Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell Susan Taubes’s Uncanny Chronicles of Domestic Hell
Her previously unreleased fiction—a novella and short stories—in Lament for Julia peek into the banal and nightmarish travails of married life.
Jan 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kathy Chow
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
Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Portrait of Gay Indonesia
In, Happy Stories, Mostly, a collection of short stories, the complexities of queer life in the Southeast Asian country come into focus.
Dec 28, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Bryony Lau
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
The Indefensible Job of Policing the Border The Indefensible Job of Policing the Border
Against the Wall, a former border officer’s memoir, argues that when it comes to protecting the border, cruelty is the point.
Dec 26, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Caroline Tracey
An Introduction to Marxism Unlike Any Other An Introduction to Marxism Unlike Any Other
Søren Mau’s Mute Compulsion offers a unique and relatable entry into the social and economic dimensions of modern Marxist thought.
Dec 25, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Matt McManus
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
A Memoir for the Post-Truth Era A Memoir for the Post-Truth Era
In Sarah Viren’s To Name a Bigger Lie, she investigates how conspiracy theories have changed her relationship to the world.
Dec 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Julia Case-Levine
Reading “Mumbo Jumbo” in the Post-Covid Age Reading “Mumbo Jumbo”" "in the Post-Covid Age
Ishmael Reed's novel depicts an American government dedicated to public health as long as its efforts keep hierarchy and the status quo in place.
Dec 20, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Melvin Backman