Carrie Cracknell’s ‘Persuasion’ Isn’t a Netflix Movie, It’s Content
Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, directed by Carrie Cracknell, isn’t a disaster, it’s a dull reminder of the state of the streaming wars.
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Pretend It’s a City Proves Once Again, You Can’t Argue with Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz’s ubiquitous little smirk is still going as strong as ever because she never feels bad about herself.
Beauty and Horror in George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The characters in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, distinct as they are, besiege the viewer's mind as metaphors, mythic exemplars of a disturbing legacy America seems unable or unwilling to address.
We Need a Reality Check on Unreal Christmas Rom-Coms
It's time Christmas rom-coms move beyond the twin swaps, the dead spouse who comes back as an angel, the bad blind date, etc., and instead, turn to real-life stories for healthy models of lasting love forged in the fires of the holiday.
While the Sun Shines: An Interview with Composer Joe Wong
Joe Wong, the composer behind Netflix's Russian Doll and Master of None, articulates personal grief and grappling with artistic fulfillment into a sweeping debut album.
The Inescapable Violence in Netflix’s I’m No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aqui)
Fernando Frías de la Parra's I'm No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aqui) is part of a growing body of Latin American social realist films that show how creativity can serve a means of survival in tough circumstances.
Unorthodox Storytelling
Deborah Feldman's memoir, Unorthodox, is more than a depiction, or even indictment, of the Satmar. It's an indictment of any patriarchal social system that shrinks young women's dreams to the size of a kitchen, and then blames them for it.
Spike Lee’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and Pedagogical Filmmaking in the Movement for Black Lives
As with Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee's films are replete with experimental aesthetics that deconstruct the conventions of (white) Hollywood and re-frame and re-contextualize Black lives and Black history.
Where’s the Strong Woman in Netflix’s Adaptation of ‘Good Hunting’?
Contrary to the intention of Ken Liu's short story, "Good Hunting", Netflix presents a superficial arc of female empowerment, then allows animation and the role of male characters to undercut that message.
Jeff Baena Explores the Intensity of Mental Illness in His Mystery, ‘Horse Girl’
Co-writer and star Alison Brie's unreliable narrator in Jeff Baena's Horse Girl makes for a compelling story about spiraling into mental illness.
‘You’ S2 Returns as Bitingly Entertaining and Subversive, to a Point
What is it about Penn Badgley's toxic and creepy Joe Goldberg in You that keeps viewers coming back?
Alex Gibney’s ‘Citizen K’: The UK and US Through the Post-Soviet Looking Glass
In Citizen K, director Alex Gibney refrains from judging his imperfect protagonist, exiled Russian oligarch business man and political philanthropist, Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky.