film fests, here we come
DISCLAIMER: It feels bizarre to be sending this as the election looms. It feels bizarre to be heading off to film festivals! But here we go.
The world premiere screening of Where in the Hell will at 4pm on Sunday, November 10, at the St. Louis International Film Festival. R and I will be there with key members of the cast and crew, and a whole bunch of family. If you're anywhere near STL, please come! Bring your best people! (We're throwing a little party after the movie, and friends of the 'sletter are invited. Reply to this email to rsvp, or email me directly)
Our Australian (!!) premiere is at 9pm on Friday, November 15, and 6pm on Thursday, November 21, at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. R and I will be there too, along with Cam Killion, our lead actor. Do I know anyone in Melbourne? Do you? Please put me in touch. And if you've got recs for Melbourne or Tasmania, send 'em my way!
So many exclamation points!!
I really want to sell out these screenings. Comedy is the most fun with a full house. I've been serving as our publicist (with backup from PR folks for both fests), reaching out to every film writer/critic I can find in either city. The reaching out part comes easily—I draft a mean email. But now people are getting back to me, requesting review screeners of the movie, and I'm realizing they might in fact write reviews. Also, people are about to see the movie in the theater! Our dearest people, and also strangers! It's exhilarating and terrifying. Schmear that on top of my anxiety about the election, and hooboy. (You voted right?? Please vote.)
So, yeah. What else is going on?
I was impressed and moved by Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow. Maybe not for everyone, it's an allegorical horror movie, impeccably planned and lit and shot. The Frutopia vending machine and fish tank-as-practical-lighting. The arcade sequence, for which, as Holden Seidlitz writes in The New Yorker, "The production-design team pushed the lighting and colors almost too far, creating a suffocating environment. The cinematographer, Eric Yue, compared the aesthetic premise to 'eating too much candy': the sweetness of the surroundings quickly becomes nauseating. He had to step out to the parking lot between shots to stave off a migraine."
I'm eating up Bridget Everett's promo for the third and final season of Somebody, Somewhere. The Fresh Air interview. This Vulture piece. I’m saving the watch for a calmer moment. I want to savor it.
I really dug The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez, and Writers & Lovers by Lily King. Both are novels about novelists, featuring two characters at very different stages in their lives/careers.
We tried El Ruso back in the dark days of the pandemic, and LOVED their asada vampiro taco, sadly not on the menu when we swung by the truck last weekend. But I can happily endorse the chorizo, the chile colorado, the excellent blue corn tortillas. And the Echo Park location is so convenient, I'll be haunting them for that vampiro.
For those of you keeping track: I have secured my dream oxfords. They're beautiful. They make me feel like a million bucks.
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Please forward this to anyone you know in STL or Melbourne or Tasmania. Any film writers. Anyone who might need taco intel. As always, here’s your trusty taco map.