Screen
‘(Untitled)’ too repetitive
The new comedy (Untitled) has the punctuation and the thinness of a gallery wall label. It wanders the exhibition spaces, lofts and performance venues of Chelsea and other parts of Manhattan, eavesdropping on the narcissistic mutterings — funny, some of them, now and...
From artist to activist
When Chinese government officials unexpectedly detained controversial artist Ai Weiwei — keeping him for 81 days in an undisclosed location — it ignited a firestorm of protests across the world that reinforced Ai’s calls for democracy in China...
The children of Marx and Coca-Cola
It was the 1960s, and revolution was in the air. For French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, cinema was the way to express ideas artistic, political...
Alone, together
The Koreans call it holojok—a portmanteau of holo (alone) and jok (together)—a growing phenomenon of young adults choosing to live alone in single-family homes. By some estimates, one-third of...
Here’s Butters: ‘South Park’ animator to speak in Boulder
When Eric Stough was studying film at the University of Colorado Boulder, he wanted to get a job working on the big-budget, high-production value cartoons made by The Walt Disney Co. Then South Park happened...
A tale of dirty, stinking apes
What if there was a research drug in the laboratory right now that had a good chance of curing Alzheimer’s but needed more testing on animals before it could be released for human trials? And what if that same drug made its research subjects smarter? That’s the ...
Destination unknown
When Ivan Locke left work, he had a family, a wife, a home, a job and a claim in one of Europe’s future skyscrapers. By the time he reaches his destination, he will have lost it all. To borrow Tolstoy’s opening line from Anna Karenina, “Happy commuters are all alike...
Faithfully following the formula
From King Lear to Psycho, some of the great popular art has confronted human evil and depravity with an eye as unblinking as Marion Crane’s after a visit from Mrs. Bates. By transcending boundaries of disreputable genres built on bloodlust, our shrewdest artists have...
