The Stories of my Life

My Top Most Important Reads in 2021: #521 Lessons for The 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

My Top Most Important Reads in 2021:

#5- 21 Lessons for The 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

“In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power.”

This statement which opens Harari’s third book in what is a trilogy exploring the past (Sapiens), future (Homos Deus) and now the present of humanity, captures the spirit in which he writes. Harari is clear that he believes time is ticking on humanities ability to control the narrative, and spends much time articulating how narrative is key for how we do history rightly or wrongly, because whether we recognize it or not we all have a narrative we hold to and which we assume and project into our understanding of truths relating to historicity. From narrative comes clarity and potential.

His essential argument in this final book focused on the present state of the human species revolves around the cautionary and prophetic message that In the near future, if not already, humanities power to dictate the direction of this narrative, especially when it comes to ethics, may or likely will be given over to the very power of the technology and systems we have created. When system is married to technology the narrative of our evolutionary story changes exponentially, giving the technology an agency unparalleled in human history. The irony of this being that it is because we see this technology as a symbol of humanities inherent exceptionalism that we remain largely unaware of the right questions to ask. In short, for the first time in history technology has far outpaced our ability to formulate these advances and changes in a way that that aids human activity. Instead human activity consistently caters to technological changes.

At one point the author points out that we’ve spent the whole of human history sitting around debating about life’s meaning, and we no longer have that luxury. We need to get past these arguments and get on with what really matters- regaining control of the world.

Why this is one of the most important books of 2021 for me is not so much because I agree with his conclusions; truth be told I depart with him on that front, it’s because I think the data and thoughts contained in this trilogy, and which this book effectively demonstrates, presents the most compelling argument for where we are and how we got here and what we must do in response that I have found to date. There’s no question that Harari has strong feelings about religion, and when he gets caught up in these biases the book and his arguments are at their weakest and least compelling. But the information that surrounds this I think makes a really strong case for the truth of reality as we know it and what these current realities are. For me his exposition uncovers the most logical way to live with these challenges with of course a strong eye on the future. I am convinced that if I didn’t hold to faith Harari’s assessment of reality remains most likely to be true. As a person of faith his assessment of reality also explains, at least in part, why it is that I believe in God.

I think one interesting thing about Harari is that what he has to say directly challenges so much about the ways in which non-religious thought often makes certain assumptions about reality that don’t reflect the way it actually is. I see this happen all the time in conversation. His deconstruction of free will, his assessment of nationalism, his appeal to materialism, his acknowledgement of narratives as illusions, his interpretation of our relationship to technology, these are all things that smart minds might acknowledge but rarely allow to actually inform the truth precisely because of where it seems to lead. This is where he challenges this tendency by exposing logical inconsistencies. The way he exposes the degree to which much of the laws of nature bleed through so many of the areas we generally apply freely to morals and ethics, and the acceptance that this is okay and even necessary when taken in the bigger picture, contradicts many of the most popular assessments of reality on the surface. It is the way that he makes a case for these things that makes it so compelling, even if it leaves us uncomfortable. And if you are a person of faith, so much of this intersects with the the stuff of life that religion tends to inform and reform, thus reading this can help clarify some of the uncomfortable realities about life and humanity that cause many of us to question and desire to confront and address.

2021 Retrospective: Rosebud, An Integrated Resolution Plan

A few years ago I began a New Years Resolution Plan called Rosebud. I heard about it on one of the travel podcasts that I follow. The process essentially looks like this:
Step 1: List Three Roses-
This is the stuff that I would consider the greatest strengths, successes or accomplishments of the past year, the stuff that has managed to blossom into a Rose.
Step 2: List One Thorn
This would reflect my greatest personal struggle of the past year.
Step 3: List Three Buds
Based on my “thorn”, this is a list of what I would like to “bud” into potential Roses in the coming year.
Step 4: Come up with a word for the year
This should be a single word that can help reflect the direction I want to head in the coming year, a single word that can give my year a theme or a recognizable focus and narrative.

So, why Rosebud?
I have been asked in the past, why three Roses but only one Thorn? Most of us don’t realize it, but it is often much more diffciult to come up with roses than it is thorns. Also difficult is learning how to speak about thorns in a way that imagines forward movement, seeing it in light of one’s potential for growth. It’s kind of like that old piece of advice that says when you are in an interview for a new job and they ask you about your weaknesses, always give a weakness that you can do something about.

The great part of the Rosebud system is that it allows one to document their struggles and their growth year by year as a kind of working and interactive diary. You can build on the previous year and form an ongoing narrative out of the successes, struggles and hopes. This is not about resolutions persay, at least not in the traditional sense, it is about making space for introspection and observation and forming that into perspective and potential. And it allows one to not just make goals, but to examine what those goals are actual about, the why of our goals.
With that in mind…

LOOKING BACK ON MY THREE POTENTIAL BUDS IN 2021

Heading into 2021 I had noted that my one thorn was this constant feeling of being defeated. There were multiple reasons for why I felt this way, and my three buds, my three hopeful observations, seems to have been interested and in redirecting and redefining my focus. At the time I had rebranded my website to intentionally move from a narrowed space (wrestling with turning 40 by looking at the story of my ilfe) and move into a more positivist focus to reflecting on the stories within my life, be it experiences, books, film, encounters, memories ect. This rebranding came with an upgrade to this site that allowed me to get rid of the ads and utilize my own domain.

I do think this rebranded focus has brought positive change, including more writing and more interaction with others through that writing. One change in 2021 that I think came from this rebranded focus was an invitation to join the team at one of my favorite podcasts, The Fear of God. I was asked to come on and contribute, along with being the odd podcast guest, biweekly articles that reflect on what I’ve been reading, watching and listening to. it has been an opportunity to sharpen some of my writing and my attention. It has stolen some time from this space of course, but i think that has proved a worthwhile exchange.

As part of my buds for 2021 i wanted to take better control of my presence on social media, as it was occupying much of my time and not resulting in much that was positive. I attempted to scale back on my reactionary participation, focus more on groups that I found fruitful and edifying, and stay consistent in my own feed. I wasn’t interested in unplugging entirely, but i was interested in utilizing it differently. This is na area I saw progress in, particularly in the early going, and yet i also have a long ways to go.

I had noted leading in to my 2021 Roses, Thorn and Buds the record breaking year I had in 2020 for film and books. That was part of my 2020 hopefuls so it was by design, but with this refocusing and redirecting anticipated dialing that back. This proved to be an epic fail. I broke my 2020 record for both film and books, and by a consideral amount. The strange thing being that i did so without really monitoring it or paying attention to it until December. My free time and space was intended to be spent on giving time to a personal research project on the subject of memory. i made some headway, but that is something i would really like to get back on track with in 2022.

My presonal word for 2021 was “story”, which was meant to capture my rebranded blog focus, my research project, and those attempts to redirect and refocus on something intentional.

ROSEBUD 2021

Three Roses:

1. Research Project/Book

I Started my research project/book but fell off the wagon with it so to speak. Still, noting the progress that I did manage to achieve feels as good a place to start with identifying a rose fom 2021.

2. The Fear of God

Although this speaks mostly to the privilege of being asked and being givent the opportunity, coming on staff for The Fear of God was a highlight of 2021 and something I consider a rose if simply for represnting a commitment to staying on task and sharpening my writing process.

3. Buddy

As 2021 would have it we stumbled, through the apparent determination of my wife, on a new pup named Buddy (appopriately for our favorite film Elf). I see this as a rose more for what it imposes on my life, which is the opportunity to give myself to one who needs care, compassion and love as part of our found family. I see those as positive additions to the mix in 2021.

One Thorn:

Avoidance. This feels perhaps ambiguous, and it kind of is in my own head. But it also feels right on a number of levels. There are a number of areas, however undefined, that feel like if they are to bud they first need to be acknowledged. Setting out to figure out precisely what that is and means is a place to begin, but that means acknowledging the thorn.

Three Buds

1. Reinvest in relationships at home

I suppose this goes hand in hand with our welcome addition of Buddy, but it feels like things at home, which I think we would all agree if we are being honest, have been caught up in a diffcult space as of late. A little bit of apathy, depression, aimlesslessness, wrestling with addictions, being caught up in less than helpful routines. Getting out of the slump likely begins with doing it together, which means beginning with each other.

2. Take my record breaking year in film and books and funnel that time into greater investments

What do I mean by investments? Perhaps more intentionality, although I haven’t quite whittled that down yet. Certainly more opporunity for phyisical relationship. More honed reflection. I imagine this will need some dicipline and a paring back of the numbers, which would be totally fine. I think using my love of film to expand my horizons and get a little more creative, less adhered to content and more focused on the substance, will be something I can work through this year.

3. Make progress on my book

Given that I fell off the wagon this feels as necessary as anything. Definitely something I can get back on track.

My Word For the Year: Process

My Top Fims of 2021 Part 2: Top 20

A word on lists before I get to my top films of 2021. First, as is often the case wrestling these films down into a list was difficult. There is an argument to made that “lists” aren’t the best way to represent a year as these numbered spots are fluid and hardly static when set into conversation.

And yet it would be difficult to find a different system to effectively help shed light on these films. Numbers seem to catch our attention, and based on a long process of reflecting and engaging the titles that stood out for me for any number of reasons in 2021, it is at least fair to say that the titles represented on my list are ones I hope to draw attention to in this present space and time. Also, my personal paramaters, which does not include non-narrative (documentaries.. see part 1 for those) films, consider any film that got a wide release in 2021 as eligible for conversation with the exception of those represented at the Oscars. So Nomadland, Judas and the Back Messiah, among a few others, although getting wide release in 2021 are not represetned. At the same time a number of notable 2021 releases that have made numerous top of lists are not included simpy on the basis that I haven’t bene able to see them. Those include Drive My Car, Red Rocket, Flee, Mass, and the Tragedy of Macbeth.

One last word as well. I wrote earlier about certain themes that emerged from this years slate of films for me personally. A big part of this year has been the reopening of theaters. Little more has tapped into the joy of cinema for me than this. It helped revive a challenging first quarter and reignite why film matters and why its such an important voice in my life. Most of my picks represented tap into that cinematic expression, representing both the narrative and form, and truth be told I’ve been soaking in a ridiculously packed theater slate due to carry overs fromt the pandemic that is bound to disipate. So I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

With that in mind, here is my top 20 list for 2021, which is out of 254 2021 releases viewed:

Honorable Mention: The Klling of Two Lovers

20. Dune

19. Coda

18. The Eyes of Tammy Faye

17. Identifying Features

16. Pig

15. The Last Duel

14. Dear Comrades

13. The Matrix: Resurrections

12. About Endlessness

11. Spencer

10. Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright’s much anticipated horror film Last Night in Soho is a true celebration of style, substance and form. Brimming with character, it bleeds a welcome sense of nostalgia, moving us through the streets of Soho like a place caught in time and with important and necessary stories to tell. The film features complimentary performances by the eclectic and seasoned actresses Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, and explorse important themes when it comes to how it is that we wrestle with nostalgia and the past, especially when it comes to locating the struggles women face in the here to live as liberated persons

9. The Card Counter

Sitting in the movie theater in the empty space that precedes the closing credits of First Reform and hearing someone say, “What the “f” was that” is still one of my favorite movie going experiences. Not because I felt smug in my appreciation of what I would call high art, or transcendental cinema, but rather over the fact that a film that that could elict such a strong reaction. First Reformed is, admittedly, a tough watch. It is also proof of the ways in which film can challenge us to think and see outside of the box.

The good news is, for those who might be leary of Schrader’s particular style and voice is that The Card Counter is a considerately more accessible film. At least part of the reason for this is the difference between Oscar Isaac’s grounded ex-con persona and Hawke’s evocative an highly pastoral take on existential angst. Even before we get to the beautifully shot but unsettled ending of First Reformed Hawke’s enigmatic peformance is clouded in mistique and strangeness, whereas in the Card Counter we get a shell that is fairly easy to understand and grasp before Schrader breaks it, digs underneath, and attempts to piece it back together. There are so many aspects of this film that deserve ones attention, structurally, thematically, visually, audibly. The way Schrader draws this out as a litany (or liturgy) of scenes, all of which feel slightly disparate but which also experience this inevitable pull towards something shared, even if that something feels slightly out of reach for most of this film. We get these notes, these moments where a tidbit of information or a small reveal breaks through as a kind of revelatory process, forming the narrative out of what are largely conversational bits between these characters.

Forgiveness comes into play here, with the question of the difference between forgiveness of one’s self and recieving forgiveness from another becoming an important part of the films larger exploration of guilt and innocence. It is posited that we do not speak of good and bad apples, rather it is a question of whether the barrel itself is bad. This notion of childlike innocence is referenced a few times during the film, most directly twice, and in both of those cases alluding to the freedom to love and to be loved. Where this ebbs and flows between the neglect of childlike tendencies (as in we must learn to be more mature), and childlike aspirations (as in, we must learn to cater to those childish aspects if we are to mature) is a feature of this film that excited me quite a bit. I loved how it uses this to play into the larger theme of forgiveness and love, and also how it plays into this tension of that tipping point. Much of the richness of the story plays from this, including the film’s startling and iconic final scene, a scene that reaches for something truly transcendent amidst the very real questions it holds in play.

8. Riders of Justice

Daring twists and turns and misdirections that lead you through a gammot of emotions. Sharp left turns into timely humor give way to philosohpical and existential wonderings before steering us straight into the fire of its thriller based action. That it’s such a deeply felt character drama with a truly excellent ensemble piece is due to the compassionate and excellently crafted direction and a knock out role for Mads. Can’t sing high enough praise for this one. All the feels.

7. The Green Knight

A uniqe take on an old Aurthurian poem by a master filmmaker, with the interpretive take asking big and bold questions about what it means to be a man, shaped as this question is by the grand mix of myth and history with its images of heros and legends, even going so far as to wonder, if I may borrow from a favorite critic Josh Larson, whether this is a question we should still be asking at all. The film also explores the relationship between myth and history, using the religious parallel to dig deep into an exposition of where precisely our humanity intersects. A powerful film that I imagine will only grow in my imagination with time.

