“Love Lies Bleeding,” “Doll Exorcism,” and Anti-Semitism in the World of Light
A wonderful and thoughtful podcast this week. Host Neil Pollack welcomes Sharyn Vane and Michael Washburn to discuss recent articles about problematic attitudes towards Israel and Jews in general in the literary world. Sharin discusses actor Brett Gelman's recent cancellation of his book tour, linking it to progressives' unwillingness to have anything even remotely close to nuance in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Michael, who wrote about a South African writer who returned a prestigious literary medal to protest the German government's support for Israel, said anti-Semitism on the left is a real problem. Neal is simply concerned about the general anti-Semitic sentiment among writers who, at least during his lifetime, were strong allies of Jews. This calculus has clearly changed, and we'll continue to cover this change in the Book and Film Globe.
I'll also continue to cover lesbian road trip crime movies if they ever get made, but they probably won't. Anyway, Stephen Garrett is here, so he and Neil are straight men who can talk about lesbian road trip crime movies. Stephen makes an interesting point that “Love Lies Bleeding'' and “Drive Away Dolls'' are both throwbacks. Because it is only in the past that gay female relationships become an issue that creates dramatic tension. They both praised Katie O'Brien's charming performance in Love Lies Bleeding, and Neil liked the ironic ending, but Stephen felt the film was too self-indulgent, with empty artistic flourishes. I didn't praise it much.
Ethan Coen's Drive Away Dolls, on the other hand, is an embarrassing lesbian movie that “Grandpa” would make, but like Neil, the central relationship is sweet and Margaret Qualley's lead performance is truly Stephen says he found it convincing. Both of these movies suffer from script issues and relevance issues, but they're relevant enough for us to talk about.
Enjoy our always relevant show!
