there are so many games please for the love of god help me

hello, hello, hello ! i am late but i am here finally and i’m sorry it took me so long. below the cut you’ll find little write ups for each of my muses. wanted connections will be posted later but in the meantime please take this. 

{  chris  evans,  39,  cis  male,  he/him,  pansexual  }  welcome,  henry  king   !  you  make  a  living  as  a  high  profile  director  outside  of  the  island  ?  cool.  you’ve  been  here  for  two  and  a  half  weeks,  right  ?  staying  in  room  402  ?  you’re  into  ass  to  mouth  &  worship,  but  not  gaping  &  extreme  humiliation  ?  mr.  conway  will  be  sure  to  accommodate.  i  heard  you  were  most  excited  for  the  beach,  which  makes  sense.  rumor  has  it  you’re  resourceful  &  critical,  but  i  think  people  should  get  to  know  you  for  themselves.

introducing henry king, a high profile director who flies out annually to the resort to spend his summer months relaxing with his wife and boyfriend at his side. 

he had a mostly stable childhood, one that was spent with two younger siblings in tow and a mother who was like a prototype of what a pinterest mom would be. his father spent a lot of time at work and it’s something that, while henry doesn’t begrudge him for it now, was frustrating as a child and not knowing why he wasn’t there. 

the first major thing that henry remembered his father attending was his junior year of high school when he was the student director for a one act production of snapshots, an anthology of short plays. his father, also a director, took the time to give him notes about the things that could have been done to tighten up the show. the last four words were i’m proud of you. that was the moment that henry decided that he wanted to be a director. 

fast forward to college and he goes to the goes to the university of southern california’s film school and instead of taking just the director classes, he takes the time to add a year and a half to his time in college and gets a screenwriting degree out of it. 

his first production partner was his father, who promised henry that he would fund one movie, from top to bottom, with the help of a production company that was owned by a close friend. henry wrote and directed the thing himself and, though it didn’t garner major awards, it was screened at sxsw. that was enough. 

let it be known that henry knows that his introduction into the world of filmmaking was super nepotistic. he understands that he had so many more advantages than any other person in his shoes, at his time, first starting to make movies when he did, and he was still terrified of failing. 

with the above, it should also be known that henry goes out of his way to make sure he’s telling stories that, while he has not experienced them, he can find the right people to help him tell it and amplify voices that otherwise might not be heard. not out of guilt or a need to make up for his introduction to the business, but out of an understanding that his platform should be used to reach every single person and not alienate. 

due to the stresses of his job and the level of scrutiny he’s constantly under, he’s well known to seem to abscond from the world as soon as his movies have come out for the summer. as a director of typically action packed, star studded films, he’s usually on his way to the resort by the second or third week of june. 

though he makes so many of these action packed blockbusters, he also tries to make sure that he makes movies that appeal to his soul and finds himself in the process of developing a high fantasy series that’s in the same line as the authorless harry potter books and lord of the rings. 

this is his second year at the resort and henry can see this honestly becoming an annual thing for himself, his wife, and his boyfriend to do. so many frustrations of his are squashed down throughout the year, not through anyone’s own fault, but just because there’s a lot of weight on one’s shoulders when billions of dollars sit on it every year. this is the place where his hedonistic tendencies shine through and he’s not particularly mad about it. 

{  corinna  kopf,  27,  cis  female,  she/her,  pansexual  }  hey  there,  alexandrea  conway!  you’re  still  the  financial  officer  and  you’ve  been  working  here  for  two  and  a  half  years ?  and  you’re  living  in  villa  one.  cool.  you’re  into  body  worship  &  creampies,  but  not  extreme  humiliation  &  scat  play  ?  that’s  what  i  thought.  when  you’re  not  working,  you’re  at  her  villa,  right  ?  well,  makes  sense.  people  say  you’re  even  tempered  &  prying,  but  i  think  they  should  get  to  know  you  for  themselves. 

