Aurelia Butler

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    ‘Afternoons of Solitude’ Review: Man Versus Bull

    Albert Serra’s mesmerizing documentary about a bullfighter faithfully depicts a violent tradition and the specter of death that suffuses it.Albert Serra’s first documentary feature, “Afternoons of Solitude,” shows the Peruvian-born torero Andrés Roca Rey as he battles bulls in the ring and psychs himself up offstage. The film’s faithful depiction of the bloody Spanish tradition could serve as an argument against the much-protested practice, but Serra’s vision is mesmeric not polemic. He records spangled ceremonies marinated in the fear of death, producing an X-ray of the male ego and its costly upkeep.Serra doesn’t frontload the spectacle: He likes to observe Roca Rey at rest, driven in a crowded car and facing a fixed camera. The fresh-faced bullfighter obsesses over his matches and masculinity, and his cuadrilla (team of assistants) big him up like a boxer before a fight. Serra’s mastery of mood in the film builds on an iconoclastic career spanning from the Don Quixote deconstruction “Honor of Knights” to the atomic tropicalia of “Pacifiction.”In the ring, Roca Rey and the bull are often tensely composed in medium shots and close-ups. The face-offs are hypnotic, like those between a mongoose and python; Roca Rey grimaces as he risks being gored in his angling and attacks. But notions of courage are complicated by the preparatory rituals of the “picadors,” who stab the bulls until they are weakened by muscle injury and blood loss.If this review sounds conflicted, that reflects the power of a nonfiction film that might also escape its director’s loftier intentions. This flop-sweat portrait suggests that a toreador is never as brave as the bull and maybe knows it.Afternoons of SolitudeNot rated. In Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes. In theaters. More

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    Here are the charges against Sean Combs and the potential sentence for each one.

    Jurors will soon be asked to deliberate over a complex list of charges facing Sean Combs.He has been indicted on five separate counts, and in order to convict him on any of them, the jurors must agree unanimously that he committed the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.Two counts of sex traffickingMr. Combs has been charged with sex trafficking two former girlfriends — Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.” Prosecutors have charged that the women were compelled to participate in marathon sex sessions with male escorts in hotel rooms and other locations across the country and at times overseas.To convict on this count, the jury must decide whether Mr. Combs used force, threats of force, fraud, or coercion to cause the women to engage in a “commercial sex act.”Before deliberating, jurors will be instructed at length on the specifics of the law. For example, “coercion” can amount to threats of serious harm, including physical, psychological, financial or reputational. “Commercial sex” could mean that money was exchanged for sex, but it could also refer to the exchange of an intangible thing of value, such as promises to help with career advancement.Mr. Combs’s lawyers have argued that the sexual encounters were entirely consensual.Potential sentence if convicted: a minimum of 15 years; a maximum of life in prisonTwo counts of transportation to engage in prostitutionThese lesser counts focus on the same events: the sexual encounters in hotel rooms involving men who prosecutors say were paid for sex. One count relates to the testimony of Ms. Ventura, and the other to the testimony of Jane.To convict Mr. Combs of these charges, the government must prove that he knowingly arranged for the transportation of a person across a state or foreign border with the intent that the individual would engage in prostitution.In seeking to rebut these charges, the defense has argued that Mr. Combs was paying various men “for their time and an experience” — not for sex.Potential sentence if convicted: up to 10 years in prisonOne count of racketeering conspiracyThe most complex charge jurors will have to consider is one that hangs over the entire case.Under the legal terminology of this count, Mr. Combs has been accused of “conspiring with others to conduct and participate in the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity.”Prosecutors have sought to prove that Mr. Combs and an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees were part of a criminal enterprise and that they conspired to commit a series of crimes over a period of two decades, many of them related to his relationships with the two women at the center of the case.Jurors will be asked to consider a set of alleged criminal acts to determine whether such a pattern existed. That list includes sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, as well as possession of drugs with the intent to distribute.The jurors must also look at allegations of kidnapping and arson related to accounts of Mr. Combs’s jealous rage after he learned that Ms. Ventura had begun a relationship with the rapper Kid Cudi. In addition, a former assistant, who testified under the pseudonym “Mia,” has been put forward by prosecutors as a victim of forced labor.To convict Mr. Combs on the racketeering charge, jurors need to find that he knowingly joined an unlawful conspiracy, and that Mr. Combs agreed that he or a co-conspirator would commit at least two criminal acts on that list to further the enterprise.The defense has denied the existence of any criminal conspiracy and argues Mr. Combs is not responsible for the alleged crimes outlined by the government.Potential sentence if convicted: up to life in prison More

