Aurelia Butler

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    The ‘Parasite’ Director Brings Class Warfare To Outer Space

    Bong Joon Ho sent a text message a bit past noon, naming a subway station in Seoul and asking me to meet him there at 7 p.m. In his imperfect English, he signed off with a cryptic tease: “I’ll show you some ordinary but strange area. See you in front of GATE No. 4.”It was the summer of 2023, and I’d gone to South Korea to watch Bong work on his seventh feature film, “Mickey 17,” a sci-fi action-adventure featuring Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie and Toni Collette. Bong — or Director Bong, as he’s known among Koreans and collaborators — is his country’s highest-profile filmmaker, at home and abroad. His last movie, “Parasite” (2019), won four Academy Awards, including best picture and best director.Bong is drawn to confrontational, tone-scrambling material. “Irony and paradox,” he told me at one point, are “the driving force for me when I make films.” His style is to deploy genre conventions while subverting them in audacious and ingenious ways. As he once put it to a Korean interviewer, “Whatever genre I choose, I intend to destroy it.”His movies are also fun, which explains why Bong has enjoyed a long run not only of critical acclaim but also commercial success. His 2006 monster-movie deconstruction, “The Host,” broke all Korean box-office records. Among its champions is no less of a genre-subverter than Quentin Tarantino, who likened Bong to “Spielberg in his prime.” “Parasite,” a home-invasion deconstruction, earned even more, planting him firmly in the pantheon of bankable contemporary auteurs.Originally conceived for the stage, “Parasite” was a tightly focused Korean-language suspense story with an achingly ambiguous ending, no supernatural creatures and, unless you count its operatically grisly climax, zero action sequences. “Mickey 17” is a different beast entirely. Based on a 2022 novel by Edward Ashton, called “Mickey7,” the film is about a desperate loser named Mickey Barnes, played by Pattinson, who signs onto the crew of a spaceship as part of a campaign of intergalactic colonization. He’s tasked with the crushing work of an “Expendable”: His memories are uploaded so that his consciousness can be installed, as often as needed, into endlessly reprintable replicas of his body. These come in handy, because his job includes gulping down lung-liquefying airborne viruses and bathing himself in radiation, among other torturous and fatal work. At its core, Bong said, “it’s a story about working-class people. And I was attracted by the idea that his job is dying.”Social stratification has been the dominant theme in Bong’s films since he was a student. Whether he is working in more-realist registers or more-fantastical ones, he situates his heroes within superstructures of class and power that determine, and frequently deform, their lives. “Quite many of my characters are confused,” he said. “They’re in the middle of a situation and don’t know what’s going on. It’s sad and comic at the same time.”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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    How Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ Was Inspired by Her Husband Carl Dean

    She wrote the hit 1973 song after a bank teller caught the eye of Dean, who died on Monday. She attributed its success to its simplicity and the universal emotions it evokes.In the early years of her nearly six-decade marriage, Dolly Parton noticed that her husband was spending a lot of time at the bank, where he had developed a crush on a teller. She told him to knock it off.She later channeled her feelings into “Jolene,” a hit 1973 song. Her fans have been singing its haunting chorus ever since.Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, JoleneI’m begging of you please don’t take my manJolene, Jolene, Jolene, JolenePlease don’t take him just because you can.The song is one of several that Parton’s husband, Carl Dean, an asphalt paver who died on Monday at 82, inspired in the decades after they met outside a Nashville laundromat in 1964. It never reached No. 1 on Billboard’s main singles chart, but it topped the Billboard country chart, earned a Grammy nod and became the most-recorded song of any Parton has written.The album cover for “Jolene” by Dolly Parton.Donaldson Collection/Getty ImagesIn interviews over the years, Parton attributed the song’s staying power to a variety of factors, including the simplicity of its chorus and its “kind of mysterious” minor key.She said many women had told her that they found its story — a woman acknowledging Jolene’s beauty while pleading with her to not steal her husband “just because you can” — relatable.When the song appeared, “Nobody had been writing about affairs from that side of it — to go to the person who was trying to steal your man,” she told the entertainment news site Vulture in 2023.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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    Jay-Z Sues Rape Accuser and Lawyers, Saying They Knew Claim Was False

