Aventurina King

A Tale of Two Cultures

The other culture was frightening, unknown. But we could make it less so by mashing up its differences and spitting them out into coherent paragraphs of our own language.

By Aventurina King | Nov 21 12:00 am ET

The Poetry of Boundless Grief

Only two hours after I began turning the pages of Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking did I finally manage to tear my nose from its print and wonder why it had absorbed me so completely.

By Aventurina King | Oct 24 12:00 am ET

A Centennial of Chinese Cinema Delights, Instructs

The Chinese word for film is dianying-literally, electric shadow. No image could better suit Chinese film, bound to the policies of the Chinese government as tightly as a shadow to its lamp post.

By Aventurina King | Oct 21 12:00 am ET

Slipping on a Few New Shirts

To squash the prospects of a movie evening and enchain the reader to its pages, a novel must be either a plot-driven page-turner or the dispenser of something absent from film.

By Aventurina King | Oct 10 12:00 am ET

Shady Family Does Little to Impress

Certainly, there are worse families than yours in the world, and certain films set out to prove it.

By Aventurina King | Sep 30 12:00 am ET

Prayer Dance

In her fascinatingly eclectic, yet technically lagging, dance performance, “Bird of Pray,” Andrea Woods took nakedness to an extreme level.

By Aventurina King | Apr 21 12:00 am ET

Ignoring Accolades for a Raw Grounded Intuitive Vision

The French film Games of Love and Chance, this year’s winner of the César for Best Picture, opens with a group of adolescents swearing non-stop for five minutes.

By Aventurina King | Apr 15 12:00 am ET

Take No Prisoners Retrospective: From Russia with Wanderlust

There are coffins everywhere, and music that sporadically stops for screaming.

By Aventurina King | Mar 4 12:00 am ET

Introspection and Grunge Obsession

Start with a past of substance addiction, add manic depression, and top with obsession. Then let the layers set.

By Aventurina King | Mar 3 12:00 am ET

The Met's New Gem

In a little room at the Metropolitan Musem of Art, a dozen golden icons huddle around a shining Virgin Mary and Christ, observing the paintings that constitute the museum’s exhibit “Duc

By Aventurina King | Jan 25 12:00 am ET

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