Latest news with #Doors'
Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Nothing is ever resolved in this suspense-packed movie, and that is the point
This is 'Doors,' the aptly-named new filmic mash-up by Christian Marclay, making its North American premiere at the ICA (it debuted in London in 2023). One door closes, another opens — over and over in the 55-minute amalgam of in-between moments, across a gamut of film history that lodges you, the viewer, firmly and forever in liminal space. The film manufacturers a perpetual compulsion to anticipate something that never comes. It's unnatural, uncomfortable, and exactly the point: 'Doors' leaves the mind unconsciously searching, scrambling to assemble narrative from fragments unlinked by anything other than its key device: a door and a jump-cut, the central artifice of film for its entire existence. In a heartbeat, viewers can leap moments, or years, mere steps, or miles. Marclay's defiance of expectation, hardwired by generations of film-viewing, is where its power lies: a flatline of edge-of-your seat anticipatory drama, without beginning or end. Advertisement A still from Christian Marclay's "Doors," 2022. Christian Marclay/White Cube Advertisement Marclay, equal parts movie nerd and high-concept formalist (his early creative forays were as a DJ in New York in the 1980s, specializing in radical remixes of music history), has been down this road before. He's best-known for 'The Clock,' his 2010 magnum opus that plundered decades of film history for clips of every minute of a 24-hour day and knit them together in precise 60-second snippets so that the piece actually told the time . It was a bona fide sensation, the rare combination of deep conceptual rigor and broad popular appeal. In 2010, people 'Doors' operates on the same premise. It extracts hundreds of moments from generations of cinema, linked together by the intuitive logic of entry and exit. It's tempting to consider it 'The Clock' lite, but that isn't giving the conceptual challenge Marclay sets for himself the credit it deserves. 'Doors' is virtuosic in its own right, razor-sharp in its rhythm and timing; with such pronounced seams — black and white to color; 1930s to 1990s — it nonetheless appears seamless. Fluidity of motion is matched by sound, the sonic environment of each clip melting into the other, smoothing the flow. 'Doors' could easily be jarring; its core device is abruptness and transition. Instead, it reaches altitude quickly and stays there; the only turbulence is by design. Advertisement An installation view of Christian Marclay's "Doors," at the ICA. Mel Taing Where 'The Clock' was relentlessly linear — minute by minute, not a millisecond out of place — 'Doors' has no such guiding logic. Its rhythm is irregular, but propulsive. In crafting his tease of narrative, Marclay sometimes deploys the same clip twice or more as it suits his narrative tease (I watched Sidney Poitier burst out of his classroom and into a clutch of eavesdropping students in 'To Sir, With Love' at least three times, re-linked to other comings and goings). And narrative — non-existent, impossible — is the central deception of the whole affair: Marclay strings together clips with comparable emotional tenor — furtive, jubilant, terrified — that tempts a mind hungry for story to craft one where none could possibly be. Different viewers will take different things from 'Doors.' Encyclopedic film buffs can take it almost as a trivia challenge: Identify actors and movies by name, score points for all your right answers. Don't get me wrong: Whatever else it is, 'Doors' is great fun. I'm no film buff (though I know John Travolta in 'Urban Cowboy' when I see it, and I did), which makes 'Doors' about something more for me: a sustained emotional state. Advertisement A still from "Doors." Christian Marclay/White Cube 'The Clock' was heady — we go to the movies to be transported from real time, a respite; here was a movie, fantastical and star-studded, that pinned you down, and made real time inescapable. 'Doors' is more visceral, a transporting, immersive experiment in forced hyperacuity. The whole is more — far more — than the sum of its parts. Sidney Poitier bursting into that hallway is dynamic, nostalgic, and stirring. But it's just one element of a more potent brew. Marclay is a master of dramatic tension; he expertly tightens the screws and slackens them off. But there is never respite, or pause. All is motion, transition, an edge-of-your-seat, what-happens-next on permanent lock. It's not normal, or natural. It's also exhilarating. The dramatic core of 'Doors' isn't doors, or film, at all. It's you. CHRISTIAN MARCLAY'S DOORS Through Sept. 1. Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, Murray Whyte can be reached at
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dear James: I Love Going Naked on the Beach
