In the years since his breakout “Happy Hour” (2015) and Academy Award-winning “Drive My Car” (2021), the world seems to have almost conformed to the central concerns of...

Consider this my coda. I have edited the Washington Square News’ arts desk since early 2020 in varying capacities. At times distant, other times immersed, generally distracted,...

In 1980, the enfant terrible of British cinema Ken Russell decided to venture out to the United States and adapt Paddy Chayefsky’s novel “Altered States.” The book follows...

From the talk-singing of Cheekface to the subdued vocals of Albert Hammond Jr., this past week saw a slew of exciting new singles to usher in the exquisite warm weather. Whether...

Jia Zhangke is often seen as the North Star of Chinese independent cinema. His continued interrogation of the nation’s cultural changes ever since he took up filmmaking in 1997...

What do we mean when we speak of schmaltz? Perhaps a little etymological digging might help answer our question. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (which you should use...

In the periphery of “Godland,” director Hlynur Pálmason’s visually breathtaking third feature film, a six-foot wooden cross struggles to maintain its place among cargo that...

A playground located near the student residences at NYU Berlin. (Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer for WSN)

Andrew Bujalski is a mainstay in contemporary American independent film. His directorial debut, “Funny Ha Ha” (2002), sent a rippling effect across the festival scene with...

A memory returns to me of my mother frustrated and crying after a Sunday trip to the movies. Such melodrama is to be expected of my family, but here, the source was of extreme...

This week, we’ve got pop, funk, house and indie rock. Basically, we have a lot covered. Three of the artists this week also went to New York colleges — Blu DeTiger is a former...

In the spirit of ghouls, WSN’s Arts Desk has decided to put together a list of spooky recommendations worth diving into this Halloween weekend. From Nick Cave to the latest nerve-wracking...

Listen To This took a brief hiatus, but fear not — we’re back. This week, we’ve rounded up some of the best indie pop and rock singles from the last fortnight. Read on for...

“Tales from the Gimli Hospital (4K Redux)” is Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin’s first film, a 64-minute experiment caught between amateurish technical approaches and emotional...

After 34 years of virtual invisibility, Canadian iconoclast Guy Maddin’s first feature film, “Tales from the Gimli Hospital,” has been restored in 4K and will receive a limited...

“Ruined Heart,” or “Ruined Heart: Another Love Story Between a Criminal & a Whore,” embodies its title wholeheartedly. For one, its lovelornness is evident from the...

In the week since his sudden passing, much has been done to remember French Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. As critics worldwide pay him tribute, amateur archivists resurrect...

School is back, the semester is anew. Perhaps you’re still not in the mood for four-hour lectures, bulky worksheets or reading theory. If that’s the case, we’ve got you covered...

Welcome back to Listen To This! Our first edition of the fall semester starts off strong with plenty of excellent releases spanning artpop, Britpop, electropop … well, just all...

From the studio that distributed contemporary coming-of-age classics like “Lady Bird” and “20th Century Women,” Owen Kline’s “Funny Pages” is A24’s latest spin...

Spoiler warning: This article includes spoilers for “Funny Pages.” Several years in the making, Owen Kline’s directorial debut “Funny Pages” offers a laugh that’s...

Folks, here we are … the final edition of “Listen to This” of the semester. We’ve enjoyed writing up our favorite — and sometimes least favorite — singles of the week...

Spoiler warning: This article includes spoilers for “Vortex.” Everyone dies. Nothing will be remembered. These are the ideas circulating in Gaspar Noé’s head two...

“Vortex,” the latest film from Paris-based Argentinian provocateur Gaspar Noé, is a poignant reflection on the material insignificance of dying. As is to be expected from...

Everybody seems to be talking about Coachella this week, and, well, we’re going to give you more of that. Megan Thee Stallion debuted her latest single, “Plan B,” at her...

Camilo Restrepo announces himself to cinema in a blaze of glory with his feature film debut “Los Conductos.” Following Pinky’s (Luis Felipe Lozano) aimless parade across...

The New Directors/New Films Festival continues its showcase of innovative short-form filmmaking with “Shorts Program II.” The second and final installment of ND/NF’s short...

New Directors/New Films collects the most exciting voices of up-and-coming filmmaking. Although the festival’s feature-length titles, such as “Los Conductos” or “We’re...

After the success of Queer Palm winner “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, Céline Sciamma returns to the silver screen with an...

Phoebe Bridgers, a veteran of the indie scene, has been riding a big high since releasing her 2020 Grammy-nominated album, “Punisher.” Now, she’s also proven her business...

It’s twenty past four and you need something to do after toking and coughing on a spliff or devouring a brownie whose chemical makeup is a broken ratio of three parts cannabis,...

