Movies

Spoor is a pulpy murder story that's also a utopian fable about feminism, social justice and ecology. The film, which was released in 2017, is newly available for streaming on The Brattle.

Arts

Polish Thriller 'Spoor' Is A Pulpy Murder Story — And A Utopian Fable

1:42pm January 20, 2021

by John Powers

Corpses pile up, but there are no human footsteps surrounding the dead bodies — only animal footprints. This strange, darkly funny film mixes feminism, social justice and ecology.

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Filmmaker Ken Burns says America is "defined as much by our challenges and the dark moments as we are by our successes." You can explore U.S. history in scenes selected from more than 40 documentaries at Burns' UNUM site. Above, the sun rises behind the U

Arts

Ken Burns Says U.S. Has 3 Viruses: COVID-19, White Supremacy And Misinformation

2:59pm January 19, 2021

by Rachel Martin

Documentarian Ken Burns believed there were three major crises in the nation's past: The Civil War, the Depression and World War II. Now, he says, we are living through the fourth.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who had a "tremendous amount of burdens he had to deal with, both politically, socially and personally," says MLK/FBI director Sam Pollard.

Arts

Documentary Exposes How The FBI Tried To Destroy MLK With Wiretaps, Blackmail

9:00am January 18, 2021

by Sam Briger

MLK/FBI director Sam Pollard chronicles the FBI's campaign against Martin Luther King Jr., which included sending King a letter suggesting that he kill himself.

Arts

Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn On The Trauma Of Child Loss In 'Pieces Of A Woman'

7:58am January 17, 2021

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn about their new film, Pieces of a Woman, about a home birth gone terribly wrong and the destruction that follows.

Arts

Remembering Michael Apted, Creator Of The 'Up' Documentary Series

1:39pm January 15, 2021

by Terry Gross

The documentarian, who died Jan. 7, spent decades following the lives of a group of British citizens, updating their stories with a new episode every seven years. Originally broadcast in 2013.

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Martin Luther King Jr. in Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI.

Arts

'MLK/FBI' Humanizes A Civil Rights Icon's Legacy

5:00am January 15, 2021

by Aisha Harris

Sam Pollard's documentary deftly examines the FBI's intense surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. in the final years of his life.

Bee Gees Documentary Traces The Gibb Brothers' Pathway To Stardom

1:36pm January 14, 2021

by Ken Tucker

Of the three Bee Gees, only Barry Gibb is still alive. His new album is Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Volume 1. The HBO documentary, The Bee Gees, tells the story of the group's rise.

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Arts

'News Of The World' Filmmaker Wanted To Explore The 'Healing Power Of Storytelling'

1:36pm January 14, 2021

by Terry Gross

Paul Greengrass' new film, a Western set five years after the end of the Civil War, stars Tom Hanks as a former Confederate captain who travels from town to town, reading aloud from newspapers.

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Cassie (Carey Mulligan) is a woman bent on revenge — until she meets nice guy Ryan (Bo Burnham) in Promising Young Woman.

Arts

'Promising Young Woman' And 'Pieces Of A Woman' Examine Trauma And Revenge

11:27am January 13, 2021

by Justin Chang

Two new films center on the lingering effects of trauma and tragedy. Carey Mulligan is woman bent on revenge in Promising Young Woman; Vanessa Kirby is a mother whose baby dies in Pieces of a Woman.

In the long-running "Up" series, Michael Apted began with a group of British children, and checked in with them every seven years as they aged. 63 Up came out in 2019, and he said he hoped to release 84 Up at age 99. He's pictured above at the Dubai Inter

Arts

Michael Apted, Director Of The 'Up' Documentary Series, Dies At 79

10:03pm January 08, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

Apted's pioneering documentary series began with a group of British children and checked in with them every seven years. He also directed Coal Miner's Daughter and The World Is Not Enough.