film (CBS is a Paramount Global company.) But no.

I assume it was because Gayle King, the longest-tenured of the hosts, is BFF with Oprah. To be sure, I got some insights. Henson was nervous about singing in the film, and Fantasia Barrino, who was in the Broadway musical in 2007, was worried about acting in her first film. I never saw the musical.

Wikipedia: “BroadwayWorld revealed that the film will not be a direct copy-and-paste adaptation of the stage musical, with elements from the novel and the 1985 film also being featured, including ‘Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister),’ the song sung by the character of Shug Avery in the 1985 film. 13 songs from the musical were cut from the film… while a song cut from the stage production, titled ‘She Be Mine,’ was reinstated for this film.”

Ah, the film

We liked the movie. It looks good, and most of the songs were compelling. The balance of music to narrative seemed reasonable. The acting and singing by Barrino as Celie, Henson as Shug Avery, and Danielle Brooks as Sofia were fine. The rest of the cast was strong, including Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, and David Alan Grier. Colman Domingo, who stars as the heroic pacifist Bayard Rustin in the Netflix film Rustin, is the brutal Albert “Mister” Johnson here.

The reviews were 87% positive with the critics and 95% in Rotten Tomatoes. One of the negative reviews was from Lisa Johnson Mandell of AtHomeInHollywood.com. “Just in time for Christmas – a jaunty movie musical about incest, rape and abuse. The musical numbers are gorgeous, but confusing and tone-deaf. They trivialize the gravity of truly unconscionable crimes and the people who commit them.”

This is an interesting concern. If the 1985 film was too dour, is the 2023 reimagining too… celebratory? As a couple of critics opined, is the 1982 book by Alice Walker unfilmable?

Or is the power of forgiveness for even these atrocities stronger than despair? I saw an interview on CBS News an interview of an Israeli man whose parents were murdered on October 7 who was seeking peace, not vengeance. The capacity for grace cannot be overestimated. So, I’m willing to accept the “happy ending” here.

a valuable life lesson learned in 2023

How does a weary world rejoice?

One more question:

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2023:

Repeating what I’ve said before, The trouble with normal is it always gets worse. After the UNLV shooting, in which three people died, an NBC reporter interviewed a witness. The reporter said, “Incredibly,” the witness was also present at the 2017 Vegas shooting at which five dozen were killed and hundreds wounded. There was nothing “incredible” about it. It’s just guns in America.

Someone fired a shot around a Jewish temple in Albany, NY, on December 7, the first night of Hanukkah, which led the NBC Nightly News. No one was hurt, and the shooter was quickly apprehended. But the Israel/Hamas/Palestinian war has stirred long-simmering anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bigotry, which we’ve seen everywhere from college campus to the streets of bucolic Burlington, VT, where three Palestinian college kids were staying because it was perceived as safer than being in the occupied West Bank. They were shot, and one likely will never walk again.

People can’t keep saying, “It can’t happen here.” I searched Wikipedia for Maine shootings, and I had choices: the one in 1993, the one in 2006, or the two in 2023.

orange

Then there’s the political turmoil. djt will be the Republican nominee, even if he’s convicted of one or more cases against him. The Atlantic is so terrified it had a whole issue dedicated to it.

Even if he’s not in office, his minions dominate the House, starting with the Speaker, Mike Johnson. And trumpism is baked in – book bans being the most on-the-nose example – and we can’t even count on the courts, certainly not SCOTUS, to stop it.

Add to this the ecological precipice we’re on and refugee crises worldwide, and you can call me Debbie Downer.

What is the remedy?

Still, I have hope because hopelessness is too hard. No hope means not getting out of bed in the morning. You do what you can. If that’s irrational, so be it.

How do I get there? And I see this as an ongoing process, not that I’ve arrived. For me, and it wasn’t initially a conscious decision, I’ve been embracing a series of sermons our pastors have been presenting during Advent and Christmastide collectively titled: “How does a weary world rejoice?”

“We acknowledge our weariness.” I’m very good at THAT. The first two sections of this post are precisely why I am weary. And I left a few things out.

“We find joy in connection.” Like many people, the real difficulty with COVID was the feeling of community. I’ve been embracing these opportunities. Thrice this year, I participated in trivia contests, as much for the collegiality as the competition; I’d only done trivia twice before, and one was in 2022. Participating in the Ironweed reading, a potluck, and a carol sing were other examples.

“We allow ourselves to be amazed.” My daughter interviewed me for a class project, which she says she’ll allow me to use in this blog early in 2024. I learned things about her but also about myself.

Awesome

“We make room.” Our friends gave us their tickets to the Albany Symphony Orchestra on December 10. I particularly loved watching the joy that one of the cellists was experiencing. At some moment in Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, which I was unfamiliar with, there is a dead silence. It was awesome and unexpected.

