How to explain the miracle of an institution as gargantuan, complex, and pivotal to society as “government”? Watch Frederick Wiseman’sCity Hall.
Film
Editor:Sharon Marcus
Buster Keaton Falls Up
Comedy demands a fall guy—someone upon whom the absurdity crashes and yet who emerges unscathed. And in comedy, Buster Keaton remains unrivaled.
Paris Doesn’t Always Have To Be Burning
The documentary "Paris Is Burning" obscured the ordinary lives of queer people of color, but new footage reveals how the film could have been different.
“Parasite” and the Plurality of Empire
Bong Joon-ho’s critique inParasiteis less of “universal” capitalism than of the particular imperialisms that have shaped Korean life.
India’s Fans and India’s Future
Obsession is one of the hallmarks of love in Indian cinema: specifically, a love that breaks down borders.
Deep Focus: “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming”
It’s hardly a secret, but, for a land that bills itself as a land of freedom and ...
How Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” Misses the Mark
When in December I heard an interview with Greta Gerwig onAll Things...
Exile by the Bay
Imagining home is an inescapable preoccupation of disinherited people. Of all the possessions lost or denied, none is more precious than the security and feeling of belonging that a genuine home ...
Cute. Dangerous. Asian American. “Gremlins” @35
Gremlins—released 35 years ago this summer—is about a cute, furry ...
Be Kind, Rewind
Biologists use the termendlingto refer to the last remaining member of a particular species. As of May 2019, there is only one remaining Blockbuster video store left, located in Bend, Oregon ...
On the Absurdity of Ethical Capitalism
I worked two “jobs” during my first summer as a graduate student in Indiana. One involved telemarketing research, convincing people to answer telephone ...
Toward an Ecological Cinema
In France, a recent legislative bill identified the task of bringing about “corporate transformation” as one of the major challenges of the 21st century ...
“Wendy and Lucy” @10
Quick! Name an important fiction film of the Great Recession.The Big Short? Yes, surprisingly fun, considering the topic.Margin Call? Love it, except for the ...
Anna Biller on Classic Films and Twitter Feminisms
To date, the independent filmmaker Anna Biller has tweeted somewhere in the ...
Against Cuteness: “Bambi” @90
Felix Salten’sBambi: A Life in the Woods—which first appeared in English 90 years ago this summer—is now better known as the inspiration for Disney’s charming ...
Virtual Roundtable on “Get Out”
In the weeks immediately following its release, Jordan Peele’sGet Outquickly established itself as the crossover film ...
Are You Nobody Too?
Early in 1862, Emily Dickinson began one of her poems with a startling announcement: “I can wade Grief – / Whole Pools of it – / I’m used to that – / But the least push of Joy / Breaks up my feet.” The British filmmaker Terence ...
亲兄弟:吸血鬼与《诺斯费拉图》
Many of the vampires that swarmed the last hundred years of cinema are descended from one of two forefathers: one is a striking, elegant, and even ...
A Tale of Two Artists in ”La La Land”
It isn’t a surprise that Damien Chazelle’s third film, the sunny musicalLa La Land, would be a portrait of jazz artistry. His 2009 debut ...
16 Books and Movies That Make You Want to Be an Engineer
“Movie science” is often so ludicrous (Armageddon,2012,The Core) that it gets used as a teaching tool: students are asked to identify theoops!moments in order to learn correct science …