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    Cannonball With Wesley Morris: My Love Affair With Bruno Mars

    Wesley Morris has a confession to make: He loves Bruno Mars. Nothing wrong with that, right? With the help of the culture writer Niela Orr, Wesley untangles his crush from his discomfort with the pop star’s cozy relationship to Blackness.You can listen to the show on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and iHeartRadio, and you can watch it on YouTube:Cannonball is hosted by Wesley Morris and produced by Janelle Anderson, Elyssa Dudley, and John White with production assistance from Kate LoPresti. The show is edited by Wendy Dorr. The show is engineered by Daniel Ramirez and recorded by Maddy Masiello, Kyle Grandillo and Nick Pitman. It features original music by Dan Powell and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Justin Ellington.Our video team is Brooke Minters And Felice Leon. This episode was filmed by Alfredo Chiarappa, and edited by Jamie Hefetz and Pat Gunther.Special thanks to everyone who helped launch this show: Daniel Harrington, Lisa Tobin, Sasha Weiss, Max Linsky, Nina Lassam, Jeffrey Miranda, Mahima Chablani, Katie O’Brien, Christina Djossa, Kelly Doe, Shu Chun Xie, Dash Turner, Benjamin Tousley, Julia Moburg, Tara Godvin, Elizabeth Bristow, Lynn Levy, Victoria Kim, Jordan Cohen, Clinton Cargill, Bobby Doherty, Dahlia Haddad, Paula Szuchman, and Sam Dolnick.And an extra special thanks to J Wortham. More

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    ‘Stealing Pulp Fiction’ Review: A Lowbrow Homage

    A couple of loser cinephiles concoct a dumb heist plan, and hilarity is the last thing that ensues.Quentin Tarantino’s first two films, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” had a galvanic effect not just on American independent film but movies the world over. From 1995 on, you couldn’t go to a film festival without tripping over several “Dogs” or “Pulp” impersonations, none of them a patch on the real thing. To be fair, one or two of the perpetrators of such items, Joe Carnahan to name a noteworthy example, grew into makers of more distinctive and enjoyable work. But the counterfeiters were, and mostly remained, a drag.“Stealing Pulp Fiction” is an overt Tarantino homage. Written and directed by Danny Turkiewicz, it concerns a few Tarantino-obsessed cinephiles who believe they can make a fortune by kidnapping the director’s personal print of his film and holding it for ransom. A witless duo, played by Jon Rudnitsky and Karan Soni, enlist a snarky female pal who objects to Tarantino on misogyny and thievery grounds; they also reel in the therapist of Rudnitsky’s character. These two are played by Cazzie David and Jason Alexander, but their high-octane comedic talents elevate the proceedings not a whit.Said proceedings eventually involve Tarantino himself, played by a gentleman named Seager Tennis, who, to paraphrase James Thurber, looks as much like Quentin Tarantino as Calvin Coolidge does the MGM lion.Turkiewicz apes Tarantino’s great film by giving chapter titles to its sections and setting multiple scenes in a diner. These sequences don’t resemble “Pulp Fiction” so much as they do television ads for Chili’s — a locale where you’ll have a better time than watching this utterly misbegotten movie.Stealing Pulp FictionNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 18 minutes. In theaters. More

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    Pam Tanowitz’s Dance ‘Pastoral’ Weaves Beethoven and More

