The Director Boots Riley on “Sorry to Bother You”

The Director Boots Riley on “Sorry to Bother You”

Boots Riley’s directorial début, “Sorry to Bother You,” blends a dark strain of comedy with a sci-fi vision of capitalism run amok. The film’s hero, Cassius Green, is a telemarketer who rises quickly in the ranks—eventually becoming a “power caller”—after he learns to use a “white voice” on the phone, mimicking the way white people are supposed to speak. As sharp as the film is on issues of race and identity, “Sorry to Bother You” ultimately takes capitalism, and the way it exploits labor, as its target. “There were a lot of things about capitalism that were forgiven by big media companies while Obama was in office,” Riley tells The New Yorker’s Doreen St. Félix in a live interview at the New Yorker Festival. “Things that we had said we were against under Bush.” “Sorry to Bother You” is, in part, a response to that loss of focus. Riley, who is forty-seven, got his start as a rapper; for many years, he led the political hip-hop band the Coup. He traces his interest in art as activism to an incident from 1989, when police officers in San Francisco beat two children and their mother in front of a housing project. Neighbors began protesting, spilling out onto the street and chanting lyrics from Public Enemy's “Fight the Power.” “It made me see what place music could have,” Riley tells St. Félix. “I knew, This is what I had to do.”

Jaksot(1020)

Chloé Zhao on “Hamnet,” Which Is Nominated for Eight Academy Awards

Chloé Zhao on “Hamnet,” Which Is Nominated for Eight Academy Awards

Chloé Zhao became only the second woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, for 2020’s “Nomadland,” and she is nominated once again for “Hamnet,” starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. Based on Maggi...

15 Maalis 22min

Social Media Goes to Court

Social Media Goes to Court

In the book “The Anxious Generation,” Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, argues that social-media platforms are detrimental to youths’ well-being, and that society needs to ...

13 Maalis 28min

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners,” His Epic Film about Race, Music, and the Undead

Ryan Coogler on “Sinners,” His Epic Film about Race, Music, and the Undead

When the Oscar nominations were announced this year, Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” set a record. It received sixteen nominations, the most for any film ever. The fact that it’s, in part, a vampire movie, m...

10 Maalis 19min

The Global Fallout of Donald Trump’s War on Iran

The Global Fallout of Donald Trump’s War on Iran

As Iran’s retaliation hit American allies throughout the Middle East this week, David Remnick was joined by two New Yorker writers with decades of experience reporting from the region. Robin Wright ha...

6 Maalis 31min

Failed “Finance Bros” Find Success with HBO’s “Industry”

Failed “Finance Bros” Find Success with HBO’s “Industry”

David Remnick sits down with Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, the creators of a show he loves, “Industry,” which is currently airing its fourth season. The show is centered on the financial and personal dr...

1 Maalis 16min

What Could Go Wrong, or Right, in a War with Iran

What Could Go Wrong, or Right, in a War with Iran

As Donald Trump and his Administration threaten to attack Iran, their motivations remain unclear. Does the President want to force Iran to make a nuclear deal, to replace the one that he scrapped in h...

27 Helmi 34min

The Evidence on Ozempic to Treat Addiction

The Evidence on Ozempic to Treat Addiction

Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs have had a major impact in their short time on the market—currently, one in eight Americans say that they have been on GLP-1 drugs. As tens of millions of people take the...

24 Helmi 19min

Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars

Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars

Hosting the Academy Awards ceremony is a notoriously tricky gig, but Conan O’Brien nailed it in 2025, and he will return for this year’s event. Since leaving late-night television, in 2021, O’Brien ha...

20 Helmi 31min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
rss-pinnalla
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
tervo-halme
rss-asiastudio
otetaan-yhdet
aihe
rss-podme-livebox
the-ulkopolitist
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-50100-podcast
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rikosmyytit