Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
Join me in April?
|
I’m running something new in April. It’s called The Deep Focus. We’ll spend three weeks with two films by Joachim Trier — Oslo, August 31st and Sentimental Value — following how they’re put together. We'll look at specific moments, trace patterns within and across the films, and see how those choices shape what you feel. If you’ve ever felt a scene hit — and weren't quite sure why — this is a space to stay with that question long enough to find an answer. I won’t tell you what to think. We start on April 9. It’s about 75 minutes a week. You can come live or follow along in your own time. There are 20 seats (some already taken), so it stays small — so the live sessions can function as shared thinking spaces, not crowded rooms — and you’ll have direct access to me throughout. If you want to take a closer look: |
Seventh Row
Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to Bill Hader, the SNL star-turned-writer-director, on the Team Deakins podcast. He was talking about rewatching Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, hitting a moment that felt like an emotional gut punch — and literally pausing the film to ask:“Why did that hit me?!” That kind of moment — where something lands harder than you expect —and you feel something strongly before you know why… You’ve probably had that, too. Even Hader — who thinks about directing...
Last week, Joachim Trier took home his first Oscar for Sentimental Value — after 9 nominations. (The only films with more nominations were in English and had movie stars in them.) Before that, Sentimental Value had already earned Barack Obama’s seal of approval and most of the European Film Awards. There’s never been a better time to dig into what makes Joachim Trier's films so good. Sentimental Value is a masterpiece, but it's not Trier's first. That was Oslo, August 31st. And Sentimental...
The best film I saw at this year’s Berlinale was a 19th-century period drama that felt like Portrait of a Lady on Fire meets Belle meets An Education. Much like in Portrait of a Lady on Fire, the only men in the film are servants or employees. Which means the story can laser-focus on the racial, class, and sexual hierarchies the women are still subject to, even when men aren’t around. Like Portrait, it is about lesbians. And like Belle, one of the main characters is a racialized aristocrat....