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.
Why is it so hard to see the new Cillian Murphy movie?
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Hello Reader, Last week, a listener who had heard my episode on Small Things Like These expressed to me that she couldn't believe how hard it was to see the film. "I live in Brooklyn, and it's only playing in one cinema! This film has terrible distribution!" That is, the film's rollout to cinemas is terrible. And that got me thinking. That is terrible distribution. And yet Small Things Like These actually has very good distribution for an indie movie, especially given its subject matter, even though it stars newly minted Oscar Winner Cillian Murphy. That's why the film's distribution is as good as it is! It's getting harder and harder to see movies for grownups in cinemas. If they even make it to your local cinema, you might have two weeks or less to see it before it disappears. It's not impossible to see the new Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These in a cinema. So you can only imagine how much worse it is for movies that aren't in English and don't have major movie stars behind them! Especially when they're subtle, thoughtful films. On today's podcast episode, I put Small Things Like These in the context of similar films to show you why, even though it's a pain in the neck to try to see it...it's much easier to see Small Things Like These in a cinema than most films of its ilk. In the episode, I discuss:
Happy watching/listening! Alex P.S. If you want to discover 12 great films per year that you might have otherwise missed in cinemas, the brand new Reel Ruminators: Explorer is for you! Doors are now open until Tuesday.
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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...