Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez)
Watch in two sittings because it is 2.5 hrs and it is packed. Add in a third to think about how hot and cool Andrée Blouin was. If there are no subtitles as there were not for me on Kanopy (see rec 2) turn on captions!!
Kanopy
I don't know if everyone knows about Kanopy or no one knows about Kanopy. In case you don't know about Kanopy, here you go. Through your library or university you can make a free account, which gives you monthly credits to watch films. I added about 200 movies to my watchlist, and since there's no way I will be watching 200 movies in the near future I unsubscribed from all other streamers. Hot tip: if you have multiple library memberships or both a library membership and university affiliation, you can have two memberships i.e. double the monthly credits. Nice!
Smiley Face (2007)
Anna Faris unknowingly eats an entire batch of her weird roommate's pot cupcakes and tries to get the money to buy weed to make a replacement batch, all while going about her normal day (which includes auditioning for a casting director played by Jane Lynch). Anna Faris should have won an Oscar for her commitment to being incredibly stoned. Her performance is 100% charming and 100% gross. Slack-jawed munchies gremlin. Something something female gaze. Watch stoned. Or don't watch stoned. Idk.
The Magus (John Fowles)
"A fireworks exhibition of fantasy, sexual love and moral awareness" need I say more??? This book was recommended to me in 2020 by someone working at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene (thank you, whoever you are!) and I read it in a week, hunched over on the back fire escape of my apartment in Bed-Stuy, with the hum of the generator below. The world was totally surreal, and maybe that's why I fell in love with this book, in which the protagonist is perpetually thrown off-balance by the strangeness of the world around him. It is largely set on a Greek island and it is sexy and weird and midcentury and I hope it holds up bc if not I'll be very sad!!! Whenever I meet ppl who also love this book, I feel like we're members of a secret society. Join! (Will update when I finish reread.)
