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Arts & Culture, Book Review Sep 25, 2019
Recommended
Struggling on God's rules

In On Division, a devout 57-year-old Jewish mother works to reconcile her faith with her Hasidic community’s cruelty to her late son.
- By Lily Meyer
- Tags: Book Review, Nathan Englander, Kaddish.com, Jewish American literature, chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Jewish novelists, secular Jews, On Division, Goldie Goldbloom, Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Hasidic Judaism, Chassidic Judaism, Leo Finkle, Recommended

News & Politics, Politics Mar 14, 2018
Know thy mayor: A few of Rahm's favorite things

Mayor Emanuel's picks for reading, dining, and recreation, from fly fishing to Faust to Four Moon Tavern
- By Maya Dukmasova
- Tags: Politics, Four Moon Tavern, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Stories, favorite things, Four Moon Tavern, The Gift Theatre, Parachute, Robinson's No. 1 Ribs, Manny's Deli, Theater on the Lake, Avec, S.K.Y., Billy Sunday, The Up Room, Chicago Riverwalk, fly fishing, Montana, dinner and a movie, movie and drinks, swimming, yoga, ballet dancing, going to the Final Four, Dark and Stormy, Battleship, checkers, red wine, Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance, Goethe: Life as a Work of Art, Rüdiger Safranski, Goethe, Faust, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, Daniel Mendelsohn, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America, Lawrence Goodwyn, The Plot Against America, Philip Roth, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond, Ben Austen, High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Housing, George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

Arts & Culture, Performing Arts Review Mar 13, 2018
Racism won’t even let the black hero of Hang Man get off in peace

Instead, Stacy Osei-Kuffour’s dark comedy leaves him dangling from a noose.
- By Tony Adler
- Tags: Performing Arts Review, Hang Man, Gift Theatre, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, racism, lynching, black comedy, noose, Gregory Fenner, Jess McLeod, Paul D’Addario, Angela Morris, Andy Fleischer, Martel Manning, Jennifer Glasse, Mariah Sydnei Gordon, Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth, Arnel Sancianco

Blogs, Bleader Nov 9, 2017
Romance and escapism trump reality

Escape! Wonderful escape!
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Arts, Books, The Trump Era, reading, genre fiction, romance novels, Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, Liora Blake, Ready for Wild

Blogs, Bleader Jan 31, 2017
Dystopian novels are dominating best-seller lists

Read the book, then live the nightmare.
- By Michael Miner
- Tags: Books, Media, News, Politics, Donald Trump, Amazon best sellers, 1984, Animal Farm, George Orwell, Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here, Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, Nathanael West, A Cool Million, New York Times, Francis X. Clines, Unabridged Bookstore, Ianni Grammatis, Women & Children First, Sarah Hollenbeck, Stephen Bannon, National Security Council, Breitbart, news

Film, Fall Preview Sep 7, 2016
Ten best bets for fall movies

Oliver Stone tells the Snowden story, Nate Parker tells the Nat Turner story, and Ewan McGregor tries to tell Philip Roth's story, plus other highlights.
- Tags: Fall Preview, Fall Preview 2016, Fall Arts 2016, best bets, best bets movies, best bets films, Snowden movie, Oliver Stone, Edward Snowden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Queen of Katwe, Phiona Mutesi, Lupita Nyong'o, Mira Nair, Madina Nalwanga, The Birth of a Nation, Nat Turner, Nate Parker, Block Museum of Art, Fred Williamson, Bucktown movie, Three the Hard Way, Philip Roth, American Pastoral, Ewan McGregor, John Romano, Kelly Reichardt, Maile Meloy, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Steppenwolf Theatre, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Barry Jenkins, Moonlight movie, Paul Verhoeven, Isabelle Huppert, Elle movie, Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals, Seamus McGarvey, Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon, Bad Santa 2, Billy Bob Thornton

Blogs, Bleader Jan 23, 2015
Video
Al Pacino in The Humbling, plus more new reviews and notable screenings