6. C’mon C’mon

Few films have resonated with me in 2021 in the way this one did, evoking as it does an exploration of perspective, moving between that of a child and its adult protagonist in a one two punch of the best performances of the year. The motif if the still image paired with the preserving of memory and the forming of meaningful narrative plays large here, and the relationship dynamic, built as it is on found family, reaches beyond the typical parent-child relationship in order to challenge our vision of precisely where the lines between family and friedshipmeet across these generational lines. A genuine celebration of life and wonder found in the midst of real struggle and pain.

5. The French Dispatch

I truly believe this is one of Anderson’s best works, and yet it’s hard to measure this against his previous efforts because it also feels very different, at least experientially. The emotional breadth of his style and design is more clearly on display elsewhere, which I think might make some of his other films more immediately accessible given the degree to which The French Dispatch requires you to give yourself over to the experience itself. But its also true to say that emotional breadth has never been given a more intricately crafted and expertly built frame to exist within, which is truly this films crowning jewel as it navigates the binaries of our existence using working motifs of light and dark, good and evil, isolation and relationship, art and viewer, life and death. From this is locates startling and striking images that then motivate us towards images of the good, the community, the light, the life and the celebration of art.

4. Belfast

This crowd.pleasing, one of a kind family drama is one of the Directors best works, taking a heartfelt and compassionate approach to a deeply personal subject- family and home, and more specifically that of Ireland and its people.

The film features some exquisite framing that works with the constantly shifting camera work. There are times where it feels we are watching an elaborately screened stage production, complete with entrances and exits and choreographed to precision. There are other times where it immerses us in a dramatic sequence, with the artists imagination drawing us in through the creativity of the visusla. Still other shots settle on a specific scene, or it employs a static positioning, gradually revealing the details in the periphery that lie just outside our line of sight. Taken all together it’s a marvelous tapestry that functions as a perfect marriage with the films astute use of pacing and editing. It might be first and foremost a love letter to Ireland, but in offering us such stark and deliberate images of two sides divided it is able to center us on these brief glimpses of a more universal story of struggle and hope, reminding us of what is most important in living together.

3. Nine Days

This is a high concept film filled with existential concerns for life and its marriage to suffering. Following a lone arbitor who has the lengthy task of interviewing souls for the potential occupying of a vacant life on earth, a process that takes nine days to conclude, the film digs deep into that central tension- is the chance at living truly worth the potentoal suffering, and what do we do with life when it appears that the bad far outweighs the good. In the scope of the film, memory becomes crucial to gaining a helpful point of perspective pointing us to evidence of a central human longing that is embedded within our spirits, something we can’t always understand but something that continually has the power to point beyond us and our present experiences, beyond oursleves to a transcendent Truth, a grander narrative that enfolds this existence. A Truth that doesn’t deny or ignore the tension of existing in the struggle but which looks to speak to it in ways that can inform and contextualize, in ways that feel intuitively aware of what is not right and what we hope will be made right. That our ability to lay claim to beauty is not contingent on the trajectory of our indivdiual lives or the success of a small portion of humanity is, for me, a liberating thought waiting to break into and shed light on this films concluding image, wich is the most memorabe image of 2021 for me personally.

2. Licorice Pizza

As PTA is bound to, he manages again to take the unsettled space of these complicated character dynamics and turn into something completely captivating. It always seems so odd to me that his films can seem so simple and yet they are most decidedly not. In this case he revisits the unconventional love story setting them in an era (the gloriously reconstructed 1970s Hollywood backdrop) that he is clearly quite familiar with and thinks fondly of, and uses it to pull out subtle commentaries about race and gender relations and the tension that exists between nostalgia and reality. As he navigates this he gently pulls from this the true and pure innocence of the story using the oviously uncomfortable nature of the age gap between this 15 year old boy and a 25 year old woman. The 15 year old boy who acts like he is 25 and the 25 year old woman who struggles with the weight of maturity and its expectation of a life meet in this back and forth push and pull between the two, with these cyclical sequences subtly presenting us with a gradually emerging character and thematic arc. That this age difference disappears into the carefree nature of this relationship and its undeniable innocence once again tumbles us straight back into that existing tension between nostalgia and reality, this time with fresh perspective and a fresh lust for life and love in its purest and untainted form.

1. The Humans

The film belongs with the likes of The Big Kahuna or The Sunset Limited. It’s based on a play and the single location shoot revolves around a script that delves into matters of existential concern spanning life, family, relationship, circumstance, religion, forgivness, restitution, and hidden secrets coming to the surface. The film is beautifully shot, and the script exceptionally written, and the performances perfectly capture the full breadth of these themes as they struggle through this self contained holiday gathering. Viewer beware, this lays all the messiness of family gatherings to bare and thus should come with a serious trigger warning.

What the film does with these family dynamics is where the sharpness of its vision gets fully articulated. It encases it as a gradually emerging nightmare, with the momentary feelings of necessary escape being bound to the kind of expectaitons such gatherings entail. The problem is the more we coexist within this space the more the unspoken tensions, stifled as we try to keep them, bubble up to the surface, leaving these family gatherings as an inevitable process of laying the dirty laundry on the table. In some ways this is the necessary therapeutic process, the thing that enables us to return to this space again and again despite its potential for dysfunction and horror. For it to remain stifled is to have nowhere to go but into our isolation. And yet the irony of this, something this film captures in its essence, is that this cast of familial relations are perhaps never more aware of this feeling of isolation than when they get together. This, it seems, is the conundrum of this necessary coexistence.

The definite horror notes then breathe through the narrative with an inspired sense of awareness of this dillema, using it as a way to visually represent the common experience. And yet, what undercuts this are silent moments of beauty and assurance, this unspoken word that seems to leave us with the conviction that despite its dysfunction family, that connection and togetherness, is necessary.

My Top Films Of 2021 Part 1: The Outliers

And yet it would be difficult to find a different system to effectively help shed light on these films. Numbers seem to catch our attention, and based on a long process of reflecting and engaging the titles that stood out for me for any number of reasons in 2021, it is at least fair to say that the titles represented on my list are ones I hope to draw attention to in this present space and time. Also, my personal paramaters consider any film that got a wide release in 2021 as eligible for conversation with the exception of those represented at the Oscars. So Nomadland, Judas and the Back Messiah, among a few others, although getting wide release in 2021 are not represetned. At the same time a number of notable 2021 releases that have made numerous top of lists are not included simpy on the basis that I haven’t bene able to see them. Those include Drive My Car, Red Rocket, Flee, Mass, and the Tragedy of Macbeth.

With that in mind, I’ll start with some of my outliers. Consider this a casual jaunt through the hallways of my year in film on the way as i made my way to my top of the year list. A couple notable films that I really wished could have made my list- House of Gucci, Swan Song, My Salinger Year, Joji, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, No Sudden Move, Sweet Thing, and Say Your Prayers.

The Outliers

Wild Mountain Thyme

Speaking of outliers I know I am one when it comes to my love for this film. But if you are looking for a sentimental but also meaningful romantic comedy with a poetic edge and Irish flair, this hit the sweet spot for me.

