The Metaphysical Horror of “The Curse” The Metaphysical Horror of “The Curse”
From its first moments to its antic end, the series exposes its viewers to an abundance of anxious perturbation but it does something else too: It reveals the absurdity all around...
Jan 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya
Edward Yang’s States of Flux Edward Yang’s States of Flux
His dark comedies and family dramas of life in late-20th-century Taiwan depict a generation’s crisis, confronting the forces of finance and globalization.
Jan 11, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
Do as I Say, Not as I Do Do as I Say, Not as I Do
The comforting lessons in good will and friendship Apple, Netflix, and Disney flaunt are benign distractions that deflect attention from their two-fisted business behavior.
Jan 8, 2024 / Peter Biskind
Michael Mann’s Need for Speed Michael Mann’s Need for Speed
The director’s biopic of Enzo Ferrari is a perfect encapsulation of his primary aesthetic interest: the death drive and male melancholy.
Jan 3, 2024 / Books & the Arts / James Duesterberg
“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”: A Masterpiece of American Southern Filmmaking “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”: A Masterpiece of American Southern Filmmaking
Raven Jackson’s remarkable debut is a poetic look into Black family life in the South.
Jan 2, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kelli Weston
The Uncanny Façades of “May December” The Uncanny Façades of “May December”
Todd Haynes’s discomfiting and hypnotic suburban melodrama examines topics the director knows well: sex, taboo, and control.
Dec 27, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Beatrice Loayza
Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway? Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway?
How everybody’s favorite Christmas movie about the perils of monopoly capitalism became a victim of monopoly capitalism.
Dec 25, 2023 / Ray Nowosielski and David Cassidy
The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction” The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction”
A buzzy film adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure, a novel about publishing’s racial politics, misreads what is truly ailing the book industry.
Dec 22, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse
Isaac Julien’s Truth Isaac Julien’s Truth
Dealing with time, race, and utopias, his work challenges conventional notions of where film belongs and should be consumed.
Dec 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Joan Baez Looks Back Joan Baez Looks Back
I Am a Noise, a career-spanning documentary, makes it clear that the folk singer was one of the most important political musicians of her generation.
Dec 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sarah M. Seltzer