Remembering Irish singer–songwriter Glen Hansard

Government corruption is a big problem, but will it matter when they vote in November?

“What Democrats are trying to do is link it to voters number one issue, which is affordability.”

We dissect the arguments you'll be hearing more and more as the midterms get closer on the NPR politics podcast. This is fresh air, I'm David B. and Kooley. Glenn Hansard, the Irish singer-songwriter who got his start busking on the streets of Dublin, and later became famous for playing a Dublin street musician in the Irish film once, died Wednesday from a motorcycle crash. He was 56.

Irish President Catherine Connolly said Hansard "would be remembered as one of Ireland's great singer-songwriters."

Bruce Springsteen, who invited Hansard in 2013 to join him on stage during a show in Kilkenny,

“said, "Here on E Street, we are heartbroken. We met in Ireland many years ago,”

and he was nothing but a great musician, a good friend, and a generous and gracious man." Glenn Hansard formed the Rock Band the Frames in the 1990s, made his film debut in the commitments playing guitarist outspanned foster, and won an Oscar for co-writing the song falling slowly for the film once, in which he starred as a struggling musician. The movie was later adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical.

Hansard went on to release a number of albums as a solo artist, and he was an advocate for the homeless, performing at an annual Dublin Christmas Eve busk to raise money for people at risk of homelessness. The low-budget indie Irish film that became an international success titled "Once" was written and directed by John Carney, who previously had been in Hansard's band The Frames. Hansard wrote the music for the movie.

In 2008, Terry Gross spoke with Glenn Hansard, and with Czech singer Marquetta Erglava, who co-starred in the film. Let's begin with the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly, which they co-wrote. "I don't know you, but I want you all the more for that."

"What's all through me, and always fool me, and I can't read"

"And games I've never amount to more than they're meant will play themselves now." "Take this in Campbell, and for the home we've still got time." "Rays your home for boys, you have a choice, you'll make it no." Falling slowly. Glenn Hansard, Marquetta Erglava, welcome to Fresh Air. Congratulations on the Oscar and all the success you've had with "Once." You co-wrote Falling Slowly, had you ever

written a song together before writing for the film? "No, that was actually the first song we wrote together, and it was one of those things where I had been working on the song, and I wasn't really sure where I was going with it, all I had was the verse, and I had an idea for the chorus, then it was only when I sat down with Ma, and I played her the idea, because I was talking about a harmony in the chorus, and she said, "What if you take the lower one, or you take a higher one,

and I'll take the lower one, and you know, on the moment where it goes, we've still got time." For me, that was like the key of what made the song suddenly work, and then so I wrote the chorus with Ma, and then I really felt like we had a solid song in her hand, and it was something that I could give to John and feel confident with. Glenn, you pointed out that the movie was not written with you in mind as the performer, or with Ma, Killian Murphy, was supposed to be the star of

“the film, but he had a back out at the last minute, so I guess that's how you ended up being cast yourself.”

Yeah, I mean, what happened was that Killian was involved in the project for all the long,

that turned in, I think Killian probably felt a little bit, Killian's a great singer,

“but I think he felt a bit unprepared for some of the songs, because John, the songs that John”

chose were some of the more dynamically, like a vocally challenging songs, because I just gave John a bunch of songs, and he chose, which ones he liked, which ones he didn't, and I think Killian got a little bit sensitive about the idea of singing a few of these songs, and being able to sort of do them just, and I remember making the suggestion that I was like, I'll change the keys, I'll make it work, because for me getting, you know, having the job of writing the songs,

