Movies I Watched This Week (5/27/25 - 6/1/25)
....Sy Ableman?!
PRE-ROLL
the Tony Awards are this Sunday! I will not be watching them live this year (I double-booked myself and will be attending the Dropout Improv Live show at the Chicago Theatre), but know that I am rooting for all things Oh, Mary/Maybe Happy Ending/Boop!/Dead Outlaw. how will Cynthia Erivo fare as a host? what a question!
THE MOVIES
A SERIOUS MAN (2009, dir. Joel & Ethan Coen). rented at home on Fandango at Home, and at the Music Box Theatre.
wrote up my favorite Coen Bros. movie for Cine-File, and then saw it with some friends at the Music Box Theatre a few days later as part of Bleak Week. perhaps the quintessential Jewish film, in terms of vibes and tone and atmosphere. nothing like. i’m aware there are many non-Jews who enjoy this movie, and I love that for you. once again, I must ask…Sy Ableman?!
PEE-WEE AS HIMSELF (2025, dir. Matt Wolf). streamed on HBO Max.
lotta feelings on this one!!!! some really potent and depressing stuff about Paul Reubens essentially denying his own truth as a queer man in pursuit of artistic excellence. he was clearly a very scared man, which manifested in a very controlling personality - but personally and artistically - and arguably the most compelling parts of the film are scenes of him actively butting heads with the doc director. as grateful as I am for the art Reubens made in his lifetime, it is undeniably depressing that he couldn’t live his truth, and in the fleeting moments where he attempted to do so (going to adult movie theaters, collecting homoerotic art and memorabilia), law enforcement and society at large deemed these acts as “immoral.” sad, sad stuff.
BOUND (1996, dir. Lana and Lilly Wachowksi). watched at Music Box Theatre.
watched on Lilly Wachowski’s personal 35mm print (!!!) at the Music Box as part of Sapphopalooza. what a thrill for this 750-seat theater to be completely sold out, filled to the brim with queer folk. the movie itself is pretty masterful, as amazing as a film debut can be, overflowing with style and eroticism and brilliant performances across the board. now’s the time to check this one out if you haven’t already, a fully-formed work of queer neo-noir bad assery. just like every other film in the Wachowski canon, it’s about hope winning out in a hate-filled world, delivered in a gorgeously constructed package. a winner! pretty hilariously ridiculous that, as Lilly so lovingly uttered in her post-film Q&A, “the literal first shot of my filmmaking career is a giant closet.”
that’s all for now! who are you rooting for at the Tonys this Sunday? was Broadway a mistake? what’s the meaning behind the story of The Goy’s Teeth? until next time!
