There are moments of friendship and warmth in Wang Bing’s documentary Bitter Money but the primary sense a viewer gets is that being on the bottom rung of capitalism in China consists mainly of boredom.
Dan Schindel
Dan Schindel is a freelance writer and copy editor living in Brooklyn, and a former associate editor at Hyperallergic. His portfolio and links are here.
The Comic Absurdity of the Atomic Threat
The documentary The Atomic Cafe dissects how American Cold War propaganda directed the country’s culture into putting a cheerful, upbeat face on possible apocalypse.
A Chance to Revisit Barbara Loden’s Only Feature Film, Considered a Feminist Masterpiece
While Loden initially went unnoticed, today she is seen as an unsung auteur whose promise was tragically cut short by her death from breast cancer in 1980.
A New Biopic on Gauguin in Tahiti Paints a Skewed Portrait
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti maneuvers around its subject’s more questionable actions by pretending they don’t exist.
How Our Conversations Around Mixed-Race Identity Have Evolved in the 21st Century
A project illustrates how the explosion of the internet has allowed for a more involved, varied, and purposeful construction of one’s identity.
French Racial Dynamics, Captured in Comics About Migrant Experiences
Yvan Alagbé continually confronts the reader with difficult glimpses of racial dynamics in modern France.
Stream Mr. Freedom, the Perfect Anti-Fourth of July Movie
Mr. Freedom, written and directed by William Klein in 1969, viciously lampoons both superheroes and the United States.
Six Films by Nikolaus Geyrhalter Offer a Damning View of the Globalized Age
The films in this new box set — three of which have never been released in the US — bring the viewer to every corner of the Earth.
The Everyday Lives of Male Bodybuilders
A Skin So Soft follows six bodybuilders, of varying ages, ethnicities, and levels of mass, in the lead-up to a local competition.
That Summer Offers a More Human Look at the Women of Grey Gardens
As a “prequel” look at the Beales, That Summer makes for a fascinating contrast between the icons they have been turned into and the people they were before then.
Stream the Only Film Ever Shot in Cinemiracle, a Wondrous Widescreen Format from the 1950s
Windjammer, a movie following a half-year voyage across the Atlantic, used a brand-new extreme widescreen camera system that hoped to become a new industry standard.
Kara Walker, Barbara Kruger, and Charles Atlas Dissect Modernity
The Hammer Museum has displayed the three video installations together for the first time.