Peter Manso, 80, author of best-selling biographies of Norman Mailer and Marlon Brando, died of an apparent heart attack that he suffered at home in Truro on April 7, 2021. […]
INDIE SCREEN
When Personal and Political Spheres Explode
Two Oscar nominees and a dazzling documentary
The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford during Congressional hearings for the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 was devastating. She was as believable as a victim of […]
APPRECIATION
Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions
Happy 100th, Al Jaffee
On March 13, 2021, the irreverent Mad magazine artist , a part-time Provincetown resident, turned 100 years old. Jaffee is best known for his “fold-in” comic illustrations, which transformed one […]
INDIE SCREEN
Hybrid Cinema: From Asia, With Love
Two beautiful films arise from a mix of cultural points of view
Although it has much to recommend it, the film Nomadland, which is playing in theaters (not locally) and streaming on Hulu (free to subscribers), can attribute its extraordinary success, including […]
LETTER FROM THE ARTS EDITOR
The Horror! The Horror!
Perhaps the biggest illusion perpetuated by the movie business is that film shoots — the nuts and bolts of producing movies and television — are glamorous and fascinating. In fact, […]
AUTHORS
Remembrance of Serial Murders Past
The Babysitter is part memoir, part investigative report about Tony Costa
Sixteen years ago, a nightmare Liza Rodman had been having for months suddenly got real. She finally recognized the face of the man who approached her in the dream — […]
THEATER
For Sallie Tighe, the Outer Cape Is Both Stage and Salvation
She and a corps of local talent will once again put on ‘The 24 Hour Plays’
The thing that reassures Sallie Tighe the most about “The 24 Hour Plays” — the annual Presidents Day tradition at the Provincetown Theater — is that she doesn’t have to […]
INDIE SCREEN
Stories That Straddle Fact and Fiction
‘It’s only a movie’ is not always reassuring
How odd in an era of “fake news” accusations — usually a case of childish denial, or a con artist’s switcheroo — to see a movie called News of the […]
INDIE SCREEN
A Trio of Movies That Revise Romance
Set in the past, but conceived for today’s viewers
Watching the superhero movie Wonder Woman 1984 in my living room was a decidedly underwhelming experience. It has big-budget action set pieces and a surfeit of CGI magic, but they […]
INDIE SCREEN
Racism, Corruption, and All That Jazz
Three movies that impress and inspire
August Wilson’s Pittsburgh cycle of 10 plays, one for each decade of the 20th century, is a towering achievement, chronicling the history of African-American life through powerful, personal storytelling. Now, […]
MIXED MEDIA
Siân Robertson Maps Out the Year 2020
A box a day keeps an artist inspired
There’s an obsessiveness to the art of Siân Robertson — multiple objects are organized, following rules and patterns. But an opposite impulse is also manifest — a relentless creativity. It’s […]
INDIE SCREEN
Give Me Your Outsiders, Your Refugees, Your Rogues
From Vietnam to Dorset to Hollywood in your home theater
It’s a sign of the times that in more and more movies with LGBTQ main characters, their queerness is just one of the things that define them. Monsoon, about a […]
INDIE SCREEN
Looking Back, at 1968, to the Future
Aaron Sorkin resurrects The Trial of the Chicago 7
It might have been called Vietnam, Mon Amour. Those of us who lived through the Vietnam War era and its political upheaval — government lies and repression, youth rebellion and […]
PUBLISHING
Provincetown Arts Regroups and Moves Forward
A gala and auction celebrate its founder’s legacy
When Christopher Busa died suddenly at age 73 on June 20, of a congenital heart defect that had gone undetected, it was two days before the scheduled printing of the […]
NEIGHBORS
Grace Freundlich Is Healing in Truro
Her memoir, Enough of All That, turns a troubled past into art
Grace Freundlich is a survivor in our midst. Retired and now 80, she lives in Truro year-round and counts it as a blessing. She has written a memoir of her […]