    Tanowitz’s new dance, made with the painter Sarah Crowner and the composer Caroline Shaw, premieres at the Fisher Center at Bard College.What exactly is the pastoral, that tradition from about Virgil to Wendell Berry and beyond that devotes itself to nature? And can it even exist in a honking, smoggy metropolis?The choreographer Pam Tanowitz welcomes questions like these in her latest work, “Pastoral,” which premieres on Friday at the Fisher Center at Bard College. In her signature blend of classical ballet and free-form modern dance, it is set to a reworking of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, nicknamed the “Pastoral,” by the composer Caroline Shaw, with décor by the painter Sarah Crowner that puts nature front and center.All three of these artists live in New York City, and while “Pastoral” draws from Beethoven in name, it pulls equally from their daily work and lives. It is also, for a dance, uncommonly engaged with the vocabulary of visual art. One late spring morning, with the fog low and cow daisies high in the Hudson Valley, Tanowitz strode into rehearsal with a book under her arm of Nicolas Poussin, the 17th-century French painter of allegorical and historical scenes.“We have two tableaus in this dance,” Tanowitz said, describing scenes in which her dancers arrange themselves into a particular formation and hold it, facing the audience. “And this is what I want those moments to feel like,” she said, flipping to Poussin’s “A Dance to the Music of Time.”From left, the artist Sarah Crowner, the composer Caroline Shaw and Tanowitz.Lauren Lancaster for The New York TimesIn that painting, four youthful figures frolic in a hillside clearing. They are mid-hop, the hands joined into a maypole ring, backs to one another, togas billowing in colors not too far from the lavenders and combinations evoking pink lemonade and smoked salmon that are used by Reid Bartelme, the costumer for “Pastoral.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Ponyboi’ Review: The Cost of Living Authentically

    In this gritty film by River Gallo, an intersex character has to navigate New Jersey gangsters and double crosses.Classic neo-noir motifs are upended by a rare antihero in “Ponyboi,” thanks to its titular character: an intersex sex worker.Ponyboi’s job servicing regular clients is a dangerous necessity that offers him access to hormones to maintain his male identity. They’re supplied by Vinnie (Dylan O’Brien, perfectly smarmy), a pimp running a prostitution ring out of a laundromat in New Jersey. Predictably, a high-stakes death occurs, leaving Ponyboi (River Gallo, who wrote the screenplay) to confront the cost of living authentically.A fractured relationship with his father haunts him from the start. In a flashback, Ponyboi jolts awake after remembering his dad placing a cowboy hat on his head and promising he’d grow into a “big, strong man.” Amid this macho posturing is Bruce (Murray Bartlett). Seemingly conjured from Ponyboi’s imagination, Bruce is a drifting embodiment of human decency, moving through the film like a cool breath against the heat. Their scenes together are welcome dreamlike escapes.Directed by Esteban Arango, “Ponyboi” mimics the visual style and thematic tropes of pulpy crime noir (think “Blood Simple” and “Drive”), from double crosses to a past that torments its gritty protagonist. What better distillation of old-school manliness than sleazy swagger and neon-lit vendettas? Yet Gallo’s star-making turn pushes back against this version of hypermasculinity, reshaping genre conventions that have privileged rigid gender binaries. Watching Gallo carve out space for Ponyboi is its own kind of powerful assertion.PonyboiRated R for explicit drug use, graphic sexual content, nudity, strong language and scenes of violent abuse. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters. More

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    ‘My Mom Jayne’ Review: An Exceptional Family Tale

