Fighting a circus?

The real story of Rihanna crying over Chris Brown on Oprah: More than meets thetears?

More than three years after Chris Brown beat her just before the 2009 Grammy Awards, pop singer Rihanna has opened up to Oprah Winfrey in a tearful interview about the widely-publicized incident as well as her continuing friendship with the notoriously short-fused hip hop performer.

In a preview of the conversation — which was taped in Barbados and will air Sunday at 8 p.m. on OWN — Rihanna tells Winfrey that while the altercation was "embarrassing" and "humiliating," she worried about the media demonizing her former boyfriend.

"Who's going to help him?" asks Rihanna during the interview. "Nobody's going to say he needs help. Everybody's going to say he's a monster without looking at the source."

"It became a circus and I felt protective," she explains, hinting at Brown's apparent childhood in an abusive household.

"As angry as I was — as angry hurt and betrayed — I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help. Who's going to help him? Nobody's going to say he needs help.

"Everybody's going to say he's a monster without looking at the source."

On Feb. 8, 2009, the couple reportedly began to argue over a text message Rihanna found on Brown's phone from his ex-girlfriend. After attempting to push her from the car, Brown punched Rihanna in the face multiple times, leaving wounds that eventually landed her in the hospital.

Brown's temper made headlines again in March 2011 when he allegedly smashed a window at the Good Morning America studios following an interview during which anchor Robin Roberts asked him about the domestic assault case.

But according to her recent discussion with Oprah, the horrifying bodily attack and media blitz are all bygones for Rihanna, who has since recorded vocals for Brown's "Turn Up The Music" single. The pop singer says she lost her best friend that fateful night and, in the past year, the two have been spotted together on a number of occasions.

Meanwhile, trouble continues to brew for Brown after a Manhattan barroom brawl with rapper Drake over Rihanna, whom both performers have dated. On Wednesday, Brown and Drake were slapped with a $16 million lawsuit for destroying the club.

Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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