Style
The End of the Late-Night Band
There’s a moment from a 2012 episode of Conan O’Brien’s former TBS show that I think about often. O’Brien’s guest, the comedian Eric André, sits down and grabs a...
The Lush Pain Music of Nourished by Time
Marcus Brown’s voice is a crooner’s voice, a baritone, emanating notes from some spot in his body deeper than his chest. Biologically speaking, this is impossible. But taking in...
Pictures of Life on a Christian Commune
Kate Riley’s ambitious début novel, “Ruth,” opens in 1963, the year that its protagonist, Ruth Scholl, is born into a scrupulously managed Christian commune in Michigan. She grows up...
Local Gems: Cultural Institutions
On the occasion of our third centenary issue—this one culture-themed—we asked our writers to share one of their most treasured cultural institutions, big or small. Whether it’s a beloved...
“Caught Stealing” Makes New York a Comedic Criminal Nightmare
From the start of Darren Aronofsky’s new film, “Caught Stealing,” it’s apparent that it hits the sweet spot of his cinematic artistry—the right scale, the right scope. Set in...
Scenes from the “This Is Spinal Tap” Cutting-Room Floor
In 1982, I began shooting an almost entirely improvised film,“This Is Spinal Tap,” which also happened to be my first as a director. It transformed my life and the...
How to Survive Your Song Going Viral on TikTok
If you’ve heard the 2019 hit song “Tek It,” by the New York City-based band Cafuné, there’s a good chance it’s not the version that the group originally created....
“Eden” Is a Messy Survival Thriller with Nietzschean Appeal
The new movie “Eden” features bursts of foul temper, wild sex, grisly violence, and nihilist ideology—a departure, you might say, for Ron Howard, a director whose cinematic disposition can...
What The New Yorker Was Watching in 1925
Film criticism at The New Yorker started with a bang: the first movie reviewed in the first issue, dated February 21, 1925, was the German director F. W. Murnau’s...
The Celebrity Picture Book Boom
There are no guilty pleasures in childhood. It is only as an adult that I feel a certain sheepishness when recalling one of my favorite picture books, “Ann Likes...
