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Asteroid City (2023)
"You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep."
Wes anderson's True Stories for the Hotel Chevalier + The Darjeeling Limited-combo lovers who grew up in/doing (musical) theater (aka me).
The way Anderson explores and expresses grief and the grieving process speaks to a pointed part of my soul that makes me feel less alone in the world. Asteroid City felt like the culmination of a lifetime of exploration and rumination over what it means to be human and exist on earth populated with diverse personalities big and small.
The three little daughters are quite possibly my favorite Wes Anderson characters to ever exist, I love them fiercely and dearly like they are of my own bone and blood and cannot wait to spend time with them again.
Technically stunning, the sets x the costuming x the hair x color story x the production design are meticulous and exhilarating. Care imbued into every tiniest detail, eliciting rousing emotion from the most unexpected moments and objects. Love Wes Anderson for always giving us a full course dining experience at the theater. It's so fun to watch him play with all the tools he has acquired in his creative toolbox and find new ways to experiment with medium and form. Truly inspiring to see the growth and expansion throughout Anderson's career culminate into this beautifully executed motion picture about love, curiosity, creativity, relationships, passion, discovery, humanity, the world around us, and life itself.
Warmest thanks to Letterboxd for inviting me to an early screening, to Focus Features for organizing with Letterboxd, and to the nice man who moved over to let my mom and me sit next to each other in the assisted seating area because I am currently on crutches with fractured extremities.
Asteroid City is out in select theaters 16 June 2023 and everywhere on 23 June 2023 (by focus features).
Inside (2023)
A career best work for Willem Dafoe
Just like the artworks it features, Inside (2023) is an absolute triumph in deep, emotional, raw, unexpected, thought-provoking creativity and a haunting piece of breath-stealing art. It stars Willem Dafoe as art thief Nemo, who becomes trapped in a New York City high rise penthouse after his art heist goes awry and must use everything within himself to survive.
I loved the insight into the art curation by Leonardo Bigazzi after the Film Independent x Focus Features post-screening Q&A. I wish I could've asked about several specific paintings included within the film's collection more in depth (I haven't stopped thinking about the one Maurizio Cattelan for hours). I absolutely loved how the filmmakers included a complete list of all the artworks included in the film in the credits, even before cast and crew, under "The Inside Art Collection." (Down the line I would love to see a special curation of the film's art pieces as an FYC special event for the film if/when it makes the Awards rounds.) You truly feel the absolute reverence for art and creativity and creation celebrated by this film and every single person involved with it down to its very core molecular structure and DNA. The film itself is a true performance art piece unlike any other and I truly cannot wait to watch it again.
I loved hearing Dafoe speak of the collaborative artistic discovery of moving through the role chronologically, and how everything we discover about his character Nemo happens as the film unfolds. The sparse dialogue feels absolutely perfect for the piece, and just enough. The film begets the viewer to focus entirely on having a somatic, tactile viewing experience. One scene in particular I'll call the 'handography' scene had my whole body in feathery tingles as if my own body was being touched as I watched the sequence unfold. Dafoe just continues to deliver performance best after performance best and truly just in awe of his strength and deep spiritual connection to his artistic process.
The ending is mesmerizing. I am excited to discuss this film with friends once they see it because it is definitely a film that begs for multiple viewings and deep, thoughtful, and existential discussions amongst peers and inspired self-contemplation upon its conclusion.
Deeply grateful to @FilmIndependent for curating #FiPresents with @FocusFeatures and offering this stunning screening of my new favorite Willem Dafoe film.
Inside opens in theaters worldwide this Friday, 17 March 2023.
Ice Merchants (2022)
My pick to win the academy award for animated short
This short is my pick to win the academy award for animated short. The animation and color story in this emotional, and heartfelt. Such a layered story about grief, loss, love, passion, memories, heartache, adoration, hope, moving on, and finding the silver linings in life is absolutely flooring. The entire piece is a gorgeous, impressive, stylish piece of short form animation unlike any other I have ever seen. I watched it on The New Yorker's youtube channel, and honestly the style and vibe of this animation really fits with the outlet to be their home-it's such a perfect collaboration and the correct vibe. I would love love love to see more work from this talented portuguese animator, mr. Joäo Gonzales, and cannot wait to do so in the near future!