    The anonymous woman withdrew her sex abuse suit last month, but the entertainer says in court papers she has since admitted her account was fabricated. She and her lawyer deny that.Jay-Z filed a lawsuit on Monday against the anonymous woman who withdrew her rape lawsuit against him last month, asserting that she and her lawyers knew the allegations were false but proceeded with the claim anyway.The lawsuit, brought in federal court in Alabama, where the woman lives, was filed against both the accuser and her lawyers, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney. In the suit, Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, said the woman had admitted to his representatives that she had made up the story.But in a statement, Mr. Buzbee said the suit has “no legal merit” and that the woman continues to stand by her account.The woman originally sued Jay-Z last year, naming him as a defendant in one of the dozens of cases that have accused Sean Combs of sexual abuse. In this case, the plaintiff accused Mr. Carter and Mr. Combs of raping her when she was 13, at an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. After an NBC News interview with the plaintiff highlighted inconsistencies in her account, the plaintiff acknowledged that she had “made some mistakes” in presenting the allegations.For about two months, the plaintiff’s lawyers defended the veracity of her allegations in court papers, but last month, they withdrew her claim with no public explanation.In the new lawsuit, lawyers for Mr. Carter assert that the plaintiff — who is not identified — has “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story.”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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    Sean Baker’s Oscars Battle Cry (and Mine): Don’t Abandon the Big Screen

    The director of the best picture winner, “Anora,” urged viewers to keep seeing films in theaters. Our critic hopes the industry listens, and that Baker keeps his independence.Two minor quakes hit Los Angeles Sunday night, and I like to think that they were cosmically connected. The second earthquake was a small rattler (3.9) centered in the San Fernando Valley, just north of where the first quake hit inside the Dolby Theater when “Anora” won best picture. A pleasurable romp about an exotic dancer who runs off with the son of a Russian oligarch, “Anora” is the latest of several movies that its writer-director, Sean Baker, has made on sex industry workers. The first one that Baker did on the same topic was “Starlet,” a wistful, charming 2012 drama set in the Valley, long the center of the pornography industry.It was gratifying to see Baker win for “Anora,” which is the kind of scrappy, low-budget, independent movie that has been making the Oscars more interesting for, well, decades. Each victory for “Anora” also underscored the industry’s existential problems, in part brought about by large companies, including the remaining legacy studios, that have embraced expensive franchises and sequels to the exclusion of art. In the past 10 years or so, some of the best picture winners — the ones that stir up excitement and headlines, and help justify the continued existence of the Academy Awards — have been low-budget features that, like “Anora,” were bankrolled for $20 million or far less, including “Moonlight” and “Parasite.”There’s a romantic and comforting underdog narrative that accompanies the success of these movies, though as Baker recently pointed out at the Independent Spirit Awards, the economics of indie filmmaking are unsustainable. During the Oscars, Baker again turned the awards circuit into a bully pulpit on behalf of the movies, urging viewers to see films in theaters. “This is my battle cry,” Baker said as he held his best director award. “Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen.” At that point, the show cut to a wider shot that encompassed the award presenter Quentin Tarantino, another big-screen advocate. I wish they had cut to Ted Sarandos, the chief executive of Netflix, who recently told CBS News that he doesn’t “think it’s sacrilege for someone to watch a great movie on their phone.”The Academy Awards of course reflect what Academy voters like, but they also reveal what kind of story the voters want to tell about themselves. That story on Sunday was somewhat melancholic; among other things, one of the giants of cinema — Gene Hackman — recently died. But the entire industry feels bruised partly because of the lingering trauma of the conflagrations that roared through Los Angeles County in January. The show referenced the fires repeatedly, most movingly when the host Conan O’Brien introduced a group of firefighting personnel who were rightly cheered by the audience. Along with the pandemic and the 2023 labor strikes, it’s been a very rough interlude with no end in sight. Never mind that the worst issue remains the creative timorousness of the industry’s power brokers.As to the show itself, as a piece of television it was, well, fine; I didn’t yell at my set once, though I rolled my eyes during the two lengthy musical numbers that were effectively advertisements for those money-printing behemoths “Wicked” and James Bond. O’Brien was innocuous enough to get the job done, tossing out jokes that landed and others that didn’t, with very little overt reference to the reality that has filled headlines since President Trump was sworn in. The actress Daryl Hannah gave a shout-out to Ukraine before handing the best editing award to Baker, his second Oscar of the night (following best original screenplay). “I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian,” O’Brien said later, earning startled oohs from the audience as well as applause.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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    Why Demi Moore’s Oscar Loss to Mikey Madison Stings for Some Fans

