03/19/21
This week: MoviePass, Avengers, and an anthology-shaped gift to give yourselfTRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: Justin Bieber - Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
☞ Letterboxd: JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
☞ TikTok: #StopAsianHate
☞ Spotify: What’s Next - Drake
☞ Netflix: YES DAY
☞ Twitter: #DragRaceUK
Life & Culture
We were gutted by the news of more AAPI hate leaving 8 people dead in Atlanta on Tuesday. If you're feeling the same anger and frustration in the pit of your stomach today, and looking for a way to take action, check out some great resources from GOLD HOUSE and CAPE for a plan to to weed out hate and plant seeds of understanding here. You can also take this bystander intervention program that Shuyu on our team flagged for us. There are different degrees of involvement you can have as a bystander who speaks up, depending on your comfort level, so there really and truly is a way for all of us to be part of the solution and stop anti-Asian hate and harassment.
—Neha Gandhi, EVP, Digital & Strategy
To those of you who took advantage of the most innovative and brilliant idea in all of Hollywood (I’m talking about MoviePass, obviously), and are missing the days of endless theater viewing...good news might be coming your way. Maybe. On Tuesday, the company mysteriously updated this website with the text “the movie is about to start” and a countdown set to end on Monday, March 22. According to Variety, former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe has no idea what the countdown might mean. Curiouser and curiouser.
But whatever ends up happening, I love the drama of it all and remain somewhat hopeful that one day soon, we’ll all get to see as many movies in theaters as our hearts desire, for the low, low price of $9.99 a month.
Most regular readers of this email probably know that I spend a decent amount of time on TikTok every week—curating the best videos of the platform for you all, of course. Once of the things I’ve been noticing lately is how much real estate the platform gives to the issues that we all should (and likely do) care about—more than any other social media site.The first thing you probably saw if you perused the Discover page any time this week was an initiative to stop AAPI hate crimes, with one section on learning resources, one on amplifying AAPI creators, and another on how to take action. The platform has also explicitly created space for Black voices during Black History month, and is running a similar program for Women’s History month as well.
With all of that being said, of course, my favorite videos on TikTok from the week. This video accurately depicts an average morning of anyone who listens to The Daily, and this one hilariously portrays what getting robbed might look like in the world of Gen Z.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
Filmmaker
“Sometimes a first feels like a long time coming. You feel like it’s about time.” That’s Chloe Zhao talking about the many talented female directors—and particularly women of color—who came before her, who she admires. I’m pretty sure I don’t have to “introduce” you to Chloe. She’s probably one of the buzziest directors in Hollywood right now and is making history at every turn. With 34 wins (so far) she’s already become the most awarded person in a single modern awards season, according to Variety. She’s also the first woman of color to be nominated for a Best Director Oscar—and if she wins, she’ll be the second woman to ever win the prestigious award. She’s also the first woman of Asian heritage to win a Best Director Golden Globe.
One of the most interesting things that drives her work: a desire to get out of the echo chamber. She told Alfonso Cuarón in Interview: “I am terrified that I will end up making films for people who already agree with me, which just keeps enforcing our own ideas. I’d rather have one person who disagrees with my politics watch my film, and then somehow see themselves in it without putting up a shield, than a whole room of people who already agree with me give me a standing ovation.”
—Neha Gandhi, EVP, Digital & Strategy
Film
I really hate to be ~that person~ and talk about a film I saw at a festival that isn’t available to watch, but I’m going to do it anyway. I got to see Megan Park’s film THE FALLOUT this week at SXSW and thought it was a fantastic debut. Written and directed by Park, the film follows two high school students (Jenna Ortega and Maddie Ziegler) after they are trapped in the bathroom together during a school shooting. The shooting happens off-screen but we stay with Ortega and Ziegler in real time for a harrowing five minutes. The rest of the film follows Ortega’s character, Vada, as she struggles to come to terms with what has happened. It’s an incredibly empathetic film that never feels like trauma-porn; it simply sheds a light on the varied ways teens might process such an awful event. I should note that the film also looks super stylish and is buoyed by a great soundtrack and score. Universal has already acquired all distribution rights to the film so it should be gracing your various screens in no time!