Theater Camp (2023)
oh the musical theater girlies are gonna go absolutely FERAL for this (it's me. i'm the musical theater girlies)
"you guys are so talented, so unbelievable, this will break you. This will fully destroy you. Congratulations on being the most talented kids at camp."
i was that kid in high school that was in musical and show choir and vocal ensemble and honor choir and bell choir and flew abroad to foreign countries for competitions and went to college for vocal performance. I performed a RENT song at summer camp. I also grew up loving christopher guest, camp, wet hot american summer, school of rock, new girl, schitt's creek, popstar and the lonely island in general (from the 'bu and just 2 guyz days), glee (i know i know). I've mentored for the young storytellers's 10 week script-to-stage program for a few years before running my own classroom of twelve 5th graders and adult mentors, each paired off and writing their own 5-page screenplays which get acted out by professional actors in week 9 in an impov-esque performance showcase for friends and family. This film about a son who has to manage a summer theater camp when something unexpected happens to his mother and the cast of characters at this camp over the course of three weeks felt very close to home for me. I knew these characters intimately.
The film, based on the 2020 short film of the same name, is rife with a frenetic magic that is CLEARLY a product of being a dearly loved passion project by everyone involved in its creation (the film includes incredible archive footage woven into the fabric of the story masterfully, which additionally showcases just how long this film has been living inside of the filmmakers and screenwriters, begging to be told), and wow. Every performer is absolutely charismatic, magnetic, iconic, genius stars that have impeccable comic timing and je ne sais quois. I love how well this film communicates what a microcosm family energy is like. The found family so many of us find in each other in niche interest spaces looking to find solace, community, and collaboration we can't find elsewhere. Some of us finding confidence in ourselves and in our voices through the way. This film has SO MUCH HEART, charm, cheek, humor, passion, reverence, adoration, and is going to be beloved by so many people. There are SO MANY quoteable lines and jokes-instant cult classic vibes. I wouldn't be surprised if this film joins the criterion collection someday.
Molly gordon not only shines in her performance but her debut feature film co-direction with nick lieberman (also in his co-directing debut of a feature film) is scintillating. Their script, written with stars ben platt and noah galvan, is immaculately tight, sardonic, jovial, rhythmic, and propelling. The print itself is BREATHTAKING, nostalgic, and timeless. I loved the production design for the film but also for the final performance showcase. The original songs are so good i need the album stat so i can listen to it on repeat.
Patti harrison, molly gordon, ayo edebiri, amy sedaris, noah galvan, jimmy tatro, alan kim... i know i already said this once but the entire cast really brings it. Every single character is so fun and funny and talented 😭 spending time with them felt like hanging out with long-time childhood friends. And that's magic.
I forgot to mention how EXQUISITE the light is in this film like wowowowowowowowowowow. In awe. And again the production design, the costuming, the song selection of existing music to include with the original music is so inspired and well chosen. Very fun needle drops abound.
I enjoyed the film so much it was my second Sundance film that I watched twice back-to-back during my virtual viewing window. The performances are even more nuanced and layered upon second viewing when context revealed later in the film becomes knowledge held from the outset of the events of the film, the hindsight elevating even more already stellar somatically embodied performances. So rewatchable. If all of the sundance virtual screenings for this film weren't already sold out I would buy another 5-hour viewing window pass to watch this again two more times I really love Theater amp (2023) that much. I can't wait to own my own physical copy of this movie one day. What an absolute joy and an honor to watch.
Shortcomings (2023)
Sad. Hopeful. Triumphant. Sexy. Funny. Beautiful. Human.
