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Magritte in Koreatown
Bonnie Johnson on the history and legacy of LA's iconic Brown Derby restaurants.
All Essays
Flung Out of Space: “Carol,” Genre, and Gender
"Carol" is unique among Haynes’s films in that it invites us to witness an intimacy that others have failed to notice.
UNHCR Chief: Election of a Bureaucrat
Visualizing the “War on Drugs”: “Sicario” and “Cartel Land”
"Sicario" and "Cartel Land" both come across as strangely unaware of and unconcerned with the actual historical context of the drug wars.
The Hands of Robert Walser
On the many hands of Robert Walser.
What Can “Bridge of Spies” Reveal to the Chinese About the Limits of Chinese Cinema?
In its battle to win the hearts and minds of the world, the Chinese state is aggressively tapping cinema, Hollywood or Chinese, to do its soft power bidding.
Oscar López Rivera and the Cabanillas
Oscar López Rivera is undeservedly the most obscure of American political prisoners.
The Something of Nothing: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “The Assassin”
If you manage to see nothing after viewing "The Assassin," you have indeed understood the something that the film seeks to convey.
On Shit: Profanity as Weltanschauung
The first time you hear your beloved 10-year-old say motherfucker: well, on that day something changes. Why does it disturb us so?
Writing Is Not Terrorism, Mr. President
Writing is the tool I use to communicate, Mr. President, not the gun. I am throwing the gun you're trying to slip into my hand back to you.
Strange Behavior
On Miguel Cano, the second-to-last man killed by the LAPD in 2015
Pure as Jesus and Cunning as Satan
"Trumbo" may or may not be the first Hollywood movie about the Hollywood unions, but it is certainly the first biopic of a screenwriter.
“We must remain mad in order to be sane”
The Kashmir conflict is as much a battle of narratives as it is a fight over territory.
A Tale of One City: “Cincinnati Goddamn”
"Cincinnati Goddamn" retraces Cincinnati's 2001 race riots.
Toxic Knowledge: On Precision Medicine and a Doctor’s Search
My hospital — in fact, my entire university — has a new research mission: precision medicine.
Toward a New Fantastic: Stop Calling It Science Fiction
Science, or science fiction? Is it a distinction worth making?
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