    Moore had been considered a favorite for her strong performance in “The Substance,” but Madison won for “Anora.” Demi Moore snagged statuettes all through the awards season for her dynamic performance in “The Substance,” a film about the indignities women past 50 face in Hollywood. She was favored by many to win the Oscar for best actress.But when the envelope was opened on Sunday night Moore, 62, was passed over in favor of Mikey Madison, 25, who pulled an upset and won the best actress trophy for playing a sex worker in the film “Anora.”While Madison’s performance was widely praised, her unexpected victory left many admirers of Moore puzzled and saddened that it kept her from a perfect ending to her career comeback.On social media and on a subreddit dedicated to Moore’s upset, some fans suggested that her loss underscored one of the central themes of the film: the challenges older actresses face in a Hollywood that is obsessed with young women.One commenter noted that the academy had been observed in the past to “like young women and old men.” Another lamented: “Literally pouring all that brilliance on screen only for the younger actress who benefited from sex appeal and social hype to take that prestigious of an award from her.” Paolo Uggetti posted on social media that “Demi Moore losing to Mikey Madison is basically the plot of ‘The Substance.’” That post has been viewed more than five million times.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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    Julia Fox and Others Try Nearly Nude Looks at Oscars and Vanity Fair

    Julia Fox followed up Bianca Censori’s much-discussed Grammys moment with a sheer dress at Vanity Fair’s party. Others joined her in the less-is-more approach.About a month after Bianca Censori caused a commotion for posing on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards in a completely sheer minidress, another woman with ties to Ye arrived in a similarly nearly naked look to Vanity Fair’s Oscars after-party on Sunday. This time, it was Julia Fox, who previously dated the rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West.Ms. Fox’s sheer garment of choice, by the Turkish designer Dilara Findikoglu, was a maxi dress that involved some ruching to give it a bit more shape. Strands of Ms. Fox’s wavy hair extensions were strategically placed underneath the dress, covering the necessary areas.It was a look that drew a great deal of attention and one that invited numerous comparisons to Ms. Censori, whose outfit reveal at the Grammys was bold enough that some falsely said it had led to her and Ye, her husband, being asked to leave.On Sunday night, Ms. Fox was not the only one at the Vanity Fair party in a provocative look.Among the provocative looks at Vanity Fair’s Oscars party were, clockwise from top left, Zoë Kravitz in Saint Laurent, Olivia Wilde in Chloé, Emily Ratajkowski in Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Kendall Jenner in vintage Mugler.Clockwise from top left, Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Danny Moloshok/Reuters; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesHistorically, Vanity Fair’s annual event has allowed celebrities the freedom to be a little more risqué and experimental in their fashion choices after the comparatively conservative red carpet at the Oscars. In 2023, Emily Ratajkowski wore a long-sleeved, see-through chain mail gown by Feben. Hunter Schafer’s Ann Demeulemeester look from 2023 consisted of a single leather feather for a bandeau top and a silky slip skirt. In 2024, Vanessa Hudgens revealed her baby bump in a sheer black Alberta Ferretti dress with a cape.This year, though, naked dressing seemed to particularly thrive at the event.Zoë Kravitz wore a satin long-sleeved gown by Saint Laurent that exposed her bottom through a bead-embellished mesh cutout on the back of the dress.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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    Stream These 6 Movies and Shows Before They Leave Netflix in March

