Books & Culture
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Persons of Interest
Todd Solondz’s Unfulfilled Desires
The director’s dark depictions of suburban yearning made him a titan of indie film. Why can’t he get his next movie made?
By Elena Saavedra Buckley
Cultural Comment
The Disquieting Dogmas Behind Three Cat Controversies
What can be learned from the collisions between pets and politics this election season?
By Lauren Michele Jackson
Open Questions
Is Culture Dying?
The French sociologist Olivier Roy believes that “deculturation” is sweeping the world, with troubling consequences.
By Joshua Rothman
Critic’s Notebook
The Mormon TikTok Moms Are All of Us
The women of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” seem desperate to achieve a perfect blend of contemporary womanhood: strong and soft, a loving mother and a boss bitch, a hot influencer who always puts God first.
By Naomi Fry
Books
Under Review
The Best Books We’ve Read in 2024 So Far
Our editors and critics review notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
By The New Yorker
Under Review
What Charlotte Shane Learned from Sex Work
In the memoir “An Honest Woman,” Shane uses her experience selling sex as the basis for a sustained meditation on male-female relations.
By Lili Owen Rowlands
Books
Other People’s Money Can Drive You Mad
In Rumaan Alam’s novel “Entitlement,” a woman goes to work for a rich man’s foundation—and finds herself spinning between worlds.
By Laura Miller
Books
How a Mid-Century Paramour Became a Democratic Power Broker
Churchill weaponized her powers of seduction—but Pamela Harriman came into her own when she brought her glamour to Washington.
By Margaret Talbot
Movies
The Front Row
“The Featherweight” Deftly Probes the Mores—and the Filmmaking—of a Bygone Era
Taking the form of a nineteen-sixties documentary, Robert Kolodny’s début feature goes behind the scenes of a real-life boxer’s ill-advised comeback.
By Richard Brody
The Front Row
“Rebel Ridge” Is a Police Drama with a Difference
Jeremy Saulnier’s action film spotlights a young marine veteran’s resistance to corrupt and abusive officers in a small Southern town.
By Richard Brody
The Front Row
“Winner” Takes Political Comedy Seriously
Susanna Fogel’s surprisingly jovial bio-pic about the whistle-blower Reality Winner fills a conventional format with patriotic outrage.
By Richard Brody
The Front Row
How “King, Murray” Seizes the Day
This 1969 documentary about a hard-driving Long Island insurance salesman confronts the sexist mores of the times and the ethical premises of the genre.
By Richard Brody
Food
The Food Scene
At Din Tai Fung, Soup Dumplings with a Side of Spectacle
The Taiwanese chain’s first New York location offers consistently excellent meals choreographed with the friendly inflexibility of a mass-entertainment experience.
By Helen Rosner
The Food Scene
Helen, Help Me: How Can I Tell a Buzzy Restaurant from a Great One?
Our food critic answers readers’ questions on where and how to dine out.
By Helen Rosner
The Food Scene
A Brooklyn Gas Station with Serious Grub
Inside a BP, Blue Hour offers a greatest-hits album of fast-food favorites made with high-quality ingredients and a considerable amount of care.
By Helen Rosner
On and Off the Menu
Bonnie Slotnick, the Downtown Food-History Savant
In the forty-eight years that she’s lived in the West Village, the owner of the iconic cookbook shop has never ordered delivery.
By Hannah Goldfield
Listen to lively debates about the art of the moment.Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts »
Photo Booth
A Photographer’s Vision of Queer Life in Colombia
A new bill aims to enshrine the rights of trans and nonbinary Colombians. Camila Falquez takes pictures of the lives it could change.
By Ana Karina Zatarain
Television
On Television
Monkey Business in “Chimp Crazy”
People who claim to love chimpanzees the most are examined in the new HBO docuseries.
By Vinson Cunningham
On Television
“English Teacher” Is an After-School Special with Edge
Brian Jordan Alvarez’s new FX comedy tackles hot-button issues with a satisfying mix of earnestness and irreverence.