It was raining very hard that day. My wife pointed out that I mentioned the wonder of a brief silence twice. It was pouring out. I get JOY when we drive below an overpass, and the sound of the deluge is stilled for 1.5 seconds. This has been true for a very long time.

“We sing stories of hope.” On Christmas Eve 2020, my church service was online. The pastors were present, but few others. The music was provided by recordings of our choir singing from previous years. Watching me sing brought me to tears, and they were not happy tears but weeping of despair. I don’t take singing on Christmas Eve, Maundy, Easter Sunday, or even a regular weekly service for granted.

“We root ourselves in ritual.” I have Thursday choir rehearsal, Sunday service, and Tuesday book talk at the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library (moving, BTW, from noon to 2 p.m. this year). Many years ago, a friend complained when I refused to pass on choir rehearsal to do something else. Rehearsing means knowing the music better on Sunday and experiencing the choir gestalt.

The retrospective quiz thing for 2023

Life is a Cabaret

I’m doing that retrospective quiz thing for 2023.

Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn’t check, but I swear I resolved to do less. I’m not sure I achieved that.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

Did anyone close to you die?

Yes. A couple of folks from the choir, Gladys Crowder and Dwight Smith. Also, two people I knew from high school, Bob Maye and Pat Cannon, died within a week of each other, one from ALS, which weirded me out.

Off-topic, when I get a Google alert for someone who died with my name, I always check it out: Roger C. Green of Saugerties, NY, just an hour south of Albany, passed away on Christmas Eve, and he was only a year older than I am. We’re not related. I didn’t know him, but I found it sad.

What countries did you visit?

I’m checking my blog. Nowhere in January. Ditto in February. March? Nope. How about April? Nyet. May – no… wait, YES. Apparently, I went to France! That’s never happened before!

What would you like to have in 2024 that you lacked in 2023?

Less dread that democracy, hanging by a thread, will totally collapse, and not just in the United States.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I did a lot of stuff! I went to Las Vegas, helped plan the Underground Railroad Center’s 4 July event, and participated in three trivia events.

What was your biggest failure?

I have failed to create enough space to spend time working on genealogy.

What was the best thing you bought?

I got that gadget for the trip to France, where I could charge multiple cell phones plus my watch simultaneously. I’m still using it.

Celebration

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Anyone willing to point out the threat to democracy, protecting reproductive rights, fighting against book bans, fighting for bans on assault weapons, et al. Also, a resurging labor movement and folks like Partners In Health are working for better medical treatments globally, with some success in fighting TB.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

American right-wingers and Republicans. Last year, Kelly asked, “At some point, these people have to return to Earth, don’t they?” There is no reason to believe that is true. The House Republicans were particularly absurd.

Where did most of your money go?

Same as always: the house, books, eating out.

I’m So Excited

What did you get really excited about?

Lots of things: the Ironweed reading, the Lux Aeterna choir performance, seeing the first niece thrice, the UREC event, and Las Vegas. Did I mention we went to France?

Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?

It’s a mixed bag. Personally happier. But the world is screwed. In particular, there is little room for resolution regarding opinions in the Israel/Hamas/Palestine issue.

Thinner or fatter?

About three pounds heavier. My wife is pitching for us to do better in 2024, which will probably happen.

Richer or poorer?

Definitely poorer. We have a kid in college.

What do you wish you’d done more of?

Nothing, which is to say, to have time to read and do genealogy.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worrying about things.

How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas Eve is at church, and Christmas Day is at home, then my mother-in-law’s.

Did you fall in love in 2023?

Sure

How many one-night stands?

Same as last year and the year before that…

What was your favorite TV program?

It’s been so long since I’ve watched any series; it tends to be CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes. I’ve watched more football this fall than in the previous five seasons combined.

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No, it’s just more intense.

Literature

What was the best book you read?

Comics for Ukraine; Won’t Back Down, edited by Trina Robbins; John Green’s The Anthropocene Reviewed.

What did you want and get?

I got to see two different Eiffel Towers!

What did you want and not get?

Competence and compassion from many political figures.

What were your favorite films of this year?

A Boston Globe critic named Odie Henderson, who I’m not familiar with, listed his Top 10, and I found some overlap. In roughly my order: Past Lives (his #1), The Holdovers (his #7), It Ain’t Over (his #9), Barbie (his #3). He also had Air and You Hurt My Feelings (at #4 and #5, respectively) which I liked, but not at the same level.

The Holdovers and Barbie got some love from the National Board of Review. The Film Independent Spirit Awards liked Past Lives. Vanity Fair had You Hurt My Feelings, The Holdovers, and Past Lives in its Top 8, but it also had Asteroid City, which I did not love. .

