Arts

Midnight Special is a road movie that centers on 8-year-old Alton (played by Jaeden Lieberher), who is being pursued by groups of people who believe him to be an alien visitor or the savior of mankind.

Arts

A Father Protects His Mysterious Son From Authorities In 'Midnight Special'

12:18pm March 19, 2016

by Justin Chang

Director Jeff Nichols' new film centers on an 8-year-old boy who may or may not have special powers. Reviewer Justin Chang says Midnight Special is "a road movie that never stops moving forward."

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Arts

Not My Job: Actor Andre Royo Gets Quizzed On Quinoa

11:47am March 19, 2016

Since Royo starred in The Wire — a show more beloved to NPR listeners than their own children — we've invited him to answer questions about three other things NPR listeners won't shut up about.

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Jon Kushner was 11 years old when he died.

Books
Arts

'I Grew Up In The Shadow Of This': Writer Reflects On His Brother's Murder

10:53am March 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

David Kushner was 4 years old when his older brother Jon was killed. "I think with the loss of anybody, that person — they don't disappear," he says. Alligator Candy is his memoir of the experience.

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This still is from the first trailer for Nina, starring Zoe Saldana as singer Nina Simone. This image of Saldana in dark makeup and with a prosthetic nose helped reignite a controversy over skin color and casting.

Ta-Nehisi Coates On The Fight Over 'Nina Simone's Face'

9:26am March 19, 2016

by Leah Donnella

Many people have decried the casting of Zoe Saldana in upcoming biopic Nina, but Ta-Nehisi Coates digs deep into why this choice struck a nerve.

A statue of Juan Ponce de León in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Arts

#NPRreads: 3 Stories That Will Pass Into Legend

9:20am March 19, 2016

The deep history and literary roots of cowboy poetry. The messiness of family mythologies. And the visions — or delusions — for sale when athletes join forces with multi-level marketers.

With Fear, Determination And Poetry: How Great Writers Face Death

8:18am March 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

Katie Roiphe's The Violet Hour is a meditation on mortality in which she describes the last days of Maurice Sendak, Sigmund Freud, Susan Sontag, John Updike, James Salter and Dylan Thomas.

Books
Arts

Amidst Shadows On Screen, 'Innocents' Wonders What's Real

7:00am March 19, 2016

by Jane Ciabattari

Dana Spiotta's ambitious new novel follows two women, friends and filmmakers, through decades of conversations about art, film and life — and a dangerous final documentary project.

Members of Danza Contemporánea de Cuba prepare for class in Havana in November 2015.

Dance, Dance, Revolution: When An American Fell In Love With Castro's Spy Chief

7:15pm March 18, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

A fairy-tale romance between a dancer from Connecticut and a young Cuban studying at Columbia turned into a political thriller — and resulted in the unlikely birth of a new art form in Cuba.

Arquímedes Puccio (Guillermo Francella) is brutal and dictatorial as the kidnapping family patriarch.

Arts

Kidnapping As A Family Business In The True Life Thriller 'The Clan'

6:29pm March 18, 2016

by Bob Mondello

The Clan is an Argentine thriller about the real-life Puccio family, which kidnaps for profit. NPR film critic Bob Mondello finds it an unnerving allegory.

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Books
Arts

Sink Or Swim: Poems On The Existential Terror Of Everyday Life

6:09pm March 18, 2016

by Craig Morgan Teicher

John Koethe explores the minutia of daily life and the disillusionment that comes with age in his tenth volume of poetry, The Swimmer.