The Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration of Susan Sarandon culminated on Sunday with four simultaneous screenings followed by a talk between Sarandon and her friend Bob Balaban.
We saw Thelma & Louise for the first time since our college women's studies classes. The earnest politics remain: patriarchy continues to be a problem, options for women continue to be limited. Nevertheless, the humor in its dissections of the absurdities of misogyny is much clearer now that the movie is canonical rather than threatening.
A week after moving to New York after college, Sarandon landed her first role. More than forty years later, she's best known for two things: her sex appeal and her activism. Balaban began by talking about the former, specifically her breasts. He then segued into a conversation that ranged over her Catholic childhood ("I was told I had an overabundance of original sin"), her choices, her blacklisting, Hollywood, aging on camera ("it's horrifying"), and her love of ping pong ("it's an Olympic sport, but it's so silly"). A great New York evening with a great New Yorker.
Photo: thanks
space
Posts
Wow, how is she in person ? We were at the BAM 2 weeks ago for Borkman (did not like it a bit, in spite of the major stars) and saw the Sarandon program announced. Must have been quite interesting ... My favorite of her movies: Bull Durham. Must re-watch Atlantic City. I remember it vaguely, but I think we liked it.
ReplyDeleteThe macarons from Bubo were too sweet and did not travel well.
Regards, Madeleine