Unhuman Habitats: The Works and Worlds of Franz Kafka
There are few writers who are as infamously cruel to their characters as Franz Kafka.
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Sasho Pshenko
- Mar 1
The Donkey, the Horse, and the Human Condition: Nihilism in Au Hasard Balthazar and The Turin Horse
Two bleak and philosophical films centering around mysterious animals provide us with a prism through which to view our own human world.
Sasho Pshenko
- Jan 24
Trapped Inside the Castle: Finding Kafka and Nausea in Spencer
Sasho Pshenko explores Spencer and how its depiction of Princess Diana bears a striking resemblance to the Kafkaesque world.
Elliot Jordan
- Dec 3, 2021
A Very Modern Monster: On Hannibal Lecter
Elliot Jordan revisits the Hannibal Lecter series and argues for it as not only great literature but the ultimate modern fairytale.
Sasho Pshenko
- Nov 11, 2021
Lamb and the Double-Edged Sword of Ambitious Filmmaking
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut thriller Lamb (2021) has been hailed by critics for its bleak cinematography and strange, dreadful suspense.
Sasho Pshenko
- Oct 21, 2021
The Eternal Potency of The Master and Margarita’s Passive Resistance
Sasho Pshenko revisits The Master and Margarita and finds in it a guide, of sorts, to an unexpected form of resistance: passivity.
Sasho Pshenko
- Oct 11, 2021
The Girl, the Home, the Night, and Ana Lily Amirpour’s Glorious Cinematic Vampirism
Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a revelry of cinematic styles and innovation.
Sasho Pshenko
- Aug 23, 2021
Life, Art, and Imitation in Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up
Sasho Pshenko dives into Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up and shows us why any attempt to separate truth from deception is missing the point.
Sasho Pshenko
- Aug 4, 2021
The Self-Defeating Nature of Experimental Films
What does it mean for experimental film, differentiated from its commercial counterpart by its ability to break rules, to go “too far”?
Lily Ekimian & Ahmed Ragheb
- Jul 27, 2021
Youssef Chahine’s Egypt in Seven Movies
Dive into seven of Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's quintessential films to understand this most enigmatic of filmmakers.
Lily Ekimian
- Jul 20, 2021
America in Miniature: Exploring Ed Simon’s An Alternative History of Pittsburgh
Ed Simon’s new book, An Alternative History of Pittsburgh, takes an idiosyncratic and fresh look at the origins of the Steel City.
Sasho Pshenko
- Jul 6, 2021
Moving Through the Worlds of Christian Petzold’s Phoenix
Explore Phoenix’s undeniable links to Hitchcock’s Vertigo and the kinetic and psychic movement of characters through the worlds of both.
Elliot Jordan
- Jul 1, 2021
Eight Epic Novels to Throw Yourself into This Summer
The weather is finally warmer and the days finally longer; with summer upon us, Elliot Jordan compiles a list of eight incredible novels.
Sasho Pshenko
- Jun 12, 2021
Is The Father a Pointless Circle?
Sasho Pshenko examines The Father from the perspective of its narrative structure and tries to determine if critical praise has misplaced.
Elliot Jordan
- Jun 12, 2021
The Man with the Wind at His Heels: On Wolf Hall
Elliot Jordan reads the Wolf Hall trilogy and grows to sympathize with the unexpectedly progressive and otherwise unsavory Thomas Cromwell.
Lily Ekimian
- Apr 28, 2021
Braddock According to Buba: The Frank Filmmaking of Lightning Over Braddock
Tony Buba spent his career filming his hometown of Braddock, PA. Lily Ekimian looks back at Lightning Over Braddock and its brutal honesty.
Jake Kendall
- Nov 13, 2020
Storytelling in a World “Without God”
Explore György Lukács’ assertion that irony is the highest freedom in a world without God through an examination of Madame Bovary.
Victor Rees
- Nov 8, 2020
N. K. Jemisin’s Recipes for Here-and-Now
While food has long been a potent conveyor of nostalgia, explore how the work of N. K. Jemisin may turn our gaze towards the future.
Victor Rees
- Oct 5, 2020
Class Struggles in Fairyland: Strange Evil and War for the Oaks
Explore the politics of fantasy novels in exploring Strange Evil and War for the Oaks, and how both have been overshadowed by Tolkien.
Raphaël Duhamel
- Sep 19, 2020
The Philosophy of I’m Thinking of Ending Things
From Nietzsche to Schopenhauer, Raphaël Duhamel explores the philosophical discourse in Charlie Kaufman’s latest film.