Then there are the 2022 films I didn’t see until 2023 that I liked: The Quiet Girl, The Fabelmens, and Women Talking.

I should make a special note of seeing Cabaret with my wife in a cinema. I’d watched it when it came out a half-century ago, but she had never seen it. It is oddly timely. Shortly after that, we watched the documentary The US and the Holocaust – you’d be amazed how long items can reside on our DVR – which amplified how slipping into fascism can take place.

It was in March – I dunno

What did you do on your birthday?

I had a ZOOM call with the Bible Guys at 9 a.m. At noon, I went to the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library to listen to Frank S. Robinson, JD, discuss and read from his book, The American Crisis: Chronicling and Confronting the Trump S***storm. After that, I don’t have any idea.

If you take selfies, post your six favorite ones:

I don’t take selfies. I suck at taking selfies. But I like this pic, taken by my wife, a lot.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2023?

{Yawn.} Say what again?

What kept you sane?

Music. Singing music with others, listening to music, and learning about music. Again, this assumes that I am, in fact, sane.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Beyonce attended Taylor Swift’s movie opening, and TS returned the gesture. Sisters are doin’ it for themselves.

What political issue stirred you the most?

Keeping democracy

Who did you miss?

One more question; that’ll be tomorrow because the answer is too danged long.

Oh, the photo on top is one that my friend Alexis took of her TV set while I happened to have been captured by Spectrum News sitting at a Juneteenth event on June 17, 2023, on the grounds of the Underground Railroad Education Center.

Sunday Stealing – is it still 2023?

Ironweed

Is it still 2023? Sunday Stealing has a summary of the year quiz. And Kelly has one, too, which I’ll post early in 2024. But I figured out how to answer both questionnaires: give different answers! Neither response is false, just what I thought of at the time. I did this one second, so I’ve avoided replication to the best of my ability.

1. What did you do this year that you had not done before?

When I participated in the Ironweed reading on November 1 along with five dozen other people, I felt astonishingly Albanian in a way I had not felt in the more than 40 years I’ve lived here.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s Resolutions/goals for the year, and will you make/set more for next year? What are they? What are your new ones?

It wasn’t exactly a New Year’s thing, but I offloaded being in charge of the Black History Month activities for 2024, after tacitly being in charge of them for over a dozen years.

3. Did anyone you know give birth? Or get pregnant?

I don’t think so.

4. Did anyone you know die? Or have a serious illness?

Yes, to the first. And a LOT of COVID this fall.

5. What places did you visit?

Two Eiffel Towers.

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year (doesn’t have to be a physical thing)?

I’ve been working regularly on a cloning device. I have not mastered it yet, but soon!

7. What date from this year will remain etched in your memory and why?

July 4.

8. What was your biggest achievement this year?

I didn’t scream at anyone online.

Ouch

9. Did you get sick or injured? Anyone you know?

As I noted recently, my left knee is particularly uncomfortable. You know, the problem with having a seasonal sore throat, and I do, is that NOW I wonder if it’s COVID.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

Whatever I got for my baby sister and her daughter for Christmas, which I bought in mid-December. I purchased almost EVERYTHING I bought for Christmas between the 12th and the 20th of December.

11. Where did most of your disposable income go (money left over after you pay for food, transportation, and shelter)?

This is true: I would have a much better cash flow if I could get it together to finally fill out the tedious reimbursement forms for my medical expenses.

12. What song will always remind you of this year?

Buried by Brandy Clark, mostly because I flew from New York to Paris this year, albeit not first class, and without the drama.

13. What do you wish you would have done more of?

Sleeping.

14. What do you wish you would have done less of?

I am waking up in the middle of the night.

15. What was your favorite new TV program? Movie? Album/Songs? Or if you didn’t pick up any new ones, what are you still watching/listening to?

I don’t do much new TV. What was I watching before the strikes? Finding Your Roots, Abbott Elementary, Grey’s Anatomy. Movies: Past Lives and The Holdovers. Albums? I make a point of getting through at least 80% of my vast music collection once a year. I just wrote about music here.

Dec. rambling: Happiness Campaign

FFAPL book reviews now two hours later

Thoughts and prayers

A Viral Dance and ‘Happiness Campaign’ Frustrates Iran’s Clerics:

It all started when a 70-year-old fish market stall owner nicknamed “Booghy” was grooving in public in violation of Iranian law.

