Imagine the short story as poetry. And imagine that Alice Munro isn't merely a writer -- she is a literary alchemist, stirring, distilling, testing, and violating the language and conventions of the short story with breathtaking results. As fellow short-story writer Lorrie Moore observed, "It's the s

Composed, Dense, Domestic, Elegant, Low realism

"Faggot-Retard" was Todd Solondz's initial title of choice for his second feature film. He opted instead for the less inflammatory "Welcome to the Dollhouse," which fortunately did nothing to dilute the tenderly misanthropic cult classic about a pubescent protagonist taunted by the alternating appell

Dark, Depressive, Domestic, Neurotic

Known for its reportage style and early connection to the rebelliousness of Surrealism, the work of Cartier-Bresson has always subverted narrative expectations. A reluctant and ambivalent scion of the bourgeoisie, Cartier-Bresson captured in photographs the plight of the very dispossessed, marginal,

Documentary photography, Domestic, Elegant, Fleeting, Gritty, Visceral

A motorcycle-jacketed, leather-bar Lothario by night, a critically lauded, freakishly prolific cinematic wunderkind by day, Rainer Werner Fassbinder lived in the eye of the hurricane and died of "an overdose on life." His fame rests on his expository manipulations, his classical narrative, and his us

Depressive, Domestic, New german cinema, Perverse