Reviews

Gangs of Lagos Delivers Compelling Action

by | May 25, 2023

Gangs of Lagos, Amazon Prime Video’s debut African original film, delivers compelling action, illustrating the present by reawakening the past and gazing into the future

Gangs of Lagos movie poster

When Moms Get political: Protest and Parenthood in Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts

by | May 9, 2023

Acree Macam reflects on the murder of Tortuguita, activist parents and children, and Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts

Cover of Celeste Ng's book "Our Missing Hearts"

A Phrase That’s Been Stuck in My Head for Four Years, Recalled: On Ted Chiang’s Exhalation

by | March 16, 2023

In his column, Jonathan Russell Clark re-examines the work of Ted Chiang, using it as a lens through which to understand today’s AI discourse.

girl sitting on carpet near TV set and talking with a robot while resting at home

The Musical Prison: How Song Drives Night of The Kings

by | February 21, 2023

Michael Kolawole writes about the spectacular use of music in Philippe Lâcote’s prison drama Night of the Kings.

An African man in profile

A Biography’s Tale: On Anthony Burgess by Roger Lewis

by | February 7, 2023

Columnist Jonathan Russell Clark proves that sometimes, the best biographers can’t stand their subjects.

Clockwork Orange painting hanging on a pub wall in Arizona.

Perreo

by | January 19, 2023

Columnist Alejandro Herredia meditates on the democratic power of perreo.

villano antillano, la sustancia x cd cover

Homes and Haunts: Colson Whitehead’s The Colossus of New York

by | December 15, 2022

In Jonathan Russell Clark’s latest column, he writes about Colson Whitehead's The Colossus of New York and tries to summon some love for Colombus, Ohio.

Colossus of New York book cover

Wonder Bread Visions and the Future of Western Civilization

by | October 21, 2022

Donald Earl Collins critiques Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, calling on producers and writers to deepen their apocalyptic imaginations by thinking racially.

poster for star trek: strange new worlds

Holding Life Lightly: Crybaby Will Dry Our Tears

by | October 4, 2022

Miah Jeffra reviews Cheryl Klein's fertility and cancer memoir "Crybaby", an exploration of cancer, fertility, eating disorder, queer desire, and the self.

book cover for Crybaby

Lady Mondegreen’s Jungle

by | September 22, 2022

In 1954 Sylvia Wright, an editor at Harper’s Magazine, wrote a piece for the magazine in which she recalls her childhood. Her mother would read the Scottish ballad “The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray” to her. Here is how young Wright heard the opening lyric: Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, Oh, where hae ye been? They […]

A Shark-Infested Rice Pudding book cover

Melodrama-Rama: Absorbing Delight

by | September 20, 2022

The Telugu film RRR is an incredible mixture of genres, influences, and ideas: a historical epic with obvious ahistorical qualities, a combat-heavy actioner with exuberant song-and-dance numbers, a homosocial friendship drama with recognizably romantic montages. Strong notes of melodrama accent its potent blend. These notes appear not just literally—in musical form—but also within the film’s […]

RRR Poster

Jonathan Come Lately—An Introduction

by | June 14, 2022

Jonathan Russell Clark debuts a monthly column for Tasteful Rude detailing the choicest selections from his book-obsessed life. His current apartment resembles a used bookstore almost more than it does an ordinary living space, and he plans to write about whatever he finds on those shelves that tickles his fancy.

books in a used book store

Melodrama-Rama: Local Feelings

by | June 7, 2022

A few weekends ago I drove to the teeny beach town of Oceano. I had received a tip that, somewhere on California’s Central Coast, someone was performing live melodramas.

mark of morro poster

Melodrama-Rama: Where Do I Begin?

by | May 5, 2022

Katharine Coldiron's new column Melodrama-Rama takes readers on a beguiling tour of the world of melodrama.

Mildred Pierce movie poster

Extra-metatextuality: A Review of Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties: A Book

by | April 5, 2022

In his book "The Nineties", Chuck Klosterman is not interested in what’s conventionally understood or easily graspable but in the layers that either exist deep underneath or hover loftily. It’s what makes his essays and books so fun—it allows us to reconsider accepted wisdom.

the nineties book cover