On Thursday, Men Can Stop Rape will host the D.C. premiere of THE LINE, Nancy Schwartzman's documentary about sexual consent as filtered through her own experience with rape. I interviewed Schwartzman in April about confronting her rapist on camera for the film; she'll be on-hand at the event to "facilitate discussion on how to use [...]
Ever had a sexual experience? Then welcome to the magical world of "virginity," where a white wedding dress can restore a sexually-active 40-something's innocence, a set of pigtails can turn even the most experienced porn performer chaste, and a new hymen can be shipped from China for about 30 bucks. Documentary filmmaker Therese Shechter explores [...]
The annual documentary film festival Silverdocs hits D.C. again this week. For the City Paper's coverage of this year's Nordic-heavy offerings, I reviewed Regretters, a documentary which unfolds as a long talk between two men who underwent sex-change operations to become female only to immediately regret the loss of their penises. Its accusatory title aside, [...]
Apartheid meets bachelor parties in White Wedding
It's time again for Filmfest DC,the District's annual international film festival. This year—the festival's 24th—I reviewed three films that center on getting hitched. There's White Wedding, a film about wedding planning and post-Apartheid politics, in that order, from South Africa; Will You Marry Us?, a love affair between believably [...]
THE LINE — It Was Cooperative from Nancy Schwartzman on Vimeo.
In 2004, Nancy Schwartzman flew back to Jerusalem to confront the man who raped her. Three years earlier, Schwartzman was living in Jerusalem by way of New York City, working at a cultural institution, and getting plenty of film footage on the side. Then, a [...]
Yesterday, City Paper colleague and NPR commentator Bob Mondello floated a solution that would trim the bloated Academy Awards telecast "and strike a blow against sexism"—unsex the Oscars. Mondello:
Nobody separates Best Director from Best Directress (directrix?), or Best Editor from Best Editress, so why Best Actor and Best Actress? Combine them, and let the best [...]
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Alyssa Rosenberg nails it on why today's romantic movies suck so bad: They're only about romance. The great romantic films of yore, Rosenberg notes, forced romantic love to duke it out with some other big force in the characters' lives—like Nazis:
This is your perfect man. The one in the middle. Trust us on this one.
We all know why women identify with the protagonists in romantic comedies: We are all pathetic, overworked, wedding-obsessed spinsters with romantic lives so complicated they could only truly be expressed through the peculiar talents of Jennifer Lopez.
But what of the romantic [...]
Behold a common argument deployed by modern sexists:
1. Establish your concern for the women's movement by admitting that things used to be pretty bad for chicks, back in the olden days when institutionalized sexism dictated that women couldn't vote or hold jobs out of the home.
2. Your feminist prowress now established, assert that since women [...]
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Speaking of creepy things to do: Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Reese Witherspoon are reportedly filming in Adams Morgan today until 1:30. I don't have time to go stalk Paul Rudd, so instead I'm stalking people stalking Paul Rudd on twitter. And repeatedly watching this Paul Rudd dancing compilation (above).
The top ten creepiest Paul Rudd [...]