Yung Lean’s newest mixtape, “Stardust,” revives cloud rap by embracing its haziest features: its mumbled murkiness, vaporwave production and shape-shifting sonic grammar....

Anthology Film Archives’ staff went on strike on March 31, 2022. AFA’s staff initiated labor contract negotiations back in September of 2021. Their demands focused on higher...

When Bill Finger and Bob Kane’s Batman first jumped from the comic book page to the silver screen, he did so wearing an excessively tight gray undershirt complemented by two...

On Sunday, 15.4 million viewers tuned in for one of the wildest nights in Oscars history. The night marked a historic rebound for the Academy, with the show drawing in a 30% bump...

NYU alums and faculty won Oscars for best documentary feature and best picture and received nominations in multiple categories at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday, evidence of...

Ukrainian artist Misha Tyutyunik, 38, began painting a mural of Kyiv on the northeast corner of the Citizens Bank at the intersection of East 9th St. and 2nd Ave. to mark one month...

Kinuyo Tanaka first became involved in filmmaking at the age of 14. Over the course of her extensive career, she would appear in over 250 films, working alongside the likes of...

The films of Taiwanese slow cinema pioneer Tsai Ming-liang capture so rigidly the minute motions of the everyday that they border on absurdism. His second film, “Vive L’Amour,”...

At first glance, Fern Silva’s “Rock Bottom Riser” is a documentary about Hawaii. But through Silva’s tapestry of visceral sights and sounds, it becomes a sui generis piece...

Through his exploration of myth, Fern Silva brings out the realness of places. His feature film debut, “Rock Bottom Riser,” digs deep into the long and complicated history...

“the dealer” by Nilüfer Yanya Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer, Arts Editor To list the music idols who have come from the United Kingdom would be to write a never-ending book....

Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s “Strawberry Mansion” is like a René Magritte painting brought to life. Channeling the wild imagination of Terry Gilliam and filtering...

Last year, Daft Punk released a video of themselves self-destructing to announce their retirement. This year marks the 25th anniversary of their debut album, “Homework.”  Electronic...

After the music video for “INDUSTRY BABY” dropped, one thing became clear: Jack Harlow is hot — like, really hot — but he can also spit bars. Seven months later, Kanye...

In his 2006 debut feature “Reprise,” Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier began the Oslo trilogy with melancholy. He followed it up in 2011 with “Oslo, August 31st,” a quiet...

As new streaming services like Ovid.tv compete against old titans like Netflix, NYU students struggle to decide what service serves their taste in media and budget best.  Luckily,...

We’ve all been there — as Feb. 14 approaches, it seems impossible to escape anything red, pink or heart-shaped. If you’re single, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something...

“The Living End” directed by Gregg Araki Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer, Arts Editor Nothing says Saint Valentine’s Day like sex, death and hedonism. Gregg Araki’s New Queer...

In an attempt to celebrate 2021’s lethargic return to theatrical moviegoing, Oscar voters chose to recognize streaming services’ growing command of the film industry. Together,...

Pornography has never looked as psychedelic as it does under the careful editing of legendary experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs.  Jacobs and the Film-Makers’ Cooperative...

Welcome back to Listen to This! We’re back with the first edition of the spring semester. Spanning several genres, we’ve got nine great songs this week, which all came out...

Depicting an abysmal — and, perhaps, heartbreakingly recurring — night in the life of a Chinese Uber driver, Zhang (Wayne Chang), “Wuhan Driver” condenses a series of racist...

Sara Gómez’s “One Way or Another” offers a feminist critique of the Cuban revolution that unmasks the so-called revolutionary qualities of the “new men” who supported...

Michael Steinhardt, after whom NYU Steinhardt is named, was recently ordered to surrender $70 million worth of stolen antiquities. Steinhardt student groups are demanding the name...

The Steinhardt school was previously named the NYU School of Education before Michael and Judy Steinhardt's donation. (Staff Photo by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer)

A few days have passed since composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's sudden death at age 91, and I am still struggling to make sense of my grief. I grew up with Sondheim. I sang...

Wes Anderson does not make films that take place on planet Earth. No, his films take place in the mind of the idealistic teenage wonderer who ponders atop the toilet for too long...

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced independent art galleries to consider closing their businesses, curator and ceramicist Sophia Somin Yoo saw an opportunity to begin something new. “It...

Put yourself in an NYU student’s shoes.  You love choreographing with Pulse Dance Project, singing an alto harmony for the N’Harmonics, performing sketches for Friends...

A middle-aged woman struggles to carry two boxes while sporting a dashing fur coat. The first words spoken in “El Planeta” are “I’m not returning your online purchases...

This week’s reviews range from covers of Metallica’s “The Black Album” to a slinky Big Thief song about certainty. They discuss Radiohead’s upcoming triple-album release...

