Manuel’s approach to narrative is as original as his sense of cinematic form, and his gift for documentary-style observation is balanced by a refined sense of style. (He sketched this method and this story in a short film of the same title, which premièred at Sundance in 2020 and involves several of the same characters … Read more
After I started writing this piece, I became hyperaware of the goodbyes in my life. Visiting a restaurant in Brooklyn where I used to work, I remembered that it was customary to kiss regulars on both cheeks, as some Europeans do. I’m not sure who started the ritual, but it became rude to skip it, … Read more
Billy Walters, the author of another recent insider’s account, “Gambler,” didn’t need any pushing. As a self-described “former degenerate gambler,” he never met a massive bet that he wasn’t willing to take—provided, of course, that he could convince himself the odds were on his side. Walters once wagered on which direction a robin would fly … Read more
In June, 1994, I took the F train out to Coney Island to root for my friend Phil, who was skating, solo, in the Gay Games. From the bleachers of the Abe Stark Arena, our college friends cheered wildly as Phil, who was a novice, performed a few simple spins. But the most startling event … Read more
Philip Cheung has covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine and last year’s fires in Los Angeles, where he lives. He also photographed the massive street protests that emerged in response to the surge of ICE agents in Los Angeles last June. In Minneapolis, he has captured local residents’ evolving resistance to the immigration agents in … Read more
The Grammys have long been a dependable engine of outrage. Every year, it seemed, one humiliation or another would seize the ceremony, such as when Macklemore defeated Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and Jay-Z for Best Rap Album, in 2014, or when, the year before, the band Fun. beat out Frank Ocean for Best New … Read more
In 1978, the actress Catherine O’Hara, then a twenty-four-year-old cast member on the cult Canadian sketch-comedy show “SCTV,” told a late-night interviewer that at times she felt underestimated as a performer. “It sounds like I’m complaining here,” she said. “But I think people don’t take comedy seriously enough.” She went on: “When I get sent … Read more
The First Lady’s lavish new documentary portrays world events as B-roll between wardrobe changes.
St. Bride’s, situated in an alley just off Fleet Street, is known as the journalists’ church. Having weathered not a few disasters—the Great Fire of London, in 1666, the Luftwaffe in 1940—it now advertises itself as “A Space for Silence,” offering an hour of contemplation each weekday afternoon, yards from the world’s most famous newspaper … Read more
That a handful of revolutionaries could collect airliners worth millions of dollars and hold Western passengers ransom made it appear the Palestinians had history on their side. They dubbed Dawson’s Field “Revolution Airport.” The French writer Jean Genet, who spent time in Jordan’s Palestinian camps and wrote a book about it, told militants that the … Read more