Culture

Cultural Comment

The Vexing Collaborations of Octavia Spencer and Tate Taylor

“Ma,” Spencer and Taylor’s fifth project together, should not be mistaken for being a contribution to the genre of black horror.

The Latest

The Hidden Identity in April Dawn Alison’s Self-Portraits

By becoming a woman for the camera, the artist exposed his soul to himself like nothing else on earth could do.

2:11 P.M.

The Startling Image of a Blood-Spattered Victim of the Virginia Beach Shooting

For all the images that have been broadcast from mass shootings, it is unusual to actually see the carnage up close.

June 1, 2019

“Rocketman” and the Inevitable Shortcomings of the Hollywood Pop-Star Bio-Pic

Dexter Fletcher’s film dutifully works its way through events of Elton John’s life, but blandly flattens the drama of his creative artistry.

June 1, 2019

The Envies of Eating in Springtime

Were I to buy all the market spinach and peas I could eat, moths would fly out of my purse as in the cartoons and comics of my youth.

June 1, 2019

“Ma” and “The Perfection,” Reviewed: Two Horror Movies Crassly Exploit #MeToo

The films exhibit a tragic logic that dovetails with the real-life revelations of #MeToo, but neither is constructed with anything resembling the courageousness that women in the movement have displayed.

May 31, 2019
More Stories

Introducing Touchstones, a series in which New Yorker writers guide us through the works that shaped them.

Goings On About Town

Szechuan Mountain House Gives Proletarian Fare the Palace Treatment

Classic dishes get poetic reinventions and opulent plating, with the same dedication to capsaicin as the originals.

Summer Dance Preview

The classical ballet of “The Sleeping Beauty,” a visit from the Royal Danish Ballet, minimalism in the Berkshires, and more.

Summer Night-Life Preview

Rising temperatures allow for the pleasures of outdoor concerts, such as Governors Ball, Summer Jam, SummerStage, and more.

The Critics

TV’s Reckoning with #MeToo

Many creators are visibly struggling to adjust to the changing landscape, rejecting the “very special episode” path and seeking something more honest and original.

The Bittersweet Poetry of “Lima :: Limón”

Natalie Scenters-Zapico’s latest poems probe the richness of contradiction, mixing violence and pleasure, damage and repair.

Timelessness in Works by Thomas Cole and Brice Marden

Two small shows in the Hudson Valley hint at long spiritual rhythms that are not lost, though they may be occluded, in the staccato frenzies of our day.

A Live-Action “Aladdin” Falls Short of Its Animated Predecessor

The director Guy Ritchie has reheated the 1992 Disney film’s tropes and tunes to graceless and cumbersome effect.

Photo Booth

Photo Booth

The Voraciousness and Oddity of Dora Maar’s Pictures

Maar’s work did not begin or end with Surrealism. She was several sorts of artist in the decade or less during which her photography had free rein.

More Photo Booth
Podcasts

Is America Ready to Make Reparations?

The debate on making reparations for slavery is as old as the Republic. Will the nation finally face up to its history?

More Podcasts