August may have slipped away into a moment in time — and sipped away like a bottle of wine — but that doesn’t mean August releases have to! If you feel like refreshing your...

With a Broadway-like dazzle, “WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert,” was a candy-coated outlook on the city’s resurgence after COVID-19. In the assortment of indulgent performances,...

Let’s face it: people are insecure. Between balancing the desire for social acceptance and putting forth our most authentic selves, we feel as if every decision we make puts...

If you were on Twitter in 2015, before it was ruled by toxic sanctimony and political scorn, you might remember it as a sort of Wild West — uncharted territory with outlaws,...

“All Things Must Pass” finally achieves the emotional impact it initially set out to create. The remastered album is gracefully dense, with oozing, pulsating bass and divine...

Dazzling does not cut it; Dash Shaw makes films that embody what Humphry Osmond must have envisioned when he coined the term “psychedelic.” Beautifully animated and gloriously...

“Annette” is deranged. Adapted from a screenplay by odd bod duo Sparks — Ron and Russell Mael — and directed by Leos Carax, “Annette” is the first true rock opera since...

WSN’s music desk is no longer on summer hiatus. While the staff took a short break, the music world delivered hundreds of singles to sift through and enjoy. And yet, through...

“Mandibles” purports to be a film about two buddies and a bug; it begs to be bizarre. But the truth is, “Mandibles” is no more than a simple film about how friendship gets...

As a hard cocktail of proletariat pornography and moral conundrums, Paul Schrader’s 1978 film “Blue Collar” contains enough muscular men hard at work to make Rivera jealous...

“We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” perfectly encapsulates the humdrum existence of the modern American teen who spends their time scouring the internet with the hopes...

Thousands of Tibetan nuns retreat to the Tibetan plateau each year and live in small wooden houses under extreme weather conditions. Jin Huaqing’s directorial debut “Dark Red...

Theo Anthony’s “All Light, Everywhere” is that rare type of film that forces viewers to reappraise their reality. It chips away at viewers’ preconceptions of authority...

When artists experiment in a new capacity, whether it be a remix or a recent single, there’s a looming curiosity or hope that their endeavor will be a successful one. A compelling...

It seems silly to write about Andrei Tarkovsky’s “The Mirror” after so much has been already said about his seminal masterpiece. It seems even sillier attempting to add to...

My life changed the day I, a scrawny, Asian-American 11-year-old, watched Korean American actor Steven Yeun fall in love with Lauren Cohan, a white woman, on AMC’s “The Walking...

The relationship between an artist and the listener can be a powerful one. Music often formulates or elicits emotions we cannot formulate as eloquently, or universalizes personal...

After decades of being inaccessible to cinephiles due to its rarity, Wim Wenders’ directorial debut, “The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick,” is finally free to all...

What good does it do to pin two influential artists against each other? Jeff Slate’s April 2 piece for NBC Think argued that Paul Simon would end up a ‘historical footnote’...

Imad Khachan, the owner of Greenwich Village’s Chess Forum, wants all visitors to feel at home. He joked that the tiny wood-saturated shop has the feel and smell of a grandparent’s...

Barely stretching itself out to a 75-minute runtime, “Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts” is the perfect example of a documentary whose subject matter outshines its depiction.  Directed...

This is what we’re thinking: we’ll make a big monkey fight a big lizard. We’ll cast that girl from “Stranger Things” as a woke, rebellious teenager. The FBI agent in...

A photograph featuring 14 Black photographers stands at the center of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 8th floor. Some of them are laughing, others stand stoically, but they...

NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development's female Music Technology students are taking note of the lack of representation and under-compensation for women...

As midterms come to a close and our short-lived spring break begins, we are reminded of the healing, enticing nature of music. From the cathartic glitches of Laura Les to the entrancing...

This past week’s releases provided a glimpse into the new sounds and influences trending in the music industry.  From soul music to 1970s glam rock, these tracks gave us an...

With their latest album, “As Days Get Dark,” Arab Strap doubles down on the thickness of their Scottish brogue while delivering deliberately dreary dance tunes. Fluctuating...

“Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,” directed by R.J. Cutler, whose past documentary films include “The September Issue” and “The War Room,” is the newest...

It is rare for a filmmaker to be present in every single frame of a film, to envelop themselves in every speck of celluloid and convey themselves in their own art; yet somehow...

“Fiddler on the Roof” by Norman Jewison Sasha Cohen, Arts Editor My grandma and I sing “If I Were a Rich Man” a lot. What can I say? We just love practicing our “biddy...

This edition of Weekly Radio Roundup exhibits singles released by old and new artists, reminding us that good music remains relevant regardless of its release, and feelings of...

As New York Film Festival 58 kicks off with virtual accessibility for all, this guide might aid you in deciding what films are worth checking out. Due to the ongoing effects of...