I just wanted to keep my gig, and so I was like, I'll change the keys, I'll do whatever Killian

needs to, in order to make these songs work, and I think possibly what happened was that Killian

just got offered another job, and then maybe talk it, but once Killian pulled out, John was left in a very, I guess he was kind of stranded, because the producers pulled out once Killian pulled out, and then suddenly this project which was about to, which was about to fill him in a monitor to, certainly had no money, and this is kind of where things got exciting for us, because John had already cast Mar, Killian had backed out, and then the producers had backed

out, but he still had a crew booked, and he still had a shoot day, and so he had to sort of figure out, do I drop this project and move on to another idea I had, or do I try to make this work somehow, and we all sat down together, because I was involved in the project as a songwriter, we all sat down together, and we sort of, I guess we all tried to figure out what to do, and I got really excited about the idea of making it making the film as cheaply as possible, and it also meant

that we could, you know, we figured out how to do it, so we wouldn't use lights, we shoot, instead of shoot, we were, you know, Joe was talking originally shooting the film on film, let's shoot on DVD, and let's instead of, you know, hiring the cameras, let's just buy two cameras, let's just do it all handheld, let's just bring our own clothes, let's do this, let's just do this thing super super minimalist, and let's hire someone real cheap like Lynn Hansard. Yeah, oh yeah, I forgot about that

element, yeah, and let's just get me to do it, let's just get me made to do it, and John approached me to do it, I was kind of nervous, I wasn't, I didn't really like the idea, because I just didn't feel like I could pull it off, but then John kind of put to me, he said, he said, look, no one's going to sing these songs like you do, because you wrote them, he says, I'm forcing to the choice of having, you know, two actors who can probably have sing or two musicians who can have act,

and he says, I'd rather, if it's a musical film, I'd rather have two musicians who can have act, I know I get a performance area, and then he says, as long as the music's convincing,

“I think people are going to believe it, so that was kind of his gamble. Let's hear another song”

that you co-wrote together for once, and this is if you want me, and Glenn, why don't you describe how the song is used in the film? Well, there was one, John wanted to have one song in the film

that was basically a throwback or a salute to the classic musical. We decided a couple of things

in the beginning, we said, whenever there's a song in this film, let's have the entire song, and also whenever there's a song in this film, let's have it be absolutely live in the moment. You're playing the song in front of them, so that there isn't this whole idea of playback, you know, they didn't even mind. So the idea was that Maar's character, the batteries would go in her CD player, and that she would basically sing over a music that I would have supposedly written,

and it was going to be a, you know, John wanted basically just to do a singing in the rain moment, where it was a real musical moment, and so we hired a crane, and basically we just walked

“up the street with Maar that whole evening, and I think it really does work in the film,”

but that is the one moment where I'm mining. Yeah, but it's also a moment where you get to actually know something about the girl, because I think true the songs that the male character plays, you get to know something about his personality, you know something that you probably wouldn't get to know about a person and one and a half hour, and so you get that little chance with that song, that the girl sings as well, which works very well, I think. And so let's hear it if you want me,

and this will give us a chance to hear Maar Keta's voice. This is Glenn Hansard, and Maar Keta Erglover from the soundtrack of their film once. Get really lonely, and the distance calls as only silence. I think of you smiling, with pride in your eyes a lower that size, if you want me, silence for me, if you want me,

Maar Keta Erglover and Maar Keta Erglover. Since neither of you were really actors,

when you started making ones, although Glenn, you had a part in the commitments as a member of the band. Did you go seeking advice from people about how to act, how to behave in front of a camera, did you just learn from doing it? And if you got advice, what's the best thing that you were each told that actually helped you? Well, the thing that I was told, and I can't remember who told me

“right now, somebody said to me, just remember that Maarland Brando was always Maarland Brando.”

He wasn't like the reason people hired him to be in films is because he was Maarland Brando. I kind of liked the idea that no matter what character you're playing, whether you embody it or not, or many different styles of acting, of course there are many different styles. But this was the

thing that I always, that resonated with me most, was the fact that just be yourself and embody

the character. And I think that for me that meant that my, I guess my range as an actor was probably quite limited and let's face it. I was pretty much playing myself in this film. I am a street musician. I was a street musician. I, you know, I did, I fixed bicycles and not Hoover's John change that detail, I guess. When I went to the bank to get my first loan for the frames, the bank manager took out his guitar and played me a song. So there are many details in this guy's life that are very similar

to my own. So I guess for myself, it wasn't so difficult to embody this guy. I think if I was given

“a more challenging role, I might find it a lot more difficult to put it for, and as well we were”

making this film, I was making this film with Mar, who was a good friend of mine. And also with

John Carney, he was in my band. It was a very close friend of mine. So I felt very, very comfortable

with these people. It felt like it was felt like a bunch of friends making a film over the weekend more than it felt like being involved in a big artistic challenge. I want to play a scene from the beginning of once. And this is a scene where Glenn, you're playing on the street for money, but no one's paying any attention to you at all. Until Marcetta, you walk over and start asking him questions about himself and the music. Here's the scene.

