Unhuman Habitats: The Works and Worlds of Franz Kafka
There are few writers who are as infamously cruel to their characters as Franz Kafka.
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.
Victor Rees
- Aug 31, 2020
The Written Word is a Fairy: Lud-in-the-Mist as Modernist Fantasy
Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist, a novel often overlooked in modernist literature, gets an in-depth revisit from Victor Rees.
Elliot Jordan
- Aug 14, 2020
To Russia, With Love: On Douglas Dunn’s The Donkey’s Ears
Elliot Jordan revisits Douglas Dunn’s extraordinary novel-in-verse, The Donkey’s Ears, and one of history’s most oft-overlooked odysseys.
Elliot Jordan
- Jul 21, 2020
Saints and Sinners: Robert Browning and Rome
Elliot Jordan explores themes of Catholicism present throughout the work of Robert Browning.
Ahmed Ragheb
- Jul 2, 2020
Is Hollywood’s Structural Racism Beyond Repair?
Hollywood has a racism problem – that much is clear. But is it beyond repair?
Lily Ekimian
- Jun 29, 2020
The Female Perspective of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion
Lily Ekimian explores the feminist reading of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion.
Lily Ekimian
- Jun 13, 2020
William Greaves’ Experiment: Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One as Performance Art
Lily Ekimian argues that William Greaves’ 1968 documentary, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm is the perfect example of performance art.
Elliot Jordan
- May 22, 2020
The Soviet Dream? Thoughts on Francis Spufford’s Red Plenty
Elliot Jordan discusses Francis Spufford’s bold historical novel Red Plenty and its retelling of a pivotal and hopeful moment in the history
Ahmed Ragheb
- Apr 18, 2020
In Dreams: The Reality of David Lynch’s Fantasies
Have you been experiencing strange dreams? Read Ahmed Ragheb’s take on dreams in film and the strange realities of David Lynch’s work.
Elliot Jordan
- Mar 18, 2020
Imperial Noir: Reading Joseph Conrad
Elliot Jordan looks back at the dark, disturbing and prescient worlds detailed in the work of Joseph Conrad.
Robert Montero
- Jan 19, 2020
Antonioni: A Filmmaker for Our Time
Antonioni, the prolific hero of Italian cinema, seems to have fallen out of focus in recent times but is he the exact filmmaker we need now?
Lily Ekimian
- Jan 15, 2020
An Argument in Favor of Technical Blunders in Film
Lily Ekimian argues that technical blunders are one of her favorite aspects of moviegoing and why Jeanne Dielman is her favorite film.
Raphaël Duhamel
- Dec 25, 2019
Lobsters and Mermaids: Sexual Frustration in The Lighthouse
The limits of sanity and sexual desire are tested in Robert Eggers’ latest feature film.
Ahmed Ragheb
- Dec 7, 2019
Pontecorvo's Ghost: The Lasting Relevance of The Battle of Algiers
How much can a film truly influence policy and opinion? Ahmed Ragheb reexamines The Battle of Algiers and its continuing relevance.
Elroy Rosenberg
- Nov 27, 2019
Things We Find in the Book Section: The Case Against(?) Literary Minimalism
What we talk about when we talk about literary minimalism.
Lily Ekimian
- Nov 4, 2019
The Magic of a David Sedaris Book Signing
Lily Ekimian explores the anatomy and charm of a David Sedaris book signing.
Graham Peacock
- Nov 4, 2019
The Exciting Dreams of Boring People in the Films of Luis Buñuel
Dreams and reality clash in these two films directed by legendary filmmaker Luis Buñuel.
Raphaël Duhamel
- Nov 4, 2019
The Master’s Thread: A Paul Thomas Anderson Retrospective
Raphaël Duhamel gives us an in-depth look back at the elaborate career of director Paul Thomas Anderson.
Lily Ekimian
- Nov 4, 2019
Terrifying Averageness and John Cheever’s “The Enormous Radio”
What’s so scary about being average? Lily Ekimian reexamines John Cheever’s 1947 short story, "The Enormous Radio."