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Opening, Film, Barry Levinson, Philip Roth, The Humbling, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, Amazon Prime, The Boy Next Door, Jennifer Lopez, Match movie, Patrick Stewart, Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center, R100, Big Man Japan, Spare Parts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, This May Be the Last Time, The Wedding Ringer, Jean-Luc Godard, Band of Outsiders, Pierrot le Fou, Gene Siskel Film Center, Ridley Scott, Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Music Box Chicago, Luis Bunuel, Un Chien Andalou, Jean Vigo, Zero for Conduct, Viridiana, University of Chicago Doc Films, Marx Brothers, Duck Soup, Logan Theater Chicago, Frank Capra, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Chris Marker, Sans Soleil, Alfred Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train, Robert Zemeckis, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, film festivals, movies, Video

Film, Movie Review Jan 22, 2015
In The Humbling, Al Pacino stars as a Shakespearean actor who can't get it up

Barry Levinson directs the screen adaptation of Philip Roth's novel.
- By J.R. Jones
- Tags: Movie Review, Barry Levinson, The Humbling, Are You Here, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, Life of Crime, Elmore Leonard, Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Poehler, Jennifer Aniston, Mos Def, John Hawkes, Tim Robbins, Isla Fisher, Philip Roth, Michael Keaton, Al Pacino, video on demand, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Buck Henry, The Graduate, Heaven Can Wait, To Die For, Diner, Rain Man, Bugsy, Wag the Dog, Dianne Wiest, Dan Hedaya, Nina Arianda, Greta Gerwig, Joe Swanberg, Whit Stillman, Noah Baumbach

Blogs, Bleader Dec 26, 2014
More of the best books I read this year

A Reader writer looks back on a year in reading.
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Books, Arts, Year in Review, Samantha Ellis, How to Be a Heroine, Rebecca Mead, My Life in Middlemarch, Michael Chabon, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Patti Smith, Laurie Colwin, Colette, Judith Thurman, James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son, Eula Biss, Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns, The Swerve, Stephen Greenblatt, Suffragette Scandal, Courtney Milan, Matt Freedman, Relatively Indolent But Relentless, Janet Malcolm, Journalist and the Murderer, Jolie Kerr, My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag, Minor Characters, Joyce Johnson, My Salinger Year, Joanna Rakoff, Philip Roth, Roth Unbound, Claudia Roth Pierpont, History of Food in 100 Recipes, William Sitwell, Women in Clothes, Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne Shapton, The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Stuart Dybek, I Sailed With Magellan, Coast of Chicago

Blogs, Bleader Dec 26, 2014
My favorite films of 2014, runners-up and caveats

Given how many superb movies play Chicago every year, it's a struggle to limit a list of favorites to just ten—or even 30.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Year in Review, Film, Year in review, The Immigrant, James Gray, Last of the Unjust, Claude Lanzmann, Chicago International Film Festival, Sebastien Betbeder, 2 Autumns 3 Winters, Gyorgi Palfi, Free Fall, Blake Eckard, Ghosts of Empire Prairie, Pawel Pawlikowski, Ida, Philippe Garrel, Jealousy, Mike Flanagan, Oculus, Salvatore Mereu, Pretty Butterflies, Isao Takahata, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Bong Joon-ho, Snowpiercer, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Two Days One Night, Darious Britt, Unsound, Matias Pinerio, Viola, Francois Ozon, Young & Beautiful, Talya Lavie, Zero Motivation, National Gallery, Frederick Wiseman, Lars von Trier, Nymphomaniac, Corner Stores, Amina Waheed, Gloria, Sebastian Lelilo, Paulina Garcia, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson, Stefan Zweig, Exhibition, Joanna Hogg, Words and Pictures, Fred Schepisi, Juliette Binoche, Clive Owen, Jaume Collet-Serra, Non-Stop, Abderrahamane Sissako, Timbuktu, Beyond the Lights, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Listen Up Philip, Alex Ross Perry, Philip Roth, The Homesman, Tommy Lee Jones, The Stuart Hall Project, John Akomfrah, The Amazing Catfish, Claudia Sainte-Luce, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, The Gardener, Camille Claudel 1915, Bruno Dumont, Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas, The Golden Era, Ann Hui, Xiao Hong, Level Five, Chris Marker, Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston

Arts & Culture, Theater Review Oct 9, 2013
It's the memories that matter in The North China Lover

As the nostalgic narrator, Deanna Dunagan outshines the central action in Heidi Stillman's Lookingglass Theatre Company adaptation.
- By Zac Thompson
- Tags: Theater Review, Marguerite Duras, The North China Lover, Heidi Stillman, The Sea Wall, The Lover, French Indochina, The Lover, Alain Renais, Hiroshima Mon Amour, India Song, Lolita, Leigh Hafrey, Deanna Dunagan, Philip Roth, Nathan Zuckerman, Exit Ghost, The Ghost Writer, Daniel Ostling, Tim Chiou, Rae Gray

Film, Movie Review Sep 25, 2013
Where's the love for filmmaker (and honorary Chicagoan) Hong Sang-soo?

The South Korean writer-director is a stalwart of contemporary cinema—and even an SAIC grad. But you still won't find his work on local movie screens.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Movie Review, Hong Sang-soo, Chicago International Film Festival, CIFF, South Korea, School of the Art Institute, SAIC, Woman on the Beach, Night and Day, The Day He Arrives, Like You Know It All, Hahaha, In Another Country, Isabelle Huppert, Tale of Cinema, Oki's Movie, Nobody's Daughter Haewon, Our Sunhi, Philip Roth

Blogs, Bleader May 10, 2013
Distant Intimacy: An object lesson in knowing when to quit

A great essayist and screenwriter embarrass themselves with a book of their correspondence.
- By Aimee Levitt
- Tags: Crime, Books, Arts, Joseph Epstein, Frederic Raphael, Distant Intimacy, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, The Glittering Prizes, Two for the Road, Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Yale University Press, Annie Leibovitz, correspondence, cranky old men, narcissism

Blogs, Bleader May 1, 2013
In Another Country: Hong Sang-soo's visions and revisions

The South Korean filmmaker's collaboration with French actress Isabelle Huppert is now available on DVD.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Foreign, Narcissism, On Video, Film, In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo, Isabelle Huppert, Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Lou Reed, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Jeonju International Film Festival, Claire Denis, Lou Reed, autobiographical fiction, Yasujiro Ozu, Luis Bunuel, South Korean cinema

Blogs, Bleader Apr 24, 2013
What do you get when you take the dinosaurs out of Jurassic Park?

Comparing the Steven Spielberg blockbuster, currently playing in a new 3-D version, to Uncle Vanya and the classic Polish drama The Structure of Crystals
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Science, Foreign, Film, Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg, Michael Crichton, Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, Philip Roth, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, The Structure of Crystals, Krzysztof Zanussi, The Fly, Chekhovian comedy, Jackie Carr

Blogs, Bleader Jun 26, 2012
Hitting the books with writer-director Alex Ross Perry (part 2)

The second part of an interview with Alex Ross Perry, writer-director-producer of the independent comedy The Color Wheel
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Books, Film, Alex Ross Perry, The Color Wheel, Philip Roth, When She Was Good, The Professor of Desire, Sabbath's Theater, Facets Multimedia, Belle Epine, Rebecca Zlotowski, Vincent Gallo, Maurice Pialat

Blogs, Bleader Jun 25, 2012
Hitting the books with writer-director Alex Ross Perry