This song you just played, you write it? Working on it. It's not in his style or so? No, it's not in his style or so. How come you don't play in during daytime? I see you every day.

You know, during the day, people who want to hear songs, they know, just songs that they recognize. And in other words, I wouldn't make any money. I play these songs at night. They wouldn't listen. I listen. Yeah, but you give me ten cent. Oh, you do it for money then? Why don't you get a job in a shop? I have a job in a shop.

Just so I'm going to get back to this, yeah? Nice to meet you. Who'd you write this on for? Please? No one. Where is she? She's gone. Is it dead? No, she's not dead. She's gone. You love her still? Jesus, man. You over, rubbish. No one write this song is over her. I'm telling you,

you play this marvelous song to her. You get her back. I don't want her back. Glenn, you started off as a street musician when you were in your teens. You dropped out of high

“school to play on the streets. Where did you choose to play? What was a good street for you in Dublin?”

Well, for me, Graft and Street was a bit like in Dublin, if you can imagine, you know, the microcosm of your life. I lived on the north side of the city. Graft and Street was on the south side of the city, and that for me made more sense, because it meant that I wouldn't bump into anybody from school, and that I wouldn't bump into any of my mother's friends or my mother indeed. Because my mother was a fruit seller on more street, which is on the north side of the city, and I

wanted to get us far away from anybody I knew as possible. So I went over to Graft and Street was kind of the more posh part of Dublin. So the chances of me having a career or having a getting beyond just being a street musician were I had better chances if you like on the south side of the city, because that's kind of where all the artists lived. And, you know, so I went over there and it was a great, for me it was the beginning of a whole new education.

I mean, I left school as 13. I went over there, the day I left school, I went busking, and what started was a, I met a man of sold magazines on the street, his name was Pete, and Pete was a, you know, he, he, he prided himself on the fact that he was a Dylanologist,

this guy took me seriously because I was playing Dylan songs that weren't necessarily the ones from the greatest hits record. And so this guy was, uh, took an interest in me, and I guess took me under his wing, and I remember going and living with him for a while, and he took me around to like poultry readings, and pretty much that from there on, I remember meeting this lady Philip Eganer, it was kind of a famous painter in Ireland, and she

took me out to her house in Caldera, which was in the countryside. She lived in an all-converte schoolhouse that she had rebuilt, and I went and lived with her for two years, and really a whole new education began. I remember staying at Sheamus Heenys house when I was a kid, and getting to hang out with poets and, and other musicians, uh, was really the basis of my artistic beginnings.

“So what's the best thing that happened to you on the streets?”

Well, for me, I guess, overall, it was my education. I learned how to sing on Graffin Street. I learned how to entertain. When you're on the street, you're a still point, you know, you're a part of the architecture, you're a still, and if you stand still on any street, in any city, in any country, in the world, if you stand still long enough, every single person in that city will pass you a boy. So like, you know, why would be

both in in Van Morrison would walk past as obviously in a Van Morrison song, or, you know, Bonna would go by, or, is that true? You know, really that's what? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so Van Morrison is walking by. What do you do? Do you say, excuse me? Not at all. No, it's something like Van, you would just give him this space. I mean, and actually, ironically, the reason I guess he was passing by was because we were, myself and my friend were busking together, and

we were singing because Van songs are amazing to busk. So one day, we were, we were busking

playing one of his songs, and he passed by, but actually, the irony was that we were busking enough money to go see him that night. So actually, we ended up busking up the enough money to go see him. And at the same thing happened, those were you two. We were busking up the money to go see them on time, and then we saw them at the same day, which is very interesting. So Glenn, when you dropped out of school at the edge of what 14, so that you could

perform on the streets, what did your parents think of that? Well, I'm very lucky, and that my, my mother, again, my mother was very, very liberal. She grew up in a very, very tally household, where she had to be home at a certain time, and had that, you know, she had 12 brothers and sisters, and I guess if the family had to keep everybody from her, her, them together, I guess, me, like, so my mother grew up in the 60s, you know, and so during that time, she wanted,

she wanted basically to give her kids the freedom that she never had. So my mother was like

