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.
Now in cinemas: Halina Reijn's Babygirl
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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 it as we did, Babygirl offers a lot of food for thought! Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Woman in Revolt Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Pugh to dig into why we think Babygirl is worth talking about...even if we didn't totally love it. Episode 155: Halina Reijn's BabygirlHappy watching/listening! Alex
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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.
There's a moment in the first episode of Looking that still lives rent-free in my head: Patrick meets Richie — his love interest for the season — on Muni (San Francisco's public transit). I lived in the Bay Area when it aired in 2014. So I spent the next three years riding Muni hoping my Richie would find me there, too. Which is a lot of influence for a scene that lasts only a few minutes. Of course, that was partly about what happens later in the show — when we find out just how great Richie...
There's a moment in the first episode of Looking that I didn't fully appreciate until I was on my, IDK, 15th rewatch. After a catastrophically bad first date, Patrick (Jonathan Groff) gets on the Muni (San Francisco's public transit) to head to the bachelor party of his ex-boyfriend who he dumped for being boring. But first, he looks at a map: Like so much of Looking, it plays as completely naturalistic the first time you watch it. Patrick is trying to figure out where he's going next. But...
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...