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers' questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@ Don't want to miss a single column? Sign up to get 'Dear James' in your inbox. Dear James, In the second half of last year, I went to a naturist beach for the first time. I was afraid on my whole walk there that I would chicken out. But there was nobody around for miles—so I stripped. Since then, I've done it five more times, at various beaches, with growing confidence, in front of other people who have and have not been clothed. I've found great peace in lying naked on the sand, listening to the waves. But: Over the winter I started to get these feelings of shame and guilt. I was raised a very strict Catholic. And although my mother has been dead for a decade, I can suddenly feel her strong disapproval from beyond the grave. It's a conundrum. How would you handle it? Dear Reader, Well, I was in church on Sunday morning for the Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the wacky mandate of the Holy Spirit to go where it pleases—to land, if it likes, right on top of somebody's head (your head, my head, anybody's head) and nest there in a throbbing bolus of flame. So yup, I'm ready to get Catholic about this. I'm ready to get dogmatic. Your body is a gift from God. In the appropriate place (such as a naturist beach), you should be able to go as naked as Adam in the garden and feel not a twinge-let of shame. You should be like the primal newborns in the Doors' 'Waiting for the Sun': 'At first flash of Eden / We raced down to the sea / Standing there on freedom's shore.' (Who dares to say Jim Morrison isn't a great American poet?) Isn't that the true spirit of nudism? They don't call it a birthday suit for nothing. Shed your clothes; shed everything that cramps or abashes you. Air out those musty parts. Unshadow yourself. Let it all flap. Be a real American. Scamper shoeless across the sand into liberty's gold-green sunrise. Me, I'm not great at being naked. It makes me feel too … naked. So I know where you're coming from. But you've done so well, made such strides in self-development. The confidence, the peace, the waves: Keep going! Of course—as at any breakthrough moment, any evolutionary threshold of the psyche—you're being swarmed by the old demons, now at extra strength: guilt, disgrace, an image of your mother scolding you. They are to be stoutly resisted. Imagine instead your mother's delight in you as a baby, in all your sweet-smelling, roly-poly nudeness. Imagine reality taking pleasure in itself across the surface of your skin. Last word here goes to Gerard Manley Hopkins, great Catholic sensualist, nudist in his heart: 'The Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.' Safe in my trousers, James By submitting a letter, you are agreeing to let The Atlantic use it in part or in full, and we may edit it for length and/or clarity. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
10-06-2025
- General
- Atlantic
Dear James: I Love Going Naked on the Beach
Editor's Note: Is anything ailing, torturing, or nagging at you? Are you beset by existential worries? Every Tuesday, James Parker tackles readers' questions. Tell him about your lifelong or in-the-moment problems at dearjames@ Don't want to miss a single column? Sign up to get 'Dear James' in your inbox. Dear James, In the second half of last year, I went to a naturist beach for the first time. I was afraid on my whole walk there that I would chicken out. But there was nobody around for miles—so I stripped. Since then, I've done it five more times, at various beaches, with growing confidence, in front of other people who have and have not been clothed. I've found great peace in lying naked on the sand, listening to the waves. But: Over the winter I started to get these feelings of shame and guilt. I was raised a very strict Catholic. And although my mother has been dead for a decade, I can suddenly feel her strong disapproval from beyond the grave. It's a conundrum. How would you handle it? Dear Reader, Well, I was in church on Sunday morning for the Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the wacky mandate of the Holy Spirit to go where it pleases—to land, if it likes, right on top of somebody's head (your head, my head, anybody's head) and nest there in a throbbing bolus of flame. So yup, I'm ready to get Catholic about this. I'm ready to get dogmatic. Your body is a gift from God. In the appropriate place (such as a naturist beach), you should be able to go as naked as Adam in the garden and feel not a twinge-let of shame. You should be like the primal newborns in the Doors' ' Waiting for the Sun ': 'At first flash of Eden / We raced down to the sea / Standing there on freedom's shore.' (Who dares to say Jim Morrison isn't a great American poet?) Isn't that the true spirit of nudism? They don't call it a birthday suit for nothing. Shed your clothes; shed everything that cramps or abashes you. Air out those musty parts. Unshadow yourself. Let it all flap. Be a real American. Scamper shoeless across the sand into liberty's gold-green sunrise. Me, I'm not great at being naked. It makes me feel too … naked. So I know where you're coming from. But you've done so well, made such strides in self-development. The confidence, the peace, the waves: Keep going! Of course—as at any breakthrough moment, any evolutionary threshold of the psyche—you're being swarmed by the old demons, now at extra strength: guilt, disgrace, an image of your mother scolding you. They are to be stoutly resisted. Imagine instead your mother's delight in you as a baby, in all your sweet-smelling, roly-poly nudeness. Imagine reality taking pleasure in itself across the surface of your skin. Last word here goes to Gerard Manley Hopkins, great Catholic sensualist, nudist in his heart: 'The Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.'