“very, very liberal. She said to me, anytime you need, you know, if you want to, when I came”

home to her and said, "My, I really want to do music," my mother just said, "We'll do it then." And she said, "Well, do it. And if you're going to do it, do it properly." So I go, you know, go on her and a living from it and do it and get and really evolved. And so I was looking, I'm my dad, my dad was, you know, my guest, my dad was one of those guys. He worked hard, but he was a hard-drinking man, and didn't, and supported us in whatever we wanted to do,

but didn't really play much of a role in our lives except to say, "Yeah, fair pay to your son, go for it." You know, so my dad was a, I guess, was on board with a two. I was very, very looking. In my headmaster in school, my head teacher, he was a great guy. I was in his office so many times, and we talked and talked and he, I guess he was a smart guy. He figured out that music was the one subject I really enjoyed talking about. And because he was in his part, in his spare time,

he was a DJ. And so myself and himself were talking about Dylan and Cohen and Neil Young and all

“the stuff that really impassioned me, and he basically said to me one day, he's called me down”

to the office and he says, "Glan, you know what? You're in this school, you're not learning a thing, you're frustrating all of the teachers, and I know you love music." So I have an idea. Why don't you go? Take your guitar, go over to Grafen Street or go to any street you want, but start your musical career at the very bottom today. He said, you know, go and go and, you know, take your guitar out. And if in a year, you're not enjoying it, or it's not working out for you.

Come back to school, and I'll figure out a way you're getting your back into class, and you can continue your education. He said, "But I don't think that your education is going anywhere." He said, "You know, you can tell me all the musicians have played on John Wesley Harding,

or you can, you know, you can tell me who produced the first two Lannar Cohen records,

but you can't tell me to square root a nine." And he said, "So you're not really very good to us here, and I'd like to see you succeed." So he sent me home that day to take my guitar and go to Grafen Street. And when I went home, I said to my mother, I dropped my school back into home, and I said to my mother, "Ma, I'm going to start my career as a musician." And my mother was like, "What? Really?" And I was like, "Yeah, which is, well, we'll go for it, son, and good luck."

Glenn Hansard and Marquette Erglava speaking to Terry Gross in 2008. Glenn Hansard died Wednesday in a motorcycle accident at age 56. Will hear more after a break. Also, Kevin Whitehead has an appreciation of Tony Bennett, Monday, marks the centenary of his birth. I'm David B. and Koolie, and this is fresh air.

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They co-starred in the 2007 Irish film called "Once" about two street musicians. Hansard wrote the music for it, and they both co-wrote the film's Oscar-winning song falling slowly. Hansard and Erglava went on to perform off-screen as the duo swell season, and for a time were a couple. Hansard

“died Wednesday at the age of 56. -How did you both meet? -Me and Glenn? -Yeah.”

Well, there was a case of my father helping a man that lives in Ireland get this Irish band over to check public and Slovakia for a few gigs. And he was the guy that would kind of help out on the check side because he's obviously speaks Czech and English so he'll be able to communicate and get venues to be helpful. And so he helped organize a few gigs that the frame said around the area. And because he did do that when the band came over, they just kind of

came to our house and we organized a parody for them in our garden. And that was where we met,

basically around a fire, playing songs and singing along and my mother cooked this big feast.

So we met in a really lovely way where my family would basically invite the whole bunch which was about 12 people over to the house and be friend, Glenn, and the band. So Glenn would just keep coming to the house because of my mother's cooking and stuff. So it's a very funny way of us meeting, but throughout the years we would have become friends. I want to ask you about another scene from once. There's a great scene in what I think is a pub. It almost looks like a living room,

but I think it's actually like a small pub. And everybody's kind of eating dinner and drinking.

“And the rule of the game here is that you have to be able to sing to be in on this dinner and people”

just kind of alternate singing. And there's a kind of middle-aged woman in a middle-aged man, or slightly older man, who sing a few bars in this sequence. And they have really interesting voices and I was wondering, like, who are they, and is this based on a real pub in Dublin? Well, well, actually that room is where me and my are live. That's our flat. Oh. And yeah, because we didn't have money to hire a venue, we just, we decided to have a

party in our flat. No wonder it looks like an apartment. Okay. Yeah, that's our, that's our place. That's where we live. And also the guy, the guy I was telling you about earlier on, the guy

of the first person I met, the Dylanologist in Grafen Street, that's Pete. And he's the guy who sings.

Oh. And then the woman who sings is my mother. No. Yeah, that's my mother Catherine. So, and again, how we did it was, instead of trying to hire a room and put lots of extras in it, we just threw a party and invoked all our friends over. I really liked her voice. You know, it's, there's something vaguely Marianne faithfulish about it. Yeah. I was interested in Marianne faithful, used to live in that flat, also, which is an opportunity to give some help picked up on. Yeah.

Well, we're very lucky in that we live. One of the other people that I met when I was younger was Marina Guinness, who's part of the Guinness family in Ireland. And then with like Ireland doesn't

a strong and powerful family in Ireland in a very nice way. And of course, we all had more of them,

because we drink their product constantly. It's an amazing thing. So, I'm really glad you pointed out that the guy and the woman, because the guy is the guy I was talking about, who took me on board, and I spent a lot of time with him when I was younger, and of course my mother. No, we have to play that scene. It's great to see you here. When you sing, you can sing it right. There's a one or two quest, there's a lot of you.

When you're a liberty cake, remember Mitchell, far away. I come big, though, and sing. That's a scene from once, which stars my guests, Glen Hansard and Marquette or Glova,

“did your mother sing a lot when you were growing up?”

Yeah, my mother sang constantly when we were kids. I'm my father. My mother used to win, like she won a bunch of competitions when we were kids, you know, in probes, and, you know,

they never, my mother, of course, never took singing as seriously as they all did, but, you know,

I'm my father. My grandfather was an opera singer and my grandfather sang, I remember my great grandfather sang in the same competition as James Joyce, and beat him, apparently in an opera competition a long, long time ago. So, it's so music's definitely been in my family. So, well, your lives have just been so changed by the movie. It's just, I mean, in every way, in terms of your performances, in terms of the fact that you're now a couple,

and you're living together, I'm sure you're just never expected that. Not at all, I mean, it's been a very, very, very serendipitous, I suppose. It's been a very, very interesting and

powerful chapter in my life, for sure. And, you know, yeah, exactly. It's like, there's life in

Matilda art, there's art in Matilda. It's with once it definitely, the lines are definitely blurred, and I really like that about it. Since Dylan figures into your story here, Glenn, particularly

“your story, I think maybe we'll end with you and go in nowhere from, from the soundtrack of the”

Dylan movie, the movie about Dylan. I'm not here, the fictional movie about Dylan. So, you recorded you and go in nowhere for it. Now, I know, Dylan was a big influence on you, Glenn. You sang Dylan songs on your busking as a teenager on the streets. The frames opened for Dylan on some tour or another. So, I imagine you got to meet him. Yeah. Did he have much to say? Is he mutable? I mean, is he accessible as a person? Well, you know, I'm very, very

lucky in that I got to spend some time in Bob's company, and he's one of those men. I don't, I don't even feel very comfortable talking about him because he's just so, for me, he's just a great, and I've been lucky in my life, and that I've met all the people that I've really adored. I've somehow managed to meet, and I feel great about that. So, spending a bit of time in a master's company gives one a great sense of humility. And so, all I can say is that I definitely

wasn't disappointed. I spoke to Bob about, "Would you go through?" And that was, for me, was really great about that. It was two artists speaking about another artist, and that was the, for me,

