JUNE 30
I keep on adding to the “what I watched” section but not posting this because I don’t have anything to say for the body of the newsletter. There is no body of the newsletter anymore. I just need to tell you about the movies I’ve watched and the new zine.
PICTURE OF THE CAT
WHAT I WATCHED
I watched some movies! I’d heard of the Steve McQueen Le Mans since I got into racing, and finally sat down and watched it, and it’s a much stranger film than I expected. I thought, you know, tough guy movie star, telling a story about an iconic race, it’s going to be a fairly rote sports movie. But this thing is so slow and quiet? It’s a movie for grownups about contemplating your mortality? There’s no big triumph, very little romance. They shot at the actual race, and the atmosphere captured is remarkable, and the racing is really well shot. The way the cut the big crash scenes is really neat, effectively using limited footage and sound design to make these moments last. But the big crashes are a small percentage of the film. The driving is a small percentage of the film. So much of it is people being damp and unhappy. I don’t think there are any jokes in this? It’s such a weird time capsule, but also I think this might have been out of step even in ’71? I didn’t love it—it’s very slow and very quiet. But I respect it a lot. The decision to take an event that’s so lively and make this movie out of it is absolutely wild, and I’m glad to have seen it.
I also watched a fair amount of the actual 100th running of Le Mans, mostly the middle of the night stretch, and it was very entertaining. The prototype cars just look so alien, watching them navigate each other on the track is fairly hypnotizing.
We finally watched Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which was super fun. It’s got good set pieces, it’s got good jokes, the cast is great. It’s a wonderful fresh summer movie. I don’t play d&d, but I exist in enough nerd spaces to get how well this film captures the spirit the game, and the joy of coming together with friends for an adventure story. I will happily watch more of these.
I caught up with M. Knight Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin mainly so I can listen to the Blank Check episode, but I think I really liked it???? Or, that’s not quite accurate. I found it super compelling, and the last scene did make me cry. I would not go as far as to call it good, and I think it probably has too many ideas, but it’s a trip! I do not mean that as a compliment! I took a break in the middle, not so much because it’s harrowing, although it is, but just because it’s a lot of movie. I needed to look at my phone for twenty minutes before getting to the ending. I would have to spend a lot more time with this film to pick apart what I think it’s trying to say, but I do appreciate that there are gay people in this movie, and I really appreciated Richard Lawson’s piece about what their presence might mean. It was finally nice enough to walk around running errands today, and I listened to the Blank Check episode, and I appreciated their discussion, especially the bit asking “what could you see on the news that would convince you it was the apocalypse, and not just a bad weird day?” They couldn’t really come up with an answer, and neither can I! What a word to live in!
Gus and I finally watched Fast X after skipping it in the theaters, and it brings me no joy to say this, but this movie is very bad. Or, it’s half of a movie, and quite bad. The different storylines are too siloed, most of the action sequences feel unearned, and they gave Charlize a normal haircut, which is completely not right for the character. There are too many things happening, and it never arrives at a conclusion, because this is part one of two or possibly 3 films wrapping up the “Toretto Saga” (except that there will almost certainly be more, or at least spinoffs).
I’m not going to say he’s the best thing about the movie, but the funnest thing is Jason Momoa’s villain, who is camp madness. Did they make this character gay on purpose? I don’t know. The styling choices certainly make me think so, but beyond that… It’s a lot of acting. You can debate whether or not Knock at the Cabin is good for the gays, but I don’t doubt Shyamalan’s intentions. Momoa’s character is… I have no idea. There are a lot of moments in this film where you’re like, “I don’t think the filmmakers know what they’re trying to do here,” which is probably a reflection of the fraught production process, and every choice about this character is a big “I don’t know what they’re trying to do here moment.” The end result is incredibly compelling if nothing else. There’s one scene where he SPOILER paints the nails of a couple of corpses who are covered in flies and have their eyes taped open. This scene comes out of nowhere, and is so dark, and on a completely different wavelength from the rest of the film. It’s going to fuck up some kid who went in thinking it was going to be more fun car adventures, but it is one of the most interesting scenes in the whole franchise, and it’s going to stick with me for a lot longer than interchangeable car chase number 38. I was really looking forward to this movie, and this was a messy disappointment, but also I can’t wait to see where it’s headed next.
I was having a bad night, so I decided to put on a movie, and was delighted to see that Mubi has Velvet Goldmine, one of my absolute favorite films that can be a bit hard to track down. If you haven’t seen it yet you gotta!!!!!!!! Fake David Bowie and Fake Iggy Pop!!!!!! Great tunes!!!!! Not Todd Haynes best film, but possibly my favorite? (It’s close between this and I’m Not There, because the way you find your favorite Todd Haynes film is based on which most closely reflects your own obsessions.)
After watching D&D we were talking about Michelle Rodriguez, who’s wonderful in it, and somehow this turned into talking about how we’ve never seen Girlfight, the 2000 Michelle Rodriguez boxing movie. It’s Karen Kusama’s debut, and there’s something about first films where it’s like, well, this was made by a person who has an eye, but everything they’re shooting cast five dollars. The cast in a bunch of solid New York theater actors, some kids, and then one future movie star. I love movies like this. Rodriguez is phenomenal in this.
ZINE CLUB
It’s called “feelbad nostalgia perzine.” It’s mostly an essay I wrote in 2018 and then didn’t do anything with. The cover is really cool goth butterfly scrapbook paper. “Perzine” is a “real word” — it’s an antiquated term for a “personal zine.” As a word it’s very 90s, and as a genre it’s something I’ve always tried to avoid, but fuck it! You can sign up to get it here.
I really do think I’m going to write about rallycross next month. Apologizes in advance.
SONG OF THE DAY
Gus and I saw Wednesday at First Ave on Wednesday night, which was brilliant, but honestly, the opening act Tenci just knocked my socks off. I’d listened to them quite a bit leading up to the show, and had enjoyed them, but live they were just phenomenal, and also came across as the coolest kindest people, the kind of weird thoughtful queer folk that I feel lucky anytime I am in community with. Seeing them play was brilliant, and their latest album is going to be staying in my frequent rotation for a long time.