Paradox Newsletter
@paradoxnewsletter.com
Weekly newsletter by @miguelrivera.phd. Psychoanalytically informed cultural critique. Non-academic rigorous writing about niche subcultures.
Got something for everyone in this week’s letter. Wrote about Tatsuya Nakadai, the economics of written “bait,” and Everybody House Game’s Q-Up.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-406-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-406-...
Issue #406: One Bait After Another
This week, a review of Q-Up (2025), a quick note on Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), and a tribute to Tatsuya Nakadai.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Got something for everyone in this week’s letter. Wrote about Tatsuya Nakadai, the economics of written “bait,” and Everybody House Game’s Q-Up.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-406-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-406-...
Gutted to learn of Tatsuya Nakadai’s passing. There will never be another like him. I wrote about his career and Sword of Doom (1966) earlier this year and the amazing Kagemusha (1980) back in 2023.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-386-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-283-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-386-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-283-...
Issue #386: The Case for Tatsuya Nakadai as the GOAT
The ultimate samurai actor with unrivaled range had one thematic focus: bushido.
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November 11, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Gutted to learn of Tatsuya Nakadai’s passing. There will never be another like him. I wrote about his career and Sword of Doom (1966) earlier this year and the amazing Kagemusha (1980) back in 2023.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-386-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-283-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-386-...
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-283-...
The @brattletheatre.bsky.social in Cambridge’s Noirvember programming will be getting a lot of coverage in Paradox. Just look at this lineup!
October 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
The @brattletheatre.bsky.social in Cambridge’s Noirvember programming will be getting a lot of coverage in Paradox. Just look at this lineup!
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-401-... this week I wrote about HBO’s The Chair Company and @arrowvideo.bsky.social’s streaming service
Issue #401: Anxiety's Object is Tim Robinson's The Chair Company
Lacanian anxiety in Tim Robinson's The Chair Company and a brief review of GKids' new anime film, 100 Meters.
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October 14, 2025 at 3:57 PM
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-401-... this week I wrote about HBO’s The Chair Company and @arrowvideo.bsky.social’s streaming service
This week, I tackled Highest 2 Lowest. Honestly more to say about this great, great film and what it reflects about Lee's filmography. But I tried to get into it on the occasion of its VOD release. www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-396-...
Issue #396: Can We Get Much Higher? Spike Lee and Denzel Washington Say "Yes"
Highest 2 Lowest is certain to be one of my favorite movies this year.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
September 9, 2025 at 4:52 PM
This week, I tackled Highest 2 Lowest. Honestly more to say about this great, great film and what it reflects about Lee's filmography. But I tried to get into it on the occasion of its VOD release. www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-396-...
Reposted by Paradox Newsletter
The #NoirCityChicago merch table is open for business! See @maggiemac75.bsky.social & me for all your noir needs! It’s all happening at the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social. @noirfoundation.bsky.social
September 5, 2025 at 10:32 PM
The #NoirCityChicago merch table is open for business! See @maggiemac75.bsky.social & me for all your noir needs! It’s all happening at the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social. @noirfoundation.bsky.social
Graham Greene's loss is huge. He had an incredible career, but my favorite role of his is Clearcut (1991). I said as much when I wrote about it back in 2021: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-196-...
Issue #196: Conscience vs. Unconscious in Clearcut (1991)
I never thought I would watch a movie in a theater with the pulse-pounding sounds of a night club below my feet.
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September 3, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Graham Greene's loss is huge. He had an incredible career, but my favorite role of his is Clearcut (1991). I said as much when I wrote about it back in 2021: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-196-...
I wrote about Weapons (2025) this week and I don’t feel like I’ve even scratched the surface of this film www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-392-...
Issue #392: Zach Cregger, Brilliance in Our Time
Advanced Lacanian theory on serial killers who don't kill.
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August 16, 2025 at 11:46 AM
I wrote about Weapons (2025) this week and I don’t feel like I’ve even scratched the surface of this film www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-392-...
Kinji Fukasaku title cards
July 9, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Kinji Fukasaku title cards
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-387-... I may be the first person on the internet to write about the tracksuits in Graveyard of Honor (2002)
Issue #387: Breaking News on Graveyard of Honor 2002's Wardrobe
The first, best, and most in-depth coverage of tracksuits in yakuza movies.
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July 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-387-... I may be the first person on the internet to write about the tracksuits in Graveyard of Honor (2002)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa on cinematic violence and Kinji Fukasaku
July 7, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Kiyoshi Kurosawa on cinematic violence and Kinji Fukasaku
NYE 24-25 I did a movie marathon for the newsletter. Now we’re at it again through the newsletter discord, watching Yakuza Graveyard (1976), Graveyard of Honor (1975), and Graveyard of Honor (2002).
