Makda Asrat
Makda Asrat
Recent Stories
Spartans storm silver screens
“300” is one of the most problematic films in recent memory — both thematically and stylistically, Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel is rife with stereotypes and historical inaccuracies that will make any WGSS or postcolonial lit student cringe. Oddly associating moral rectitude with physical, heteronormative beauty, this latest war film separates good from evil both ideologically and aesthetically in racist and otherwise offensive ways. “300” is also one of
‘Climates’ helps you through the winter
As the seasons change from summer to winter, the weather from hot to cold, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s terse, artful and magnificently composed “Climates” observes the gradual disintegration of a relationship, from X to Y.
Aqueduct adds members, loses fun
Perhaps David Terry’s love life has taken a turn for the worse. The singer-songwriter and general front man of the indie-pop band Aqueduct has steered his sound away from the cheerful optimism of his first album, “I Sold Gold,” into a darker, more complex territory.
Andy Warhol ‘Factory’ flop
“Factory Girl” is a film chiefly concerned with the tension between superficiality and authenticity, between surface and depth. And yet writer-director team Captain Mauzner and George Hickenlooper (who also worked together on “Wonderland”) were unable to see beyond the glittering surface of ’60s It Girl Edie Sedgwick.
‘Seraphim’ takes a ‘Fall’
Although both are Irish and they were born a mere year apart, the two stars of “Seraphim Falls” couldn’t be more different — Liam Neeson remains as ruggedly attractive as ever, while time has unfortunately not been as kind to his (slightly) younger costar, Pierce Brosnan.
‘Stomp’ out racism, intrepid youth
If film direction is a dance, then Sylvain White, director of the new stepping movie “Stomp the Yard,” has two left feet.
Whitney Haring-Smith
Few students would turn down the Marshall Scholarship. Then again, few students have traipsed through the mountains of Afghanistan disarming rural warlords. And Whitney Haring-Smith ’07 isn’t most students.
‘Nativity’ births a bummer
Many Christian children grow up reading illustrated storybooks recounting the birth of Jesus — goofy and haloed (not to mention Caucasian) cartoon characters standing in for some of the most revered figures in the Christian testament. Catherine Hardwicke’s latest movie, “The Nativity Story,” undoubtedly aspires to more than these sentimentalized picture books, but her retelling of the familiar gospel tale is asinine, uninspired and utterly devoid of creativity.
Cabaret exploits convulsive beauty
Located in the basement of a building nestled between the Af-Am House and Pierson College, the Yale Cabaret is one of the most unique venues on campus. Audience members indulge in elegant meals and cocktails as they watch students from the School of Drama perform in experimental productions. This weekend, the Cabaret’s fall season culminates with a riveting production of Sarah Kane’s “Crave.”
Aronofsky film finds ‘Fountain’ of success
In Mayan mythology, immortality was achieved only through death — the First Father sacrificed himself to create the Tree of Life, which burst forth from his very stomach. This tension – the paradoxical relationships between life, death and ultimately rebirth – is at the very heart of Darren Aronofsky’s latest film “The Fountain.”