Some quotes from the post film Q&A to articulate how I feel in this moment:
"...for me it was just always about finding the truth, the humanity. I think there's a bit of Ben in all of us and there are sides of us that come out when we are wrought with insecurities or paralyzed by our own perfectionism and I think even in that brokenness, we can find empathy, we can find humanity." - Justin H. Min (Ben)
"I could literally break down in tears. ...what a reminder that we're enough. What a reminder that we can just be, and just live and have conversations and have opinions and have relationships and be so layered, you know? Relationships between our best friend, relationships between our parents, relationships between our booty calls... They're not the same and it's so complex and it doesn't need to be...a kung fu sequence. It doesn't need to be an onion pancake... It can just be human beings that are so relatable and trying to figure it out, ...and just dying for change and self-improvement, and not knowing how because we're...stuck in our insecurities, in our complacency, whatever it may be. So I think this is such a beautiful work of art about just being human and we just happen to be Asian and Alice is just such a special character, 'cause theres so much overlap in the queerness, the Asian-ness, the loud woman-ness, so I'm just honored and grateful to be a part of Randall's directorial debut and Adrian-it's so ahead of it's time, I mean... 2007! And we're still having the same conversations." - Sherry Cola (Alice)
"...it didn't feel like i was watching a movie i felt like i was watching my friends." - Ally Maki (Miko)
(me: sobbing)
"...that's exactly what this movie is about is having pain while also having joy and this movie expanded my heart like 10 times over just, and Randall, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. So it's very special." - Ally Maki (Miko)
"...I think it's important to do work that isn't necessarily for an audience either. It's for yourself." - Adrian Tomine (writer of screenplay and original graphic novels)
(sundance q&a theater audience: standing ovation)
(me: even more sobbing)
This visually stunning anti-rom com is one of the most me-coded films I have ever seen I am so beyond happy to see a film like this exist????? I am in love with Sherry Cola's character and performance. The chemistry, charisma, and amazing banter she she has write absolutely everyone on screen? Wow. What an absolute star. Tavi Gevinson was also a break out to me. I thought she was absolutely delightful and hilarious. Sonoya Mizuno. Jacob Batalan. Justin H. Min. The casting felt so on point for me in every role, because honestly all of the performances in this film are top tier and feel so fluid and natural like breathing air. Like the actors don't even have to think about remembering their lines they're just living authentically in the moment, so natural and lived in. You can tell how present the performers are and how much fun it must have been to play in this world and explore these characters for these actors. It was really inspiring to see. Flawed characters are valid and seeing people traditionally perceived in media in different states of imperfection but searching for their truth and happy endings, whatever that may mean for them, was extremely affirming to see. A lot of these conversations felt like versions of conversations I've been in or have heard my friends recount to me and watching it really does feel like reuniting with an old friend you haven't seen in a long time. I can already tell it's going to be a new favorite comfort film for me. Randall Park balances the tension between dramatic and comedic moments with a deft hand-there are multiple transitions that had me in fits of laughter. The film feels like such a love letter to cinema and storytelling while still not shying away from tackling difficult topics of conversations and realities within the larger Asian American community. It feels very much like a film that will prompt discussion and i just feel really happy to see a movie like this exist and that more Asian Americans will have opportunities to see characters who reminded them of themselves or people they know in their own lives reflected in media.
Also that opening title drop? THAT BOOKSTORE SEQUENCE??? Stunning.
Loved this so much I watched it twice in a row within my Sundance virtual viewing window. It was my first Sundance repeat viewing :))))
The Disappearance of Shere Hite (2023)
Shere Hite was not silent, she was silenced.
"Newsweek says The Hite Report is the 30th best-selling book of all time."
I'm honestly shocked that I don't remember ever hearing anything about Shere Hite and her books until watching this documentary and as an avid reader who prides themselves on having read a lot of women's interest books, I had not even heard of these? I did go to all girl's catholic school in Japan growing up though so that also may have a lot to with that, but I've added both Hite Reports and Women and Love to my goodreads tbr shelf because I'm so curious to read them now! This documentary felt very timely even now, which is heartbreaking but unsurprising. As Shere Hite says herself: "Male ownership of women's sexuality is what makes patriarchy possible. As women we deserve the right to own our own bodies."
The Oprah appearance was chilling but all too real. I feel like Hite would be such a charismatic person to be around. Her modeling work????? Literally so influential and iconic. And I had no idea! I definitely am curious to know more about Hite.
A confession: When Dakota Johnson, who provides a stunning narration of Hite's journal entries throughout the film, says "I made it real nice..." all my brain could think was "dorinda medley!" because Bravo is not just a TV channel but a state of mind.