A Constant Visual Feast

Speaking of clear biases: I am biased toward Penny Lane. What can I say? There’s a reason I chose to interview her for a second time, 3 years after interviewing her for her last film*, Nuts!, on behalf of her latest, Hail Satan?, out 04/19/19, expanding on 04/26/19, which means that if you’re in Boston, keep your eyes on the marquee of your favorite theater.

Anyways: The reason is this. Penny Lane is great. Some interviewees, they don’t talk enough or when they do they wind up saying little. But Lane is a great conversationalist, very open and insightful, and basically she just makes my job easier. So there’s that.

More to the point, Hail Satan?, a film about The Satanic Temple (founded in Salem, right here in my home state of Massachusetts!), is really damn good, one of the best docs I’ve had the pleasure of watching this year to date, and one of the most chest-thumping American experiences I’ve had at the movies in ages. If that sentence makes no sense to you, you should a) read the interview, and b) watch the movie, and that’ll clear that right up.

Start with a) by heading over to Paste Magazine to read the interview!

*Her last film released in theaters. For some reason I can’t grasp, The Pain of Others, her actual last film, didn’t get a theatrical release date, and if you’re reading this and you have an explanation, I’d be happy to hear it so I don’t feel like an idiot anymore.