Nobody

Worth noting because it was filmed in Winnipeg, its ridiculously entertaining, and it has some nice, resonant themes as well. Definitely worthchecking out.

Shang Chi/Black Widow/Spiderman: No Way Home/Eternals/Zack Snyders Justice League//Suicide Squad

I’ve included these together simply to point out that not a single Mravel or D.C. film made my list this year, and that is not a statement on their strength. I loved all of these films equally for different reasons, be it the grand mythology and epic story of Zack Snyders Justice League, Eternals taking a similarly big and epic story and whittling it down to an intimate characterstudy, the way Spiderman, my favorite MCU character, managed to take his present space in the MCU and use that to create such a meaningful stand alone and introspective story, the sheer visual spectacle of Shang Chi as a cultural narrative, the absolute blast that was this years The Suicice Squad which for me redeemed what I didn’t like about the first, or the stength of story and character represented in Black Widow. In any other year any of thess could have cracked my list, and for me I remain as excited for and invested in their future as ever before.

Never Gonna Snow Again

Defies categories, takes some big risks, and the reward is a character drama revolving around a Ukranian immigrant that cuts through the visual flourishes resulting in something emotional and affecting.

I’m your Man

A gem of a film that fits that necessary high minded indie spot. Its a familiar premise with its examination of our relationship to the future, in this case exploring the quesiton of what it means to be human through the reltaionship between a woman and a clone built to meet her needs in a arner. But it tells is to in a fresh way.

Joji

Flag DayThis film started at the top of my list and just barely ended up getting sequeezed out. I haven’t seen The Tragedy of Macbeth yet (doesn’t release unitll mid January on Apple Tv+, so this remains the best Shakespeare adaptation of the year. I absolultely loved the tone and the creative ay it translates that into a modern context. Rich in themes of forgivness and restitution and pictures of justice, and reflects a deeply personal and family centered story as well.

Ghostbusters: After Life

This one wasn’t going to make my top list, but as a film this did evreything I could ask for in representing the franchise and establishing a fresh new story moving foward. Its suprisingly emotional, resfreshingly simple, and a whole lot of fun.

No Sudden Move

I still maintian having seen this early in the year and having had time to sit with it that this is Soderberghs best work to date. It fits right in his wheelhouse with its noirish, gangster type thriller vibe and structurally speaking its quite a marvel. Even thinking of it now brings up a slight pang knowing that its not on my top list

Sun Children

A richly textured and deeply moving story baout a 12 year old and his friends that mixes in a treasure hunt and some adventure.

My Salinger Year

A definte personal favorite that checks so many of my boxes. It inspired me to pick up the book which only underscored how much I love this film. The literary dynamic had me giddy and the performances are really great as well. Thematically it managed to hit on ideas that intertwine the literary theme with the story of our lives, which is an idea that alway resonates with ona big level.

Felicita

A laugh out loud blast with a real emotional punch. if you have the chance (currently available on Prime), this one is absoltuely worth the investment. Even better if you go in blind so as to get the most out of the uncoventional premise.

Cherry/Swan Song/Finch/Palmer

Wanted to highlight these four films because all four are on Apple TV+ and all four are intriguing projects in their own way. Tom Holland is riveting in Cherry, a film directed by the Russo Brothers and carrying their penchant for marrying big vision with a clarity for story. i found it emotional and thriling. Swan Song is the latest of the four and represents a quiet sci fi story with big questions on its mind and a stellar performance by Ali at its core. Finch is an equally introspective apocaltypic drama that features the always reliable Tom Hanks and Palmer a suprisingly effective human drama with a nice turn by Justin Timberlake.

Ghost Tropic

A reflective and meditative exercise that follows an aging woman on a literal and allegorical journey. Its got a lot on its mind about our sense o personhood and our place in this world, and its given a really simple story to express it.

Nightmare Alley

The more I ruminate on this film the more I like it. Of course he is my favorite Director so its difficult for him to miss with me. I watched it not too long after I saw The Power of the Dog and I found Nightmare Alley to speak to my negative experience with that film given some overlapping themes regarding the cycles of human depravity. This underscores some of the reasons why he is my favorite Director, and while I wrote more about my thoughts in my favorite horror post in this space, which you cansee there if you want, I found this to be more immediately accessible than Shape of Water which translated to a positive and meaningful experience in the moment, but I’m still parsing through the intracicies of the film itself. Which is largely why it didn’t crack my top of the year list.

Mogul Mowgli

Not as strong as Sound of Metal, but Riz Ahmeds embodied performance still stands just as tall as the young British rapper strugglingtofind his way. Definitely a must see film from the 2021 slate.

No Man of God

A compelling psychological examination told from the perspective of the one man tasked with getting into the mind of Ted Bundy, part of a government sanctioned endeavor to learn what is behind the criminal action. Features a powerful performance by Elijah Wood and a strong emotional punch.

House of Gucci

The biggest reason this didn’t crack my list is that I felt it needed a rewatch before I could settle on it. Without a doubt the performances are strong, as the are in Being the Ricardos, another film that left me in a similar space. I felt like the film would have benefited from some changes in the script to tell this story more succinctlly from her perspective. The decision to tell a broader story left it slightly inconsistent in focus and motivation. Still though, its a film worth seeing and demonstrates much that works really well.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

Without a doubt this one of the most meaningful and moving theater going experiences in 2021. A messy and somewhat scatterbrained script adds to its charm as it works its way through such realites as death, loss and struggle with a keen eye towards life, beauty, joy and mystery. Visually stunning, richly imagined and wonderfully performed.

The Wanting Mare

An awe inspiring visual feat made with a miniminal budget by a promising indie Director that is all about the power of memor to hold us in dark times.

Come As You Are

Sex comedies aren’t normally my thing, but this one is smart in the waythat 40 Year Old Virgin was smart, only with a much more grounded story anchored in the realism of its premise.

Sweet Thing

Young, wild, and nearly free, this is a children’s story that stretches such categorical restraints to say something about what true freedom actually is. We are bound to circumstances and shaped by others, and all moves to resist or break free from these things inevitably sets us in greater relationship to them. These things form is, shape us, and reveal our need to share these spaces with one another.

Profoundly beautiful and at times sad, the glorious black and white transports us into this childlike grandeur encouraging us to experience the world and all of its complex emotions anew.

This is Not a Burial, Its a Resurrection

A film that explores the nature of progress and the devastating affects it can have on segments of society largely forgotten and sacrificed in its wake. Death and graves linger in the shadows of this films desperate portrait of an aging woman determined to being new life to her community in the face of suffering, danger and tragedy. This woman’s witness is powerful, and her journey says something about the nature of faith and how we hope.

The score is haunting, lending this a horror type vybe. The notes of horror only unveil however what is a deeply emotional, culturally formed heartfelt drama. There is as much beauty and joy here as there is tragedy, and it comes largely through the songs. The voices of the people and the resonant harmonies provide a contrast to the score, pulling beauty from the ashes as they say.

