Southern California teenagers can be a shallow bunch, especially in the movies that are made about them. From the beginnings of the postwar “youth” film — Rebel Without a Cause […]
INDIE SCREEN
Craziness in the Eye of the Moviegoer
In three new films, protagonists face a world stacked against them
It was an inspired choice when the Provincetown International Film Festival’s gave Julio Torres, the writer-director-star of a fanciful new comedy, Problemista, one of its Next Wave awards last June. […]
INDIE SCREEN
‘Barbenheimer’ Comes to the Academy Awards
How will the Oscars treat the movies that gave Hollywood back its mojo?
When Barbie and Oppenheimer, two big-budget Hollywood films, opened in theaters on the same day, July 21, 2023, they merged into a cultural phenomenon known by the portmanteau “Barbenheimer.” Finally, […]
THEATER REVIEW
Double and Triple Trouble in ‘Little Devils’
Six short plays about the tribulations of modern life
The Helltown Players is a self-described “collaborative of dramatists and theater enthusiasts from the Outer Cape” who, inspired by those historic rebels the Provincetown Players, aim to produce plays “written […]
INDIE SCREEN
Oscar Gets an International Itch
Three subtitled films are up for Best Picture
Making a film about the Holocaust is always problematic. How do you create something that properly represents or explains an atrocity so enormous it defies comprehension? The Nazis systematically exterminated […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Truths and Untruths of Writers and Movies
In three films, their messages echo in surprising ways
Much of the efforts of the postwar civil rights and Black Power movements focused on restoring dignity to the Black male, who had been emasculated by slavery and the subsequent […]
INDIE SCREEN
Strange Journeys of the Child Within
Three new films track the price of wonderment
The key to Wonka is magic — movie magic. This new film, which recently played in local theaters, stars boy wonder Timothée Chalamet as young Willy Wonka. It’s the prequel […]
INDIE SCREEN
What’s the Point of Telling Stories?
In three films, they’re a blend of true and false
Promising Young Woman is a film by a woman that ostensibly empowers its victimized female lead through acts of vengeance, and that’s probably why the British actor Emerald Fennell won […]
INDIE SCREEN
Portraits of Liberation in the ’60s and ’70s
Three films look back without prejudice
Bayard Rustin is an important yet obscure figure of the civil rights movement, and his time has come. A close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. — it was Rustin […]
THEATER REVIEW
What’s Wrong With the Rights Stuff
Heidi Schreck’s Constitution play comes to town
Civics is not a course usually taught in schools, and if we ever needed proof that it ought to be part of the curriculum, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Last Temptation of Martin Scorsese
His Killers of the Flower Moon is a modern classic
Throughout his illustrious career, filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been obsessed with the powerful pull of family, culture, and faith. Their power can be frustrating and repressive — leading to explosions […]
THEATER REVIEW
Tom Hewitt Relives a Romantic Nightmare in ‘Another Medea’
Aaron Mark’s play gives gay parenthood a grisly Greek twist
At Halloween, we let evil spirits run free and amuse ourselves with their wickedness. It’s a way of reminding us of their power and horror and, with a wink, containing […]
THEATER REVIEW
Thrilled by a Betrayal
In a notable coproduction, WHAT and Harbor Stage do Pinter proud
There is something uniquely sublime about Harold Pinter’s dialogue: direct and unfancy yet veiled, charged, and evasive. It’s a challenge and a boon for actors, whose delivery is key. And […]
INDIE SCREEN
The Return of Two Festival Favorites
A case of LGBTQ movies going mainstream
When it comes to recent queer cinema, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Take, for example, the raunchy high-school […]
THEATER REVIEW
In ‘The Thin Place,’ Believing Is Seeing
The Harbor Stage’s new production aims to lift your spirits
Do you believe in ghosts? In Lucas Hnath’s play The Thin Place, at the Harbor Stage Company in Wellfleet through Sept. 3, that question is equated with a theatergoer’s suspension […]
