Chuck D’s Graphic Novel ‘Summer of Hamn’ Zeros in on “Hatriots” and More
With graphic novel Summer of Hamn, rap legend and now visual artist Chuck D has produced his second, strong, COVID-era work of art and social commentary.
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Daniel Guebel’s ‘The Jewish Son’ Invokes Kafka’s ‘Dearest Father’
In The Jewish Son, Daniel Guebel invokes Kafka’s “Dearest Father” to tell the story of a complicated father-son relationship.
Fragments of a (Diabolical) Dream: Vojtěch Mašek’s ‘The Sisters Dietl’
Reading Vojtěch Mašek’s The Sisters Dietl is like consuming a many-layered pastry laced with something hallucinogenic.
Albert Camus’ Struggles with Earthly Existence in ‘Travels in the Americas’
The Albert Camus of Travels in the Americas diaries is a passionate, despairing reckoner with the struggles of earthly existence, both personal and societal.
‘Last and First Men’ Is a Symphonic Meditation on Humankind’s Brevity
Last and First Men, an astounding and unusual art film, science fiction meditation, and visual symphony, is the first and only film created by the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannson.
‘The Gospel of the Hold Steady’ Captures Their Unhinged Magic
Michael Hann’s oral history The Gospel of the Hold Steady traces the band’s image, music, and challenges in a brilliant chronicle of the promise of rock ‘n’ roll.
‘Calling for a Blanket Dance’ Sews Together a Story of Single Fatherhood
Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes: gift-giving, second chances, reclaiming culture, family loyalty, and the indelible search for a home.
Yuppies, Punks and Sociopaths Congregate in Scorsese’s ‘After Hours’
In After Hours, Scorsese’s camera wanders through a tableau of living and breathing graffiti incarnated as ’80s New York City’s most dangerous bottom-feeders.
What ‘The White Lotus’ Conveys About the Fraudulence of Perception
Through its storytelling method of glances, we see The White Lotus‘ critique of our tendency to extrapolate that which we do not understand, and to fill gaps in our knowledge with ideologies, mythologies, learned stereotypes, and meme-logic.
Acid Trips Meet Ancestral Trauma in ‘All-Night Pharmacy’
With the same shocking specificity that sets apart her poetry, Ruth Madievsky’s All-Night Pharmacy brings us uncomfortably close to everything the narrator witnesses in a hospital waiting room.
Margaret Atwood’s ‘Old Babes in the Wood’ Fears Nothing
Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes in the Woods brims with biting humor, precise detail, and incisive observations about life and aging.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ Detonates Moviemaking’s Limits
Christopher Nolan’s latest juggernaut Oppenheimer is an earth-shattering study of modern politics and governance that redefines what filmmaking can be.