Todd Haynes Plays the SuperegoThe director is interested in people constrained by society’s rules. In his new film May December, he makes it harder to root for the rule-breakers.
ByMadeline Leung Coleman
the industry
Romeo and Juliet Was a TragedyIn 1968, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting were the most famous teenagers in the world. Fifty-five years later, they sued Paramount for child abuse.
ByLila Shapiro
screen time
The Decomposition of Rotten TomatoesThe most overrated metric in entertainment is erratic, reductive, and easily hacked — and yet has Hollywood in its grip.
ByLane Brown
book review
How Zadie Smith Lost Her TeethSince her audacious debut, she has been moving toward character-driven realism. In the process, she’s become the least interesting version of herself.
The Spectacular Life of Octavia E. ButlerThe story of the girl who grew up in Pasadena, took the bus, loved her mom and grandmother, and wrote herself into the world.
ByE. Alex Jung
performance review
What Was Brangelina?The couple were always known for their image-making savvy. Now, as their divorce reenters the press cycle, we’re reminded of who’s better at it.
ByAngelica Jade Bastién
first person
The Voice of New York Is DrillIt’s the most captivating sound the city has heard in decades — and also the most misunderstood. Here, 19 NY drill artists set the record straight.
As told toCamille Squires
in conversation
Larry Wilmore Knows No BoundsHe’s kept the golden age of Black TV comedy alive for three decades. He’ll make any network eat its words.
Hot Joel SummerJoel Kim Booster’s deliciously bawdy debut film, Fire Island, maps Pride and Prejudice’s class tensions onto the vacation hideaway for gay men.
ByE. Alex Jung
community theater
‘We Should Hate It, But It Works’An oral history of the inexplicably star-studded, hallucinogenic ending of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.
ByRachel Handler
feature
The Undoing of Joss WhedonThe Buffy creator, once an icon of Hollywood feminism, is now an outcast accused of misogyny. How did he get here?
ByLila Shapiro
close reads
Hanya’s BoysThe novelist tends to torture her gay male characters — but only so she can swoop in to save them.
Simon Rex Doesn’t Want to Be That Guy AnymoreThe former MTV VJ partied his way through the early aughts, lost his career for a decade, and now, improbably, is being lauded by the Hollywood elite.
ByNate Jones
fall preview 2021
The Roys Summer in ItalyOn location with the cast of Succession, the most interestingly terrible billionaires on TV.
Our Brother KaizenHe would be called a murderer and a domestic terrorist. But to us, he was family. Our struggles with systemic racism growing up were the same.
