Picture of the author

Matthew Nerber

ARTICLES: 58
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Retro-Futuristic and Sincerely Romantic, Strawberry Mansion Is Wholly Unique

Strawberry Mansion—writer-directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney’s wildly surreal, charmingly offbeat indie—is part dystopian sci-fi, part storybook fantasy, and part quirky horror, the sort of mishmash movie that calls to […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Chicago-Made Documentary The Road Up Highlights a Job Training Program That Builds Character

The Road Up

Documentary film is a unique art form, in that it aims to harness the power of another genre––narrative cinema––to convey objective truths. At its best, documentary is akin to great […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Isabelle Huppert Goes from Cop to Pot Dealer in French Comedy Mama Weed

Mama Weed

The “war on drugs” has been waged globally since the 1970s as a sort of never-ending campaign. Its combatants are many, and its casualties immeasurable. Its battlefields are city streets […]

Matthew Nerber /
Features, Interviews, Music

Feature: Chris Porterfield Is Surviving, and That’s Enough

Chris Porterfield sings with a kind of howl. On his songs, recorded with the folk-rock band Field Report, his words come out with a ferociousness that charges the poetry with […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Despite Some Clunky Moments, Once Upon a River Delivers a Beautifully Filmed Coming-of-Age Drama

Once Upon a River

On 2016’s “Margo,” Haroula Rose mournfully sings: “Your daddy brought you to the ways of the wild / Your mother she left when you reached a certain height” The song […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Dreaming Grand Avenue Features a Chicago Dreamscape With a Criss-Crossed Plot and Strong Ensemble

Dreaming Grand Avenue

Jimmy (Twilight’s Jackson Rathbone) and Maggie (Narcos’ Andrea Londo) keep meeting. Not in real life, mind you, but in each other’s dreams. They’ll bump into one another in waking life […]

Matthew Nerber /
Music, Reviews

Review: Field Report’s Brake Light Red Tide Breaks New Ground for Milwaukee’s Chris Porterfield

On “Decision Day,” the stellar opener to Field Report’s autumnal sophomore album Marigolden from 2014, Chris Porterfield, the Milwaukee-based songwriter, sings “Take your time and let the tide pull you […]

Matthew Nerber /
Stages, Theater, Virtual

Review: Sideshow Theatre’s The Happiest Place on Earth Now Available to Stream

Playwright Philip Dawkins’ 2016 solo show, The Happiest Place on Earth, uses Disneyland as a means to investigate his family history. The park, which opened in 1955, became a crucial […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film & TV, Stages, Video

Review: Silk Road Rising’s Not Quite White Doc Newly Relevant During COVID-19 Crisis

Silk Road Rising, a Chicago theater company rooted in Asian, Middle Eastern and Muslim experiences, has re-released a 2012 film that is newly relevant during the coronavirus pandemic. Jamil Khoury, […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts Features Five Fantastic Films

Hair Love

The 2020 Oscar nominated animated shorts are an excellent example of the expressive potential of cinema, each of the 5 films offering visually dynamic and thought-provoking bits of emotional storytelling. […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: We Believe in Dinosaurs Details the Fight Over Creationist “Ark Park” in Kentucky

We Believe in Dinosaurs

We Believe in Dinosaurs is the title of the handsomely made documentary feature directed by Clayton Brown and Monica Long Ross, but it’s also a statement repeated by several of […]

Matthew Nerber /
Film, Film & TV, Review

Review: Moving Parts Scratches the Surface of the Deep, Global Problem of Human Trafficking

Moving Parts

“According to a report from the United Nations, 71 per cent of all human trafficking victims are women and girls. Human trafficking earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year.” […]

Matthew Nerber /