Say Your Prayers

This one scrapped and fought a good deal for a spot on my list and only recently got bumped off by some last minute additions. However, its worth pointing out just how strongly I resonated with this one when I first saw it. The true brilliance of this film is how it plays with preconceived perceptions regarding the never ending and ongoing debate in the West between modernism and science and religion. This becomes a template through which the film is able to dig underneath the wars and expose it for what it really is- doctrinal posiitioning that knows no boundaries and that bleeds out from either side of the figurative coin, be it the religious or the non-religious. Within this we also find intelligent discussion about why it is faith matters when it comes to wrestling through questions of morality, the nature of conviction, and discussions about the relationship between certainty and doubt.

2021 Retrospective: Favorite Documentaries, Animation and Horror

As I continue to give last minute considerations to my end of the year top lists in film I always enjoy giving special attention to some underserved genres. This is specifically true when it comes to documentaries as I tend to devote my top films of the year to narrative films. Thus this is an opportunity to shed some light on films that are really worth seeing that might not otherwise get mentioned. The same goes for animated and horror films. While these have the potential to break my final choices for top films of the year, seeing as they do belong in the narrative categories, they also tend to get overshadowed by nature of the genres. Thus I like to give them their own due as well..

So, as a precurser to my best of the year picks here are my 10 favorite documentaries, animated films and horror films of the year respectively:

Top Animated Films of 2021

10. and 9. The Croods: A New Age/Ron Gone Wrong

Two similar films bringing up the back end of my top 10. I am a considerate fan of The Croods, and I woulld make the case that this sequel is even stronger and more aware than the first when it comes to its sophisticated take on the human species and our developement of societies. On the other hand Ron Gone Wrong might not be quite as strong, but with its themes on the relationship between advancement/technology and the social realities of human connection it not only connects with the Croods but also takes its emphasis on history and applies it as one of the more important messages in 2021.

8. Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs

This came as a complete surprise to me. Springing for that dollar rental from Amazon on a small, unknown animated property uncovers a unique take on the Snow White story that digs deep into its mythos whole giving it some fresh, modern nuances. This is definitely not the traditional Disney story, taking that motif and turning it on its head in some interesting ways.

The low budget certainly does reveal itself at points, and the modern music is a bit misplaced, but it more than makes up for that in inventiveness through a sweet story that challenges modern conventions regarding appearances and image and identity.

7. Summit of the Gods

Visually rich, narratively compelling, and anchored in its real world context, this is an exceptionally constructed animated film that manages to reach those figurative heights even as it climbs that literal summi in search of the truth.

6. Luca

Deceptively and even refreshingly simple when it comes to Pixar, Luca offers an extremely lovely, charming and accessible narrative that is as steeped in its exploration of identity and community as it is in its vibrant Italian culture. As someone who loves everything and anything Italian I really fell for this film big time.

5. CryptoZoo

As a story about what it means to live together and the social and ecological concerns thta flow from this, this inventive and creative mindbender is an adult animation that locates its richness in the genres freedom to visually stretch the boundaries of reality. Much of this is about two worlds colliding, and as it does it reveals important truths about what it means to be human in our diversity and our complexit.. A challenging watch but a compelling one.

4. Encanto

I have already spent plenty of space here and elsewhere talking about my love of this story, but its presence as a “Christmas story”, its Colombian culture, and its complex themes and images remain some of the most compelling of 2021. Its getting misrepresented a bit I think in popular dsicsussion in ways that tend to miss the full weight of its narratve, both cuturally and thematically, but I definitely think it is one of the stronger Disney films to release in a while and I can only see it growing in my appreciation for it over time.

3. Raya and the Last Dragon

Coming out early in the year and leading a crop of decent entries for Pixar and Disney, Raya deserves not to be neglected to the shadows. This is the kind of storytelling that I desperately miss and that we need more of, which makes it ironic that I think some dismissed this as formulaic. Not only did I find the story exciting on a visual and dramatic level, I think it taps into some of those old fashioned narrative tendencies that are often reserved for epics, something this film aspires towards. Full points for representing one of the first new original films from Disney in a good while.

2. The Legend of Hei

A Chinese 2D animated film that’s big on scale and intimate in focus. There is so much to praise about this film’s ability to take a simple style and meld it with so much carefully crafted detail. This is as rich in its cultural representation as it is in the telling of its story, which, although arguably feeling somewhat familiar and by the numbers in certain points (the emphasis on the relationship between human and nature and the role of the spirit in uniting and healing this rift is common in Eastern narratives), reaches some real emotional depth. And it is as much the vision it represents as it is the chracters and relationships that invigorate this with meaning and purpose.

The film can be seen as a tale of two halves, with the inimacy of the first half giving way to the action set pieces of the second half. This blending of styles and focus might not work for everyone, but I found it to be a great way of building the momentum and fleshing out the stakes. It had me hooked the whole through, from the first glimpse we get of that wonderful cat, to the inhabited bodies and ensuing conflicts of the humans/goblins/spirits. One of the wonderful things about the film is that it is not interested in creating good versus bad but rather reaches for complexity and nuance in terms of the moral and ethical quesitons it wants to explore.

1. The Bones

The Wolf House is a legitimate classic, even given its relatively short existence (having releasdd last year). A work of true genius and an all time animated great. The visual creation paired with the immersive social and cultural commentary are intrinsic to its design, drawing me in with little knowledge of the allegorical context. The opportunity to dig further into its messaging was part of the experience.

This follow up short is no different. The commentary on Chilean history and the dictatorship drifts along underneath the capitvating notion of a young girl using literal death (bones of the past) to create life. It’s a bizarre concept to be sure, but it never obscure. In fact, by the time it’s over it feels earily comforting.

A definite must watch.

Top Horror Films of 2021

Honorable Mention: Vicious Fun

What would happen if you got drunk and accidentally stumbled into a secret support group for serial killers (come on now, therapy doesn’t discriminate). I never knew I needed the answer to this question until I encountered this film. Lets just say this gives new meaning to getting in touch with your inner self.

10. Anything for Jackson

After it’s well constructed opening sequence that uses an innocent backdrop to throw us straight into the deep end using some excellent set design and camera work (evoking atmosphere, mystery, space and minimalism to achieve this), the film wastes no time in answering it’s most essential questions- who are these people and why are they doing what they are doing.

This happens so succinctly and efficiently in fact that it left me wondering where this film goes from here. It does face some challenges in that it both doesn’t take its sensational premise too seriously but it also takes the characters extremely seriously. This plays out in terms of the basic construct of the plot, which plays things intentionally over the top, and the unexpected character beats and moments of honest introspection that give this film a genuine sense of heart. It’s too the Directors credit that the script its allowed to mine the premise for these moments and raise things to the surface in terms of motivation, struggles, backstories and nuance. There is real concern on display here amidst the glorified evil and some legitimately disturbing images and scenes (anything featuring an unborn baby tends to get automatic points for frights).

9. Sator/Violation

An excellent horror piece to add to the 2021 slate, and something of an unexpected find.

A tie in this spot for two challenging and uncoventional horror films that use a highly visual approach as an interpretive exercise. They both have much to say about the internal process in different ways, and they lean into the tones and atmosphere in order to tell its story.

