Arts

Claire Danes was a teenager when she landed a starring role on the series My So-Called Life, about a girl in high school dealing with anxieties about boys, friends, school and parents.

Arts

Claire Danes Reflects 'With Gratitude' On Her Life-Changing 'Homeland' Tenure

6:52pm February 20, 2020

by Terry Gross

As her Showtime series draws to an end, Danes talks about playing CIA agent Carrie Mathison and what it was like navigating adolescence while starring in My So-Called Life.

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Bart (Tye Sheridan) takes guest relations to a new level in The Night Clerk.

Arts

'The Night Clerk': Hitchcockian Premise, Half-Cocked Execution

5:00pm February 20, 2020

by Mark Jenkins

A hotel clerk (Tye Sheridan) hides a secret during a murder investigation in a film that explores the affinity between cinema and voyeurism flatly and without nuance.

Louise (Victoria Bluck) comforts Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi) in Young Ahmed.

Arts

'Young Ahmed' Is A Flawed But Complex Character Study

5:00pm February 20, 2020

by Scott Tobias

The premise — young Belgian Muslim sets out to murder one of his teachers — has drawn sharp criticism; the film itself is "hugely flawed" but more thoughtful than the controversy surrounding it.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, by Erik Larson

Churchill's First Year As Prime Minister Is Electric In 'The Splendid And The Vile'

2:46pm February 20, 2020

by Michael Schaub

One of America's best storytellers does it again: Erik Larson's gripping account of Winston Churchill's leadership through Hitler's bombing campaign against England is nearly impossible to put down.

Anya Taylor-Joy stars the title character in director Autumn de Wilde's new adaptation of Emma.

Arts

New 'Emma' Is A Frosted Cupcake Come To Life (In A Good Way)

1:41pm February 20, 2020

by Justin Chang

Autumn de Wilde's adaptation of the Jane Austen classic is as clever and rich as its famous heroine — in part, because its actors are so good at finding fresh nuances in this timeless material.

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Arts

The Rembrandt That Was Fake, Then Real Again

4:11pm February 19, 2020

For over 50 years, a painting called "The Portrait of a Young Woman" was attributed to Rembrandt's studio rather than the master himself. But a restoration has some scholars saying it's the real deal.

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Arts

A Vigilante Group Seeks Revenge On Nazis In Amazon's Garish 'Hunters'

1:25pm February 19, 2020

by John Powers

A jaunty new 10-part series plays as an amped-up comic book, blending an old-school revenge saga with a grim history lesson. Hunters exhibits a desire to be inventive that doesn't always pay off.

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Just five books have been named finalists for the 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize: Patsy, by Nicole Dennis-Benn; Lost Children Archive, by Valeria Luiselli; Lot, by Bryan Washington; Opioid, Indiana, by Brian Allen Carr; and The Beekeeper of Aleppo, by Ch

Books
Arts

5 Finalists Still Have A Chance At Aspen Words Literary Prize

11:21am February 19, 2020

by Colin Dwyer

The annual award, doled out in partnership with NPR, honors fiction that doesn't shy from grappling with thorny social issues. Just one of the five books remaining will win $35,000 come April.

Counterpoint: A Memoir of Bach and Mourning, by Philip Kennicott

In 'Counterpoint' Bach Helps An Art Critic Mourn A Mother Whose Criticism Lingers

10:38am February 19, 2020

by Martha Anne Toll

The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott suffered his mother's harsh words and actions throughout childhood. His book is partly a need to acknowledge her "sadness and anger and unaccountable rages."

David Alan Grier as Sergeant Vernon C. Waters, Blair Underwood as Captain Richard Davenport and Billy Eugene Jones as Private James Wilkie in A Soldier's Play.

Arts

After 40 Years, 'A Soldier's Play' Finally Marches Onto Broadway

6:53pm February 18, 2020

by Alexandra Starr

A Soldier's Play tells the story of a murder in an African American unit of the U.S. Army after World War II. It premiered in 1981 and soon after won a Pulitzer Prize. Now, it's finally on Broadway.

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