    Mariska Hargitay sets out to learn about her mother, the Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield, through intimate conversations with her siblings.When Mariska Hargitay was three years old, her mother, the Hollywood star Jayne Mansfield, was killed in a car accident. Hargitay was seated beside her brothers in the back of the vehicle, and was lodged under a seat during the crash. She was almost left behind by rescuers, until her brother asked about her. In her moving documentary “My Mom Jayne,” Hargitay relays this past trauma with a mixture of sorrow and gratitude.Best known for starring as Olivia Benson, the dogged detective in “Law & Order: SVU,” Hargitay begins the film — her feature directorial debut — by explaining that she set out to learn about Mansfield, the mother she hardly knew. But instead of the typical biographical approach of interviewing historians and writers, Hargitay sits down for intimate conversations with her three elder siblings, whose testimonies she pairs with archival material depicting Mansfield’s life in the public eye.As Hargitay shows, the grainy footage tells one story while the family’s recollections tell another. Over her career, Mansfield curated an image of a ditsy coquette. She affected a Minnie Mouse speaking voice and received leering men with a genial giggle. This performance of vacuity belied Mansfield’s profound intellect and talents as a classically trained violinist, but it was an easier sell in Hollywood, and so she used the persona as a stepladder to climb to the top.For much of her life, Hargitay judged her mother for these acts, and although she doesn’t draw a line from Mansfield’s work as an actress to her own, it’s tempting to wonder whether Hargitay’s powerhouse role in “SVU” was a disavowal of the blonde bimbo archetype. It’s this tension that makes “My Mom Jayne” as much an experiment in autobiography as in biography, closer in kind to Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell” than the polished or salacious celebrity profiles clogging up streaming platforms.Like that predecessor, “My Mom Jayne” eventually builds to a brave personal disclosure where Hargitay shows how the mysteries encircling her mother’s life complicated her own identity as a daughter and sister. She makes the revelation with gentle courage, in a spirit of honesty and appreciation for the small ring of people who loved her family enough to avoid sharing the information.Folded into the project are questions about what defines a person’s legacy. Is it the face one puts on for the world or the private one shared with kin? Since Hargitay has little memory of Mansfield, how does she reconcile her mother’s many selves? Hargitay explores these ideas in voice-over, and settles on a generous understanding of Mansfield that centers on her talent for music. These efforts offer a clean conclusion, but it is the exquisitely relatable messiness of this exceptional family tale that lingers.My Mom JayneNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. Watch on Max. More

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    ‘M3gan 2.0’ Review: Back to Slay Another Day

    Everyone’s favorite campy killer doll returns in a movie that has some thoughts about artificial intelligence.The “M3gan” franchise — look, we all know there’s going to be a “3.0” — is the opposite of serious. In 2022, the first film played on the time-tested horror trope of the killer doll, adding an artificial intelligence twist. It became an instant camp classic, owing largely to clips from the trailer that were meme-ified all over the internet, especially its queer corners. Critics even loved it, probably because it clearly knew what kind of flamboyant nonsense it was aiming for and leaned all the way in.“M3gan 2.0” is no more serious than the original, but occasionally feels like it’s trying to be. When we last saw Gemma (Allison Williams, still sincere and excellent) and her tween niece Cady (Violet McGraw), they were picking up the pieces of their lives after M3gan, the A.I.-powered android that Gemma programmed to protect Cady, followed her prime directive so single-mindedly that she wreaked total havoc on their lives. Now, two years later, Gemma has become an author and an advocate for legislation and safeguards in A.I. development, and she carefully monitors Cady’s tech usage.This is an interesting turn of events for a movie like this, because it seems to take Gemma’s concerns seriously, laying out convincing arguments for not leaving all the A.I. development to profit-obsessed tech bros. Watching “M3gan 2.0,” I got the sense someone had done their homework, thinking about the ways that rhetoric about enhancing mankind’s future and creating a better world can, and do, function as a smoke screen for less altruistic ends. Once in a while, I caught myself thinking this movie was more grounded in the reality of A.I. in our world than films like the “Mission: Impossible” series.But it’s still a killer doll movie. With her labmates (Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps), Gemma is still developing products designed to help humans live in this brave new world, like a kind of exoskeleton that increases human stamina and strength. She’s also struck up an ambiguously warm relationship with the tech ethicist Christian (Aristotle Athari). But when a mysterious weapon named Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno) turns up abroad, and a billionaire (Jemaine Clement) starts sniffing around Gemma’s lab, it’s clear things are going go to sideways.In returning to M3gan’s world, the screenwriter and director Gerard Johnstone repeats some of the same formula, most notably the reappearance of the deranged A.I. doll (once again performed by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis). It’s still camp galore, with lines designed to be meme-ified again, and a lot of elaborate silliness. There’s acrobatic fighting; there’s a dance scene; there’s a hilarious nod to an A.I. product that notoriously flopped in the real world.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More