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Eugene Kotlyarenkoās debut film 0ās & 1ās is still my favorite - and itās heartwarming to know that itās only been a decade after its premiere at a tiny Brooklyn theater that itās finally getting the big screen screenings that it truly deserves. The simple story of a guy retracing his steps trying to find his lost computer - Slacker meets Dude Whereās My Car for the first generation of terminally online. But itās the filmās relentless art direction that truly sets it apart -Ā a multicam extravaganza framed within dozens of custom interfaces that rival both Hackers and The Net in channeling and elevating the aesthetics of the moment with painstakingly detailed easter eggs to be found on every fleeting frame.Ā Iād also like to give a shout-out to We Are, my second favorite film by Eugene. Self-released almost a year ago, We Are is a continuation of his romantic comedies about breakups A Wonderful Cloud (2015) and Wobble Palace (2018) starring hapless losers mired in technological detritus - in this case, the employee of a pathetic virtual reality arcade. But unlike its predecessors We Are is Eugeneās most casual film to date, made with a whimsical looseness echoed in the character Stickās XL tourist t-shirts and the soft soothing pace of his fidget spinner. Itās a funny movie, but itās also sadā¦ when Eugene breaks the 4th wall and slates a scene with Dasha, there is a self-accepting effortlessness that really feels like letting go. We Are is just a movie and thatās all it needs to be.
Dec 21, 2021
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brilliant. beautiful and funny and heartwrenching and silly and all around fantastic. the more i think about this movie the more i love it. tells an unconventional tale of self-confidence, self-sabotage, regret and jealousy, etc etc the ending was a bit silly but i can look past it lol. what a fantastic cast and fantastic production. they frame things throughout as if it were to look like a stage production only for that to be the eventual main plot point. one of my favorite scenes (if not films) of the year
Oct 6, 2024
one of my favorite movies. at 16 years old, watching it feels nostalgic in itself, but the picture it paints of the era in which it takes place is also nostalgic.
itās a more real, defined, engulfing world than any iāve ever experienced through film, and even though i know what happens, i feel the things the characters feel as they feel them. when vr allows us to live in a movie, theme park ride style, āAdventureland Summerā will be my first stop. this thing is dripping with nostalgic heartache to the tunes of the replacements and lou reed, every performance is great / super funny / heartbreaking in itās own way.
as iām typing this, i think i believe this is the best film ever made? that canāt be true, probably, but idk watch it youāll love it and feel a lot.
May 13, 2025
Really fascinating, weird, dark, while also being incredibly funny and charming. unlike anything Iāve seen before & cool soundtrack. Can be incapsulated by this letterboxd review:
Oct 4, 2024
Top Recs from @asher-penn
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I met Jon and Allie briefly at the Los Angeles Sex Magazine launch. They introduced themselves and volunteered to trade me copies of their respective debut novels, which they signed. I was happy to find that both their books were awesome and completely different and that the connective tissue between them seemed to be a love of writing and each other that made me want to become friends with them both.Talking to Delicious Tacos about Jon Lindseyās Body High, he described it as the ultimate Al-Anon book ; the story of a protagonist, Leland that is perversely attracted to and desperately wants to save the self-destructive people in his life - his dead mother and step sister -Ā as a way of avoid any sane behaviorā¦ And Lelandās unmanageability is psychotically inspired, as a legendarily fucked up series of situations of his own making unfold in front of him.By contrast, Allie Rowbottomās Jello Girls is a relatively traditional memoir, where the family's history is directly intertwined to the economics of processed food, and the intergenerational curse it propels both in the mind and body. Given that the food in question is a pioneer in artificial nourishment the themes of cancer and eating disorders are uncannily poignant, especially as Rowbottomās voice channels the dark irony of Karen Carpenter in her prose.
Dec 21, 2021
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Nymphet Alumni are a podcast devoted to analyzing the niche mainstream - cultural touchstones that didnāt necessarily die but instead morphed, rebranded, and shapeshifted into obsolescence, alongside contemporary trends that are almost too pervasive to identify. Sometimes these are brands (American Apparel, Oh Mighty), or platforms (Rookie, Tumblr), or social phenomena (Tik Tok Physiognomy, Nepotism Babies). Just because these subjects are massive in scale doesnāt make them easy to talk about, as the topics are so recent and fleeting that to subject them to thoughtful critical analysis feels too early or too late or just plain pointless- and maybe thatās the point. Listening to Alexi,Ā Biz, and Samās compassionate and highly personal insights itās clear that the ephemeral doesnāt arrive from - or exit into - the void.
Dec 21, 2021
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RIP to this absolute GOAT of a sobriety meme account. I think I stopped drinking around the time that sobriety memes were in their second wave - 12-step inside jokes that were ideally harrowing, embarrassing, and hopeful in their shared hopelessness -Ā and while Brutal Recovery, Fucking Sober, and Dumbsoberbitch are great, no account could perform these lacerations with the expertise of a surgeon as @facebooksober. Like an elephant balancing itself on a dime, facebook sober managed to capture the divine paradoxās inherent to recovery with such aesthetic grace and poetry I was 100% convinced that the person behind the account was a hot girl (it was a dude, lol). Whatever. Hot Newcomers Are Forever.
Dec 21, 2021