Ken and Robin Consume Media: Glowing TVs, Chic French Goddesses, Classic Costumes, and the Master of Horse Mysteries
March 4th, 2025 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
The Violent Bear It Away (Fiction, Flannery O’Connor, 1955) When the deranged backwoods great-uncle who kidnapped him to raise as a prophet drops dead at the breakfast table, a sullen 14 year old heads to the city where his atheist uncle lives to embrace or reject his destiny. Disturbing literary noir of intergenerational mania told with sere omniscience.—RDL
Recommended
Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion (Film, US, Matthew Miele, 2024) Warm-hearted arts profile documentary celebrates the six decade career of iconic costume designer Bob Mackie, whose works include Elton John’s Donald Duck, Pink’s Glitter in the Air Grammy outfit, Cher’s ‘86 Oscar dress and every costume and wig for all 11 seasons of the Carol Burnett Show.—RDL
Duelle (Film, France, Jacques Rivette, 1976) Chicly clad goddesses of day (Bulle Ogier) and night (Juliet Berto) draw fragile mortals into their deadly struggle to possess a powerful gem. Naturalistic fantasy, in which the performer’s stylized movements matter as much as conventional storytelling, demands submission to its eccentric rhythm.—RDL
I Saw the TV Glow (Film, US, Jane Schoenbrun, 2024) Withdrawn kid (Justice Smith) forges an intense connection to an older student (Jack Haven), bonded by their stepfather problems and obsession with a supernaturally themed TV show, which is either more or less than what it seems. Haunting, movingly acted weird tale in which the worst form of reality horror is suppressed gender dysphoria.—RDL
Longshot (Fiction, Dick Francis, 1990) Impoverished survival writer John Kendall takes a desperation job to write the commissioned biography of a racehorse trainer, and gets caught up in a murder investigation. Less of a mystery than a thriller, the novel nonetheless plays fair while hitting suspense beats with stopwatch precision. Francis unsurprisingly reaches his emotional and lyrical peak while describing horses, but his people look and act like humans, which is refreshing.—KH
Man’s Castle (Film, US, Frank Borzage, 1933) Autonomy-seeking wanderer (Spencer Tracy) chafes at the unconditional adoration offered him by an angelic fellow shantytown resident (Loretta Young.) Tracy’s presence and Borzage’s mystical romanticism build sympathy for a character and central problem we could otherwise easily reject.—RDL
Maria (Film, Italy/Germany/Chile/US, Pablo Larrain, 2024) In the last week of her life, mercurial opera legend Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) recounts her life to a pharmaceutically hallucinated TV interviewer (Kodi Smit-McPhee), ducks an unwanted prognosis, and works with an English conductor (Stephen Ashby) to revive her ruined voice. In a moving, layered portrayal of a person no longer able to do the thing that defines her, Jolie reveals the pain behind sturdily built defense mechanisms.—RDL