By Inkoo Kang
On Television
The Obamas’ Rousingly Pragmatic Call to Action at the D.N.C.
For better and for worse, the former First Couple are still the best communicators that the Democrats have.
By Vinson Cunningham
On Television
The Kamala Show
How Vice-President Harris’s public persona has evolved, from tough prosecutor to frozen interviewee to joyful candidate.
By Vinson Cunningham
The Theatre
The Theatre
Even Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone Can’t Power “The Roommate”
A Midwestern empty nester opens her home to a tough-talking New Yorker in Jen Silverman’s sputtering star vehicle.
By Helen Shaw
Persons of Interest
Cole Escola’s Great Day on Broadway
With their deranged portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln, the actor and writer emerges from the “gay shadows” in a hysterical farce.
By Julian Lucas
The Theatre
Politics and “The Real” at the Festival d’Avignon
A series of international productions held power to account at a fraught moment.
By Helen Shaw
The Theatre
“Cats: The Jellicle Ball” Lands on Its Feet
The directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch cross Andrew Lloyd Webber’s juggernaut musical with queer ballroom culture to electrifying effect.
By Helen Shaw
Music
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Lake Street Dive Performs in the Studio
Ahead of their show at Madison Square Garden, one of rock’s most interesting bands talks songwriting with David Remnick, and plays some of their songs.
With David Remnick
Pop Music
MJ Lenderman Keeps It Raw
The artist discusses resisting the neutering effects of technology, his breakup with a bandmate, and his new album, “Manning Fireworks.”
By Amanda Petrusich
The Political Scene Podcast
How Much Is “Being Cool” Actually Worth in Politics?
The New Yorker staff writer Naomi Fry dissects how Vice-President Harris became a “Kamalanomenon.”
With Tyler Foggatt
Listening Booth
Sabrina Carpenter’s Funny, Feisty “Short n’ Sweet”
The artist sings with wry, petulant specificity, whether she’s addressing a boyfriend, an ex-boyfriend, or that ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend.
By Carrie Battan
More in Culture
In the Dark
Episode 9: Patient #8
For years, we’d thought what everyone thought: that there were twenty-four civilians killed by Marines in Haditha on November 19, 2005. But maybe everyone was wrong.
With Madeleine Baran
Cover Story
Christoph Niemann’s “Smoke and Mirrors”
The latest trends are often derived from unexpected places.
By Françoise MoulyArt by Christoph Niemann
Books
The Anguish of Looking at a Monet
More than beauty, more than color, the artist reveals the doubts that bind us.
By Jackson Arn
The New Yorker Documentary
One Man’s Stand Against Donald Trump’s Election Denialism
After Trump claimed the 2020 Presidential election was “rigged,” a short documentary shows the effect of election conspiracies in the crucial jurisdiction of Maricopa County, Arizona, through the experience of one elected official.
Film by Paul Moakley and Daniel LombrosoText by Rachel Monroe
The Weekend Essay
When France Takes Its Clothes Off
The country has long been a haven for those who believe nudity is a virtue. A new exhibit explores the movement—and lets guests strip down themselves.
By Lauren Collins
Page-Turner
The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist
The New Yorker presents the longlists for Young People’s Literature, Translated Literature, Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction.
By The New Yorker
Goings On
The Trendiest Piercing Studios in N.Y.C.
Also: The influential aesthetic of “Africa’s Fashion Diaspora,” the return of Bright Eyes, the democratic Fall for Dance festival, and more.
The Current Cinema
How “A Different Man” and “The Substance” Get Under the Skin
In films starring Sebastian Stan and Demi Moore, the directors Aaron Schimberg and Coralie Fargeat satirize the self-annihilating pursuit of beauty.
By Justin Chang
Postscript
James Earl Jones’s Voice Was Something More
For the actor, speaking was synonymous with character.
By Lauren Michele Jackson