A scene from “Marc by Sofia.”Photograph courtesy Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs and Sofia Coppola are longtime friends, and it shows in “Marc by Sofia,” the relaxed and detailed documentary that she devotes to his career and, above all, to his sense of style. The anchoring action is the making of his Spring 2024 collection, but the heart of the movie is in archival clips that reach back to the birth of a sensibility. Jacobs speaks candidly of a troubled childhood and lovingly about Fifth Avenue shopping trips with his grandmother, which inspired a feeling for fashion history and handicrafts. Coppola observes the connection of big ideas to fine details, the power of intensive collaborations, and the ultimate creative helplessness once the show starts.—Richard Brody (Opening March 19 in New York and in wide release March 27.)
Art
John Akomfrah’s eight-channel film “Listening All Night To The Rain (Canto IV)” implicates its viewers in an impossible yearning to look every which way simultaneously. The piece wraps four walls at Lisson gallery, where Akomfrah montages archival and new footage. The work, moving in dizzying fits and starts across the surface of time, reveals connections between historical memory and now, and between political order and cultural superstructure. Images of marchers protesting the Nigerian civil war and of leaders of anti-colonial struggles blend with early documentation of European women’s-liberation movements. The newly shot footage—much of which depicts eerie land- and seascapes—is drenched in a surrealism that touches the body of the archive with an oneiric hand.—Zoë Hopkins (Lisson; through April 25.)
Pick Three
Paige Williams on uplifting songs.
Lately, with all the world in chaos, I’ve been looping uplifting spiritual music. I keep coming back to a playlist that helps my feelings, as my mother used to say, meaning it cheers me up:
1. “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” is a 2018 album by Paul Thorn, the son of a Pentecostal preacher from my home town, Tupelo, Mississippi. In the eighties, Thorn boxed professionally, as a middleweight, ultimately fighting Roberto Durán, a five-time world champ, before turning to a career as a guitarist and singer. “Don’t,” Thorn’s ninth album, reinterprets songs by Black gospel groups and artists—Joseph Pace II, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Oris Mays. The first track, “Come on Let’s Go,” is a bouncy balm “if you’ve got trouble,” “if you are worried tonight,” “if you feel hungry,” “if you’ve been lied to,” “if you need healin’.” (Who doesn’t?)