introducing alexandrea katherine conway née douglas, the wife of oliver conway and chief financial officer at the resort. they’ve been married for about two years.

she had a relatively happy childhood and comes from a line of claimants to a scottish duchy of hamilton. she’s the youngest of six children and does technically hold the title of lady but she’s never done anything with it and it’s more a funny story that she tells at parties than it is a serious thing she buys into because she always thought it was a family joke.

prior to coming to the resort, drea graduated from the wharton school of business double major in business and marketing. post graduation she spent a fair amount of time as a prominent social media influencer. her multi million follower platform has translated into some business for the resort in the form of some of their most consistent guests. 

at the time of marrying her husband, he offered for the resort to be something they shared in ownership and it sprung some little goblin in her head to deny his offer. she wanted to earn it and not marry into it. 

the joke in that, of course, is that when most people look at drea they see incredibly soft curves, the bright blonde hair, the fact that the most articles of clothing she owns are just bathing suits, swim cover ups, and the occasionally very beautifully form fitting dress, the word bimbo appears in their mind on repeat. other words come to mind, too, but that’s the one that drea finds comes up most often. 

if we’re being really honest, in the depths of her soul, there’s something that drea finds funny about it. there is a gift in being underestimated and who cared what their perceptions were ? her happiness with her husband and job did not rely on anyone but herself.

she has incredibly open sexual preferences but with a body like hers she favors worship and the kinds of things that don’t leave bruises unless they are loves bites. drea is a switch and is happy to lead or follow, though goddess remains either way, if you’re interested in having her.  

{  inbar  lavi,  33,  cis  female,  she/her,  lesbian  }  welcome,  elodie  bram  !  you  make  a  living  as  an  international  fashion  designer  outside  of  the  island  ?  cool.  you’ve  been  here  for  two  weeks,  right  ?  staying  in  villa  two  ?  you’re  into  face  sitting  &  rimming,  but  not  food  play  &  blood  play  ?  mr.  conway  will  be  sure  to  accommodate.  i  heard  you  were  most  excited  for  the  beach,  which  makes  sense.  rumor  has  it  you’re  empathetic  &  domineering,  but  i  think  people  should  get  to  know  you  for  themselves.  {  dottie,  22,  est,  she/her  }

introducing  elodie odeya bram, an international fashion designer who makes an annual pilgrimage to the island as part of her process of designing her next year’s summer line. she had a relatively 

elodie has always strived to make sure that her brand is inclusive to all sizes and genders. another facet of her brand is that her clothes are considered kosher as they are fully made from plant or animal fibers but not both. her interest in design first came in high school when she was helping to craft costumes for a play and things spiraled from there. 

she realized that it was her passion, she attended the parsons school for design, and graduated with an apprentice ship under another designer who had long since been an inspiration for her own work.

elodie’s first collection to make waves happened a few years ago, when she was thirty and her mentor had agreed to take six pieces and let a capsule collection of elodie’s creation as part of their slot in paris’ fashion week. her luck in this mentorship was not beyond her and her good fortune has been at the forefront of her mind for years. seldom is there a night where she does not thank her lucky stars for all the things that have happened and continue to happen.

her mentor, in opening so many doors, also opened the door to the resort and has brought her into the light of one of her favorite places of inspiration. as part of her stay in the villas, she does frequently sketch her own designs and occasionally, when she brings back women to spend time with her, she’ll dress some of them up in her newest designs to see how they’ll functionally work.  

she’s quite likely to pull together a collection of women she wants to spend time with and there’s almost always some kind of sexual activity happening in her villa. whether fellow guests or employees of the villa, elodie’s indiscriminate in any girl she flirts with and wants to make a move on and we stan her for it. 