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
I was holding off on watching NOMADLAND because I had a feeling that I would cry the whole time and wasn’t mentally prepared for it—and I was 100% right. The movie is so beautiful. I specifically loved the way that every character that Fern, played by Frances McDormand, comes across—from the endlessly loveable Swankie to passing coworkers sharing the stories of their tattoos—are all clearly living such full lives with their own world as their center, similar to how we experience our own lives. If you, like me, usually prefer to end your work days with some lighter fare, I get it. I really do. But I highly recommend switching it up and checking out this one any night that you have a few hours free.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
TV
On my must-watch list for this weekend is the first episode of THE FALCON & THE WINTER SOLDIER on Disney+. Right on the heels of WANDAVISION, Marvel TV is back to give us more content featuring characters we know and love. Although WANDAVISION was truly iconic, and I’ll be humming “Agatha All Along'' at least for the next year, I’m so excited to see what they do with Sam and Bucky in this series. From the final trailer, it looks like the series will tackle themes of fame and celebrity in American culture and what these avengers (specifically Captain America) symbolized for so many. I feel like we’ve been missing action from our screens and I can’t wait to see these two banter in a post-Steve Rodgers world.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant
Theater
Starting this weekend, Broadway on Demand is streaming Lincoln Center’s 2012 production of VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, a Chekhov-inspired farce by Christopher Durang. The play is about two dysfunctional adult siblings-and-roommates (David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Nielsen) whose routine is interrupted by the arrival of their sister (Sigourney Weaver) and her new boyfriend (my personal fave, Billy Magnussen). If it wasn’t clear from that all-star comedic cast, hilarity ensues. It streams for free here!
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Book
NOTES FROM THE BATHROOM LINE is hilarious comedic anthology showcasing the work of 150 female and non-binary comedians—and it happens to have been compiled and edited by a dear friend of PS, Amy Solomon! The book features essays, comics, poems, short stories and more from hilarious women ranging from Beanie Feldstein and Patti Harrison to Natasha Rothwell and Geraldine Viswanathan. It’s a totally delightful read that makes for a great one-year-of-quarantine anniversary gift to yourself,
—Julia Hammer, Creative Executive
Short Film
This week I’m recommending a pair of shorts by female Asian American filmmakers. First is Lulu Wang’s 15-minute TOUCH, available on Vimeo. Based on a true story, the narrative follows Chen, an elderly Taiwanese immigrant to the US whose cultural differences lead to an encounter with the legal system. Wang crafts this story as a family drama, showing how the lawsuit intensifies the divide between Chen and his first-generation son. Also worth checking out is Karyn Kusama’s HER ONLY LIVING SON, the last entry in the 2017 horror anthology XX. Kusama channels ROSEMARY’S BABY with the story of a mother growing increasingly worried about her teenage son’s violent and mysterious behavior. The full anthology (which also includes a short by Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent) is streaming on Hulu and with ads on YouTube – jump to the 52-minute mark for HER ONLY LIVING SON.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
Podcast
I’m dropping in here to recommend ODESSA, the four-part docuseries from the New York Times. I started listening because I discovered the second episode in the feed for THE DAILY, and it billed itself as a doc following the real-life high school behind FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. And my love for Matt Saracen knows no bounds. Turns out, it’s something much better and more compelling than that. It’s a series about the high school on the other side of town from the real-life Dillon Panthers—a high school with a not-great football team and an excellent marching band, which happened to stay open for in-person education during COVID. It’s a look at how an entire economy can be decimated overnight when the price of oil plummets. It’s also a look at the costs of closing schools—and the costs of keeping them open. And at its emotional center is a teenager named Joanna Lopez—and hearing her tell her story in her words brought me to tears twice this morning. Once, feeling the emotional highs of finding belonging in high school and a second time, feeling the lows of what it means when your family can’t make ends meet, and your future becomes collateral damage in a macro puzzle that feels entirely disconnected from your life.
—Neha Gandhi, EVP, Digital & Strategy