Chad Perman, Author at Bright Wall/Dark Room

Elaine May in The Waverly Gallery | photo credit: Brigitte Lacombe

"Genius is a word that’s thrown around a lot, but I think whatever it means, if Elaine May is not a brilliant improviser, nobody is. If Elaine May is not a brilliant actress, nobody is. If she’s not a brilliant writer, nobody is. If she’s not a brilliant director, nobody is. So whatever that word means, you can apply it to her in four different categories at least, and probably more." Read More

Elaine May's ISHTAR (1987) | original poster by Tony Stella

But We Can Sing Our Hearts Out

Chad Perman·

Issue 75: Elaine May

From the moment that Ishtar—a big budget comedy combining the talents of Elaine May, Warren Beatty, and Dustin Hoffman—was announced, its legend has loomed large. Read More

Springsteen on Broadway (2018) | artwork by Brianna Ashby

Everything Stood Revealed as Pure Horizon, Or: How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love The Boss

Chad Perman·

Issue 68: Time

Springsteen on Broadway restores and replenishes, briefly buoying our battered hearts and reminding us that we are capable of so much more. Read More

Dear Movie Therapist

Chad Perman·

Dear Movie Therapist

"All of life's riddles are answered in the movies." —Steve Martin, Grand Canyon Read More

We Do What We Can to Endure

Chad Perman·

Issue 55: Best of 2017

On the simple poetry of David Lowery's A Ghost Story. Read More

The Road to Awe

Chad Perman·

Issue 53: Head Trips

The Fountain risks passionate earnestness, deep sincerity, and cathartic awe—offering countless opportunities for cynics to giggle or roll their eyes, but offering searchers and sufferers a way forward. Read More

Letter from the Editor

Chad Perman·

Issue 50: Survival Kit

It’s vital that we continually seek out the people, places, and things which can fill us back up. And for me, like so many of you, movies will always be one of those places. Read More

Wild at Heart: On Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are

Chad Perman·

Issue 47: Childhood

This is not merely Sendak by way of Spike Jonze, but rather Sendak as embodied and expanded through Jonze, a spiritually faithful adaptation which takes the book’s arc and themes as both an anchor and a jumping off point. Read More

It’s a Wonderful Life?

Chad Perman·

Issue 42: Holidays

We flock to It’s a Wonderful Life because it’s our therapy, a culturally endorsed, holiday-approved balm for all the miseries and disappointments that pile up around us with each passing year. Read More

Letter from the Editor

Chad Perman·

Issue 41: Margaret

Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, a true masterpiece of the new millennium, is an utterly unique, stubbornly sprawling, fiercely compassionate film that attempts nothing less than to capture an entire world within its three hours. Read More

An Interview with Allison Janney

Chad Perman·

Interviews Issue 41: Margaret

"I’ve gotten better at letting it go, but something like that scene sort of stays with you for a bit. It’s hard to shake that off after the work is done. It definitely involved a really long hot shower and maybe a bath and a martini or something." Read More

An Interview with Kenneth Lonergan

Chad Perman·

Interviews Issue 41: Margaret

"I remember from a sort of a child-like point of view in a way—I’ve never felt like I’ve completely mastered what it’s like to be a grown up." Read More