Thought I might start doing this? A non-book report. Just a selection, especially when it comes to movies.
Cyrano (Joe Wright, 2021)
Ben Mendelsohn plays a queer-coded villain who sings an evil song while swooping around in a cape, so completely worth it just for that. So yeah did I mention this is a musical? Did anyone mention this, ever? It is, and it’s not bad imo.
Sometimes it almost doesn’t work, conceptually, because you’re like, Peter Dinklage is one of the hottest men alive, so why wouldn’t Roxanne be into him? But what is love if not a mystery of the heart?—a point this movie makes pretty well!
I’m entranced by the detail that Peter Dinklage’s wife wrote this adaptation for him. Adapting Cyrano for your husband is very romantic.
Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991)
Just another hyperreal family beach-day in the long bad history of the world—perfect. The walking on water scene got me very amped up, very intense emotions happening. As I age I find that I feel things less and less, my organ of feeling worn and warped by the wisdom of the weary, so it’s always nice to be forced to feel something! (Watched this because it’s a new addition to the Sight & Sound list that wasn’t familiar to me.)
Confess Fletch (Greg Mottola, 2022)
Hey now, this is pretty funny.
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)
Another one I watched because it was on the Sight & Sound list, although not because I was unfamiliar, just because I guess this is a thing I’m doing now, watching the whole list. Ok so I don’t have anything groundbreaking to say about The Battle of Algiers, but I guess I just thought I’d mention, because I never knew this, that the FLN commander who wrote the memoir that the movie is based on plays himself in the movie. Pretty rad.
The film apparently became a text that shaped revolutions and counterinsurgencies that came after it. As a teaching text, it’s topnotch material; guaranteed, you’ll feel 60% more ready to lead an insurrection after watching it. Pairs well with season one of Andor (Tony Gilroy, 2022).
L’Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
I predict this one will move back up the Sight and Sound list as future generations discover how bisexual it is.
Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
Tong Leung speaking to his large Garfield seems like it should be a meme. I felt like I was floating during the second half of this. Can’t stop listening to “Dreams” by The Cranberries and the Faye Wong cover.
Disney Channel’s Theme: A History Mystery (Kevin Perjurer, 2022)
I watched this because I’d recently watched Disney’s FastPass: A Complicated History (Kevin Perjurer, 2021), an hour and forty minute youtube video about how waiting in line has evolved over time at Disney World, which, implausible as it may seem, both excavated memories from my deep childhood subconscious and added new to depth to my understanding of the particular perfidies of American capitalism. This one wasn’t as good, but it was ok.
Behind the Bastards — four part episode on Napoleon III (Robert Evans, 2021)
I paid less attention to this one than I normally do. Sometimes I just need Robert to keep me company tbh.
Behind the Bastards — two part Christmastime “not completely a bad a guy” episode on Abba Kovner and the terrorist organization Nakam (Robert Evans, 2022)
I paid more attention to this one because I always get more attentive when I think there might be “applicable life lessons.” I didn’t know there were so many revenge killings of Nazis in the first few years after the war! Always nice to hear some good news.
The Mishima soundtrack (Philip Glass, 1985)
It’s great to power-walk around New York listening to this, you really feel like there’s some point to whatever you’re doing.
Spotify’s This is Chopin playlist (Chopin, whenever Chopin lived)
This is my newsletter music. If I’m working on the newsletter, it’s time for Chopin on shuffle. I’ve been thinking I might “get into” the Franz Liszt-Frederic Chopin-George Sand love triangle? I’ll probably start with a movie and see how it goes. It’s important, in life, to make plans.
Tetris on my phone (Alexey Pajitnov, 1984)
They say it makes you calm, because there are no words.
The Bear season one (Christopher Storer, 2022)
People in Chicago are really like this, and sometimes I think I never should have left.
Film Forum’s 100-piece limited edition Derrida/Banana Bread Shirt (2022)
Ben bought this for me. He said “you need the banana bread shirt.” I said “what’s the banana bread shirt?” He said “I bought you the banana bread shirt.” I’m sure I’m just one of many girlfriends (100 girlfriends) who have had such an experience.
When I wear it, everyone comments on it. A woman stopped me while I was crossing Franklin Avenue, looked me dead in the eye, said “I have a picture of that on my phone,” and strode purposefully into the night before I’d thought of anything to say.
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