“was the way the best way the conversation could flow. Because, you know, what do you say to the”

man who's heard every different approach? And when I met him, I just, I didn't really know what to say. I'm, I guess, I was lucky in what I just fell out of my mouth. I said, "Meet, and you, Bob, is a bit like what it must have been like when you met Woody." And the conversation could have died right there, but it didn't, it went wrong. And, you know, Bob talked about Woody, and I talked about Woody. I knew, I knew just enough to keep a conversation going, but for me, it's been a

wonderful experience being in his company. Well, I want to thank you both so much for talking with us. Thank you. Thank you very much. [music] When Hansard and Marquette are ago, a spoke to Terry Gross in 2008. He died Wednesday in a motorcycle accident at the age of 56. Here's another of Hansard songs.

bike. Maybe when I heard of me all the life. Maybe when we've pulled, had some time,

“I'm gonna see you there. I'm gonna see you there.”

[music] Coming up, Monday marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Tony Bennett, and our Jazz Historian Kevin Whitehead has an appreciation. This is Fresh Air.

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national, and global coverage. No paywalls, no profits, no nonsense. Download it in your app store today. This is Fresh Air. Monday marks the centennial of the birth of singer Anthony Betadetto. Early patron Bob Hope suggested he anglicizes stage name to Tony Bennett. A lifelong New Yorker, Bennett had a long series of hits starting in the 1950s. In 1965, Bennett marched on Selma with Martin Luther King Jr. Later he became a successful

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feel the essential guide to jazz stories on film and new Dutch swing." singer Tony Bennett died

“in 2023 at the age of 96. Monday is the hundredth anniversary of Bennett's birth. Coming up,”

Justin Chang reviews "I Want Your Sex," the new comedy film from Olivia Wilde. This is fresh air. On this season of Planet Money Summer School, we follow the money and not just the dollars, we're following the Yuan, the Naira, the Krona, and more. Everyone's day this summer, we're taking you on a world tour to meet the people trying new solutions to old economic problems. Planet Money Summer School, perhaps in friends, pack your bags, and don't forget the

sunscreen. Listen on the NPRF or wherever you get your podcasts. On NPR's Wild Card podcast, country legend Shenai Twain says she wants to live to be 200. If I only think, "Oh, well, I'm only going to live to be 80." Yeah. If that's my projection, and I'm going to be rushing

“through it, I don't want to live like life with urgency. Watch or listen to that Wild Card”

conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wild Card. This is fresh air. In the new comedy, I want your sex. Olivia Wilde plays an LA-based artist, who initiates a dominant submissive relationship with her younger employee,

played by Cooper Hoffman. It's the first new feature in 12 years from the Queer Cinema Pioneer

Grego Rocky, and it's opening in theaters today after premiering to much acclaim in January at the Sundance Film Festival. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review. When Grego Rocky brought his new movie, I want your sex. To this year's Sundance Film Festival, it felt like a long overdue homecoming. In the early 90s, Sundance helped launch a rocky into the

“front ranks of Queer Independent filmmakers, with daringly sexy, funny, and violent tales of”

gay identity, like the living end, nowhere, and one movie whose title I can't say here. His output has been more erratic in the decades since, but in all his work, including the 2019 TV series,

Now Apocalypse, he's never lost sight of sex as a defining force in the lives of his characters,

as well as his audiences. Or, as one character and I want your sex puts it, sex is everything. Those are the words of Erica Tracy, a multimedia artist who's known for her provocative work. She's played by a terrific Olivia Wilde. When we first meet Erica, she's floating face down in her own Los Angeles swimming pool. While a young man in a pink bra in panties, that's Elliott, played by Cooper Hoffman, clumsily tries to save her. I was reminded of the beginning

of Sunset Boulevard, and indeed, I want your sex is an erotic comedy by way of a noirish mystery. The story flashes back several weeks to around the time Erica hires Elliott as her assistant. Elliott is smart and friendly, but also hopelessly naive, and he has no idea what he's in for when one day, Erica calls him into her office. There is something I need to speak with you about. I wouldn't want you to take this the wrong way, but the way you've been looking at me has

been making me feel uncomfortable. What? Don't pretend you haven't been flirting with me, Elliott, and it is entirely inappropriate in the workplace. Oh my god, I am so sorry. I don't even know what I've been doing exactly, but I promise whatever it is, I will stop immediately. As long as we're really on the same page about that. Yeah, I would love to be on the same page. Yes.

