Arionne Nettles joins to talk about her new book We Are The Culture: Black Chicago’s Influence On Everything, as well as to recommend a couple of novels she thinks Upper Middlebrow listeners would particularly enjoy. Jesse and Ari talk about their sadness over the recent news about layoffs at their former employer, WBEZ in Chicago, and explore the idea of a common thread between African culture, and contemporary African-American culture.
Author: Chris B.
REPOST: Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, Part II
On our FOURTH EVER episode, Dukes and Bagg explore why they have different emotional responses to Tom Ripley, and how Patricia Highsmith might have raised the stakes more effectively in the second half of the book. Our (Fall of 2022) discussion has been back on our minds in the wake of Netflix’s new Ripley series. Tom Ripley is a persistent character in our day and age, and the new Netflix series has critics musing on why.
Episode 51: The Talented Mr. Ripley, Part I (REPOST)
Netflix’s new Ripley series has critics musing on why Tom Ripley is such a persistent character in our day and age. Patricia Highsmith created a character that has endured and appeared in many (excellent) film and now TV adaptations. We thought we’d share our THIRD EVER episode, in which we consider the first half of Highsmith’s 1955 novel, which introduced Tom Ripley to the world.
Episode 50: “Nothing is More Important,” or Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, Part II
The Sympathizer is brought to a powerful, if occasionally puzzling conclusion, with the narrator returning to his home country for a series of misadventures. The meaning of Ho Chi Minh’s slogan “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom” is turned around and around in our narrator’s brain, until nothing comes to mean something.
Episode 48: “So Long, and Thanks for All The Squid,” or Viet Than Nguyen’s The Sympathizer, Part I
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s narrator tells us right off the bat that he’s a sympathizer. He can see any issue from “both sides,” he claims, a dubious virtue in the chaotic Vietnamese history following the fall of Saigon. Nguyen’s narrator faces situation after situation in which that quality of sympathizing with everybody, including his enemies, proves to be both a strength and a weakness. This wild novel surprises at almost every turn, asking us questions about what a real anti-hero might look like in the oddities of real life.
Episode 46: “Yelling ‘Racism’ in a ‘Post-racist’ World,” or Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, Part II
The second half of The Sellout does feature a MacGuffin and resolution of sorts, although the plot is minimal compared to the satire and world building. The UMBs struggle to understand the book, but ultimately conclude The Sellout is a takedown of the post-racial ideal of the 2010s. The brilliance of the prose is stunning, but does the structure of the book feature the same brilliance?
Episode 44: “Faintly Dickensian?” or Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, Part I
Chris and Jesse are thrown into Paul Beatty’s 2015 Man Booker Prize Winner The Sellout, because this novel seems to try to take the upper hand with its reader. Our two heroes agree that it’s beautiful, but is it a mess or not? We marvel at Beatty’s prose, quickly sum up all of epic poetry, and finish with trivia about child actors from The Little Rascals and ovoid/cuboid watermelons.
Episode 44: “Put On Your Seatbelt,” or Alexander Payne’s Sideways
A rebroadcast of our Live recap and discussion of Alexander Payne’s Sideways (2004). The UMB’s admire Miles’ Saab, la costa perdida, and enjoy the rustically simple cinematography, and marvel at the chemistry and performances of Paul Giamatti, Thomas Hayden Church, Sandra Oh, and Virginia Madsen. Was there ever such an acting quartet?
Episode 42: “Waiting for Prima,” or Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci’s Big Night
The UMBs went in expecting a quietly great film, and their expectations were exceeded. Big Night is at times BIG and LOUD, even though the characters spend much of the film not saying what they mean. Big Night combines excellent kitchen scenes (especially the memorable timpano preparation) with family drama and the central dilemma of all artists: When to compromise vision for the sake of practicalities.
Episode 41: “Borrowing the Bigness,” or Sandra Nettlebeck’s Mostly Martha
Sandra Nettlebeck’s 2001 film is beautifully shot and carries its narrative in a bucket effectively, following its fiery protagonist into the thickets of surrogate parenthood. Martha is a brilliant chef who struggles to take both compliments and criticism, and she’s been dragooned into therapy by her boss. This unstable stability is complicated by the arrivals of Martha’s niece, Lina, and a charismatic but erratic Italian sous chef. The UMBers admire the performance of Martina Gedeck and talk about where this film sits in our roster of foodie films.
Episode 40: “All’s Well That Tastes Well,” Or Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman
Ang Lee’s 1994 family drama/comedy is a sprawling epic, set in 1990s Taipei, about an aging chef, his three daughters, and the big themes of love, loneliness, loss, and togetherness. It’s full of gorgeous intimate images of cooking, and the film is punctuated by occasional family dinners. We wonder if Ang Lee has a discernable style, and whether this counts as a “foodie film.”
Episode 39: “A Fistful of Noodles,” or Juzo Itami’s Tampopo
Juzo Itami’s brilliant 1986 film combines elements of Greek theater, the American Western, vaudeville, silent movies, French Noir, and other eclectic elements as it explores the myriad relationships with food humankind can experience. The central stem tells the story of a widow’s attempt to serve sublime ramen at a small roadside stop, aided by two truckers, and a ragtag posse of helpers. The film plays with and subverts expectations in a way the UMBs find wildly charming. Also, it will make you hungry.
Episode 38: “Michael a l’Orange,” or Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
Peter Greenaway’s film feels like an opera. It even features some operatic singing, but more to the point, its pleasures are more sensual than story driven. It’s not an easy film to watch, and may not inspire you to cook, but it is beautifully disturbing and meticulously crafted. Starring Helen Mirren and Michael Gambon in their primes, ˆThe Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover,” will haunt you for a long time.
Episode 37: “Maxing Out the Turtle Budget,” or Axel Gabriel’s Babette’s Feast
Axel Gabriel’s 1986 Danish film deservingly makes many people’s Foodie Top 10s, and we can see why. We LOVE this film, which not only shows some high level delicious cooking, but tells a parable of destiny, thwarted desire, and the balance of simplicity and hedonism with a gentle and incisive eye. The UMBs discuss whether it’s a comedy, tragedy, or something else.
Digression II: Foodie Films Preview with Chewing host Monica Eng
The UMBers sit down with Monica Eng, co-host of the podcast Chewing, to discuss our upcoming “Foodie Films” series. Monica and Jesse educate Chris about the Jibarito sandwich, and Monica impresses us by having seen 7 out of 7 of the works in this series.