you can call me weirdo🖖
round-up
Hello, and happy July! Please pray I can make it to the beach before summer ends.
It was a great month for movies, specifically revisiting favorites with my dear Maya who loved them too. And she shared her own with me! I am now on a mission to watch more Bollywood and Tollywood (Telugu language) films.
As Tears Go By (1988) - dir. Wong Kar Wai
So serious about this movie that I added it to my letterboxd top four. And I’m so in love with Andy Lau. Beautiful men abound in Wong Kar Wai movies: Takeshi Kaneshiro (classic heartthrob), Tony Leung (devastatingly beautiful), and Leslie Cheung (ethereally beautiful). Andy Lau is a combination of all three.
Now the actual plot: Wah (Lau) is a gangster torn between love for his cousin Ngor (Maggie Cheung) and the streets. I love WKW movies because there’s a sense of enchantment even in the most mundane and dingy places. Just intoxicating.
The Heroic Trio (1993) - dir. Johnnie To
Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung are three superwomen fighting evil. There’s no other way to sell this movie, you just need to know it’s the most super-charged, authentic girl power story. Like Charlie’s Angels a decade earlier.
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995) - dir. Maria Maggenti
A gentle movie about first love between two dynamic leads. One is a masculine slacker and the other is the total opposite, but together those differences just melt away.
Saving Face (2004) - dir. Alice Wu
Another soft lesbian romance, this time about a Chinese woman whose life becomes ever more complicated when her pregnant and unmarried mom moves in with her.
Piku (2015) - dir. Shoojit Sircar
An actually flawless slice of life story which reminds me of Late Spring (1949), but with much more zany humor. Piku, portrayed by the gorgeous Deepika Padukone, is such a phenomenal female character. I just love how self assured she is even with all the messiness in her life. And the bond she has with her dad is just so real, especially if you’re also brown.
Honest Candidate (2020) - Chang Yu Jeong
A female politician who always lies finds herself unable to after her grandmother’s prayer/wish is granted. This movie is just endlessly hilarious and it does such a great job of showing a terrible female character who is still likable and charming.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - dir. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Very similar to Turning Red with its prickly relationship between a Chinese mother and daughter and a gentle goofy dad, all about celebrating the ordinary and seeking the extraordinary. I will always choose you in every universe.
RRR (2022) - dir. S.S. Rajamouli
True spectacle and even truer heart! Unfortunately I didn’t get to see this in a theater, but texting Maya throughout made up for it. Hollywood movies just don’t have the same unabashed sense of fun, which like Maya said is fine because we need variety in our media diets. BUT I would like Hollywood to be as earnest as RRR, to not be so limited by genre. Make movies fun again!
Two others I really liked:
Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020) - Kim Yong Hoon: unhinged female killer, my jam
Spencer (2021) - Pablo Larrain: ghostly with a perfect performance by Kristen Stewart, whose face I love
music notes
Lots of good releases from earlier in the year and recently.
Amber Mark’s Three Dimensions Deep album is lovely; standouts are Bubbles, Bliss, and Darkside.
STAYC: YOUNG-LUV.COM + We Need Love
IVE: Love Dive
Le Sserafim: Fearless EP
Yukika: incapable of releasing a bad song adds Scent to her list of flawless singles
Nayeon gifted us the perfect summer album from her debut solo, with title track Pop. My favorite is Candyfloss.
Sunmi: Heart Burn + Childhood
FLO’s The Lead. They are bringing back r&b, finally a new Black girl group!
APINK Chobom: Copycat
And now for ITZY!
After teasing an elegant royal concept, title Sneakers just came seemingly out of nowhere. Queens of upending expectations! But I actually loved the snippet when I first heard it. Such a fun, feel good summer tune. Everyone who hates on it really just doesn’t know how to have a good time. And everyone prayed for ITZY’s downfall, yet they proved once again how untouchable they are!
This song is like Cinderella’s glass slippers: a pair of magical shoes that take you wherever you want to go, symbolizing limitless freedom. The final set in the video has Buzz Lightyear colors. And it’s so futuristic, letting kids, aka ITZY’s core fanbase, know that anything is possible. Everyone gets equal opportunity to shine, with two center dance positions for Chaeryeong, Lia with her dark hair down, blonde Yuna, another iconic lyric (you can call me weirdo), I really have no complaints. My sneakers are ON!
I think Checkmate is their best album so far. My track ranking:
Free Fall
365
WHAT I WANT
RAC3R
Domino
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From the ‘80s vault: I Think We’re Alone Now - Tiffany
Later days!
