Melissa Anderson, The Hunger: Film Writing, 2012–2024

The Hunger assembles the best of Anderson’s film writing from, among other outlets, Bookforum, Artforum, the Village Voice, and 4Columns, where she has been the film editor and lead film critic since 2017.

Including not only reviews of contemporary and older movies but also essays devoted to the work of a single performer (such as Candy Darling and Shelley Duvall), The Hunger showcases an exceptional voice in criticism—one that is queer but undoctrinaire, homophilic yet heterodox. The collection concludes with a wide-ranging discussion between Anderson and the critic and scholar Erika Balsom about the role of pleasure and sexuality in writing, assessing stardom in the 21st century, covering repertory cinema in New York City, and the exhilarations that the movies still provide.