Jason Bolden, Style Editor-at-Large
“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys”
Where: High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA
When: Through January 19, 2025
What It Is: An “artists supporting artists” exhibition featuring a world-class collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures by diverse, multigenerational artists.
Why It’s Worth a Look: Alicia and Swizz, who are giant sources of inspiration for me, have curated an iconic experience that illuminates the impact of legendary artists while building a foundation for and in celebration of today’s Black creatives. As you make your way through this exhibition, you can’t help but to explore the question “what does it mean to be your most giant self?” and vibe to the impeccable soundscape that accompanies you along the way.
Sophie Lee, Associate Digital Editor
The Substance directed by Coralie Fargeat
Where: Any theater worth its salt
What It Is: Not for the faint of heart. Not for those in search of easy viewing or romantic date night fare (unless you get freaky like that). A skewering of the industry’s feminine beauty standards unlike any you’ve seen before—not for its political ingenuity but for the sheer audacity of its narrative arc.
Why It’s Worth a Look: In this film, Demi Moore (audaciously cast as a dowdy has-been) is offered the chance to transform into a younger, better version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley) by way of a mysterious chemical “substance.” The result is a twisted body horror romp that had my theater audience cackling and wincing in equal measure. Chances are, you’ve already been told you should see this film. Let my recommendation be the final push you needed to purchase tickets.
Liana Satenstein, Writer-at-Large
Notice to Quit directed by Simon Hacker
Where: Theaters near you (Angelika! AMC!)
What It Is: Simon Hacker directed a New York-based father-daughter comedy about a real estate broker, former actor dad down on his luck and on the verge of eviction. The lead actor is the sweet Michael Zegen of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Why It’s Worth a Look: I’ve always loved when a film uses New York City as a demented, fantastical playground. Plus, I have a two-minute part in it, which is opposite Zegen. Here I come, Hollywood!
Mara Veitch, Executive Editor
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell
Where: Your favorite bookshop, the lap of every coffee shop creative
What It Is: Admittedly, this is a novel about homeowner’s insurance and American healthcare—two aspects of adulthood that I have yet to master and would never have imagined myself reading about voluntarily. But through Garth Greenwell’s meticulous and tender prose, they become living things—hulking, corrupt, and outdated behemoths that protect us (or don’t) when the unimaginable happens.
Why It’s Worth a Look: A thematic pivot from Greenwell’s previous two loosely memoiristic accounts of his time spent teaching in Bulgaria while plumbing the depths of his relationship to sexuality and shame. A nice fit for a period of introspection, when your immune system is up.
Sarah Harrelson, Editor-in-Chief
“Facts Worth Knowing” by Aria Dean
Where: Château Shatto in Los Angeles
When: Through October 26, 2024
What it is: Aria Dean is inaugurating the gallery’s new space on Western avenue with her first exhibition focused entirely on her sculpture practice. The pieces expand the medium by weaving in digital programming through novel layers of fabrication.
Why It’s Worth a Look: The imagery on display pulls from the abandoned set of D.W. Griffith’s 1916 film Intolerance, already the subject of much remixing and referencing. Dean investigates this trove of content, one that imitates the iterative nature of the Internet itself.
Julia Halperin, Editor-at-Large
"Álvaro Urbano: Tableau Vivant"
Where: SculptureCenter, 44-19 Purves St, Long Island City, NY
When: Through March 24, 2025
What It Is: A love letter from one artist to another. Álvaro Urbano—a Madrid-born, Berlin-based contemporary artist with a background in architecture—exhumed a forgotten masterwork by the late American artist Scott Burton, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989. Burton originally designed the multipart granite work, Atrium Furnishment, for the lobby of a midtown office building; Urbano took it out of storage, remixed it, and reinstalled it to glorious effect.
Why It's Worth a Look: To Burton's sculpture, Urbano has added painted metal vegetation inspired by the flora of the Ramble, a fabled gay cruising spot in Central Park, and sculptures of red apples rolling over every surface. The result is a sexy, interactive installation that celebrates the codes of unspoken communication among queer folks in New York City.
Karen Wong, Contributing Architecture Editor
Pachinko created by Soo Hugh, based on the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee
Where: Apple TV
What It Is: A sprawling, dramatic account of four generations of a Korean family from 1915-89 covering war, famine, entrepreneurship, family, love, and discrimination Koreans faced in Japanese society. It’s a fully immersive television experience with subtitles in two languages (Blue/Japanese, Yellow/Korean) and seamless editing jumping various timelines.
Why It’s Worth a Look: The entirety of the AAPI community (50 ethnicities) is often grouped together by the monolithic term Asians. Pachinko presents a complex historical saga of Koreans under Japanese rule and their struggles to survive by assimilating and to defy, resulting in humiliation and often death. The riveting intergenerational and international cast makes a grown man cry by simply explaining how to make a bowl of Korean rice.
Ella Martin-Gachot, Senior Editor
Prêt-à-Porter directed by Robert Altman
Where: I watched this for free on pluto.tv. I’m sure you can find it in better resolution (and without ads) on another streaming hub or in an indie movie theater once a year, but the grainy resolution was fitting for a late-night laptop watch.
What It Is: A madcap voyage through Paris Fashion Week and all of its darkest (and hottest) corners, closets, and cliques. There’s a hilarious murder plot, iconic scenes at the most underrated runway there is (Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport), and a cast most directors would kill for (Sophia Loren! Kim Basinger! Marcello Mastroianni—and his daughter Chiara! Anouk Aimée! Lyle Lovett! Forest Whitaker! Lauren f—ing Bacall!) And because Altman filmed during an actual fashion week exactly 20 years ago, there’s also a delicious roster of cameos, which I’ll let you discover for yourself.
Why It’s Worth a Look: PFW may be almost over, but, for those who’ve watched it on phone screens and IG stories, I bet this film will probably leave more of an impact than any of the looks you scrolled through. Critics panned the film upon its release—it still has a deliciously low Rotten Tomatoes rating—but this is one gem that’s only gotten sweeter, weirder, and more relevant with time.