    A great Park Chan-wook film and a hilarious British satire are among the great titles leaving for U.S. subscribers this month.This month’s noteworthy Netflix departures in the United States include a chilling indie, a South Korean classic, two honest-to-goodness great popcorn flicks and a very funny skewering of England’s most famous family. (Dates reflect the first day titles are unavailable and are subject to change.)‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ (March 15)Stream it here.The Norwegian director Andre Ovredal (“Trollhunter”) makes his solo English-language debut with this modest, muted yet endlessly chilling postmortem thriller. Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch star as a father-son team of small-town coroners whose seemingly straightforward autopsy of a young murder victim becomes something far more complicated — and sinister. Ovredal builds dread with genuine skill (and without resorting to cheap thrills), and the performances are top-notch, with the “Succession” favorite Cox doing particularly stellar work as an old pro who thinks he’s seen it all and is quickly proven wrong.‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’ (March 16)Stream it here.The pedigree for this 2014 neo-noir thriller is mighty impressive: It is based on a novel by the respected and prolific crime novelist Lawrence Block and adapted and directed by Scott Frank (“Out of Sight,” “Minority Report,” “The Queen’s Gambit”). But because the star is Liam Neeson, and because the picture was released just as viewers were beginning to sour on his “Taken” sequels and re-treads, it was dismissed by the adult audience that might appreciate it most. Neeson stars as Block’s most durable hero, the former cop-turned-private investigator (and recovering alcoholic) Matthew Scudder, here investigating a brutal murder that opens up a complicated series of kidnappings, slayings and secrets. Moody and melancholy, it is possibly the best film of the Neeson-aissance.‘Oldboy’ (March 24)Stream it here.Perhaps the most popular (at least on these shores) and most influential film of the “New Korean Cinema” movement of the 1990s and 2000s, this artful and aching revenge thriller from the director Park Chan-wook (“The Handmaiden”) concerns a seemingly straight-arrow businessman, Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), who wakes up from a drunken blackout locked in some kind of private prison. He is kept there for 15 years, never allowed to know who put him there or why, so when he is unceremoniously released, he decides to get those answers himself. In the post-“Pulp Fiction” film landscape, Chan-wook’s action set pieces and unflinching violence made him a hero of young cinephiles around the world. But what makes “Oldboy” special, and what makes it stick, is its poignancy; “Oldboy” wonders genuinely what it would be like to lose so much of one’s life, and what kind of madness might follow suit.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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    Vienna Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti Return to Carnegie Hall

    Riccardo Muti, in what felt like a victory lap, returned to Carnegie Hall to lead the Philharmonic’s annual three-day series of concerts.Bow down to the Vienna Philharmonic’s tremolo.This is the trembling, hazy effect that string players can make by lightly quivering their bows. Usually very quiet, signifying tension or expectation, tremolos are often designed to be listened past. They don’t tend to be something anyone dwells on or remembers.But passing details of texture like this are what the Viennese — who had their annual three-concert stand at Carnegie Hall this weekend, with pillars of the repertoire by Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvorak — do better than perhaps anyone else.In moments as different as the start of the grand Finale of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony and the opening of the charming “At the Mill” Scherzo of Stravinsky’s Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fée,” the Philharmonic’s tremolo was something to take seriously.Soft but alert and full of energy, the vibrating was less a sound than an atmosphere, an almost palpable animating of the air. It wasn’t distracting, but it was arresting — infusing and enriching the music layered atop it.The Philharmonic achieves little wonders like this regardless of who’s on the podium. Still, the proud, vigorous dignity of these concerts can be at least partly ascribed to Riccardo Muti, in programs notable for including two symphonies by Schubert, one of his touchstones.At 83, Muti is basking in the twilight of a storied and beloved career. He officially left the music directorship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra two years ago, but has been helping to care for it until the 29-year-old Klaus Mäkelä can take over in 2027. In January, Muti toured with the Chicagoans to Carnegie; with these Vienna concerts, his winter in New York has felt like a victory lap.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