July 5, 2025 at 4:53 PM
NYE 24-25 I did a movie marathon for the newsletter. Now we’re at it again through the newsletter discord, watching Yakuza Graveyard (1976), Graveyard of Honor (1975), and Graveyard of Honor (2002).
Do you like Takashi Miike? How about Kinji Fukasaku? We are streaming movies Saturday. www.paradoxnewsletter.com
July 3, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Do you like Takashi Miike? How about Kinji Fukasaku? We are streaming movies Saturday. www.paradoxnewsletter.com
Watch yakuza movies on July 5th. Yakuza Graveyard and Graveyard of Honor, Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike.
June 30, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Watch yakuza movies on July 5th. Yakuza Graveyard and Graveyard of Honor, Kinji Fukasaku and Takashi Miike.
Was thrilled to be able to see Caged two weekends ago with an introduction by Foster Hirsch from @noirfoundation.bsky.social
Also wrote an overview of their programming for Noir City Boston last week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-384-...
Also wrote an overview of their programming for Noir City Boston last week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-384-...
June 25, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Was thrilled to be able to see Caged two weekends ago with an introduction by Foster Hirsch from @noirfoundation.bsky.social
Also wrote an overview of their programming for Noir City Boston last week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-384-...
Also wrote an overview of their programming for Noir City Boston last week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-384-...
Caged (1950) and George Jackson are a productive combination: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-385-...
Issue #385: Orthodox Mysteries, Unorthodox Subjects
George Jackson meets film noir; Japanese 'orthodox' mystery novels use unconventional form to create texts for both solving and interpreting.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
June 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Caged (1950) and George Jackson are a productive combination: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-385-...
Lot of hits today at Noir City Boston. The Sleeping City was a revelation. Mary Ryan, Detective, for its breeziness, has some recesses to explore like its turkey macguffin.
June 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Lot of hits today at Noir City Boston. The Sleeping City was a revelation. Mary Ryan, Detective, for its breeziness, has some recesses to explore like its turkey macguffin.
I am terrible about remembering to post here, but the newsletter continues its weekly sojourn writing about The Rehearsal, NBA Playoffs, and Sinners www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-377-...
Issue #377: Nathan Fielder is the Most Sincere Man in Comedy
Sinners, The Rehearsal, and more notes on competition in the context of this NBA Playoffs.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
April 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I am terrible about remembering to post here, but the newsletter continues its weekly sojourn writing about The Rehearsal, NBA Playoffs, and Sinners www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-377-...
Do you like Mobile Suit Gundam? Do you like Severance? Essays about both in the newsletter this week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-369-...
Issue #369: The Oscar Goes to GQuuuuuuX
The Oscars are my Super Bowl.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
March 5, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Do you like Mobile Suit Gundam? Do you like Severance? Essays about both in the newsletter this week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-369-...
We are still at the Severance commentary this week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-367-...
Issue #367: Severance, The Trojan Horse, and Three Children in a Trench Coat
This is the fifth consecutive week of me writing about Severance (2022).
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
February 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
We are still at the Severance commentary this week: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-367-...
Reposted by Paradox Newsletter
Religiously reading Entertainment Weekly in 2005 to reading Paradox Newsletter in 2025 is my intellectual glow-up.
This week’s Severance analysis hits:
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-366-...
This week’s Severance analysis hits:
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-366-...
Issue #366: Severance Rewrites Freud's Totem and Taboo Using a Da Vinci Code Plot Device
You deserve a different order of Severance recap. And you'll get it from Paradox Newsletter.
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
February 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Religiously reading Entertainment Weekly in 2005 to reading Paradox Newsletter in 2025 is my intellectual glow-up.
This week’s Severance analysis hits:
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-366-...
This week’s Severance analysis hits:
www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-366-...
Severance "recap" with DuBois and Fanon citations: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-365-...
Issue #365: Severance Dives into Race, Face First
Severance's second season is firing on all cylinders and so am I.
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February 5, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Severance "recap" with DuBois and Fanon citations: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-365-...
The world is enjoying Severance. You can read about it, the Freudian unconscious, and shounen manga in this week's issue of the newsletter: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-364-...
Issue #364: Narrative Traps and the Unconscious in Severance
This week, writing about Severance and Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story
www.paradoxnewsletter.com
January 29, 2025 at 5:30 PM
The world is enjoying Severance. You can read about it, the Freudian unconscious, and shounen manga in this week's issue of the newsletter: www.paradoxnewsletter.com/p/issue-364-...