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.
The movie cure for the inauguration blues...
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...is a Mike Leigh movie from 2018, set in 1800s England, called Peterloo! There are two very good reasons to watch Peterloo this month:
What is Peterloo?The film dramatizes the peaceful political rally held in Peter's Square in Manchester in the 1800s in favour of enfranchising the population of the newly booming industrial town. It's a working-class story of political empowerment...but the rally, which happened on the heels of the Battle of Waterloo, ended in bloodshed (hence the name 'Peterloo') because the upper classes wanted to scare the working classes into submission. How does Mike Leigh put his spin on the period drama?I wrote a whole essay on this in Peterloo in Process: A Mike Leigh Collaboration. But here's the introduction: “Mike Leigh’s Peterloo is a rare story about the fight for a fairer democracy: one of carnage rather than triumph, one that ends with tragedy and unfinished labour rather than success and social change. In other words, despite its broad canvas, including more than a hundred characters acting out historical events, Peterloo is every bit a Mike Leigh film: peppered with flawed, complicated characters, inspirational because it is a story of recognizable people, and nothing like the silk-swishing period pieces that are the staple of British cinema. Why is Peterloo inspiring?Here's the closing paragraph of my essay on the film in our ebook Peterloo in Process: A Mike Leigh Collaboration “Despite the tragedy of Peterloo, I left the theatre invigorated about not just the need for change, but the feeling that spurring that change is something accessible to all of us. The organizers and participants at Peterloo are not Great Men, but flawed, complicated individuals; it is easy to see ourselves in them. Leigh and Pope deliberately put us in the shoes of characters who are deliberating about their political engagement. They are part of what makes Peterloo so terrifying for the upper classes: the sheer number of working-class people there could not be ignored. Leigh thus empowers viewers by making us feel like we, like the Ogdens, can do something. The battle of Peterloo may not have been won, but that is the point: the fight for democracy is ongoing." How to watch Peterloo🇨🇦 Hoopla, Apple TV 🇺🇸 Prime, Rent on Apple TV 🇬🇧 Rent/buy on Apple TV/Sky Store Happy watching! Alex Do you know somebody who would be interested in Peterloo? Please forward this email to them! They can also sign up for this free newsletter at email.seventh-row.com! |
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.
You might be wondering what it's actually like to step into The Deep Focus. So here's a little taste. The first thing I always do is point you to a moment worth looking at. Below is one from the beginning of Sentimental Value. Take a sec to see what you spot in the image. Everything counts — even (and especially) the obvious. You might have noticed: ✨ We're looking through a window (which takes up most of the frame). ✨ We're watching someone through glass. ✨ Someone is leaving. ✨ It's a...
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.But I...
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...