That Begins the Story
How did I arrive here, I wonder. Because the flux in the political atmosphere is overwhelmingly tormenting — that black hole of emotion, the kind that pulls the body, mind, and spirit into exhaustion. The scenarios keep circling, repeating, unraveling — until the regime that punctured and bled these wounds of human tribulation finally collapses under its own weight.
And then, in the midst of that chaos, there is art. There is theatre — imagined worlds where actors and artists stand as both backdrop and pulse, where culture still dares to breathe through performance, even when politics chokes the air.
It dawned on me recently — somewhere between headlines and disturbance — what happened to Highest 2 Lowest, that megastar collaboration of Spike Lee, Denzel Washington, and A$AP Rocky. A film with the gravitational pull of icons, yet seemingly swallowed by silence.
I confess, I have not yet seen it. But I have streamed Beauty in Black — and without guilt, remorse, or moral hesitation, I found myself enthralled. Maybe not moved to redemption, but undeniably intrigued.
Because here’s the truth: the bandwidth for these stories — these cinematic collisions of power, pain, and identity — only reaches the few who are still willing to be disassembled and put back together by what they see. And perhaps that’s the only kind of audience art really deserves.