An interview with the writer-director of the independent comedy The Color Wheel
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Books, Film, Alex Ross Perry, The Color Wheel, Philip Roth, Sabbath's Theater, Portnoy's Complaint, My Life as a Man, The Professor of Desire, Sabbath's Theater, Zuckerman Bound, literary adaptation, independent filmmaking, Sean Price Williams, Kim's Video, Ben Sachs, Facets Multimedia, When She Was Good, Jerry Lewis, Jewish humor, Thomas Pynchon, Norman Mailer, The Plot Against Harry

Blogs, Bleader Dec 14, 2011
What's new again: Satyajit Ray's The Coward (1965)

A reconsideration of Satyajit Ray's lesser-known 1965 feature in light of Jason Reitman's latest, Young Adult.
- By Ben Sachs
- Tags: Film, Satyajit Ray, The Coward, Kapurush, The Holy Man, Mahapurush, Young Adult, Jason Reitman, J.R. Jones, Eric Rohmer, Odd Obsession Movies, Facets Multimedia, writer's malaise, Philip Roth, Zuckerman books, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Letter to Sara Hutchinson

Blogs, Bleader Jun 8, 2011
While the Big Breeze refreshes, Vizquel triples Sox fans' pleasure
- By Steve Bogira
- Tags: Adam Dunn K Watch, Sports, Philip Roth, The Great American Novel, Rupert Mundys, White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Ozzie Guillen, Adam Dunn, the Big Breeze, Alex Rios, Felix Hermandez, King Felix, Brent Lillibridge, Phil Humber, Omar Vizquel, Ichiro Suzuki, Brent Morel, Juan Pierre

Blogs, Bleader Oct 22, 2009
Chicago Best Sellers for week ending October 18
- By Jerome Ludwig
- Tags: Lit & Lectures, Books, Lost Symbol, Dan Brown, Hardball, Sara Paretsky, Help, Kathryn Stockett, Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore, Chicago Humanities Festival, Children's Book, A.S. Byatt, True Compass, Edward M. Kennedy, Manood for Amateurs, Michael Chabon, Bicycle Diaries, David Byrne, Half the Sky, Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn, Read My Pins: Stories From a Diplomat's Jewel Box, Madeleine Albright, Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout, Say You're One of Them, Uwem Akpan, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows, Indignation, Philip Roth, Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein, Wordy Shipmates, Sarah Vowell, This Is Not a Book, Keri Smith, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Michael Pollan, Freakonomics, Steve D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, My Life in France, Julia Child

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In On Division, a devout 57-year-old Jewish mother works to reconcile her faith with her Hasidic community’s cruelty to her late son.

Mayor Emanuel's picks for reading, dining, and recreation, from fly fishing to Faust to Four Moon Tavern

Instead, Stacy Osei-Kuffour’s dark comedy leaves him dangling from a noose.

Escape! Wonderful escape!

Read the book, then live the nightmare.

Oliver Stone tells the Snowden story, Nate Parker tells the Nat Turner story, and Ewan McGregor tries to tell Philip Roth's story, plus other highlights.

New reviews and notable screenings in this week's issue

Barry Levinson directs the screen adaptation of Philip Roth's novel.

A Reader writer looks back on a year in reading.

Given how many superb movies play Chicago every year, it's a struggle to limit a list of favorites to just ten—or even 30.

As the nostalgic narrator, Deanna Dunagan outshines the central action in Heidi Stillman's Lookingglass Theatre Company adaptation.

The South Korean writer-director is a stalwart of contemporary cinema—and even an SAIC grad. But you still won't find his work on local movie screens.

A great essayist and screenwriter embarrass themselves with a book of their correspondence.

The South Korean filmmaker's collaboration with French actress Isabelle Huppert is now available on DVD.

Comparing the Steven Spielberg blockbuster, currently playing in a new 3-D version, to Uncle Vanya and the classic Polish drama The Structure of Crystals

The second part of an interview with Alex Ross Perry, writer-director-producer of the independent comedy The Color Wheel

An interview with the writer-director of the independent comedy The Color Wheel

A reconsideration of Satyajit Ray's lesser-known 1965 feature in light of Jason Reitman's latest, Young Adult.

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