September 4th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
In January, Sean Wang’s thoroughly satisfying feature directorial debut “Didi” premiered to plenty of buzz and acclaim at Sundance, where it collected the U.S. Dramatic category’s audience award and a special jury recognition for its ensemble. On a serious roll, Wang has been a busy filmmaker in recent months. His short documentary “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” received an Oscar nomination and screened in the 2024 Fargo Film Festival, which…
August 26th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Working from a screenplay she co-wrote with E.T. Feigenbaum, Zoë Kravitz adds a significant new line to her resume with feature directorial debut “Blink Twice." The gender-focused thriller opens with a trigger warning that tips audience members to the central issue ahead: disturbing depictions of sexual violence will challenge viewers who may have thought the trailer portended some kind of equally sinister satire of the filthy rich in the vein of…
August 20th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Set between the events of the original 1979 “Alien” and its propulsive 1986 sequel “Aliens,” the latest installment in the long-running series is called “Alien: Romulus.” Uruguayan-born director and co-writer Fede Alvarez, no stranger to franchise filmmaking, understands Disney/Fox’s assignment: “Romulus” functions as a blend of standard genre beats and as a loose refresh of Ridley Scott’s classic. The result is a mostly…
August 12th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
The behind-the-scenes drama swirling around Vera Drew’s feature directorial debut “The People’s Joker” has provided nearly as much excitement as the movie itself, an entertaining DIY bildungsroman built from bits and pieces of the decades-long media juggernaut driven by the mythology surrounding the most consistently popular American comic book character of the last century: Bruce Wayne’s Gotham City alter ego we know as the Batman. In…
August 6th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Vivacious, candid, and magnetic as ever, the now 83-year-old silver screen legend Faye Dunaway is profiled in a feature length documentary by veteran Laurent Bouzereau for HBO. With the full participation of the outspoken star and her son Liam, Bouzereau’s “Faye” cherry-picks key milestones that form a serviceable overview of one of the most electrifying American movie icons to emerge in the class of late 1960s New Hollywood talents. The most…
August 3rd, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Writer/director/performer Kit Zauhar’s indieworld ascendancy continues its upward trajectory with sophomore feature “This Closeness,” which enjoyed a limited theatrical release this summer following a world premiere at South by Southwest in 2023. The movie is now available on streaming platform MUBI. The action unfolds in a cheap, two-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia that is being offered by Adam (Ian Edlund) as a kind of Airbnb/homestay spot…
July 26th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Even though he is only fifty years old, Osgood “Oz” Perkins has been linked to the legacy of his father’s titanic portrayal of Norman Bates for more than four decades, when he appeared onscreen in 1983 as the younger version of Bates in “Psycho II.” As an adult, Perkins has now put together a trio of attention-grabbing feature projects as writer-director (with another, an adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Monkey,” on the way). “
July 18th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the titular singer-songwriter, a young Cincinnati woman looking for artistic and personal fulfillment while holding down a sparsely attended three-night-a-week hotel bar performing gig and caring for her ailing mother. The film’s emphasis on tentative romance and the…
July 8th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
With the welcome participation of several actors who gave their giddy all in the more exuberant fantasia of “Poor Things,” the follow-up from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos returns to the more measured melancholy and surrealist stylings of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Lobster,” and “Dogtooth.” “Kinds of Kindness” is an anthology of three dark and woeful tales in which the central cast members play new roles each time the…
July 7th, 2024
By Greg Carlson
Originally conceived by writer-director Christy Hall as a stage play, the movie “Daddio” premiered in September of 2023 at the Telluride Film Festival. Featuring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn as the only two significant characters with spoken dialogue in a credited cast of four (a curbside valet connects rider to car and we briefly glimpse a little girl in an adjacent vehicle), the story traces a late-night, near real-time journey from JFK to a…
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By Bryce Vincent HaugenOn Palm Sunday two thousand years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey to directly take on the authoritarian Roman rulers of the region, according to Christian scripture. It was an overtly political…
By Michael M. Miller Rev. Salomon Joachim, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Beulah, North Dakota., delivered an address to the Western Conference of the Dakota District of the American Lutheran Church in 1939. His presentation was…
Wednesday, March 25, Group lesson 7 p.m., Dance 9 p.m.Sons of Norway, 722 2nd Avenue North, FargoCare to dance? If you don’t already know how to dance, the Northern Lights Dance Club can show you a thing or two about social…
By John StrandDisclaimer: This editorial is the work of someone who’s spent most of his adult life working in the media — most of those years co-owning this very entity, the High Plains Reader, since 1996. The notion that folks…
By Ed RaymondWhat if eight billion people looked and acted like Adam and Eve?So, we have different fingerprints and DNA. We can transfuse people’s blood and implant organs with some limitations. With facial recognition equipment,…
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 Sabrina Hornung There’s a Bosnian saying that states simply, “It’s a sin to throw away bread,” which really resonates with me — especially growing up with grandparents who lived through the Second World War and the Great…
The Slow Death at The AquariumSaturday, March 21, doors at 7:30 p.m. The Aquarium above Dempsey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe Slow Death is a punk supergroup led by Jesse Thorson, with members and collaborators that include…
By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s third feature, a mashup of body horror, family melodrama and AIDS allegory set in a grim and gray dystopia, fails to live up to the promise of her wild debut…
By Jacinta TensI have been a fan of graffiti since I first saw it as a child. As a kid who was always into some sort of creative endeavor, the movement, colors and intricate details of pieces I would see on trains always fascinated…
Saturday, January 31, 6:30-9 p.m.Transfiguration Fitness, 764 34th St. N., Unit P, FargoAn enchanting evening celebrating movement and creativity in a staff-student showcase. This is a family-friendly event showcasing pole, aerial…
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 Ellie Liverani In November 2025, the FDA initiated the removal of the “black box” warning from Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). The “black box” warning is a FAD safety warning for healthcare providers and patients…
January 31, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.Viking Ship Park, 202 1st Ave. N., Moorhead2026 marks 10 years of frosty fun! Enjoy sauna sessions with Log the Sauna, try Snowga (yoga in the snow), take a guided snowshoe nature hike, listen to live…
By HPR StaffI'm a Gen Xer who landed in Fargo in the late '90s, a small town kid who didn't know a soul. By sheer dumb luck I ended up at Ralph's, and that place gave me my people. Lifelong friends, the kind you don't find twice.…
