|
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 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.
Have you ever felt that none of the available versions of adulthood quite fit, Reader — And you’re not sure what does? That’s one of the central questions running through HBO’s Looking. The show follows three gay friends in San Francisco navigating work, relationships, and adulthood — grappling with questions that still feel immediate now: ✨ What do I actually want — not what I should want or what I happen to want right now?✨ What expectations around me feel right — or might need rethinking?✨...
What do Mad Men, The Good Wife, Gossip Girl, and Looking have in common? Aside from being four of the best TV series of this century? (I said what I said.) On the surface, they look very different. Mad Men is about advertising creatives in 1960s New York. The Good Wife is about a Chicago lawyer rebuilding her career after years spent raising children. Gossip Girl (the OG one) is Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth — if it were about teenagers with smartphones. And Looking is about three gay...
On Sunday night at 9:15 pm, I filed into the InsideOut screening of Allan Deberton’s Gugu’s World, a Brazilian film about an 11-year-old queer boy growing up with his doting but ailing grandmother — after his father couldn’t accept him as he is. Earlier this year, the film premiered in the Berlinale’s Generation section — dedicated to films about young people, for young audiences — where it won the Crystal Bear for Best Film for audiences under 12. So why was it screening at 9:15 pm? And why...