Erica's accusation is, of course, a come on. Before long, the two have crossed over into entirely inappropriate terrain, with Erica initiating Elliott into a dominant submissive relationship. Most of their encounters take place at Erica's home, and are played for easy laughs. But when they're not having sex, Erica and Elliott have some pretty pointed conversations about why so many Gen Zers like Elliott are, well, not having sex. Elliott blames COVID

and overproductive parents, noting that he and his peers were raised to fear any kind of in-person socialization, let alone intimacy. Erica calls them all out as a generation of cowards, arguing that the whole point of sex, and of life itself, is to take risks and push past boundaries. A rocky, more or less agrees with her. You could think of I want your sex as his state of the physical union address. At 66, he no longer represents the younger generation, but he's

another filmmaker, but a rocky style of comedy is warm, genuinely inclusive, and thoroughly disarming.

“For a moment to moment, the movie is pure pleasure. Full of bright colors,”

delectable sight gags, and sharp pop culture savvy one-liners. Like when Elliott, wearing all black for a hot date, is told that he looks like an assassin in a Netflix yakuza movie. There are also sharp performances from Mason Gooding, as Elliott's snarky gay co-worker, Zap, and chase sweet wonders as Elliott's best friend, Apple, who envies his four days into King. As it turns out, though, there's not much to envy. Erica invites Elliott to take their

already wild relationship to another level, but what happens next simply doesn't ring true.

It's the movie's most daring scene, and ultimately it's most disappointing one.

Like some other recent BDSM themed films, like Baby Girl and Pylian,

“I want your sex brings its leads to an emotional crisis point that lays bare the long-term”

limitations of the characters' arrangement. Iraqi is hardly a moralist, but he's milled a bit since his more radical early days, and the movie, for all its twists and trists, follows a fairly conventional arc. And the narrative machinery really starts to splutter in the closing stretch, as the pieces of the swimming pool mystery plot snap laboriously into place. Even so, I left I want your sex with real respect for Iraqis determination to start a cross-generational

conversation, and as fun as for his characters and his actors. Hoffman, who came to fame a few years ago in Paul Thomas Anderson's licorice pizza,

has a wildly goofball charisma. He never becomes the butt of the movie's joke.

And while this outstanding is Erica, mocking her own art world pretensions one minute, delivering a sex-positive monologue the next, and always seeming to keep the truth of what she really wants under wraps. She's a classic Greg Iraqi creation. A hilarious, yet wholly serious reminder of the slippery, unpredictable nature of human desire. Justin Chang is a film critic at the New Yorker. I want your sex, starring Olivia Wild,

opens in theaters today. On Monday's show, the broad burning feminist protesters of the

1968 Miss America pageant, that was just a myth. Bras were never burned. But the pageant

did ignite a battle over beauty, race, and power that still echoes today. We talk with historian Mickey Mackel-Gay about her new book Liberation Summer. Hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at NPR Fresh Air. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/thisisfreshair. Fresh Air's executive producer is Sam Brigher. Our senior producer today is Roberta Schora.

Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with a digital engineering support from Julian Hertzfeld and Adam Stana-Chefson. Our interviews and reviews are produced in internet by Philis Myers and Marie Baldenado, Lauren Crenzel to be some Maddie, Monique Nazareth, Fayette Challner, Susan Yucundi, Annabellman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly C. Unisper. For Terry Gross and Tanya Mosley, I'm David Biancoo.

Are we doomed? Looks it? Big problems. Nobody would, for actually want nuclear war, that's not way correct. How can we add friction? Put the launch codes inside somebody's

“chest cavity and you have to kill him to get them out. Are we doomed? Solving humanity's”

biggest threats. Part of the NPR network, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You've got a lot of ways to get news and a lot of podcasts in your feed that take a long time to get to the point. Here and now anytime gets to the heart of the day's big story, all in about 20 minutes every afternoon. Get smarter and expand your world fast. Listen to here and now anytime on the NPR app or wherever you listen to podcasts.