Arts

Russian musical Leto explores the underground rock scene in '80s Leningrad.

Arts

'Leto': An Underground Rock Scene, Under Soviet Rule

5:00pm June 06, 2019

by Scott Tobias

This Russian rock musical set in the nightclubs of '80s Leningrad is strongest when it leaves a cliche-ridden love-triangle plot behind to focus on the rebellious, heart-lifting spirit of music.

Christina Applegate plays Jen, a real estate agent and mother of two, dealing with the sudden death of her husband in the Netflix series Dead To Me.

Arts

'Dead To Me' Star Christina Applegate: Loss 'Lives In The Fibers Of Your Being'

1:56pm June 06, 2019

by Terry Gross

Applegate stars in the new Netflix series as a woman mourning the sudden death of her husband. "I've been there," she says of her character's "messy" and "unapologetic" grief.

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Season 2 of HBO's Big Little Lies finds the so-called Monterey Five (Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern) dealing with the emotional aftermath of the killing that concluded Season 1.

Arts

With 1 Huge Lie Revealed, 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Takes A Slow-Burn Strategy

1:36pm June 06, 2019

by John Powers

Meryl Streep joins the Big Little Lies cast as the mother of the man killed at the end of Season 1 — complicating things for the Monterey Five, who are still processing the aftermath of the death.

Pablo Picasso and Francoise Gillot in 1951.

'Life With Picasso' Stands As An Invaluable Work Of Art History

11:44am June 06, 2019

by Lily Meyer

Newly reissued, the intellectual heft of Françoise Gilot's now classic memoir is in its art criticism, even as its emotional arc lies in Picasso and Gilot's unequal romance.

'The Plaza' Is A Nostalgic Look At The History Of New York's Most Famous Hotel

6:01am June 06, 2019

by Genevieve Valentine

Julie Satow's book reads like the biography of a distant relative as much as the history of a landmark building; the author argues that no other building so directly reflects the city itself.

Tayari Jones speaks onstage at the Women In The World Summit earlier this year in in New York City. On Wednesday, Jones' novel An American Marriage won the prestigious Women's Prize for Fiction.

Books
Arts

Tayari Jones' 'Exquisitely Intimate' Novel Wins Women's Prize For Fiction

6:02pm June 05, 2019

by Colin Dwyer

An American Marriage won the nearly $40,000 award, once known as the Orange Prize, at a ceremony Tuesday in London. "We all loved this brilliant book," the judges said.

In the first episode of Black Mirror Season 5, Anthony Mackie (left) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II play two estranged college friends who reunite later in life over a virtual reality video game.

Originality And Uncertainty Still Reign As 'Black Mirror' Enters Its 5th Season

3:21pm June 05, 2019

by David Bianculli

The anthology series returns to Netflix with three thought-provoking new installments that help solidify the show's hold on the fantasy anthology series crown.

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Amber Scorah writes about exiting the Jehovah's Witnesses in Leaving the Witness.

'Leaving The Witness': The End Of The World As She Knew It, Upon Losing Her Religion

2:02pm June 05, 2019

by Rachel Martin

Amber Scorah was a Jehovah's Witness and a missionary in China when she began to harbor doubts about the apocalypse. Disavowed by nearly everyone she knew, her memoir is a tale of starting over.

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The War For Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, by Jamil Zaki

'A War For Kindness' Favors The Practical Over Polemical

10:21am June 05, 2019

by Nicholas Cannariato

If you want a clarion call to action, Jamil Zaki's new book might not be it. But if you want a wide-ranging practical guide to making the world better, then you're in luck.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong

Books
Arts

'On Earth' Is Gorgeous All The Way Through

10:00am June 05, 2019

by Heller McAlpin

Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a painful but extraordinary coming-of-age story, about a young Vietnamese American writer whose fractured family was torn by their experiences during the Vietnam War.