On the occasion of the release of Melissa Anderson’s latest collection of essays and reviews, The Hunger: Film Writing 2012–2024, Anderson will join Now Instant for a special presentation of The Bigamist, followed by a conversation with writer Kate Wolf on all things cinema and criticism.

Copies of The Hunger will be available for purchase in-store, with signing by Anderson, courtesy of The Film Desk.

The Bigamist is an amazingly sympathetic portrait of a figure historically given very short shrift: the title character is not only a two-timer—he’s a traveling salesman as well. But, as embodied by that perpetually pressured everyman of the 1950s, Edmond O’Brien, The Bigamist comes across as a victim of his own sensitivity. Caught between two complementary spouses, O’Brien’s dazed indecisiveness dominates the narrative. As always in Ida Lupino’s directorial efforts, a strong social consciousness informs all choices: Joan Fontaine is an upper-crust “lady,” reverently attached to her dying father, while Lupino herself plays a tough-talking working woman, waitressing in a cheap Chinese restaurant. But no on-screen triangle could beat the one behind the camera—The Bigamist was produced and written by Collier Young, Lupino’s longtime collaborator and recently divorced husband, whose new wife was none other than Joan Fontaine. The cast includes Edmund Gwenn, Kenneth Tobey and Jane Darwell.

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.

Please note: seating is limited. Box Office opens thirty minutes prior to the listed showtime. Guests may add their name to the standby list upon arrival. Online ticket sales will be honored up until 15 minutes after the scheduled showtime; at that time, any unclaimed seats will be released for in-store purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. All Sales Final.