February 18th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
Writer/director/performer Eva Victor’s feature debut “Sorry, Baby” was one of the big 2025 Sundance success stories. Audiences connected with the film’s perfect blend of acidity and tenderness. Victor received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for the movie’s fantastic script. And following serious interest from Searchlight, Neon, and others, worldwide distribution rights were acquired by A24 for a sum reportedly in the neighborhood of 8…
February 10th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
To write with any degree of detail about filmmaker Drew Hancock’s “Companion” requires a spoiler alert. So if you have not seen the movie and hope to wring maximum enjoyment from the experience, I would strongly recommend that you stop reading and buy a ticket to the next available showing. With its diabolical, pitch-perfect marketing campaign to whet the appetite for what looks like artsy A24 or Neon-styled head games (the movie belongs to…
February 3rd, 2025
By Greg Carlson
Now streaming on MUBI, Elizabeth Sankey’s essay film “Witches” morphs from what at first appears to be a feminist deconstruction of movie and television representations of the title figures into a wrenching and penetrating examination of the way that centuries of cultural expectations revolving around motherhood have taken an unfair toll on women. Presenting her arguments through a series of chapter headings enumerated as a series of ancient…
January 27th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
In a little more than a quarter of the 20th century spanning the 1930s, 1940s and part of the 1950s, Humphrey Bogart built one of the quintessential American filmographies. Stubborn, tenacious, and devoted to his craft, the actor played plenty of thugs and toughs before the eventual turn that would establish leading man bona fides and open the door to a more satisfying range of roles. Belfast-born filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson, whose excellent…
January 20th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
For so many of us, the news announcing the death of the brilliant David Keith Lynch — who died just a few days short of his 79th birthday — interrupted beautiful blue skies and golden sunshine all along the way. Close followers and fans were shocked but not necessarily surprised. In August of 2024, Lynch addressed concerns about his declining health, issuing a statement that read in part, “I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do…
January 13th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
The Paris-born filmmaker Mati Diop made a major splash in 2019 with the fascinating feature “Atlantics,” which received the Grand Prix at Cannes. A supernatural reimagining inspired by her 2009 nonfiction short, Diop’s movie also marked the first time a film directed by a Black woman played in competition at the famous festival. Diop’s father is the Senegalese musician Wasis Diop and her late uncle Djibril Diop Mambéty directed the landmark…
January 6th, 2025
By Greg Carlson
Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s narrative fiction feature debut “All We Imagine as Light” is, among other things, a cinematic consideration of place. The movie begins but does not end in Mumbai, and the viewer hears multiple languages spoken throughout the deceptively simple and seductive story. Like Varda’s Paris in “Cléo From 5 to 7” (1962), Wong’s Hong Kong in “Chungking Express” (1994), and the titular Rio suburb in Meirelles…
December 30th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn’s previous feature, “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” was a dizzy, snarky riff on the Old Dark House motif and one of 2022’s most slept-on cinematic treats. Now, with a major Oscar-winning star in Nicole Kidman and a high-visibility Christmas Day release, the director — who also wrote the screenplay and produced — is poised to raise her profile with “Babygirl.” A throwback to the era of psychologically-motivated…
December 23rd, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Essential viewing for cinephiles of any generation, director David Hinton’s engrossing documentary, “Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger,” celebrates one of cinema’s most fruitful partnerships. Hosted by on-screen narrator Martin Scorsese, whose personal relationship with Powell is addressed in the film, “Made in England” is a heartfelt tribute to the uncompromising vision of a pair of remarkable artists. Like previous…
December 17th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Brady Corbet, the American screen actor turned auteur, is only 36 years old. He doesn’t enjoy the same level of fan adoration that accompanies the projects of Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan and the like, but one imagines that the filmmaker hopes that his third feature film could change that status. Alexandra Schwartz’s fresh profile of Corbet and “The Brutalist” in The New Yorker acknowledges the risks of old-fashioned…
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By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comIt’s been eight years since the Water Protectors were cleared off the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers. It was a bitter ending to a battle to protect the water; and for most of us…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Rodeo is a family tradition for sisters Kate and Tera Flitton. The duo performs under the moniker Stellar Trick Riding Cowgirls. The Utah natives will be performing along with bareback riders,…
Saturday, April 19, 8 p.m. doors open at 7 p.m.Fargo Theatre, 314 N Broadway, FargoCheck out this cult classic on the big screen as a live band performs along with David Bowie’s vocals, all while basking in the Art Deco glory…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com I feel like reading a newspaper is the equivalent of listening to music on vinyl. Not only is it analog, it’s an experience. I might be a little biased, but there's something about the rustling…
By Ed Raymondfargogadly@gmail.comThe wizards and kleagles in whites now wear blue suits and red tiesA hundred years ago, more than 30,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan from virtually every state in the Union wearing their white…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…
By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Photos by Rick GionLiving in downtown Fargo has its perks. One of them is taking walks along Broadway and peeking into the restaurants and shops for a glimpse of what’s new. Sometimes this makes a…
Mooncats and Pert Near Sandstone play Empire TheatreBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comThe MoonCats describe themselves as “Americonscious Campfire Folk.” They have a clear acoustic folk sound with a sense of whimsy — think…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Given the volume of existing media material on the topic, longtime admirers of legendary documentarian Errol Morris might wonder why he would elect to become the umpteenth person to cover the…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comPhoto by Chad Nodland, "Artistic Freedom"On January 19, 2025, the last full day of Joe Biden’s presidency, he commuted Leonard Peltier's two consecutive life sentences to home confinement at his…
By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…
By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…
By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…
By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…
By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…
By Gilbert Kuipersgilbertkuipers@outlook.com I live in North Dakota District 24 and have been challenging the district Republicans about their understanding of climate science for years. There has been no serious response to my…
