PICTURESTART 10/30/20 PICTURESTART 10/30/20

10/30/20

This week: Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote.

TRENDS THIS WEEK

☞ YouTube: City Girls - Flewed Out
☞ Letterboxd: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
☞ TikTok: #mycostume
☞ Spotify: Positions: Ariana Grande
☞ Netflix: Holidate
☞ Twitter: Paul Rudd

LIFE & CULTURE

I have always been resistant to the idea of merging my social media world with my shopping world. However, for better or worse, I’ve become a recent convert, after making my first purchase based on a targeted IG ad recently. And I guess it’s just in time, since shopping is about to dominate our social feeds, from Instagram to Tiktok. Shopping recs on the app have been passing from user to user for a while on TikTok, but now the tech giant is going all in, with a new partnership with Shopify. Read more about the specifics of the deal here. I guess I’m primed and ready for my next ad-inspired purchase….

Large turkeys across the country are rejoicing—but they might be the only ones. Knowing that families won’t be able to gather for Thanksgiving in the same way they usually do, turkey farmers have been forced to reckon with the fact that people just won’t be buying big birds this year. These farmers have also missed out on turkey-leg sales at sporting events, fairs, and theme parks. (That’s really not a sentence I thought I would ever find myself typing at work.) While this all may seem pretty insignificant, especially to those who skip the turkey on Thanksgiving anyway, hearing this news on KCRW on Tuesday made me think about just how many individual aspects of our society have been shaken by the pandemic. The reality is that as of last month, half of adults in the US who lost a job during the coronavirus outbreak are still unemployed.

If you have any type of social media account, it’s safe to say you’ve seen endless posts encouraging you to vote. It might feel like overkill—or even just lip service—at this point, but it actually matters. Here's the harsh reality: Only 55% of eligible voters actually voted in the 2016 presidential election. That means nearly half of the people who ~could~ vote, didn’t. and that’s not including people whose names were purged from voter rolls for sketchy and questionable reasons or formerly incarcerated citizens whose states prevented them from voting. Things are hopefully looking up, though. As of Thursday morning, more than 75 million Americans have already voted in this year's election—that's already over half of the total votes counted in 2016's election. I’m going to go ahead and add myself to the long list of people you don’t know telling you to vote...but go out and make your voice heard, guys!

And of course, I’ve gotta leave you with some TikToks. This week the Toks that spoke to me the most were this beautiful animation depicting the true circle of life as we all work from home, and this comprehensive tutorial on how to pick up a sheep, for any of you getting into that this weekend.

—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant

FILM

Yes, this is slightly off-brand for me, but I loved BORAT: SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM. Even though the original came out 14 years ago (!!), the character and Cohen’s schtick have aged better than I expected, largely because Cohen has brought on a co-star, Maria Bakalova, who absolutely steals the show. Together, Cohen and Bakalova bring Borat’s uncomfortable comedy to insane new heights. It’s the perfect antidote to these hellish times!

—Julia Hammer, Creative Exec

My rec is a throwback this week: Julie Dash’s beautiful DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST. Released in 1991, this was the first film directed by a Black woman to be theatrically distributed in the US (think about that for a second.). It’s set in a Gullah community on the islands off the coast of South Carolina, and features an entirely Black cast. The film plays more like a visual poem than anything else. It’s a bit hard to follow narratively but I recommend not trying too hard to follow the exact plotlines and instead letting yourself be immersed in the world that Julie has created. The film also captivated Beyoncé, as a lot of visuals from LEMONADE were drawn from it! Check it out on Criterion.

