I’ve been making seasonal playlists for the past 13 or so years— first on YouTube, as a way to condense all my favorite tracks into a single playlist, and then to obsessively collate them on Spotify into an autobiographical story of my last three months. I also wanted to make sure to highlight artists who weren’t all the usual white dudes, so I tried to include as many women, lgbtq and poc artists as possible— a very easy feat, to be honest, since these tend to be my favorite music-makers anyway.
At some point as I learned to DJ I began matching songs with other songs with similar BPM, making sure to tell a story with the ebb and flow of tempo. This playlist starts a little melancholic and folky: Lankum is a favorite new-ish folk group from Ireland and I want them to tour in the US very, very badly. The second track by Glass Animals is my most-listened to song of the summer thus far. Things get a little more weird, a little bratty, a little party-ish by the time the Ana Tijoux and Jamie xx roll around (the whole recent Ana Tijoux album is incredible). We start getting a tad more atmospheric over the next couple of tracks, moving from the synth-heavy Kat Frankie and B O D I E S collaboration to Vraell. The Aurora remix keeps up the ethereal vibe before L’impératrice brings a nu-disco vibe, and the following two songs, by (upbeat, delightful) Barry Can’t Swim and Barrie, are some of my favorite listens for the summer as well (I cannot recommend their last records enough). We then continue moving through the disco section with Booka Shade’s remix of French 79, a brief but cool synth track from Black Dog, and result in a long series of pop tracks, perfect from a quick summer jog or dancing around in your kitchen: Annie, a favorite from the ubiquitous new Charli XCX, the gorgeous Illa Sera by Daniella Pes (I was confused about the language of this song before realizing that it was a series of nonsensical syllables!), ATARASHII GAKKO! (described in my last post), a somewhat embarrassing favorite from Sia and Chaka Khan. Then a funk track by Eric Parlmee, a deeply creepy minimalist electronic track by the mysterious SHELLAC (not to be confused with the 90s noise rock band), and ending in an atmospheric, ambient vibe: Ludwig A.F. (points for a great name, am I right?), Tami T, a fantastic slam poetry/rap track by queer artist Kae Tempest, and ending with the contemplative, soft classical of Akira Kosemura. Take a listen, or if you’re not on Spotify (my commendation to you), you can find these tracks all on your website or device of choice!
And now, onto my favorite new-to-me films of the past month. Clearly I wasn’t tired of watching films at Cannes, because I still managed to catch about 20 films either at home or in theatres. Here are my favorites:
Force Majeure by Ruben Östlund, 2014
Before his Cannes winners Triangle of Sadness and The Square, there was this film, an excellent and paradigmatic entry into the Abolish the Family canon. A rich Scandinavian family— hot husband, hot wife, two creepy blonde children— vacation in the French Alps at an expensive resort. The film’s title, Force majeure, or act of god, is an avalanche that wreaks havoc on the seemingly-perfect family dynamics. I adore how much Östlund gleefully despises the rich, and continues to disrupt every single capitalist value of our contemporary condition, and his hatred of the hetero-normative, self-obsessed nuclear family is contagious and beautiful. This one just left Mubi but is available on Tubi and Hulu.
Bottoms by Emma Seligman, 2023
I desperately wanted to see this last summer and I’m so glad I did. My god was this a deliciously weird romp. I was pleasantly surprised this film was even stranger than I expected! Also, is Ayo Edebiri the actor of our generation? I think so. Bless this film. One of my favorite watches of this entire year thus far. On Amazon Prime and MGM+ but I finally (FINALLY) saw it on a plane. Holy cow I loved this one.
Lovely & Amazing by Nicole Holofcener, 2001
Nicole Holofcener is one of those filmmakers who make deeply cutting, even mean-spirited films about people behaving badly, but whose films somehow get advertised as chick flicks. I find this so irritating, because I can’t think of a less melodramatic style than Holofcener’s. This film is about a neurotic late-middle-aged mother and her two neurotic daughters, who come to grips with their personal relationships and their relationship to each other. Also baby Jake Gyllenhaal plays a very controversial love interest, and there are also fascinating plot-points about race, courtesy of an adopted black girl (Raven Goodwin, an absolute standout). It just left Mubi but you can catch it on Peacock or Tubi.
Union by Brett Story, 2024
I already wrote a bit about this one but I cannot wait to get people out to see it once it lands in theatres in the US! Brett Story is one of my favorite contemporary documentary filmmakers. A must-see story about the trials and tribulations of union organizing, and its importance despite all odds. Vital watching for all. Story is the 60s/70s-era Chris Marker of our present day. Bless. I saw it at Sheffield Doc Fest but it’ll land in theatres later this year.
