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Filmmaker Faces Her Father's Mortality By Staging His 'Death' Again And Again

Filmmaker Kirsten Johnson stages one of her father's "deaths" in Dick Johnson Is Dead. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Movie Interviews

Filmmaker Faces Her Father's Mortality By Staging His 'Death' Again And Again

Fresh Air

When Kirsten Johnson's dad started showing signs of dementia, she struggled to accept the impending loss. So she staged a series of imagined accidents in her new film, Dick Johnson Is Dead.

Filmmaker Faces Her Father's Mortality By Staging His 'Death' Again And Again

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'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

Filmmaker Radha Blank stars as a fictionalized version of herself in The Forty-Year-Old Version. The film, which began as a Web series, was inspired by Blank's own experience as a playwright and rapper in Harlem. Jeong Park/Netflix hide caption

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Jeong Park/Netflix

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Movie Reviews

'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

Fresh Air

Radha Blank plays a fictionalized version of herself — a struggling artist from Harlem, who was hailed years earlier as a promising playwright. The film is gorgeously shot in black-and-white.

'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

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Movie Interviews

Miranda July's 'Kajillionaire' Follows A Family Of Schemers

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with writer-director Miranda July about her new film, Kajillionaire, which focuses on a family of thieves.

Miranda July's 'Kajillionaire' Follows A Family Of Schemers

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'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

Millie Bobby Brown stars in Enola Holmes, the new Netflix film based on the book series by Nancy Springer. Netflix hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

The new, bright and breezy Netflix movie Enola Holmes stars Millie Bobby Brown as the 16-year-old sister of Sherlock Holmes. She sets out on an adventure when her eccentric mother (Helena Bonham Carter) goes missing. It also features Sam Claflin as her stuffy brother Mycroft, Louis Partridge as a romantic interest, and Henry Cavill as Sherlock.

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

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Movie Interviews

Documentary Explores Emancipating From Foster Care System

The new documentary Unadopted explores what happens to teenagers in foster care as they approach the point of "aging out" of the system. NPR's Noel King talks to Noel Anaya about his film.

Documentary Explores Emancipating From Foster Care System

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Movie Interviews

New Movie: 'The Secrets We Keep'

NPR's David Greene speaks with actress Noomi Rapace about the new film she produced and stars in: The Secrets We Keep. She also starred in the Swedish version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

New Movie: 'The Secrets We Keep'

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In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

"The train's afoot!": (L to R) Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) literally look down on their younger sister Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) in Netflix's Enola Holmes. Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix hide caption

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Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

This bright and breezy Netflix adaptation of a YA novel finds Millie Bobby Brown starring as the brilliant, fourth-wall-busting little sister of Sherlock Holmes.

What It's Like To Attend A Film Festival During The Pandemic

The Toronto International Film Festival has ended. This year, it offered socially distanced in-person screenings as well as virtual ones.

What It's Like To Attend A Film Festival During The Pandemic

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Movie Interviews

'Antebellum': A Movie That Uses Horror To Process America's Racial Problems

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with filmmakers Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz about their new movie, Antebellum. It stars Janelle Monáe in a story that takes on the legacy of slavery in a surprising way.

'Antebellum': A Movie That Uses Horror To Process America's Racial Problems

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Movie Industry Adapts, Plus LeVar Burton Reads

Karen Speros, 82, waits for a movie to start at a Regal movie theater in Irvine, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

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Jae C. Hong/AP

It's Been a Minute

Movie Industry Adapts, Plus LeVar Burton Reads

The movie industry is hurting. Most theaters in the U.S. are still shut down, and who knows when—or if—audiences will pack into theaters again. Adam B. Vary and Angelique Jackson of Variety talk about the state of the movie industry and how it's adapted, for better or worse, in this pandemic. Also, Sam talks to actor LeVar Burton about reading, why we like being read to, what he really wanted you to learn from Reading Rainbow, and the latest season of his podcast LeVar Burton Reads.

Movie Industry Adapts, Plus LeVar Burton Reads

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Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

Tom Holland plays Arvin, a young man who refuses to let evil go unpunished in The Devil All the Time. Glen Wilson/Netflix hide caption

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Glen Wilson/Netflix

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Movie Reviews

Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

Fresh Air

The Netflix adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock's novel is grim in ways that can be both exciting and wearying: so many twists and betrayals, so many awful characters, so many horrific acts of violence.

Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

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What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

Janelle Monáe stars in the new film Antebellum. Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate hide caption

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Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

In the new horror film Antebellum, Janelle Monáe plays an enslaved woman on a plantation run by Confederate soldiers. She's desperate to escape. But Monáe also plays a successful contemporary author and speaker with a beautiful family, living a life of success and wealth. But does the film successfully tie the story together? Note: This conversation discusses specific spoiler-y plot points to explore how those roles fit together, break down what's really going on, and whether or not the movie is successful.

What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

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Movie Interviews

'We Are Who We Are': Coming-Of-Age Story Offers A Different View Of Italy

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino about his new series, We Are Who We Are. It's a coming-of-age drama set on an American military base in Italy.

'We Are Who We Are': Coming-Of-Age Story Offers A Different View Of Italy

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Predictions Of How COVID-19 Will Impact Pop Culture

What will be the visual cues that film and television will one day use to depict 2020? Malorny/Getty Images hide caption

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Malorny/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Predictions Of How COVID-19 Will Impact Pop Culture

It's hard to predict how the current pandemic will affect the work of artists in television and film and theater, but that doesn't mean we can't try. What will change? What won't change? How might creators react? Today, we're stepping back to make some guesses about the future of pop culture and think about what's to come.

Predictions Of How COVID-19 Will Impact Pop Culture

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