10 Writers Remaking African Literature in 2026
The writers demanding our attention in 2026 interrogate power, dissect masculinity, and insist on joy in their works of satire, sorcery, and secrets from Africa and the Diaspora.
noir
7 French Noirs for Those Long Cold Winter Nights
The French were making their own postwar brand of dark, downbeat, terse, vivid, chic, and cynical criminal melodramas before anyone ever heard the term “French Noir”.
‘Cairo Station’ Jumbles Sex, Politics, and Noir
With bustling filming and moments of hybrid musical lyricism, the Nasser-era Cairo Station is half neorealism and half noir melodrama.
Who Will Be the Next Harry Hole? The 5 Best Norwegian Actors for the Role
The complex detective in Norwegian noir writer Jo Nesbø’s novels needs the perfect actor for the upcoming series. Who will be – who can be – the next Harry Hole?
‘Breathing Through the Wound’ Will Leave You Gasping for Air
As dizzying as Víctor Del Árbol's philosophy of crime may appear, the layering of motifs in Breathing Through the Wound is vertiginous.
Godard’s Sci-fi/Noir Alphaville’ Is Witty and Subversive
Alphaville's pulpy sci-fi plot acts as a warm coat of familiarity as Godard slyly subverts one genre trope after another.
‘Detour’ and ‘The Big Clock’ Cross Noir with Absurdity
Like a match made in Purgatory, Detour and The Big Clock are ingenious films with different but self-aware approaches to noir.
Dignity and the Death Penalty: On Borzage’s ‘Moonrise’
In the nearly eight decades since Moonrise‘s release, Borzage’s melodrama-noir-styled meditations on social causality, dignity, and redemption have lost none of their potency.
‘Smoking Kills’ Revels in the Many Joys to Be Found in Death
Antoine Laurain's Smoking Kills is provocative and funny, but its meditations remain consistently mature.
Outrageousness Takes a Holiday in ‘Archer S8: Dreamland’
This may be a clever homage to classic hard-boiled detective fiction from the '40s, but Archer in Dreamland is not the wild man we've come to love/hate.
Matthew Weiner’s ‘Heather, the Totality’ Is Chillingly Empty
The Mad Men creator's debut novel has noir roots but plumbs his familiar territory of modernist anxiety with a savage precision.
‘The Best of Richard Matheson’ Is Among the Best of Pop Culture
Richard Matheson's work has so permeated modern pop culture that it can be hard to find works not at least partially indebted to an idea of his or, as is more often the case, someone influenced by him.