Hey friends!

The July vibe shift is in full effect. I guess I’m afraid of salad now, but at least the sky is more or less blue again, and I’m determined to make the most of it. A task I will undoubtedly fail at by some metric or another, but so it goes!

Watching a Sony Pictures Classics release on a weekday afternoon with a handful of AARP members is one of life’s greatest joys. Unfortunately, I did not get around to doing this with Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, but I still had a good time catching it on Netflix. The movie follows Agathe, a Parisian bookseller who dreams of being a novelist herself, as she gets out of her comfort zone to attend a writing residency hosted at the titular author's home. Leaving the country isn't her only new challenge as she finds herself caught between a flirtationship with her best friend and a surprising new connection in England. Despite not being particularly knowledgeable about Austen–off-brand, I know–I was very charmed. The costumes and sets look lived-in, a quality that more rom-coms could use these days, and Agathe's journey is genuinely moving.

Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda (Broker, Shoplifters) is back with Sheep In The Box, a new exploration of the nature of family. This time around, a husband and wife mourning the death of their young son are given the opportunity to upload memories of him into a humanoid robot. Of course, there’s no replacing the real thing, and the AI develops its own ideas about relationships and community. Having loved, for example, Marjorie Prime, it’s easy to see how Sheep In The Box could have taken a bigger bite out of the ideas it addresses, but I’m willing to chalk that up to purposeful restraint rather than lack of ambition. Le Petit Prince is referenced a number of times, and it is entirely possible that this worked better for me than it did for other people because large swathes of the beloved French text are permanently embedded in my brain. I also usually find it intriguing when films place high-tech elements in natural environments, like the aforementioned Marjorie Prime, After Yang, or I’m Your Man, and this fits in alongside those nicely. Sheep In The Box begins its theatrical rollout in New York and LA on July 24 before expanding.

As someone who is extremely millennial, it’s been interesting to see various depictions of Gen X vs. Gen Z clashes roll out this year. A prime example is I Want Your Sex (trailer probably NSFW), the latest feature from Gregg Araki. The film stars Cooper Hoffman as a 20-something who strikes up a secret relationship with his employer, a provocative artist played by Olivia Wilde. (The latter character is stated to be mid-to-late 30s, but appears to be Araki’s primary mouthpiece for generational attitudes.) Mayhem and possible murder ensue, and it’s an absolute blast to watch unfold with a crowd; this is the kind of movie where Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho play detectives. I Want Your Sex hits theaters on July 31.

Heat waves sound like Beck's Guero.

Between the needle drop in Marc By Sofia and catching the theatrical rerelease of Trainspotting, I've been revisiting Elastica a bunch lately.

It’s nearly 6 p.m. on Friday and I haven’t listened to the Strokes or Charli XCX yet, sorry!!

Lust for Life: Danny Boyle on the radical spirit of Trainspotting, 30 years on (Letterboxd Journal)

Some Kids Will Never Think AI Is Cool (Wired)

Stop telling women their Long COVID is menopause (The Sick Times)

Thanks for maybe reading all that. Find me on Bluesky or whatever.

Until next time!