Why you should watch 'Babygirl'

Watching

• Babygirl. No matter what you take away from writer-director Halina Reijn’s daring, alluring, and ultimately joyful film, one idea flutters around it like a potent perfume cloud: both desire and the memory of it are what make us feel alive. Read more.

• A Complete Unknown. This scrappy, semi-unflattering patchwork portrait of Bob Dylan serves its subject better than any fawning hagiography could. Read more.

• The Fire Inside. America’s first and only back-to-back Olympic boxing champion, Claressa Shields, speaks on how this film fits to her life. Read more.

Reading

• Onyx Storm. The third book in Rebecca Yarros’ wildly popular Empyrean series, picks up as Violet Sorrengail, a small but mighty dragon rider, prepares for war against the Venin. Read more.

• Black in Blues. National Book Award winner Imani Perry traces the history of blue while ruminating on how its many shades (cobalt, periwinkle, navy) became intertwined with Black identity. Read more.

• Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope. Catherine Coleman Flowers’ follow-up to her 2020 memoir, Waste, is an essay collection that explores the personal and political aspects of her work as an environmental activist. Read more.

Talking About

• Squid Game has been a brand for as long as it has been a global sensation. But now, as the long-awaited second of three planned seasons premieres, it’s clear that the Squid Game-industrial complex has undermined Squid Game the work of political art. Read more.

• Cute creatures going viral is nothing new. But 2024 seems to be on a different level of feral fascination. Read more.