Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1493)

Content

ClareR (6037 KP) rated Zikora in Books

Nov 8, 2020

Zikora

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 2020 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Honestly, I would have been happy if this short story had been a full novel. It’s full of Adichie’s view of the world and how women live their lives in it.

When Zikora finds out that she is pregnant, she excitedly tells her boyfriend thinking that he’ll be just as excited. He isn’t. He wants nothing to do with the responsibilities of being a father, and shuts Zikora out completely, even threatening her with legal action when she continues to phone him about the progress of her pregnancy.

This story mainly takes place during Zikora’s labour, as it looks back on all the things that happened before. Her mother is a constant presence during her labour, and Zikora is able to look back on their relationship.

I shouldn’t really say any more, because this is only a 35 page short story. I will say that I listened to this on Audible at the same time as reading it, and the narrator, Adepero Oduye, really brought the story to life for me. Adichie’s storytelling is at its usual high standard, and it was a joy to both read and listen to.

Kudos

Jeremy Workman recommended Revanche (2008) in Movies (curated)

Revanche (2008)

2008 | Crime, Drama, Romance

(0 Ratings)

Movie Favorite

"I love soulful noirs, and this slow-burn Austrian crime thriller is one of my faves of the new millennium. It’s as if Bergman made a movie about cops and robbers. Austrian director Götz Spielmann gets incredible naturalistic performances, and the storytelling has some real breathing space, which is rare in crime thrillers. (For another soulful Criterion crime pic, give The Hit a look-see.) What I love most about Revanche is this narrative magic trick it pulls. You think it’s going to be a relatively conventional story about a robbery that goes off the rails and criminal-code revenge. But instead it turns into this deep exploration about the intersection of people and the happenstances that lead us down surprising paths in our lives (a theme that I explored in my documentary Magical Universe. Find it!). Like the best noirs, the crime plot is just the Trojan horse that takes you into a profound story about choice and consequence. Before you even know it, Revanche has morphed into something like a Kieślowski film, and it suddenly knocks you on the floor and leaves you in a heap."

Source

Kudos

Chris Klein recommended The Hurt Locker (2009) in Movies (curated)

The Hurt Locker (2009)

2009 | Drama, Thriller, War

7.4

(31 Ratings)

Movie Favorite Watch

"I’m taking you in a slightly different direction now, and I’m going to throw down Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. To me, as an actor, and as a lover and proponent of independent film, what Kathryn Bigelow and Jeremy Renner were able to do on a budget… The storytelling in this movie is sublime. I would have a hard time putting any performance by a male actor above the beautifully nuanced, incredibly layered performance that Jeremy Renner gives in this movie. Yes, he was nominated; I still don’t think he gets enough credit for this performance. Maybe it’s my place in life, maybe it’s the age I was when I saw the film, maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been frustrated with the lack of war films coming out at a time when America was at war and these stories needed to be told. I still feel like they need to be told and aren’t necessarily being told the right way. The Hurt Locker, to me, is as perfect a film as you can make. And Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty — those three characters, gosh… That movie blows me away."

Source

Kudos

Colin Trevorrow recommended The Manchurian Candidate (1962) in Movies (curated)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

1962 | Classics, Drama, Thriller

7.7

(20 Ratings)

Movie Favorite Watch

"In high school, I worked at The Video Room in Oakland, California. It had the largest selection of laser discs in the Bay Area. One guy owned all of them. I was smugly aware that most people were watching movies entirely wrong, and would tell them so. I’d explain aspect ratios and assure my friends they’ve never even really seen Jaws until they’d seen it at my house on the Pioneer, hooked up to my dad’s concert amplifier and massive stadium speakers, my own rig. I watched more movies during that time than I did in film school. The Manchurian Candidate was one of them, and it was just [on a] different level. I went in thinking it would be a masterfully directed political conspiracy thriller, which it was, but was also completely bananas. I couldn’t believe some of the choices made. That film gave me permission to get a little bit weird in my storytelling. Once you’ve seen an old lady execute a Korean POW while Frank Sinatra looks on in complacency, you know you can go to crazytown and the audience will stay with you. It’s not easy, but it’s possible."

Source

Kudos