{  madelyn  cline,  23,  cis  female,  she/her,  pansexual  }  hey  there,  penny  rourke  !  you’re  still  a  lifeguard  and  you’ve  been  working  here  for  two  weeks  ?  and  you’re  living  in  room  202.  cool.  you’re  into  rimming  &  exhibitionism,  but  not  fisting  &  scat  ?  that’s  what  i  thought.  when  you’re  not  working,  you’re  at  the  spa,  right  ?  well,  makes  sense.  people  say  you’re  insightful  &  fickle,  but  i  think  they  should  get  to  know  you  for  themselves.  {  dottie,  22,  est,  she/her  }

introducing penelope jean “penny” rourke, a sweet natured girl with a petty streak who grew up in a small town in oregon and honestly only considers going back when the weather in the new york makes her forget about how bad the weather in oregon is. 

she grew up in a lovely home with a big family, her mother owning her own small business and her father a detective at the local precinct. solidly middle class, there was very little that penny craved or needed that she did not get. she took on a maternal role in her home, a natural adoption as the oldest of seven children, and she had a hand in their upbringing. while others may have seen that as a burden, it was something that penny enjoyed with her whole heart. 

when she went off to college, she applied to all of the ivy leagues and got a significant scholarship to columbia, which is where she met archibald hughes, son of a virginia senator and guy who she said, “you can’t sway my attention from my studies” to on their first day of meeting. she moved in with him in an off campus apartment their junior year of school. he was her greatest hype man and while they’d been having serious talks about marriage and their future. 

her relationship with archie ended rather abruptly when his paranoia hit an all time high at the behest of his father. insidious rumors, according to penny, accusations of things she’d promised archie long before that she would never do. her devotion to him was near unbreakable and archie had found the one straw that broke her back and everything came crumbling down: he put his trust in someone else. 

recently single, in need of a fresh start and a warm place to go for the summer, and on her summer break from law school, penny has been ready to engage in her first ever hoe phase and has already started it with some success. her ex has recently shown up on the property, though, and that’s made some of her more recent encounters awkward, to say the least, but she’s making it work. 

{  tommy  martinez,  26,  cis  male,  he/him,  pansexual  }  welcome,  jamie  flores!  you  make  a  living  as  a  famous  musician  /  drummer  for  the  raptors  outside  of  the  island  ?  cool.  you’ve  been  here  for  one  week,  right  ?  staying  in  room  401  ?  you’re  into  threesomes  &  body  writing,  but  not  bathroom  play  &  scat  play  ?  mr.  conway  will  be  sure  to  accommodate.  i  heard  you  were  most  excited  for  the  docks,  which  makes  sense.  rumor  has  it  you’re  charming  &  nosy,  but  i  think  people  should  get  to  know  you  for  themselves.  

introducing james sebastian “jamie” ibarra flores, known professionally as jamie flores. he makes a living as a drummer for the raptors, a band that has achieved critical success and have just wrapped up their first tour and the release of their first album. it was his idea to come to key passion in the first place and it honestly super tracks. 

he’s been with the raptors for about three years and prior to joining with them, he’d heard about the resort and promised himself when he had enough to comfortably afford to go after setting his parents up with making sure that their mortgage was paid for and it wouldn’t be the literally most financially irresponsible decision he’s ever made when there were other things and people to prioritize.

prior to coming to the island, though, did he drop like $3k on a girl’s amazon wishlist because he’s simpin’ real hard ? yes. can he afford to do it ? Yes. 

not particularly religious and verging on the edge of anarchist, jamie uses his platform to promote a lot of social issues and advocate for the reformation of most systems in the united states. he will not shut up when he talks about politics and one of his most used photos on his camera roll is a picture of his degree in political science from ucla. he’ll come at you with facts and an army of stans. 

though he’s typically a relaxed kind of person he’s under the belief that he’s Totally Chill and this is Not At All True. he constantly wants to know 103% of the drama without being directly involved but he’ll do it from his couch and creeping through stan twitter on a burner account so if he accidentally likes something, it doesn’t get back to the band. 

he loves ,,, reading fan fiction and reader imagines about himself. 

sexually very open and just wants to have a good time while coming off the success of his tour with his bandmates. 

