[txt only version]

PLAYLIST

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SLslxb53Wn9qvcryXSJ90?si=7f337413473441f3

FILM

Good One

(dir. India Donaldson, Aug. 2024)

bear or man the meme, the movie

A father, daughter (Sam), and father’s friend go on a hiking/camping trip. A bold yet quiet film filled with more gesture than dialogue whose glances and little actions say so much, perfectly spoken nuance from Sam, played by Lily Collias and her watchful eyes. As the lone girl and young person in the trio, Sam becomes a symbol for societal and generational acculturation that one constantly reflects & deflects. Even in the barren wilderness one can’t easily escape the eerie reminder of how they are perceived. Alongside the verdant greenery and babbling streams, tension builds, aided by camera angles spying through the trees. When watched with the attention it commands, this seemingly nice camping trip has an itchy, gnawing haze of fear that can’t be ignored, an edgy concern that is hard to pinpoint but all-consuming. Sam isn’t just one girl contending with typical angsty teen coming-of-age drama, she is placed in a wider forest, uncovering new ways to be dissatisfied and disappointed with the adults— and world— she is growing into. I don’t want to give away some of the film’s turns as the subtly needs to be experienced first-hand but I will say that if Sam ever seems childish, it is because she is a child. A child that is disappointed in her revelation that there are selfish, childish adults who have forged a rocky, uncertain path for her that she will have to contend with and, hopefully, forge with a new blaze.

I Saw the TV Glow

(dir. Jane Schoenbrun, May 2024)

all hail the newest flesh

‘90s teens Owen & Maddy bond over a cult “young adult” supernatural horror show airing late night on tv, watched from their carpeted suburban dens. As time progresses, the lines between real life, tv life, and life imagined blur on their quest to find themselves (or one self…?). At least, that’s the shell of the film! Beyond this simple-ish story is so much more; a complex layering of gender dysphoria, loss of human connection, abuse, depression, nostalgia—- the list is endless and probably adaptable for each person that encounters it. First off: This is a demanding film! For a brief moment I wasn’t sure if the flat, strained monologue-dialogue was going to work for me. I can see how it might be difficult for an audience expecting that surface storyline or the promise of “horror.” This isn’t a story, or way of telling a story, that can be passively ignored. But the challenging style is part of the journey. It is that ache for the familiar or clean resolution that is the source of so much conflict and fear, on and off screen. By encountering the discomfort I found something new and beautiful: something I loved. I don’t want to be the nerd I am and point out every childhood (and adulthood!) cultural reference in the film that is a part of me (Was that Pete & Pete?!) because I think that might be a big part of the film: What is art but a place to find and define one’s self? Or, at its worst: a place to fill the void. Which makes the streaming content creep of media the scariest horror movie of them all. Another plus: a hallucinatory ‘90s soundtrack smashing together decades to become a cloud of time (like the internet!), an atmosphere for this movie’s visionary planet to live within.

Challengers [not in NL]

(dir. Luca Guadagnino, April 2024)

Serve

From the nasty polyester bedspread to the precise courtside Loewe shirtdress, Guadagnino makes his own little worlds, touching on the real one but with an exaggerated impression of emotions and outfits. Whether it be the accessories someone wears, or the people they surround themselves with, the way people project themselves is never a clean process in his filmic worlds. The cinematography in the film took some shots with transparent tennis-courts, angles just beyond reason, or POV from a tennis ball mid-game. These visuals, like a leap over a dividing court net, remind one that these rules— all rules— are fictions, and maybe one’s true self lies in the strange shots, the dips, the transgressions, and the ultra rich anti-aging cream smeared over a body. The thing I ultimately liked about the movie was the way it pokes at all forms of desire revealing the greedy, hungry animal behind personhood. Even the rampant product placement in the film felt like an expression of this as the film gorged itself on Appl*b**’s and D*nkin Don*ts to meet its luxurious needs! But I’m not mad at it, it is the kind of sensuous cinematic candy that allows ids, egos, and superegos a space of recognition and volley. Like an alt Summer blockbuster, multiplex does arthouse, it is a slow sugary rush of innuendo, short shorts, and lust from the pleasure-seeking protagonists & audience.

ART

Nina Chanel Abney

https://ninachanel.com/

Exhibit

https://jackshainman.com/exhibitions/nina_chanel_abney_lie_doggo

WHAT: LIE DOGGO, art exhibit by Nina Chanel Abney

WHERE: Jack Shainman Gallery, The School

25 Broad St. Kinderhook, NY

WHEN: May 18-Oct. 5, 2024

WHY: “My work continues to evolve, but it maintains a

core commitment to exploring social narratives through

a lens that is both critical and playful.” - the artist, Cultured Mag