Shownotes
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I’m trying to build a catalogue of lesbian movies & shows on Plex (including lesbian directed). You can help me by sending me the titles you think are missing.
Movie of the week
Encanto (2021) by Jared Bush & Byron Howard
This is my newsletter and I will recommend a children’s movie about a curly-headed lesbian who seeks her outcast, gay uncle Bruno as she feels left out of her perfect and straight family1. I love most Disney movies even when they’re full of dull-headed princes, but Encanto is special: finally, a girl gets to take her journey to self-acknowledgement all on her own, without any distracting romantic interests or help from anyone.
As a new mother of merely a cast iron skillet that needs plenty of care, but certainly doesn’t put Disney musicals on repeat, I look forward to not having to listen to any of the songs ever again. 🇨🇴
Anticipated Returns
Ozark (2017-2022, Season 4, Netflix)
Ozark has returned to Netflix as likely one of the last “Prestige Television Shows” produced by the streaming giant. Long gone are the days of House of Cards, Mindhunter (!) and soon, The Crown. It’s all Emily in Paris and Hype House from here on out. I’m assuming that bet will pay off as their pivot towards mediocre mass media will be offset with higher quality yet much cheaper international productions (think Squid Game). And who needs a star-ridden, Oscar-winning ensemble cast in TV if you can actually create the movie stars of tomorrow where there is still undiscovered talent? Uhhh actually - maybe Netflix needs it? Missing their quarterly earnings, the stock crashed and obliterated more than 1/5th of the company’s value. Whoops!
You know who’s not missing quaterly earnings? Marty and Wendy. Back in the Ozarks, their unsaturated cartel money laundering scheme is now a full-blown family business. Even the best crime thriller stories tend to lose steam after three seasons, but Ozark is strong as ever, packed with grit and exhausting twists, and hopefully ending on a gracefully high note. Trigger warning: the season is split in two parts (of which two episodes are directed by Robin Wright 🔥), and the second hasn’t dropped yet, so you might want to save your binge. 🇺🇸♀
Second Screening
Single Drunk Female (2022, Season 1)
Sam, a dark and cynical, mostly drunk 20-something, loses her cool media job after assaulting her boss. A court order forces her to go to rehab and get her life back in order. Single Drunk Female is hilarious and gracefully abstains from teaching its viewers a lesson about abuse. Is alcoholism… fun? According to Single Drunk Female, it just might be. ♀(🏳️🌈)
Arthouse Pick
Drive My Car (2021) by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Two years after his wife suddenly passes, actor and director Yusuke Kafuku accepts to direct Uncle Vanja at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There he meets Misaki, a shy young woman, appointed to drive him in his vintage Saab Turbo 900 (ICONIC!). Between rides, they become acquainted in an emotional way two strangers often do, skipping the small talk and diving straight into their emotional secrets and grief.
Drive My Car is a slow ride (sorry), so slow that a full hour passes before we see the opening credits, deeply immersing the viewer into Yusukes backstory and emotional context. Slow, yes - but consistently captivating and with outstanding direction by Hamaguchi. The narrative is complex, but despite the runtime (3 hours), there’s a lot going on in the movie. Every minute is packed with plot, detail and feeling. The film is based on a Haruki Murakami short-story and nominated for a Best International Picture Academy Award after winning Best Picture from all three major U.S. critics groups (LA, NY, NSFC)2. 🇯🇵
Weekend watch
The 355 (2022) by Simon Kinberg
Movies have essentially become Buzzfeed listicles, reeling off big Hollywood names with a 3 minute appearance and calling it an “ensemble cast”3. The 355 is Ocean’s 8 without the heist but with Jessica Chastain (Cate-Blanchett-adjacent 🔥), Fan Bingbing and Penelopé Cruz in the lead. There’s some Diane Kruger, Marion Cotillard and Lupita Nyong’o, too, and look, it’s not gonna be a good film, but it’s a CIA thriller that states “from the people that made Jason Bourne” on the poster and that’s good enough for me? 🚩🚩🚩🚩
Bonus Content
🎧 Depeche Mode - “Never Let Me Down Again” (Spotify / YouTube)
If you are not watching Euphoria and gasping at the incredulous million dollar budget for the soundtrack (INXS! Depeche Mode! CAN!) then 👏🏼 what 👏🏼 the 👏🏼 fuck are you even doing with your life4
📚 Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson (2021)
A climate fiction novel set in the future and typical Neal Stephenson who often values plot over prose. Read it for the world-building.
Encanto is lesbian canon and I will absolutely die on this hill.
A rare achievement, with the only other five movies being Goodfellas, Schindler’s List, LA Confidential, The Social Network & The Hurt Locker.
Knives Out 2 (Daniel Craig, Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Madelyn Cline, Jessica Henwick, Ethan Hawke), The French Dispatch (Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Christoph Waltz, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman), House of Gucci (Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek), and that’s just to name a few.
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