Just as we previously predicted, Japan’s CHAI was a darling at SXSW this year. Despite the countless sets that the energetic group played in Austin, and even though they were at the top of our acts to catch list, we ended up missing out on them. The closest we came to catching them was at Rolling Stone’s showcase, but we had to leave before they went on. But we have good reason to do so, because come Wednesday night, we’re prepped and primed, pumped and excited, to take in CHAI in all their glory at Popscene and Burger Boogaloo presents at the Rickshaw Stop, with Haiku Hands opening too, no less. CHAI released their acclaimed album PUNK earlier this month, and we’re more than ready to experience the album’s punk-tinged art rock and pop live. The band linked up this week with Los Angeles animator Sean Solomon for an adorable music video for album track Curly Adventure. Despite its splashy enamel and prismatic allure, Curly Adventure is actually one of their more reticent anthems, but it’s still an exuberant and glorious tidal wave of electrifying and contagious vibrancy. CHAI goes vintage italo disco on the electronic/synthpop track, giving us a sound that recalls Phoenix’s last album Ti Amo as well as M83′s Junk. PUNK is out now via Burger Records, here. Come join us if you’re in San Francisco for CHAI on Wednesday. I’ve been looking forward to the show for a very long time now, and I promise it’ll be a delightful evening that will leave you in the best of spirits. 

A Conversation with Cowgirl Clue 1.10.18

DREAMCULTURE: I read that you're one of five kids, where do you fit in that and growing up did any of your other family members or siblings influence your love for music or did you take that up on your own?

COWGIRLCLUE: Actually me and my siblings are so different. They're supportive of my music but they don't understand it very much so its been like my own path honestly. Like when I was a kid my older brother and I ,he's my full brother my other siblings are half, my older brother and I we’re close in age so we were wearing diapers and dancing to Madonna when we were kids but like you know, we like music we love it but our music taste is super different.

DC: So in school you'd walk around with headphones and things like you got your first job at age 13. Do you like doing things independently like this is what you're gonna do or do you sometimes rely on other people for help or influence?

CLUE: I mean if its around and inspiring, its definitely great to have a support system, if its not its also good to stay confidant in who you are and being true to yourself. Yeah when I was in high school I didn't have a lot of friends because a lot of my friends were older and graduated so I just hung out in the art class and wore my headphones, discovered new music.

DC: Growing up in Austin, who were you listening to and what kind of shows did you go to?

CLUE: Well I was going to a lot of my cousins shows cause some of my cousins were in bands. I moved around a lot but I was definitely one of the youngest or at least it seemed like one of the youngest people going to shows. Now its totally different cause everyones very young. I was probably the only sixteen or even seventeen year old at shows. I was one of the only people with x’s on my hands but now its totally different. Its super cool.

DC: Was going to shows a big part of your life or did you go to just have fun?

CLUE: I definitely went out of curiosity like whats it all about whats its like whats it like seeing something live like the sound. But there were a ton of artists at the time that I loved so much and I never got to see them live and looking back I'm like ughhh you know? Like will my dad or my mom drive me and like yes sometimes but sometimes no or not at all so it just kinda depended on the time.

DC: Did high school and college guide you into where you are with music now? I know know you started music at 18.

Clue: Well i started DJing pretty young maybe even before I was 18 I think I was maybe 17 but yeah in some ways I think it more helped my mentality maybe not so much with music but it helped me have a motivational mindset. I also took a lot of dance classes which help me now. I didn't realize at the time but it helped me branch out of my shell. In a ways it was good.

DC: You went to college in Olympia and lived in a punk house, what was that like?