Three Promises by Yousef Srouji, 2024
Another gorgeous film from Sheffield Doc Fest: film by Palestinian Yousef Srouji is almost entirely composed of home videos taken by his mother during the Second Intifada. Editor Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi gorgeously wove together clips from a variety of periods, mostly (but not entirely) chronological, structured around “three promises”: three instances when Yousef’s mother Suha prays to god for her family’s safety, despite generally being not particularly religious. Their family dynamics are so tender, and the film is so loving, and so heartbreaking. It is mostly screening at festivals now, but there is an upcoming screening in Brooklyn in August so please catch it while you can.
The Teachers’ Lounge by Ilkar Çatak, 2023
Christ, this film was stressful. As a teacher myself this one hit me hard: a well-meaning teacher in Germany grapples with a series of thefts at her school; soon the students and faculty find themselves pitted against each other. Questions of truth, ethics, and responsibility come to the fore. I bit my fingernails into stumps watching this one. A masterful exercise in deceptively simple thrillers— the most effective ones, I believe, whose stories are ones we might experience everyday, rather than mysterious and overhyped criminal events. I watched this one on a plane but you can rent it for a few bucks online in a variety of places or get it from your local library.
Drifting Clouds by Aki Kaurismäki, 1996
I’m a recent Aki Kaurismäki convert, and I’ve been slowly trying to get through as much of his filmography as I can. I can’t think of a better European filmmaker (perhaps rivaled by Radu Jude?) who best expresses the exact version of sadistic, cruel, funny, non-melodramatic communist filmmaking that I crave. In this film, a working class couple both lose their jobs through no fault of their own, and they continuously struggle to make it in an increasingly neoliberalized Helsinki. I love Finland. I love Finland so much. I love how in his films Finland exudes just the right amount of Eastern European and Scandinavian, and at times you’re not sure whether you’re in Helsinki or Bucharest or Prague or war-torn Leningrad. The mise-en-scene, like all of his films, is crafted to perfection, Godard-like: both colorful and drab, in a classically postSoviet way. After this, (or before?) see his last year’s prize-winning Fallen Leaves, which shares some of the same actors. You can watch Drifting Clouds on the Criterion Channel.
X by Ti West, 2022
Watched this so I can truly enjoy Maxxxine in the next few weeks, and oh man, I was not disappointed. What a surprisingly gross and effective horror film! A24 was really at its peak around 2022, huh, with Everything Everywhere All At Once and (my other horror A24 favorite) Bodies Bodies Bodies released that same year. X is on Netflix for a little while longer but it’s also on Paramount+.
Robot Dreams by Pablo Berger, 2024
The "other” big animated film of the summer! I actually also liked Inside Out 2 (don’t hate me, freaks), and although the Pixar film is definitely going to win the animated film Oscar, this one actually deserves it more. I am likely going to write more about this adorable (and, arguably, not really appropriate for children??? I was quite heartbroken) film in a future post so I’ll keep things brief here, but if you’re looking for a sweet, nostalgic, perfect-for-summertime, intelligent little animated snack, look no further. Please see this in theatres while you can!
Notre Nazi by Robert Kramer, 1984
Robert Kramer is one of the most underappreciated American political filmmakers. His revolutionary 1970 film Ice was discussed far more in France’s post-1968 Cahiers du cinema journal, and to this day almost all writing about Kramer is in French. He also worked in France for years, so this isn’t altogether surprising, but the dearth of discussion of Kramer in roundups of American activist cinema is disappointing. This film is deeply disturbing: a documentary tracing the making of an (actually existing, apparently worse than this doc) narrative feature film about a Nazi war criminal who was in charge of killing hundreds of thousands of people during WWII. The catch? It stars the Nazi himself. More shocking surprises: the director of the (fictional) film is the son of a Nazi filmmaker, burdened by history and trying to atone for his crimes. The ending of the documentary is extremely famous, and the entire film prefigures (and, I believe, exceeds the quality of) Josh Oppenheimer’s 2012 Act of Killing, in which a leader of Indonesian anti-communist genocidal death squads acts out his atrocious deeds. Chilling, horrible, a triumph of antifascist documentary. You can watch this film on DVD from your local library or it’s available on a few sketchy streaming services, including this one.
Evil Does Not Exist by Hamaguchi Ryusuke, 2024
My unpopular opinion is that this film is far better than the highly overrated, pretentious, and overlong Drive My Car. This film didn’t get enough press or release in the US, and I think audiences expected something similar to the Murakami-esque (and Murakami-derived narrative of) Drive My Car, when instead this film is a complex, deeply ambiguous slow burn with one of the best endings I’ve seen in recent years. I was stunned. (Its theatrical run in NYC just ended but it’s coming soon to AppleTV).
That’s all, folks!