november dispatch

new releases, boy books and a lot of 80s movies

Hi lovelies,

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Reporting to you live from my parents’ house—back like I never left, it seems! I’ve now lived in New York for probably cumulatively 3.5 weeks but it already feels like it’s been a lot longer. This is probably a testament to the fact that I feel like I haven’t sat down since I moved, which is less about the actual truth of that statement and more about the energy of the city that others have been documenting more eloquently and knowledgeably for basically hundreds of years. It is fun, I am having fun! I am skipping around and seeing my friends and practicing my sense of direction and I am practically bleeding cash!

My media habits have been changing a little bit, too—I no longer live alone, so I can’t really commandeer the TV every night in the way I used to to watch some weird movie only I’m interested in. I’ve been seeing more things in theaters (one great thing about New York is that it’s a lot easier to find showings for smaller movies I normally wouldn’t get to see on the big screen), and reading a little more, which is nice. It’s been a good month.

Putting my AMC A-List to use

Sentimental Value / dir. Joachim Trier

Probably my most anticipated 2025 release, and it did not disappoint. Trier’s follow up to Worst Person in the World covers a lot of ground—father-daughter relationships, sister relationships, the movie business, depression—but its ambition is part of what makes it great, eschewing neat catharsis for a broader, spikier exploration of what makes a family, and what makes good art. I continue to love all of Renate Reinsve’s work (some of my favorite facial acting ever), but Stellan Skarsgard and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas put in powerhouse performances as well. Elle Fanning is lovely, too, in a role that could seem caricature-y in lesser hands. Also, the first movie I’ve seen at the Angelika—quite enjoyed the experience, despite multiple couples seemingly on first dates who were loudly talking through all the previews (unforgivable!)

The Mastermind / dir. Kelly Reichardt

Wanted to love this. It’s incredibly up my alley (Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, 1970s, set a ten-minute drive from where I grew up in Massachusetts) but it didn’t really come together for me in the way I’d hoped, though staring at Josh O’Connor wearing a nice wool sweater is never going to be a bad time. Let it be known that I saw this at 9pm on a weeknight, and I’ve since learned that Reichardt movies are not for the Sleepy. I will probably revisit this at some point, someday. The score is unequivocally fantastic.

Die My Love / dir. Lynne Ramsay

Also didn’t coalesce for me quite in the way I wanted it to on a story level, but Jennifer Lawrence’s performance as a new mother experiencing some form of postpartum depression/psychosis is absolutely electrifying, and that alone is worth the price of admission. All of the performances are great—Rob Pattinson is captivating even in this appropriately dialed-back mode, and Sissy Spacek is a wonder. Like The Mastermind, I’m planning to rewatch this at some point in the future, probably after I have experienced childbirth.

Anniversary / dir. Jan Komasa

The marketing for this movie was deceptive, suggesting a twisty evil-daughter-in-law family thriller, but in reality it’s a rather on-the-nose speculative piece about an “alternate future” in which the US succumbs to a single-party system. It’s a shame it doesn’t have all that much to say about politics! Interesting performances from Zoey Deutch (I love her in everything), Dylan O’Brien (delightfully sociopathic) and child actor extraordinaire McKenna Grace (what a month this girl is having!) And I’m always happy to see Kyle Chandler, though he’s not given anything that interesting to do here.

Several late 80s movies I recently adored

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) / dir. Woody Allen

I really loved my first Woody Allen movie. I wish I didn’t. But this is, unfortunately, one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Taking place in the year between two Thanksgivings, the film’s central conceit is that Hannah’s husband Elliot (an incredible Michael Caine) is in hopelessly in love with her sister Lee, though this particular drama is interspersed with other narratives in chapter-style vignettes, including those about their third sister Holly, a floundering aspiring actress, and Mickey, Hannah’s hypochondriac TV producer ex-husband. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving movie, the perfect New York movie (rivals When Harry Met Sally in terms of Central Park late-fall foliage), has the most unbelievably sweeping big-band jazz score, and masterfully weaves between its very funny and startlingly poignant moments. I laughed, I cried, I wrote a lot in my journal afterwards. I’m going to have to fucking watch Annie Hall.

The Princess Bride (1987) / dir. Rob Reiner

I literally cannot believe I hadn’t seen this before. It was so enchanting and funny and romantic. I loved how it looked (the COLORS!!), I loved the tone, I loved Princess Buttercup and Westley as a couple even though they kind of look like siblings.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) / dir. John Carpenter

Ostensibly following Kurt Russell as a grizzled truck driver who accidentally entangles himself in a fantastical, dangerous journey through San Francisco’s Chinatown, Big Trouble is an ingenious inversion of action movie white saviorism - in the words of Carpenter, it follows a bumbling sidekick who believes he’s the hero. And while the satire is sharp, it’s also wonderful to just sit back and let the delightful ridiculousness wash over you. Russell perfectly understands his buffoonish assignment, as do James Hong and Kim Cattrall (playing Russell’s lawyer love interest named, hilariously, Gracie Law).

