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Henry makes a lot of low key insufferable navel-gazey films that I really enjoy. Last Summer in the Hamptons (1995) is his best. A matriarch presides over her family, who are all somehow involved in the theatre. It makes you wish you grew up with intellectuals in a house by the sea. Eating: A Very Serious Comedy about Women and Food is so annoying, it’s just women saying they’re fat at a party in Los Angeles, but my friend and his wife have the poster in their dining room, and it’s a great poster, I recommend getting it. He’s alive, Henry is, my translator friend knows him, she’s his muse, though she’s turned the camera back on him, her documentary on him needs a place to screen, if you’re a gallerist, get in touch. Support living artists!
Oct 21, 2021
Related Recs
My love for this man’s filmmaking is so profound it could bring me to tears.
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) gave me more validation than I knew a film could. So much so I made my family sit down and watch it recently. My brother promptly ordered me the books mentioned in the doc. Feeling seen is never overrated.
Special mention to Innocents Abroad (1991) and Always for Pleasure (1978).
Jan 30, 2024
If you're a man and you're not very good at it, check out the wonderful stories directed by John Cassavetes. He was a brilliant independent film maker and sort of spearheaded the idea of independent film in America. His movies tend to revolve around the themes of the dark sides of masculinity — aka guys being dudes (derogatory). His films were also his own various insecurities, both personal and professional, made naked on screen.
Please check out Husbands, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and A Woman Under the Influence. These aren't typical independent films (i.e., they're not black and white and 4 hours long). They're profoundly unpretentious yet are deeply thoughtful all the same.
John Cassavetes — truly a brilliant and underappreciated director.
May 12, 2024
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As a devout Lubitsch-ite, I've always been somewhat timid of Tashlin's gags. But on revisiting 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' I've come to realize that these gags are gags to contemplate.
Dec 20, 2023
Top Recs from @kaitlin-phillips
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I thought Labi Saffre was a woman, he’s not. Nice quality in a singer. Anyway, these are two of the best love songs ever written. I first heard You’re Lovely on repeat on mushrooms. It’s :32 seconds. I recommend the experience.
Oct 21, 2021
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I prefer the writing of writers who never publish. Sam Frank is one of the best who publishes the least. He’s probably going to be publishing even less, because he’s doing well in crypto. Sad! Start with this piece in Harper’s where he hangs out with some libertarians and this piece in Triple Canopy about how his dad failed to do what he might have done. Or email him.
Oct 21, 2021
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A book critic friend of mine’s husband’s parents live in Boulder, and they have all these great intellectual boomer friends who make art but don’t have to make money. Or so it seems. I may be wrong... Anyway, one of them is Barbara Shark. This is like Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin, but no one has ever heard of it. I think it’s out of print because it wasn’t ever really in print. I don’t even cook, for the record.
Oct 21, 2021