—Bennett Levine, Executive Assistant

In the world of Peak TV, THIS IS US still manages to deliver big-time emotional pressure release valves unlike anything else on TV. The two-hour premiere of S5 this week (on NBC) doesn’t pull any punches (it embraces COVID, Black Lives Matter, and a lot of the other defining and upsetting elements of 2020). I, personally, appreciate a show leaning into our world’s plagues, especially at a time when a lot of us might need it. Go ahead and reconnect with the Pearsons, cry, feel, and use the show as an outlet to unload so many of those emotions you’ve been holding inside of you. And of course, please vote. :)

—Neil Krishnan, Development Assistant

COMIC BOOK

No one has ever seen a living god, but Captain Malik is obsessed with being the first. In WE ONLY FIND THEM WHEN THEY’RE DEAD by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo, Captain Malik and the crew of the Vihaan II harvest the only resources that matter from the giant corpses of alien gods found at the edge of human space. While other autopsy ships race to salvage the meat, minerals, and metals that sustain the human race, Malik sees an opportunity to finally break free from this system. However, Malik's obsession with the gods will push his crew into the darkest reaches of space, bringing them face to face with a threat unlike anything they've ever imagined—unless the rogue agent on their trail can stop them first….

I love the ambition of this new series! It’s a space opera that has the promise of the great unknown. It’s a search for gods in defiance of authority. Captain Malik’s crew is diverse, fun, and interesting. The story feels very much like ATTACK ON TITAN set in space, so if you’re a fan of that property you should definitely check out the two issues that have been released so far!

—Royce Reeves-Darby, Creative Exec

PODCAST

No, I’m not over the fact that Nia DaCosta’s CANDYMAN pushed to 2021. However, DaCosta’s podcast GHOST TAPE may hold me over for at least a few weeks. The story follows new recruit Tessa Dixon (Kiersey Clemons) at a remote army base in Texas as she deals with the psychological and physical trauma of basic training. When she finds a tape belonging to her grandfather labeled “Ghost Tape 10,” she plays the haunting audio and unknowingly unleashes a deadly manifestation of her own family’s horrible misdeeds. I was intrigued enough by the first episode that I found myself in weird corners of Wikipedia researching propaganda campaigns in Vietnam. So...something clearly stuck with me!

—Erica Beach, Development Assistant

THEATRE

Heidi Schreck’s hilarious and winning play WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME is not exactly new (it ran off-Broadway in 2018, on Broadway in 2019, and ran in Los Angeles earlier this year) but I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring it up anyway. A filmed version of the play is now streaming on Amazon, and it’ is the perfect antidote to the anxiety I’m feeling leading up to Election Day. Schreck’s play is not an overly earnest didactic lesson in politics; it’s a wildly funny, heartfelt story of a young girl learning to engage with politics and the world around her as she comes of age.
—Julia Hammer, Creative Exec

BOOK

My favorite book of the year (my coworkers are truly tired of hearing me talk about it) publishes this week: MEMORIAL by Bryan Washington. Gorgeous and intimate, with a truly distinct gay romance at the center, this one has stayed with me for some time. Mike and Benson are on the verge of breaking up after four years. Just as Mike's mother Mitsuko arrives in Houston to visit, Mike decides to return to Osaka to visit his dying father (leaving Benson and Mitsuko to bond in what is my favorite potential buddy comedy spin-off). What I love the most about this book is how it shows the messiness of minority parent-child relationships (both Mike and Benson are POC) when dealing with queerness and culture clash—and how these can persist and even haunt, longafter the children grow up. A24 snatched up the rights to this (I’m not bitter at all) and I can’t wait to see the limited series adaptation.
—Neil Krishnan, Development Assistant

SHORT FILMS

In partnership with Dazed Media, Gucci released a series of short films titled ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, which features nine first-time directors typically seen in front of the camera—including Elle Fanning, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Each short is visually stunning and playful, but Jodie Turner-Smith’s and Emma Corrin’s shorts topped the list for me. A few more installments in the series will be released next week.

—Erica Beach, Development Assistant

Hot off the presses! Former PS assistant Sahan Jayawardena just came out with CAN I HAVE A MASK, a short film based on Sahan’s brother’s experience as a doctor in the early weeks of the pandemic. There has been a lot of COVID-related content dropping recently but Sahan’s short has a surprising amount of heart packed in, paired with some truly beautiful animation. Definitely check it out.

—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant & Bennett Levine, Executive Assistant

Be kind, stay healthy, and as always, stay creative. ツ

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