Hello Reader, Even if you don’t care about the Oscars, what’s considered Oscar-worthy deeply impacts what films you hear about. Because arthouse and international distributors divide films into two categories: movies they think can win Oscars and movies that can’t. Oscar movies get massive marketing budgets, come out in the fall, and screen for months. So you hear about them. The rest get dumped in the spring and summer, and they might not even tell the press the films exist, no matter how...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the bes'st socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: 20 years of...
13 days ago • 9 min read
Hello Reader, Two of my favourite Hamlets -- David Tennant and Cush Jumbo -- starred in a production of Macbeth last year at the Donmar Warehouse. Fortunately, thanks to the gods of recorded theatre, you can now watch a recording of the production in cinemas this weekend. Most major cities have screenings on Sunday. Some cities have additional screenings. Find screenings in your area here. Why this production Tennant is one of the great Shakespearean actors working today. He's given...
14 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, I’m planning a series of short-term movie discussion groups based around a theme in the coming months. Below are the three themes with the movies I plan to offer. Please take a look and let me know which ones you’re interested in. These will run every two weeks on Sundays from 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET. However, depending on who signs up, the timing can be changed to accommodate participants. The cost is $150 USD/movie group. Each group meets three times via Zoom and is limited to...
16 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, Have you taken stock of your cinematic diet and noticed a dearth of African contemporary films? And among those films, even fewer of them are directed by women? You're not alone. Even if you go to international film festivals, there usually aren't many African films. Maybe a handful of them. Most African films available to you are directed by cis straight men, especially if you're looking for films by established filmmakers. Only a fraction of the films that play festivals make...
21 days ago • 1 min read
...is a Mike Leigh movie from 2018, set in 1800s England, called Peterloo! There are two very good reasons to watch Peterloo this month: Mike Leigh's excellent new film Hard Truths is out in cinemas...so what better time to watch his unsung masterpiece? As we collectively mourn the inauguration of Donald Trump, I find this historical drama a very moving story about how, even if the fight for democracy ends in carnage, there's still hope for the future (and that you and I can change it.) What...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, Is Halina Reijn's Babygirl the erotic thriller of the year? Is it even an erotic thriller?! Nicole Kidman's performance is getting all the buzz; she won Best Actress at Venice. But the film's best asset is rising star Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats, Triangle of Sadness), as the intern to her CEO, the unexpected lover in a power-exchange relationship who knows exactly what she needs and isn't getting from her husband (Antonio Banderas). Love it, hate it, or feel kinda middling...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, You are receiving this as a paying subscriber to The Globetrotting Watchlist (which includes Film Adventurer and Cinephile Members), a monthly newsletter that helps you expand your cinematic horizons through streaming recommendations for the best socially progressive under-the-radar films worldwide. Your support helps us pay our expenses to keep Seventh Row, a non-profit, ad-free and online. What's Inside the Globetrotting Newsletter This month, I'm recommending: One of the best...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, When it comes to watching movies... There are the choices you want to be making for yourself (e.g., watching your cultural vegetables that will feed you emotionally and intellectually) And there are the choices you actually make (e.g., watching junk food)...which might be because you're not even sure which choice to make because your watchlist is so long that you're endlessly scrolling. If this predicament sounds familiar...you're not alone. The Good News? Watching your cultural...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read