8. The Quiet Place 2/Candyman

Two of the more popular titles to release this year tied in this spot as well, with the Quiet Place 2 demonstrating how to make a sequel to a stand alone cult success, especially given the films specific play on silence as a motif. This film leans into the larger mythology, asking questions about whats going on out there as opposed to the more contained focus of the first. It really worked for me. Candyman proves a great example of how you tackle a film from the past that was so anchored in its itme and place as a commentary. Using the same story to speak to modern questions makes this one of the smarter horror films of the year. Definitely enjoyed both new entries.

7. Nightmare Alley

The more I ruminate on this the more I like it. Of course he is my favorite Director so its difficult for him to miss with me. I watched it not too long after I saw The Power of the Dog and I found Nightmare Alley to speak to my negative experience with that film:
“Given the shared focus on our depravity and the inevitable cycles that hold us enslaved to potentials for both self destruction and liberation, Nightmare Alley succeeds where I felt The Power of the Dog desperately fails. The key difference I think is in the storytelling and the strength of the script. Depravity is always a curious theme to explore as there is always a danger of allowing nihilism to creep in to the mix The lingering phrase in this film, rich as it is with the full weight of the story’s examination of sin, forgivness and redemption, themes that emerge with stark resonance in the early going, echo with the sentiment of its felt and deeply human struggle. The words “I was born for this” cut through the noise of the inner turmoil with a special irony, disprupting our sense of how this story must go and how it must end. “Must” being a word that evokes that inherent need for the depravity to attach itself equally to the forming nature of transcendent Truth, something Del Toro is very good at capturing the rich world that Del Toro creates here for his characters to exist within rises to the surface and informs our perception of how it is that such depravity exists. And more importantly forms a longing to know how it is that something more hopeful might exist within the same fabric of this existence.

As my favorite Director Nightmare Alley proves to be more accessible and straight forward than Shape of Water, a film that needs room to grow in order to be fully appreciated (or rejected). For me personally this translated into a different kind of experience. Whereas the Shape of Water immediately resonated because of its complexity, this film left me feeling like it has a lot of room to grow in its simplicity. It’s one I anticipate revisiting, as the story structure takes a slow burn approach, using the quiet nature of its first half to set the stage for the dynamism of its second half and the thrill of its finish.”

6. Malignant

Makes my list mostly for the shared experience of that crazy twist. This is what makes horror so dependable when it comes to the theatrical experience and respresnts one of the more memorabe theater going experiences of the year. The film is more than just the twist though, and really reflects some tightly woven storytelling, some wonderful visual trics, and some great practical effects.

5. Lamb

I’m not sure exactly how I would categorize this film. It’s not really horror, but at the same time it kind of us. It’s a suspenseful drama, but its also a straight ahead moral tale. And then its scenario sets this into a category all its own. I think the best word for it is parable, and as a parable I really enjoyed it quite a lot. It’s the kind of film that has real staying power.

Thematically is where the film finds its anchor though, using an absurdist premise to ask some honest to goodness questions about what our relationship to the natural world is, particularly the sentient life we humans share it with. We also get an examination of “human” nature within this larger conversation, wondering about what it is that sets us apart as moral creatures, if anything. There is an action taken in the first half that forms a big part of the film’s tension. This action blurs the line between our humanity and the pure drive of nature to protect, survive and thrive in a familial and tribal sense. The film returns to this in its final act, using it to then hold the parable together as a cohesive narrative. As I suggested earlier, what we get here are types rather than character. This is actually what makes the film’s first half initially somewh evasive in precisely what it is going for. We are simply throw into a circumstance and situation without explanation, and we follow as things that feel less than normal unfold as normal, leading the film to then use this premise as an opportunity to ask questions and provide a lesson for us as viewers to then think on and ponder. And the more i ponder them, the more the point of the parable seems to awaken with fresh application.

4. Dark Encounter

A genuine sci-fi drama in the way of the older classics and Spielberg fame. Loved the look, the pacing, the suspense, the special effects. Its got all the right dynamics for the final half hour to pack a real emotional punch as it brings the subtext together with the building sense of mystery and dread.

Seek this one out. It’s playing on Prime and it’s absolutely worth your time.

3. The Night House

This is a challenging watch. Much of that comes down to the Director’s intention in attempting to leave its working parts slightly ambiguous so as to allow for different viewers to locate a story that fits their own experience. Its also an immensely rewarding experience for being to take the experience of the individual and set it within the film’s lingering presence as a bigger picture. This is where it truly comes alive. This is where the Director’s ambitions are able to take root, formulating the story I needed to hear while awakening me to the realization that this sits in conversation with multiple other stories that this film both is and can be telling at the same time. There are numerous scenes that play with perspective in some neat and highly technical ways, especially where it fits with this underlying theme of the mirror image or reversal that distorts matters of identity and truth. The ways the film achieves its scares is very effective, and comes as the result of well thought out and deeply creative sequencing and camera placement as opposed to any glossed over effects. Portions of this reflects natural filmmaking at its finest. And shout out to Rebecca Hall who does some nice work carrying this film. Definitley one of the strontest horrot films of the year.

2. Light From Light

An unconventional ghost story that works as a powerful, honest and simple exploration of spiritual longing in the face of loss and doubt. It’s quiet and very gradual in its pacing, but in a way that lets it really get inside you and do it’s work. There are no easy or concrete answers, simply the uncertain but hope filled journey of these wanting souls. There is the mother, who finds herself unexpectedly thrust into a position of wondering whether she has a spiritual gift and connection. There is her son who is on his own journey of coming of age and trying to make sense of life. And there is the middle aged man still working through the loss of his wife and wondering whether she is still with him.

As their lives connect the ghosts in this film become as metaphorical as they are literal, with the exploration of his wife’s spirit leading to powerful reflections on the hidden and painful parts of their past and present. And it’s done with such careful and astute observation of their emotional concern. Truly beautiful.

1. Last Night in Soho

The film features complimentary performances by the eclectic and seasoned actresses Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy. I especially love McKenzie, who is noted for her stately, and often muted performances. She pushes some of those boundaries here playing the confident young outsider with a special gift that allows her to see her dead mother’s spirit. When she decides to move to London to pursue a career in fashion design, this gift manifests itself in some unexpected ways.

If you have seen the trailer, you know that the film transports us back in time to a glamorized age of smoky rooms, good music and flashing lights. This movement between times mirrors the connection between the two main characters, which is where we get the mystery element of the story. Wright does a great job of tying this in thematically to the journey of McKenzie’s character. This is where her dream of her present and future collides headlong with the past in some neat ways. The past gets its own supporting character in a way, and this then functions as one of the films driving relationship.

There are some really nice horror bests too, including a couple very effective jump scares. It’s more experiential horror than terror, and Wright gives the film space it needs to really build up to where it goes, eventually the horror to seep its way into the fabric of the films design, almost unexpectedly.

2021 Retrospective: The Story of a Year In Film

I always enjoy using this time of year to look back on the year that was and take stock of where I’ve developed and grown. I love locating a narative within that in order to help formulate it into a story I can live occupy and live in to as I look towards the new year. This includes looking through what I have been reading, listening, and watching in 2021.