A couple good books about some terrible men

If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you probably know that I am a sucker for a story about a totally insufferable man. Masochism? Maybe! It is one of my favorite genres. Pitiful men make some of the best protagonists. I’ll put my warning here: if you can’t get down with a deeply unlikable narrator, these will not be for you.

Early Work / Andrew Martin

Early Work is about an (aspiring) writer named Peter living with his long-term doctor/poet girlfriend in Charlottesville who becomes infatuated with Leslie, an engaged writer who comes to Virginia for the summer. Peter and Leslie have quite a bit in common: they’re both definitely alcoholics, both generally unsatisfied with their lives, and both generally do a lot more talking about writing than actual writing. The big joke of this book is that, while Peter refers to himself as a writer and is incredibly, bafflingly pretentious, he essentially does not write a single word throughout the entire summer the book takes place. He likes to “collect inspiration,” which typically means blacking out at a local dive and getting lost in the Virginia foothills while trying to walk home.

It’s a book about two broken people, only one of whom recognizes that they are broken. It’s also a great depiction of the head-banging and procrastination inherent in trying to write for a living, and a rather disturbing peek into the male psyche.

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. / Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman’s novel shares a lot of DNA with Early Work - in fact, I found out about this book in the latter’s Goodreads review section, from someone saying it’s a better version of the same thing. Similarly, it follows 30-something up-and-coming writer Nate throughout his excruciating romantic travails across Brooklyn, focusing mainly on the pull between his “friendship” with his beautiful, immature ex Elissa and a burgeoning relationship with Hannah, another writer. It’s another sobering meditation on how men think about women and relationships, particularly men who are (or do their best to be) Good Guys but generally fail to get out of their own way. It is not a feel-good book, at all, but I thought it was pretty genius.

Geese!!

I am late to the party and just now learning about Geese. Clarification: I have been aware of the existence of Geese since discovering a few songs off their second-most-recent album, 3D Country, last year, and have been hearing internet chatter about Cameron Winter and his incredible hair for the past few months, but only put these two concepts together very recently. Since this synthesis I have really gone down a Geese rabbit hole, developing a deeper appreciation for their songs I already liked with the newfound knowledge that they are This Talented at 23 fucking years old. I am fascinated by Winter as a public figure, who seems to fully authentically embody the whole tall-greasy-magnetic-surly-gorgeous-indie-punk-sleaze thing perfected in the early aughts (I may be being naive about the authenticity, oh well). There’s nothing like the buzzy feeling you get watching a YouTube video of a live performance and being like, I really believe these guys will be staggeringly famous in ten years. Anyways, I know everyone cares about their most recent album, Getting Killed, lately, and it’s indeed fantastic, but I’m still stuck on “Gravity Blues.” I currently think this is, like, the most unbelievable song ever made.

P.S.

• I’ve really been getting down with HBO’s I Love L.A. Imagine Entourage if Vinny Chase was a potentially problematic, vape-guzzling, culturally oblivious it girl influencer, and E was Rachel Sennott. My personal MVP is nepo baby discovery True Whitaker (daughter of Forest), who is fucking hilarious playing the delightfully airheaded daughter of some nebulous Spike Lee equivalent - she really gets to shine in the most recent episode, “Upstairses,” in which she comes face to face with her lifelong celebrity crush, Elijah Wood. Also, happy to celebrate the return of America’s sweetheart, Josh Hutcherson, who perfectly plays the straight-man foil to the rest of the lovably vapid ensemble.

  

• I’ve also been intermittently watching High Maintenance, the web-turned-HBO kinda-anthology series, and think it’s some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. The slice-of-life structure is genius: each episode follows a different character or group somewhere in New York, with all stories vaguely interconnected by The Guy, the affable weed dealer they all share. I’ve been skipping around a little, but my favorite episodes so far (“Rachel” and “Sabrina”) are from the web series - they’re both incredibly written and performed, managing some truly stunning character work in the space of a 12-minute episode.

  

• Let it be known that I am still watching Stranger Things. I know the kids are too old, I know all of the episodes are grossly long and that a lot of the acting has become Not That Great. I don’t really care. I love this show. The ending of episode 4 was rather electrifying. Let people enjoy the 80s telekinesis monster CGI fuckfest they’ve spent most of the last ten years waiting around for.

  

• I made a lot of Asian-inspired avocado toast these last few weeks, for some reason. It’s fun to just put fish sauce and peanuts on things. If I had cilantro I would have used that too.

• My November playlist was unusually dense - too much great stuff this month, it seems!

That’s all—happy almost December!

xo, Lael