Leslie Bridgers

Press Herald

Leslie Bridgers is the features editor for the Portland Press Herald, overseeing coverage of arts, entertainment and culture. She spent 10 years as a reporter, half of that time for the Portland Press Herald, covering the western suburbs of Portland, writing feature stories and working on special projects. Originally from Connecticut, Leslie came to Maine by way of Bowdoin College and never left.

Latest

Published
March 7, 2021

Vegan picadillo made with lentils is warm, filling and flavorful

Traditionally made with ground or finely chopped meat, picadillo is a tomato-based stew popular in countries that were colonized by the Spanish. It’s used in dozens and dozens of other dishes, including baked pastries, stuffed fritters, roasted main courses, pastas, soups and more. You can serve it in a tortilla or between two buns, with […]
Published
March 7, 2021

You can make sublime duck confit without fancy techniques or expensive fat. Here’s how.

If you are a duck lover – and I am – duck confit is a dish you probably love to eat but have never made. A staple at French bistros, usually accompanied by crispy potatoes and a leafy green salad, duck confit at once feels like a simple comfort and a luxurious indulgence. The glistening, […]
Published
March 7, 2021

Deep Water: ‘Afterlife,’ by Mihku Paul

Maine poems edited and introduced by Megan Grumbling.
Published
March 7, 2021

‘Coming 2 America’s’ Jermaine Fowler became a comedian because of Eddie Murphy – now he wants to make a name for himself

Fifteen years have passed, but the blank page is still seared into Jermaine Fowler’s memory. As an adrift student at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, Fowler was reluctantly filling out college applications when he faced an essay prompt about outlining his ambitions. His brain froze, and his eyes welled up. “I realized,” he says, […]
Published
March 7, 2021

Keanu Reeves on the joy of writing his first comic book: ‘Why not? That sounds amazing!’

It was the fall of 2017, and Keanu Reeves had been carrying around a character in his head. The actor so associated with portraying a phalanx of dark-clad fighters kept envisioning a world-weary warrior whose birth predated even human language. Who knows, he thought, this character just might be a future film role. But that […]
Published
March 7, 2021

Two wives are drawn together by an erotic undertow in the ultimately frustrating ‘Affair’

An interesting but ultimately frustrating struggle between form and content animates “The Affair,” an attractive but inert drama set in Czechoslovakia amid the most pivotal events of the 20th century. Hanna Alstrom and Carice van Houten play Liesel and Hana, best friends whose relationship possesses an undeniably erotic undertow, even after they’re both married. In […]
Published
March 1, 2021

Indie Film: Cinemagic theaters may have lacked charm, but their closure is still a loss

The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of movie theaters.
Published
March 1, 2021

Bar Guide: Pair your next book with a Maine author-inspired cocktail

These combos are perfect for your next Zoom book club meeting.
Published
February 28, 2021

Andra Day astonishes as Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels’s maddeningly uneven biopic

Andra Day delivers an astonishing breakout performance as the complicated subject of “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” in a movie that often feels like it’s unworthy of both the actress and the persona she adopts so seamlessly. From the first moments of this maddeningly uneven film, Day channels her complicated, contradictory protagonist with closely […]
Published
February 28, 2021

Opioid-epidemic drama ‘Crisis’ misses the mark

“Crisis,” an attempted thriller about the opioid epidemic, unfortunately doesn’t bring the experience home. The movie is a multiple-narrative look at the misuse of the likes of fentanyl, oxycodone and heroin that, according to HHS, afflicted more than 1.6 million Americans in 2019. It’s a raging epidemic exacting a dreadful human toll, but “Crisis” doesn’t […]

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