I’ve already been using this space to examine my top 10 most important reads of the year, which you can search here if you are interested. What I’ve been looking at the last few days is my year in film, taking stock of which stories stood out for me and how they fit together. Along with the return to theaters the emotional process that refelcts, and acheiving a record in terms of stats (I logged more than 1270 first time watches with over 250 of those being 2021 releases), I noted a real difference between the uniform nature of my top picks in 2020, which nearly all fit within a similar theme of childhood innocence lost set against the recovering of that childhood innocence in the face of our adult cynicism, and the sheer diversity of the titles contending for my favorites of 2021. This has been one of the hardest years to whittle down that I can remember in a good while. For the most part my picks tend darker, more introspective, and are largely interested in uncovering the internal process as opposed to evoking imediate wonder for the larger story that we are a part of. In truth, taken as a collective these films admit that the larger story feels a bit cloudy at the moment.

These stories have tended to veer more intimate and smaller in scale, raising more questions about the present than runimating in the possibilities of the future. The occupying of this present space, perhaps as a kind of acceptance of where we are today as opposed to the hopeful positioning and optimism that the turn of the calender year seemed to reflect closing out 2020, seems to represent the exhuastion of it all that I hear many lamenting. I can’t help but think about how fiting the most recent Netflix release Don’t Look Up actually is given how it has sparked such vigorous division between an already divided left and right, convincing the masses regardless of affiliation that they are the smartest person in the room while everyone else are the ignorant fools and the cause of all the problems. The phrase “don’t look up” has quickly become ammunition for Trumpists and Leftists alike. Its no wonder its one of my least favorite films of the year. The laborious and dire depiction of toxic masculinity and cycical depavity in the Power of the Dog is close behind in one of my least favorite viewing experiences of the year.

That’s not to say that the films that have been informing my own experience in 2021 have been hopeless and dire. It’s simply that they see the present state of the journey in process and with a more narrowed perspective that the desperate grasping for hope that was 2020. I think about the complicated persona of Diana captured in the creative and imaginative exercise of Spencer, a film that dares to wonder about who this person was and how she might have processed the weight of her own struggles over the course of what was an important 3 days in her history. Here we get a picture of someone both burdened and driven to respond to lifes expectations of who we must be and what life must be like in order to be seen as worthwhile. Similarly the portrait we get in Cmon Cmon of a storied and isolated persona who finds his perspective on life challenged by an unexpected relationship with a child emboldens us to see the world as bigger than our limited point of view and as something that is in process, beckoning us to learn in real time often in the midst of less than ideal circumstances. The French Dispatch faces the present binaries of this world; life and death, dark and light, good and evil, and dares to imagine community as the healing force that emerges from their inevitable collision. Films like Notturno, Identifying Features, and About Endlessness narrow in on the points of our journey that feel impossible and embrace the sorts of questions that emerge from this uncertainty, pushing us forward down a path with limited view of whats ahead. In a different sense, films like The Card Counter, Cage’s surprising turn in Pig, Riders of Justice, and the single setting of The Humans narrow in even further on the emotional journey each narrative imaginines as they move towards wrestling with failures, sin, personal restitution, redemption and forgiveness as necessary for making sense of the larger story of this world and the spaces we occupy in it.

At the same time we got films that looked towards those larger and forming narratives, be it the metaphorical and allegorical interest of the Green Knight, steeped as it is in the old Aurthurian legends, the deeply felt cultural and socio-political commentary of Raya and the Last Dragon and Encanto, stories of real hope in the midst of the collective struggle using traditional narratives to point us towards larger spiritual truths and a broadened view of humanity as “family”, This is similar as well to the way Spiderman: No Way Home tackles the question of how it is we live with the seeming irreconcilable dichotomies that define our lives and this world. Knowing what it means to be both Spiderman and Peter, or to be both hopeful and despairing at the same time is, the movie insists, part of the process of learning to live in the world we occupy in the present. Marvels Eternals asks the same question on a bigger scale, looking to locate an orgins story to help make sense of the moral tension of Thanos’ snap, examining the uncertainty of living in a post snap world. We also got the simple and hope filled stories of Licorice Pizza, Belfast and Coda, each of which offer real stories of hope from slightly different vantage points, be it the internal process of Locorice Pizza, the social and societal reality of Coda, or the collective experience of Belfast. Even the latest installment of Matrix: Resurrections seemed to reach for the hope filled possibilities that our questions might reveal, daring to ask about the nature of living in a post resurrection reality. If Neo as “The One” was supposed to bring liberty and make what is wrong in this world right, why are things still wrong? Does this mean that the resurrection failed to deliver what it promised, that Neo’s death is now more real than the promise of new life? Working through this question becomes a measure for how it is that we locate hope in the present, especially where we feel caught in the despairing cycles.

All of this has led me towards one, singular phrase- the reminder that we are “in process”. In process feels less hopeful a sentiment than the forced proclamation of a new year that was the end of 2020. It also feels more intentional and opportunistic, as though to say, if this is still our reality, and if things have even in fact appeared to have gotten worse and more divided, the simple statement that we are in process forms an invitation to step into that story and participate in it precisely where we find ourselves in this present moment. Calling us to trust in the promise that healing will come and that a new world will arise out of the rubble. What is interesting about looking back at last years reflection in this space from my personal resolutions challenge called Rosebud, is that the word I chose to inform the year was “story”. This word was birthed by my 3 “buds”, those three things that I hoped to form into roses. In some ways the story of this year has felt illusive, if not problematic and anti-climatic. In other ways perhaps learning what it means to find ourselves within the pages of that story, in those forming sentences that seem to promise a turn of the page and the forming of an ufolding plot, is a way to invite the unexpected rather than demanding the conclusion. Rather than assuming as many of us did that the end of 2020 reflected the necessary climax of a tumultuous year, perhaps this year can rest in the plot twist, the intracacies of those smaller scripted moments that make a story exciting and worthwhile.

My Top 10 Most Important Reads in 2021: #6 Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade The World by Tom Holland

Previous Entries:
#10: The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan by Tom Shore
#9: Think Again; The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
#8: The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand
#7 In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: A Memoir of Love, Rebellion, and Family Far Away by Dionne Searcey

#6 Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by tom Holland

There is a fair criticism that coud be made about Holland’s recent work on historical relevance of the Christian revolution that it spreads itself too thin in terms of being able to adequately represent all the scholarship availale. There simply isn’t space to give it due diligence given how much space he wants to cover without the page count running far too wide for it to reach popular appeal. This is relegated to the bibliography, which in itself is worth the price. However, this does not, or should not in my opinion, detract from the main thesis Holland is trying to establish, which is visibe and undeniable impact of the Christian revolution on human history in social, evolutionary, and societal expressions.

It’s worth noting that Holland writes as an agnostic and a historian not a Christian nor a theologian. This work is the culmination of a process of thought that has been occupying him for some time, and claims about God’s existence aside, he recognized that once he set some of his personal biases aside something happened with the evidence that he could not shake or simply ignore. This humbled his position as a historian and compelled him to dig further in order to test if this perception and account of history had any substance and truth. This book is his basic argument that it does and I think he makes an extremely compelling case.

So why is this important? For me this is important on two levels. i would not want to coopt this to fuel some kind of Christian apologetic. That would do this scholarly work a disservice. I do think his demonstrating humility in the seeking out of of knowledge and truth is an extremely worthwhile trait that scholarship can learn from. I also think this helps to dispel certain hard and fast assumptions about religon in general, which if we could employ in our online and verbal discussions could go a long ways in turning them towards more helpful and fruitful engagement.

My Top 10 Most Important Reads in 2021: #7 In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: A Memoir of Love, Rebellion, and Family, Far Away by Dionne Searcey

My 10 Most Important Reads in 2021

Previous Entries:

#10: The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan by Tom Shore

#9: Think Again; The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant

#8: The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand

#7: In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: A Memoir of Love, Rebellion, and Family, Far Away by Dionne Searcey

I went into this one on recommendation a bit skeptical over how much I was going to enjoy it (books centered on politics aren’t really my thing), and I found that I was absolutely hooked after the first 20 pages. Author Dionne Searcey is essentially recounting her time as a reporter for the New York Times that saw her uprooting her family to move to West Africa (Nigeria) back in 2015. I think what really helped me personally connect with this story was that she was able to bring us as readers into the politics by way of the very accessible travel and family narrative that frames the story. Her journey into the heart of Nigeria and its political strife is blanketed by these wonderful anecdotal stories that bring us along for the ride into their new found, if temporary, life in a foreign country. We get as much of the turmoil (and her reporting of it) through some white knuckle experiences as we do of the beautiful side of Nigerian culture as well, mainly by centering us within those family dynamics.

The other part that I really, really loved was the way Searcey formulates themes by paralleling the stories she is reporting on in regard to the plight of Nigerian women, and her own experience of learning how to navigate a marraige in such difficult circumstances and in a foreign land, sometimes separated by distance. Her striving to do what she is good at and to place herself in danger’s path for lengthy periods is set in tension with the responsibilities and commitments she him being both a wife and a mother. She begins to understand this part of her life through the stories of the women she meets who are struggling in their own way to find the freedom to become who they are while also balancing their need for relationship and family and responsibility for the other. It’s an intimate way to marry the particular cultural struggle as a complex and universal tension between the autonomous self and our relationship to specific social realities that define our sense of self. The way she writes about these themes allows her to bring her life and experiences from back home in America into the experiences she is learning about in Nigeria in a way that both makes sense of and allows them to be informed by the other (without losing the distinct and very real challenges of the other in the process).

Along with all of that is the writing, which demonstrates excellent flow and pace, reads is an easy read,, and that is chalk full of wonderful moments, be it funny, emotional, thrilling, shocking, or lovely. It’s the whole package

My Top 10 Most Important Reads in 2021: #8 The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand

The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand

The synopsis for Menands book suggest that “the Cold War was not just a contest of power. It was also about ideas, in the broadest sense – economic and political, artistic and personal.” What’s interesting about how the book arrives at this basic thesis is that it takes a look at America during the Cold War era from the outside looking in. Often when we think about the influence of American culture it is assumes, and I say this as a Canadian, a trajectory of American culture influencing the world. The most illuminating aspect of this book for me was seeing how the rise of American culture emerges fom the international voices and experiences that surround it.

The book is admittedly far reaching given its emphasis on a particular period. It is sectioned off thematically using the above categories to frame its focus, be it economics, politics, or art. And it it is peppered with a ton of interesting facts about these different themes that are interesting in and of themselves. It is the portrait of this distinct historial development that remains the books primary strength however, especially where it traverses the movement from Avante Garde to popular culture. Popular culture in the sense that we know it today is a recent idea, and it is in understanding what it is and how it came to be, especially where intersects with the unique standpoint of this historical period that we can gain a better understanding of the relationship between thought and art. Perhaps most fascinating to consider is how this gave rise for the first time in history to what we would call “youth culture”. Up until this time this did not exist, and from this also flows the creation of high school and post secondary education, a structural system built to categorize the youth as a marketable entity. From this of course comes this notion of a clash of cultures or the seperation of cultures within generations, leading ultimatley to the glorifcation of youth almost as an idol. This is information I knew, but reading it in context of the emergence of American culture, art, and thought helped to illuminate some of these realities for me in a fresh way.

Feeling, as it does, that the cultural landscape around the world has been especially burdened by Covid, not to mention recent years, it is easy to narrow in on the current state of American culture, fraught as it is with its mess of technical advancement and economic uncertainty, and assume these are the same challenges playing out worldwide. Much of this assumes the rise of streaming services as the new reality, but one distinguishing fact about American culture is how its idealization of youth culture contines to keep it detached from history in ways that international communities are not. And as is apparent in this book, art is never detached from interconnected realities such as economy and politics and social realities. To understand one we need to understand them all, and from this emerges the uniqueness of thought. Perhaps in one sense this remains the beating heart of this thing called liberty or the free world. In another sense its a reminder that America, as is apparent in their economics and politics, is not as free as is often assumed within their art. Perhaps this book, ripe with history as it is, can effectively reconnect the story with history in a way that can help illuminate the power and importance of both art and thought.

My 10 Most Important Reads of 2021: #9 Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant

My Most Important Reads of 2021: #9
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant

Practical and hard hitting, Think again cuts straight through the noise and tries to infiltrate the never ending conflict of “sides” with a secret weapon called humility. Knowing what we don’t know is a powerful tool it turns out, especially when it comes to empathizing with ideas that challenge our own.

If I had a single critique of this book I would be that the author doesn’t spend enough time detailing how living with conviction and operating on the principle that one should always be changing ones mind can work together. The truth is that we also need to rest on convictions in order to actually live in this world, and this is as important to open discussion as a willingness to change our perspective. This is of course where conflict tends to arise, which is likely why he doesn’t tackle it head on, but by not addressing this necessary tension I think some of what he writes could be misapplied as rhetoric and weaponized (as a science versus religion war for example).

I think this book has the power to transform how it is that we process and articulate information which is a necessary tool when it comes to learning how to converse with one another. I especially appreciated how he advocates for pushing through the challenges of debate rather than shutting down conversations. Embracing the power of the spirited debate is a lost art in our online world, and it would be well to reclaim it in service of humility. We were once able to hash things out with passion and then head out for dinner or coffee as though this were a normal part of how forming friendship operates. Now debate is reduced to stating opinions, blocking/ignoring, or stating tired phrases like “I’m glad it worked for you but…”

In reality, science and rationalism is simply a way of rationalizing the knowledge we presently have, and we do that within our individual convictions and worldviews. Sometimes those convictions change, but not often. Nor should they until they must. That is why hard and challenging discourse matters. One trick of the art of discussion that comes into play here is both rationalizing from within our own point of perspective and working assumptions and then stepping out and seeing the same rational argument play out from within anothers point of perspective and working assumptions. Both hold equal value and both are necessary for two people to come together and understand the other from within these differing points of view using the same science/data. That’s how we further an argument together..

Discussion and debate is a lost art, and online conversation can be more disheartening and damaging than helpful and fruitful. A book like this could hopefully help recover some of what has been lost, helping to cut through the noise of the online world and create the kind of safe places where we are willing to commit to heated debate and allow it to unsettle, challenge and shape us on ways that make us better people, better societies, and a better world.