July 8th: Wheels up!
I return from the wilderness with three movies that I watched on a flight one time.
Hello! Once again, I’ve abandoned my post, but instead of graduating, I was instead celebrating the holiday last weekend with my friends out on Fishers Island. It’s not my favorite holiday, especially in light of recent events, but getting a day off meant that my friends had time to make the trek up to the island with me, and that is always something special. It’s been an extremely hectic two weeks for me (I’m writing this post from the car after taking a last-minute jaunt to the Hamptons with my cousin Eliza and her friends to help her gather belongings before she moves to Philadelphia tomorrow) but things are finally calming back down, and I’ve finally been able to set aside some time to return to you with some movies. But first, just a few pictures!
People are traveling again, and my recent flurry of activity has made me think of past journeys. Long flights are the only time I allow myself to really settle into a movie marathon (what, you really think I’m going to sleep when there are free movies for the watching?) and these three movies are the result of one particularly inspired Delta selection a few years ago - I watched all three back to back, in this order (I think), and it was one of the best plane flight experiences I’ve ever had. I hope they are as exciting to you as they were to me in the moment.
The Movies:
There aren’t many on-screen father-daughter bonds stronger than the one portrayed in Leave No Trace (Netflix), an understated, deeply moving depiction of a family living beyond the fringes of society in the lush forests of the Pacific Northwest. In her film debut, Thomasin McKenzie is a revelation, wild and fragile in equal measure, and Ben Foster matches her every step of the way, portraying a PTSD victim with quiet strength. It’s a movie about people, at its core, and the small acts of kindness that propel us through difficult moments. And as we watch Will and Tom adapt to the shocking, overstimulating new world they find themselves in, it’s impossible not to care deeply for their plight and for those helping them find their feet.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Arresting cinematography, natural performances, lots and lots of leafy greens.
Blindspotting (Free on Roku Channel) paints a vivid, kinetic, tense picture of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. Following two childhood friends as they attempt to disentangle themselves from their lives of petty crime, it’s propelled forward by humorous, snappy dialogue and the easy chemistry between the two leads, both co-writers. Tension continues to build as they come into conflict with local police and each other, culminating in a truly breathtaking, poetic finale that will have you tearing up the armrest of your couch. It walks a tightrope between thriller and comedy and succeeds on both accounts, resulting in a genre-defying, wholly unique vision of a film.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Quick pacing, genre bending, slam poetry.
As you can probably tell by now, I don’t watch a lot of documentaries. But every once in a while a story comes along that’s just too interesting to ignore, and Three Identical Strangers (Hulu) is one of those stories. What begins as a bizarre tale of twins separated at birth quickly becomes something darker and much more fascinating, and as we learn more about the circumstances of this situation, it’s impossible to turn away. And you can’t help but root for these men as they navigate their overwhelming, confusing situation. It’s the kind of story too weird to be made-up, a surprising, captivating tale of deceit and institutional betrayal that you won’t easily forget.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: A truly surreal story, learning something new, matching outfits.
The Binge:
The Bear (Hulu) blends white-knuckle intensity and screaming matches with comedy more effectively than any show I’ve seen in a while, and that combo has propelled it to its spot as the surprise hit of the summer. I’ve never seen a more believable television chef than Carmy, who radiates “I haven’t slept in two days and am sustaining myself solely on cigarettes and dreams” energy out of every pore. And there are plenty of fun cameos to catch your attention throughout its brief runtime. But the best thing about the show, to me, is that each episode doesn’t bite off more than it can chew. There’s enough tension and drama in a regular night of service to easily sustain the intensity of each episode without relying on soap-opera plot lines. It’s an honest, raw depiction of the pain and work that tens of thousands of chefs subject themselves to every night to put food on the table, and the rush of adrenaline that brings them back every time.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Argument as art form, repressed feelings, insomniac energy.
The Tune:
We ended the evening last night with a sound bath, where we turned off all the lights, laid on the floor, and marinated in some extremely vibey late-night tunes. Some usual suspects made it in the rotation, but Eliza’s friend Izzy put one on that stopped me in my tracks, a dreamy, hazy stunner of a song from the deeper regions of Spotify’s back catalog. It’s contemplative and mournful, in its way, but it’s also undeniably hopeful, with loose percussion and raw vocals lending it a sense of propulsive strength. Deeply heartfelt and true, Hamartia is a reminder that there are always more musical miracles out there if you take the time to look.
Thanks for your patience, everyone! I’ll be back next week with more movies - till then, get outside and take care of yourself. You deserve it.
Love,
Nick
dreamy!!!