Clue: It was cool. It rained a lot so thats why I'm no longer living there anymore cause that does affect your mind no matter how many people wanna tell you that it wont. Olympia is a great place and also a terrible place at the same time. Living in a punk house is cool for like what it is. The rent was cheap, I got to play my music as loud as I wanted, I got to stay up as late as I wanted, and I got to paint my walls black and white striped but at the same time it wasn't always the cleanest place.

DC: Moving onto your music now, you currently live in California. Whats it like being apart of the California music scene compared to other places you've lived and preformed?

Clue: I don't know if its the scene, well I mean yeah theres a lot of people that are very supportive in general but I think thats more of a time thing like I was saying I feel like the younger audience is more brace now than it was before when I was younger. I feel like my music has changed and so I don't know if its the atmosphere thats changed and helped but I don't know maybe its a combination of everything.

DC: When and where did you play your first show?

Clue: My first show... well I played some of my first shows in random bands. Like I would make a band and we would play a show at a friends house and then it'd be done and we'd never play again. I don't even remember who was in my different bands. But my first time DJing my friend was like “Hey do you wanna DJ my birthday party?” and I was like sure and then it just developed from there and now I'm here in Denver it's great.

DC: Where have some of your favorite places to preform been?

Clue: I honestly just like preforming it really doesn't matter as long as the sound system is good I like playing anywhere.

DC: Do you ever get stage fright or anxiety before you go on?

Clue: Yes and no, it depends on if I get to the venue and I don't have a lot of time to soundcheck thats really terrifying, its actually extremely terrifying. I mean I always get stage fright cause thats just normal.

DC: Going on to your lyrics, how do you come up with them for your songs?

Clue: My only EP that I put out was very personal and I played off a lot of metaphors but the album I'm working on now which is my first album, I want it to be more relatable so I'm thinking about more relatable scenarios and less of an intimate setting but also intimate too, and visual lyrics that are visually stimulating are always really good too.

DC: Your 2016 SXSW performance was one of the first performances I saw of you , since then you've accomplished so many cool things like your song "Jewel" was used in a Volcom trailer and you've also done things with Volcom in the past and have been doing things with them like when you took over their snapchat story, how did all these things come about?

Clue: Just really putting out content and meeting new people in music constantly. Never saying no to anything and not having a huge ego will really help you. Just art in general or anything that you wanna accomplish and thats what is helping me right now.

DC: Into your style, its unique and you have your Clue Wear. When did you decide you wanted to start making your own clothes?

Clue: Actually that manifested this past year. Its a lot of work because I hand paint jackets. I was supposed to put it out last year but i haven't yet cause I'm still working on things but its something I'm recently trying out so we'll see how it goes.

DC: I was curious where did your genie aesthetic come from?

Clue: Thats a really good question no ones asked me that before. When I was DJing I guess if I really think about it I came up the name Geniefactory because I felt like if you were some sort of entity and you're changing the space of a room it would kind be like a genie. Smoke represents music like filling the room and changing the atmosphere so thats why I went with it when I really put thought into it.

DC: I know you're into crystals, the moon, plants, things like that and of course your boots! Is there anything you're currently really into?

Clue: I really like stuffed animals they make me feel happy because they just are brainless and cute and thats what they're there to do, to make you feel better.

DC: Last but not least, you're putting out a new album in 2018, what else can we expect from Cowgirl Clue in the new year?

Clue: Shows lots of shows. The new album which I don't have a name for yet and those are pretty big things honestly maybe some music videos too who knows we'll see!

,,,Thank you Ashley for sitting down with me to talk and being the amazing artist and human being that you are!,,, ,,,Thank you to all that have read you can find Cowgirl Clue's music on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Youtube.,,, ,,,Also be sure to see Clue live on her upcoming tour supporting The Garden!,,,

The Weekend Warrior Home Edition May 1, 2020 – THE WRETCHED, VANILLA, DEERSKIN, BULL

Just think...  this weekend would have been the start of the summer box office with Marvel’s Black Widow before COVID came along. Now, we’re waiting for anywhere from two to three months or longer for the next big studio release in movie theaters with so many other “big” movies already being dumped to digital.