Elon Musk and Freight Trains: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Those University Presidents

COVID isn’t over: “Globally, the number of new cases increased by 52% during the 28-day period of 20 November to 17 December 2023 as compared to the previous 28-day period.” In the US, “SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has continued to mutate and spread. The latest strain to attract attention is called JN.1, and so far, it appears to be highly transmissible.” I’ve known several IRL people who’ve gotten COVID this fall. My sister in SoCal told of one of her choirs in which almost 50% had to bail from a concert because of various respiratory ailments. BTW, I got my most recent shot in October 2023.

Kindness Doesn’t Have a Billable Code— But it’s a key part of patient care.

My questions to Ask Arthur 2023: Get here from there; measuring and measured.

The loneliest miser

Just how rich were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’? Fans have been debating the family’s wealth for years. We asked the Federal Reserve for answers.

Mais non?

France did not always speak French.

8 Demonyms That’ll Leave You Shaking Your Head

Opinion: The simple explanation for the changes at ‘Jeopardy!’ and Ken Jennings on Mayim Bialik’s Exit and His Own ‘Celebrity Jeopardy!’ Host Approach

Tom Smothers, Half of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Duo, Dies at 86. I watched the Smothers Brothers show on CBS religiously.

Mbongeni Ngema, Renowned South African Playwright and Creator of ‘Sarafina!,’ Dies at 68

Lee Sun-Kyun, ‘Parasite’ Actor, Dies at 48

‘The Gilded Age’ Stars Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon on Their On- and Off-Screen Relationship. My wife is currently bingeing on Season 1 of this program. BTW, the building in the background of the photo is my church!

Now I Know: The Smutty History of the Pixar Logo’s Older Cousin and The Town That Raged Against Rage Against the Machine and There Weren’t Skeletons In His Closet and The Silent, Stickless Award Show Protest

Tuesday, Dec 26, 2023. I’ve got five more since.

Voting in even years

On September 20, I complained in this blog about a bill passed by the New York State legislature that would mandate many local elections to be held in even years. There was bipartisan opposition from the Albany County Board Of Elections on the bill (Times Union, Nov 27): “Republicans and the New York State Association of Counties have generally mounted the main pushback against the legislation, raising concerns that traditional attention on local races will be drowned out by races for president, Congress or governor…”

The TU editorialized against it (Dec 3): “More people may cast a local vote as long as they’re in the voting booth, but those local races may just as likely get lost in the information overload of a considerably more crowded ballot. And the bread-and-butter local issues behind those races may get drowned out in the hyperpartisan, hot-button din of state or federal elections.”

To my great disappointment, Governor Kathy Hochul signed it (TU. Dec 23). “Hochul described the controversial measure as a ‘significant step towards expanding access to the ballot box and promoting a more inclusive democracy,’ but she also chose to sign it on a Friday evening, three days before Christmas. “

Friends and Foundation Book Talks move to Tuesdays at Two!

The FFAPL book talks at the Washington Avenue branch of the APL are moving from noon to 2 pm starting in 2024. The speakers in January:

January 2 | Book Review | The Democrat Party Hates America by Mark R. Levin. Reviewer: Frank S. Robinson, JD, philosopher, author, & blogger.

January 9 | Book Review | Prequel: An American Fight against Fascism by Rachel Maddow. Reviewer: Roger O. Green, MLS, retired librarian, NY Small Business Development Center, & current board member, FFAPL.

January 16 | Book Review | Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant. Reviewer: Jonathan Skinner, PhD, retired statistician & amateur classicist.

January 23 | Author Talk | Paul T. Murray, professor emeritus at Siena College, discusses & reads from his book, Seeing Jesus in the Eyes of the Oppressed: A History of Franciscans Working for Peace and Justice.

January 30 | Book Review | Best Remembered Poems by Martin Gardner. Reviewers: Joe Krausman, poet; Gene Damm, former journalist; & Jonathan Skinner, amateur classicist & retired statistician.

Chicken

Newsmax writes: “Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is poised to declare “war” over proposed legislation in New York that would force some Chick-fil-A restaurants to open on Sundays, a move that would run afoul of the company’s policy since it opened in 1946.” Except that the story is grossly misleading.

VerifyThis notes: No, a New York bill wouldn’t force current Chick-fil-A rest stop locations to open on Sunday. “The bill requires all restaurants at certain rest stops to remain open seven days a week, including Chick-fil-A. But it only applies to future restaurant contracts.”

Frankly, I never understood why the Thruway authority offered contracts to an entity they knew would be closed on part of the weekend.

MUSIC

Kodachrome – Joshua Lee Turner

Coverville 1470 and 1471: The 2023 Coverville Countdown

THR’s The 10 Best Songs of 2023

J. Eric Smith’s Best Albums of 2023

Laura Lynch, Founding Member of The Dixie Chicks, Dies at 65

The eighth class of artists was announced for the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame.