Film
Relic Joins the New Era of “Mommy Horror”
Relic delves into a darkness beyond filial caregiving, approaching the mother figure as the first, and last, monster, her house a veritable womb for distinctly female trauma.
Review
Books
How Words Cast Their Spell on a Poet
Geoffrey O'Brien explores language's magic — part sound, part sense, part bodily sensation.
Art
Rediscovering Leslie Kerr's Pop Abstraction
Kerr was an abstract artist with a vulgar sense of humor.
Art
Warren Isensee’s Breakthrough
Isensee has gone from being a dutiful geometric abstractionist to defining his own trajectory, and gaining a verifiable freedom for himself.
Film
The Art of the At-Home Concert
Under quarantine, everyone from Justin Bieber to Dua Lipa has had to adjust to conveying intimacy to online audiences.
Art
Basking in Derek Jarman’s Private Utopia
A recreation of the cottage where Jarman spent his final days, an exhibition at the Garden Museum creates a response to HIV that is at once personal and political, shining a light on wider issues of institutional homophobia.
Film
Video Essays That Address Race, Inequality, and the Movement for Black Lives
Curator Cydnii Wilde Harris highlights some of her favorite works in the Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist.
Film
Enjoy Every Single Agnès Varda Movie, Courtesy of a New Box Set
The Criterion Collection's Complete Films of Agnès Varda is a tribute to the multifaceted career of the revered French director.
Art
Extending the Underground Railroad into the Present
With his recent works on linen, Joe Lewis plies the idea of moving human bodies regarded as contraband via the surveillance network of the state.
Film
Beyoncé’s Black is King, a Black American Vision of the African Continent
Though produced in collaboration with creatives from around the globe, there’s an unmistakable feeling that the film is meant more for Black Americans than the wider African diaspora.
Film
The Stark Elegance of Song Without a Name, a Portrait of Inequality in Peru
Inspired by true events, Melina León’s debut drama is a captivating vision of unredeemed humanity.
Books
Celebrating the "Wild Ladies" of Japanese Folklore
Aoko Matsuda's Where the Wild Ladies Are offers a fresh critique of Japan’s stance towards women.