Currently Browsing: Roza Melkumyan
Apart from jewelers themselves, nobody is quite as familiar with jewelry, its uses, symbolism, and history as journalist and writer Melanie Grant. In her book, Coveted: Art and Innovation in High Jewelry (2020), she offers a comprehensive look at jewelry as an art. Her commentary, along with that of successful jewelers, fosters an appreciation for the craft and sparks a conversation on its role in society. Throughout her musings, Grant explores jewelry’s commercialist undercurrent, which quietly undermines its artistic integrity by discouraging freedom and innovation.
From October 30 to December 13, 2020, in conjunction with Netflix’s release of the limited series The Queen’s Gambit and the highly anticipated fourth season of The Crown, the Brooklyn Museum has debuted a virtual exhibition featuring select costumes from both shows. Incredibly exciting is the opportunity for exhibition goers not only to see and learn about costumes from The Crown’s fourth season but to hear from Emmy-award winning designer Amy Roberts herself, who also worked as principal designer for the third season.
Set on the Uruguayan coast, Lucía Puenzo’s XXY (2007) tells the story of a 15-year-old intersex person, “Alex” (Inés Efron), who has been living as female and suppressing the development of masculine features with medication. At the start of the film, she has stopped taking this medication and begins to explore her sexual identity while trying to cope with the difficulties that come with living outside of the classifications that society assigns us.
For me, Márta Mészáros’ Adoption (1975) crashed over me in a wave. In this Hungarian black and white film, 43-year-old factory worker “Kata” (Katalin Berek) desperately wants a baby. When her married lover “Jóska” (László Szabó) rejects the idea of having one together, Kata looks into adoption. During this time, she grows close to the orphaned teen “Anna” (Gyöngyvér Vigh), who wants to leave the orphanage and marry her love “Sanyi” (Péter Fried).
Anyone familiar with the old controversy surrounding the Chicks knows that when they were labeled as politically outspoken, it wasn’t exactly meant to be a compliment. Even I, with my limited knowledge of the whole affair, felt its negative connotation. Upon watching Barbara Kopple’s documentary on the subject, Shut Up & Sing (2006), I had only a shadow of an idea of what I would be watching. But boy, was I in for an eye-opener.
With a sparse plot, Davaa’s allows the audience to hone in on the details of a nomadic family’s everyday life in the Mongolian steppes. Through their story, we also learn about Mongolian culture, folklore, religion, as well as the way in which the modern world encroaches upon these elements of nomadic life. Furthermore, through a film such as this, we can learn implicitly; Davaa does not merely tell us about the Mongolian lifestyle, but invites us into the family’s actions while weaving their culture into their speech and thinking.