Korea Herald
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
NCT's Doyoung announces solo Asia tour
Doyoung of NCT will tour Asia for the second time as a solo artist from mid-June, announced label SM Entertainment on Thursday. His 'Doors' tour kicks off with three concerts in Seoul on June 13-15. The 11-show tour then heads to Yokohama, Japan, on July 12 before traveling to five more cities in the region: Singapore, Macau, Bangkok, Taipei and Kobe, Japan. The tour follows the release of his second solo album, set for release on June 9. His return as a soloist comes about 14 months after his first solo studio album, 'Youth.' On Wednesday, he flew to Mexico City for the label's group concert along with members of NCT127. The NCT subunit will be concluding its fourth international tour with performances at Tokyo Dome May 21-22.
CNN
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Will Forte was once roommates with Val Kilmer, who he calls ‘the most interesting person in the world'
Will Forte is remembering when his good friend and 'MacGruber' costar Val Kilmer – who he called 'the most interesting person in the world' – ended up living with him for nearly three months. In an essay published by Vulture on Friday, Forte remembered Kilmer, who died from pneumonia this week at the age of 65, as 'incredibly funny and incredibly smart. He could be super-silly and then turn around and be a little frickin' devil – but a sweet little devil. Life is more vivid when you're hanging out with Val.' Forte explained that the pair had become 'pretty tight' after shooting 'MacGruber,' which was based on a recurring 'Saturday Night Live' spoof of 'MacGyver' featuring Forte and co-starring Kilmer as zany villain Dieter Von Cunth. Due to some real estate issues, Forte said Kilmer was looking for a new place to live, and approached him about staying at his place 'for a couple days.' 'I don't remember if he said 'a couple days,' but I got the impression that it was going to be a couple days,' Forte wrote. 'So he showed up on a Monday, and later that day, his assistant came over with two huge duffel bags filled with books, and I'm like, Oh, this seems like it's maybe going to be more than a couple days. It ended up being two and a half months.' Forte went on to give snapshots of what it was like living with the 'Doors' star, from coming home to a darkened house only to find Kilmer reading with a miner's headlamp on, to wearing boxers on his head, or spontaneously going jogging with him in a linen suit. 'One of the great joys of my life is, as I turned around to look back at him, I saw him jogging back in my direction in this linen suit,' Forte wrote. 'That was him – just full of surprises. Just the most unique person I've ever met.' They also connected on various television shows, including 'The Amazing Race.' At one point, Kilmer came home to find Forte watching it and dismissed the reality competition show as useless fodder that's 'going to rot your mind.' Forte succeeded in convincing Kilmer to try watching it, and soon he was hooked. 'Then, at a certain point, he said, 'Will, you and I have to go do 'The Amazing Race.' We have to. Let's do 'The Amazing Race.'' I'm like, 'I am so fully in.'' He continued to write that they even called their respective agents about getting on the show, but they put the kibosh on it. 'That is, maybe to this day, the biggest regret of my whole career – that I never did 'The Amazing Race' with Val. I think we would've gotten out very quickly, but it just would've been the experience of a lifetime.'
