the present

Critic Edward Said spoke of the opera’s elimination of memory from the past and from loyalties so that “only the present is left standing.”

Egoyan intersperses scenes set in the present with home video footage of Jeanine as a child, shot by her own father, blindfolded and doing strange dances in the woods.

Even though “The Actor” sticks to the misty past, its anxieties are crystal clear in the present.

“Grasa,” on the other hand, is similar to Rosalía’s “Motomami” in its ability to encapsulate both the present and near-future of pop culture.

“I’m not the kind of artist who’s complacent or politically correct. I don’t do anything with the intention of pleasing others. I chose the mission of bringing salsa back to the present because I’m passionate about it. If a genre gives me so many wonderful sensations, I want everybody else to feel them as well. As long as people argue, they will have to listen to the songs — and as a result, they will listen to salsa.”