Berlinale Part 3: The Best Films You Usually Don’t See Coming
After 10 days of fanfare and celebrity mayhem, the 75th edition of the Berlinale closes with some poignant, idiosyncratic releases from directors Richard Linklater and Radu Jude.
music
Berlinale Part 1: Bob Dylan, Trauma Drama, and Time-Shifting Romance
The 75th edition of Europe’s preeminent film festival, Berlinale, kicks off with politics center stage, an efficient new director, and more celebrities than ever before.
The Listening Garden’s Cultivation of Audiophile Culture
Amidst the rise in hi-fi bars and resurgence of audiophile culture, pristine audio is only one component of what makes The Listening Garden’s music experience distinct.
Bob Dylan Film ‘A Complete Unknown’ Is a Folk anti-Western
In wandering hero terms, Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown is less a George Stevens’ Western like Shane and more an Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo – with guitars.
Sundance Film Festival 2025 Is at a Crossroads
While the Sundance Film Festival still uplifts under-the-radar films in an increasingly challenging market, its future may be in doubt.
The Best Books of 2024
PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.
Music in Haruki Murakami’s ‘The City and Its Uncertain Walls’
In Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls, music’s presence and absence are central to the concrete and metaphysical spaces the characters migrate between.
Bruce Springsteen Documentary ‘Road Diary’ Takes a Familiar Route
Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band gets you there by taking a familiar yet still enjoyable route.
Graeme Thomson’s Revised ‘Under the Ivy’ Captures Kate Bush’s Complexity
While Kate Bush’s work and life defy clichés and easy categorization, Graeme Thomson chronicles her story while conveying its inherent ambiguity and mystery.
Greil Marcus Explains Why Creativity Is Better Left Unexplained
In What Nails It Greil Marcus delivers a philosophical treatise wherein fact and fiction merge into poetic indeterminacy, like a nebulous 1960s garage rock tune.
Johnny Cash in Psycho-Heist Thriller ‘Door-to-Door Maniac’
What a difference a script makes. Johnny Cash and Cay Forrester goose up the histrionics of Door-to-Door Maniac.
‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids
The Beach Boys documentary appeals to Gen Z and Gen Alpha via Disney Plus with a breezy, linear, appreciation of the band’s sunny legacy.