The Monthly Digest: March 2020

February was Oscars month. Accordingly, LARB, which proudly makes its home in “the movie capital of the world,” featured a number of articles on cinema of every kind.

February was Oscars month. Accordingly, LARB, which proudly makes its home in “the movie capital of the world,” featured a number of articles on cinema of every kind — foreign and domestic, new and old, big-budget and independent. Below you will find deep considerations of Parasite and Get Out, Motherless Brooklyn and Little Women, Ritwik Ghatak and The Report, as well as interviews with Zia Anger and Karim Aïnouz, and looks back at the making of Chinatown and William Faulkner’s stint in Hollywood. — LARB Editorial

The Road to Glory: Faulkner’s Hollywood Years, 1932–1936
Lisa C. Hickman reconstructs William Faulkner’s tumultuous Hollywood sojourn of 1932–1936.
Lisa C. HickmanFeb 27, 2020
- History
- Nonfiction
Anatomy of a Neo-Noir Masterpiece
A richly detailed new study of the best movie ever made about Los Angeles.
Rob LathamFeb 24, 2020
- Film
- History
Out of the Waiting Room of History: Ritwik Ghatak’s Cinema of Partition
Swagato Chakravorty on the rediscovery of Ritwik Ghatak’s films, and what it says about how Western cultural institutions frame the idea of world cinema.
Swagato ChakravortyFeb 22, 2020
The Shell Game: From “Get Out” to “Parasite”
Juxtaposing "Get Out" and "Parasite" raises uneasy questions about how American audiences process racial injury versus economic injury.
Anne Anlin ChengFeb 21, 2020
- Around the World
- Film
Adapting Your Experience: A Conversation with Zia Anger
Holly Connolly interviews director Zia Anger on “My First Film,” a film-theater hybrid performance on the nature of process, failure, and self-disclosure.
Holly ConnollyFeb 20, 2020
- Art & Architecture
- Film
On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz
Eileen G’Sell interviews Karim Aïnouz, director of “Invisible Life.”
Eileen G’SellFeb 16, 2020
Room After Room in “The Report”
Hilary Plum considers "The Report," Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s "Guantánamo Diary," and who gets to depict torture.
Hilary PlumFeb 11, 2020
- Film
- Politics
Big Town, Big Talk: On “Motherless Brooklyn”
Charles Taylor explores the historical and cinematic resonances of Edward Norton’s adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s novel, “Motherless Brooklyn.”
Charles TaylorFeb 9, 2020
- Film
Ambidextrous Authorship: Greta Gerwig and the Politics of Women’s Genres
Patricia White considers Greta Gerwig's adaptation of "Little Women."
Patricia WhiteFeb 7, 2020