Movies

John Coltrane, photographed in his backyard in Queens, New York in 1963.

A Lost Album From John Coltrane, With Thanks To A French-Canadian Director

1:24pm August 16, 2019

by Nate Chinen

Coltrane recorded the album in New Jersey, at the admiring behest of a Québécois filmmaker named Gilles Groulx, who used it to score his docufictional film Le chat dans le sac.

Come on, rise up! Blinded by the Light follows first-generation British teen Javed (Viveik Kalra, center) as he discovers hope and Bruce Springsteen in 1980s Britain.

Arts

Mawkish 'Blinded By The Light' Wears Its Too-Hungry Heart On Its Sleeve

5:14pm August 15, 2019

by Chris Klimek

Film critic/Springsteen superfan Chris Klimek says Gurinder Chadha's film about a British-Pakistani kid who finds inspiration in The Boss's music is affected and cloying.

Two strangers uncover a mutual, lost history amid the heat of a Barcelona summer in Julio Castro's feature debut, End of the Century.

Arts

'End Of The Century': When Sex With A Stranger ... Isn't, Quite

5:01pm August 15, 2019

by Danny Hensel

Julio Castro's tale of two men who hook up in Barcelona, only to realize they'd shared a similar encounter 20 years before, is full of big ideas bogged down by "mushy drama."

Good Boys is a raunch-filled, F-bomb-laden, almost-coming-of-age comedy directed by Gene Stupnitsky and produced by (shocker) Seth Rogen.

Arts

In Sweet, Funny 'Good Boys,' Tweens Don't Lose Their Innocence — They Just Misplace It

5:00pm August 15, 2019

by Scott Tobias

What could have been a cringeworthy misfire of tweens fumbling toward sex instead turns into a winning comedy that gets the sweetness-to-raunch ratio miraculously right.

Danish journalist and TV personality Mads Brügger is on the hunt for evidence in this comic documentary about the 1961 death of United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.

Arts

An Unreliable Narrator, A Trail Colder Than Pickled Herring: 'Cold Case Hammarskjöld'

5:00pm August 15, 2019

by Ella Taylor

Conspiracy theories abound in this literally incredible documentary, in which an eccentric Danish journalist sets out to prove that Dag Hammarskjöld's 1961 plane crash was no accident.

The documentary One Child Nation examines the consequences of the decades-long one-child policy in China.

'One Child Nation' Documentary Explores The Dark Side Of Chinese Policy

10:25am August 14, 2019

by Ailsa Chang

Director Nanfu Wang, who grew up in rural China, has made a film about the painful, unintended consequences of the Chinese government's one-child rule — including how it affected her own family.

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Beekeeper Hatidze Muratova lives in a ruggedly mountainous area of Macedonia. She has a simple rule: When you harvest honey, you only take half — and leave the other half for the bees.

Arts

The Beekeeper Of 'Honeyland' Knows All Too Well: Respect Nature, Or Get Stung

12:41pm August 12, 2019

by John Powers

Hatidze Muratova lives in a remote area of Macedonia and has one simple rule: When you harvest honey, you take half — and leave the other half for the bees. An elegant new documentary tells her story.

Interview With 'Luce' Filmmaker

5:41pm August 10, 2019

NPR's Michel Martin speaks to Julius Onah, director of the new film Luce, about the movie.

In After the Wedding, Michelle Williams plays Isabel, who runs an orphanage in India. Vir Pachisia plays Jai, the boy beside her.

Arts

Michelle Williams On Economic Inequality In Her New Movie — And Her Career

8:34am August 10, 2019

by Sacha Pfeiffer

In After the Wedding, she plays the head of an orphanage who is clearly uncomfortable around wealth. In her own life, she's dealt with a controversy where she was paid much less than a male co-star.

Director Andrea Berloff On 'The Kitchen' And How Hollywood Approaches Women-Led Projects

5:00pm August 09, 2019

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with writer Andrea Berloff about her directorial debut, The Kitchen. Before this, Berloff was best known for her screenplay for Straight Outta Compton.

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