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A new month means new films added to streaming services...This weekend, we're recommending two double features: La Piscine and its remake A Bigger Splash; and Joachim Trier's Thelma and Louder Than Bombs.
Plus, catch up with the Canadian short Shahzad from Haya Waseem, whose first feature will screen at TIFF next month.
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I loved Haya Waseem's short film Shahzad when it screened at TIFF back in 2016. So I was delighted to hear that she's now made her first feature, Quickening, which will premiere at TIFF in September.
In the meantime, I highly recommend catching up with her short.
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Here's an excerpt from my intro to my interview with Haya:
Click here to watch the film.
Jacques Deray's erotic thriller, La Piscine, just got a Criterion Collection release and so is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel in Canada and the US. In 2016, Luca Guadagnino remade the film into A Bigger Splash, a film we loved so much we wrote a special issue on it.
My extremely unpopular to cinephiles opinion is, much like Guadagnino's Suspiria remake, his La Piscine remake is better than the original: it takes the same premise and story and adds characters with psychological complexity and depth... and frankly, it's still just as sexy!
Still Deray's 1969 film is a curiosity: a film about beautiful people hanging out in the beautiful Italian countryside and admiring each other's beauty. It's gorgeous to look at if a bit dramatically thin; it's all atmosphere. I'd recommend the two though as a double bill. It's interesting to see where Luca and screenwriter David Kajganich (who also wrote Luca's Suspiria screenplay) have expanded character details.
A Bigger Splash follows the plot of La Piscine quite closely, including keeping the character names. But as it stars four of the best actors working today, each with roles that have been notably deepened, let's just say, I love it a lot more. Also, it has Ralph Fiennes... dancing!
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Here's an excerpt from my review of the film:
Seventh Row favourite Joachim Trier premiered his latest film at Cannes last month, and it's coming to TIFF in September! If you've been following us for some time, you may know that we've gone deep on his two most recent films, Louder Than Bombs and Thelma, both of which are now streaming on Criterion Channel!
We have a couple of super exciting Trier projects coming soon (one at the end of the month, one in a few months) so stay tuned for announcements!
I've been banging the drum for Trier's English-language debut since I caught it at the first press screening at Cannes in 2015.
The rest of the world has been a bit slow to realise that the film is actually genuinely great: it's just a bit too thoughtful and dense for the dehydrated, exhausted Cannes critic to have appreciated, in part because it refuses to hew to convention and cliche. Barry Jenkins discovered it last year and was amazed by how good it was. (Barry, I said this in 2015!).
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Here's an excerpt from my review:
Read the whole Special Issue on Louder Than Bombs.
Trier's first foray into genre filmmaking is actually not as much of a departure as it might initially seem.
We went deep on the film in a Special Issue, which has since formed our Case Study on Thelma in our ebook Beyond Empowertainment: Feminist horror and the struggle for female agency.
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Here's an excerpt from Orla's essay on how Thelma is more than just a modern Carrie:
You can read excerpts from the book on the site, and use your member's discount to purchase the book here!
Best,
Alex Heeney, Editor-in-Chief
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The Seventh Row newsletter is a free weekly newsletter featuring streaming recommendations, primarily for Canada, the US, UK, and Australia, but always features at least one worldwide streaming recommendation. We also offer occasional giveaways of free downloads of our favourite films and other benefits! Questions? Comments? Reply to this email, or find us on Twitter @SeventhRow. If you're reading this because someone forwarded this email to you, consider that helpful button to become a regular subscrier.
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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.
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