Hi friends! Sorry for the unplanned hiatus. The last two weeks just got the better of me between a number of work and writing assignments. But May is still young, as are these new additions to streaming services, so I’ll stop making excuses for myself and just get right to the meat of it.
Bernie, Criterion Channel
Richard Linklater was, of course, well ahead of the curve on true crime stories featuring scammers who get away with their deeds because of their interpersonal charm. Bernie is a uniquely Texan tale of a mortician turned murderer … and the small-town largely willing to turn a blind eye to his deeds when confronted with them. It’s a great character study featuring a never-better Jack Black as well as a magnificent look at community cohesion.
Black Bear, Amazon Prime Video
If you only know Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate or some other acerbic comedic character, prepare to think differently. She’s not afraid to surprise and startle with role choices, as you’ll see later this year when Sundance selection Emily the Criminal hits theaters. But she’s been putting in the work to complicate her cinematic image as far back as 2020’s Black Bear, a psychological puzzle box of a movie that’s better the less you know about it. So with that, I’ll shut up and just ask you to trust me that it’s worth your time.
Drag Me to Hell, Hulu
I only caught the tail-end of an inane film discourse this weekend, but apparently Variety got all pearl-clutching because they thought the new Doctor Strange movie should be rated R?! To which I say — just watch that director Sam Raimi’s 2009 film Drag Me to Hell, which also managed a PG-13 despite being infinitely scarier and meaner. This horror-comedy is actively trying to push your buttons, yet it does so in such an odd way that it sends scrambled messages as to how you’re supposed to feel in any given moment. Rather than get confused, I simply enjoyed getting to choose my own adventure through the movie!
Fallen Angels, HBO Max
I watched (or rewatched) a bunch of movies from acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai around this time last year courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center. None of them benefitted from the big screen quite like Fallen Angels, though if you’re just watching at home, let me clue you in as to what makes this movie so special. WKW is a true poet of urban loneliness, putting his finger on that strangely contradictory sensation that you can feel so alone while surrounded by hoardes of other people. Second, just read the Wikipedia plot description before you watch — it’s better taking this in as a rush of images and sensation rather than a series of story beats.
Funny People, Hulu
I’ve written at length about the length of Judd Apatow’s Funny People, practically a marathon for comedic features, for Bright Wall/Dark Room. I think this misunderstood movie is worth giving a shot, and don’t let two-and-a-half hours scare you away. As I argued in that piece:
“The film does not need to be as long as it is to document the evolution of George Simmons, in large part because there is little evolution to be found. Rather, Apatow has to show us so much of George’s journey in order to underline the film’s central irony: how a character can endure so much and change so little.”
Have a laugh while also thinking about humanity’s inability to adapt even when faced with our own mortality — great movie night!
Grandma, Hulu
If you’re looking for a story about women’s reproductive rights given the absolutely calamitous news, here’s one that won’t make you even more depressed about the state of the world. Grandma takes a lighter approach to the subject matter without being flippant as Julia Garner’s Sage goes to Lily Tomlin’s titular ancestor to help financially in the wake of an unplanned pregnancy. It’s a touching tale of the ties that bind generations of women, reassuring us that broken ones can come back together in a crisis. (Also, short ass movie alert! Grandma’s 79 minutes fly by without feeling incomplete.)
Sicario, Peacock (free with ads)
I think it counts as something of a hot take that I still consider Sicario to be the best film by director Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Arrival). This nail-biting thriller leverages the vastness of Roger Deakins’ cinematography and the subtlety of Emily Blunt’s emoting to capture the full range of complexity around the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s a masterclass in directorial control over tone and tension, ratcheting up slowly but surely until the energy has no choice but to explode.
Welcome to the Dollhouse, HBO Max
Yep, that’s Lily Moscovitz from The Princess Diaries! Before she was stealing scenes from Anne Hathaway, actress Heather Matarazzo held her own at the center of the frame in Todd Solondz’s acidic comedy Welcome to the Dollhouse. This movie feels as awkward, uncomfortable, and downright depressing as being in seventh grade actually is. If you’re looking for a movie that isn’t afraid to shy away from the fact that some of these harrowing gauntlets of life are just pure pain with little instructive value, you’ve found a kindred spirit in Solondz.
You’ve Got Mail, Netflix
F-O-X, now on Netflix. (It’s also still on HBO Max, but if you get lost in their labyrinthine UX while searching for that new show everyone’s talking about, know that You’ve Got Mail is also there for you as an option.)
Zero Dark Thirty, Amazon Prime Video
I think I watch the clip of Jessica Chastain righteously yelling “GIVE ME THE TEAM I NEED!” from Zero Dark Thirty about once a month when some sort of professional tension flares up. In my mind, this is what she has her Oscar for. Even leaving aside the potentially problematic politics of the film’s production aside, this movie holds up incredibly well as a gripping procedural vindicating the dogged determination of Chastain’s Maya.
WHAT I WATCHED
As always, you can keep up with my film watching in real time on Letterboxd.
WHAT I HEARD
Shoutout to Norah Jones and the soothing sounds of her album Come Away With Me, which celebrates its 20 year anniversary in 2022. We’ve come a long way from this music brutalizing me on the way to elementary school in my mom’s Honda Pilot.
WHAT I READ
Great writing about acting is hard to do, so I always appreciate it when someone can make it look as easy as Amy Herzog does here in Film Comment summing up the work of Cate Blanchett.
New trend alert! Emily St. James in Vox writes about the spate of “millennial parental apology fantasy” movies.
WHAT I WROTE
I have two new interviews up at Slant Magazine about some wildly different projects! The first is with director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins about the latest Pixar film Turning Red. The second is with French-Argentine provocateur and director Gaspar Noé about his two films, Vortex and Lux Æterna, that have opened in the U.S. recently. Both revealing, insightful chats in their own way!
Then, I also wrote up my topline observations from the premiere of the Avatar: The Way of Water trailer for The Playlist — which they made me come a full HOUR before the Doctor Strange press screening to watch. As I sat and wrote it, I came up with a little fun running motif through the story to entertain myself. See if you can spot it! (Hint: you’ve come to this place for magic…)
AND YET! All this writing will be viewed and read by about 1% of the 295K+ people and counting that have seen this viral tweet that took me about 2 minutes to put together.
Glad to be back in your inbox — hopefully nothing comes up that keep me away so long again!
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall