Hello Reader, I didn't expect to watch Jane Austen Wrecked My Life three times last week. But I did. I couldn't help myself. The first time was to jog my memory so I could record this week's podcast. The second was because it brought me such ecstatic joy that I wanted to relive it. The third was to obsess over the details in writer-director Laura Piani's exquisite filmmaking. Why does this film fill me with glee and laughter? (It's definitely the verbal wit. But it's the visual wit, too.) How...

Hello Reader, It can be easy for some of us to forget how recent the “bad old days” were — when queer couples were still jumping through hoops to be seen, recognized, allowed. Alice Douard’s debut feature, Love Letters, just premiered in Critics’ Week — one of the lesser-publicized sidebars at Cannes (which I broke down on Ep. 171 of the podcast). It’s not available to watch yet — but it’s one to keep an eye out for. And if you’re curious about how it captures a very recent chapter of queer...

Hello Reader, We’re midway through this year’s Cannes Film Festival — and while it hasn’t made many headlines, seven women directors are in Competition this year. That’s the most in the festival’s history. It’s progress — but it’s also a reminder of how far we still are from gender parity. And most of those seven are white women. Many of the best women directors working today are still relegated to sidebars… or left out entirely. In Episode 1 of our Women at Cannes series on the Seventh Row...