This is yet another week with no movies in theaters unless you’re in driving distance to a drive-in (i.e. you have a car), but at least we have some great stuff to watch at home, including a few virtual film festivals and virtual cinemas.

The first major disaster brought on by the advent of COVID-19 was the cancellation of the annual SXSW Festival in Austin. The movie that was supposed to open the fest, Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island, starring Pete Davidson, was supposed to open SXSW in March and then play Tribeca earlier this month, but Universal reported earlier this week that it was going to release it via digital download on June 12, the same day it was going to get a theatrical release.

Amazon has teamed with SXSW to screen 39 projects, including seven features, that will screen free of charge on Amazon from April 27 through May 6. The four narrative features available are the British-Bulgarian dramedy Cat in the Wall from Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, which is being compared to Ken Loch’s I, Daniel Blake. There’s also the Guatemalan romance Gunpowder Heart, the French period film Le Choc du Futur and the French sci-fi anthology, Selfie.  The docs being offered are Karen Bernstein’s I’m Gonna Make You Love Me is described as “Fellini meets Motown” about one man’s search for self-acceptance, while Matt Riddlehoover’s My Darling Vivian about Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian Liberto, who gave the country singer four daughters. Last up is Alex Lee Moyer’s TFW no GW, a doc about the state of isolation, rejection and alienation that we all seemed to be feeling these days. There will also be a ton of shorts available that you can learn more about at The Hollywood Reporter.

The second weekend of the Virtual Oxford Film Festival will launch a few more feature premieres, as well as a virtual panel and the Fest Forward collection of experimental films. First up, on Friday, May 1 is a panel called “Creating Black Stories in Mississippi” at noon central time, and if you’re interested in that, you may want to check out the Mississippi Shorts, Getting to the Root and 70 Years of Blackness, which will now run through May 8, giving you more time to see them. Friday will also see the premieres of Daniel Lafrentz’s crime-drama The Long Shadow, preceded by Will Goss’ short, Sweet Steel. (Hey! I know Will Goss!) There will be a Zoom Q&A for the two movies on Wednesday, May 6, at 6pm Central. Also available Friday is Travis Beard’s doc, Rockabul, which is about the Afghan band District Unknown who fought against the USA’s counter-culture campaign by challenging freedom of expression and youth identify in Kabul with a QnA on May 8 at 8pm central. The Fest Forward Collection includes 8 international animated films from places like Estonia and Egypt, and those will have a virtual QnA on Saturday, May 2, at 1pm Central. (All of these Oxford QnAs and panels are recorded and available to watch for as long as the films are available to watch.)  You can get tickets for all these movies and events on Eventive.

This week’s Featured Film is the Pierce Brothers’ (Brett and Drew Pierce) horror flick, THE WRETCHED (IFC Midnight), which was a nice surprise since I’m not as easy a lay when it comes to horror flicks as other “horror fan” movie writers. The film involves a somewhat quizzical premise that isn’t too apparent as it begins, as we’re not exactly sure what is going on as it begins. It stars John Paul Howard as Ben, a young man living with his father (Jamison Jones), who has separated from Ben’s mother, as the two of them work at the nearby marina over the summer. Ben is immediately picked on and bullied by the locals, but he’s more distracted by the odd behavior of the woman next door (played by Madelyn Stunenkel). I’m not going to go too far into spoiler territory but the premise does involve witchcraft and an ancient evil that’s cropped up in the small town and is causing the disappearance of many small children… maybe… most of their parents seem to forget they have kids as they follow under the spell of the evil Ben’s discovered.

This is just a fantastic little scarer that at times reminded me of the original Fright Night, and I was really impressed with what the Pierce Brothers, first of all by working with a cast of great lesser-known actors, but the visual FX are fantastic and every aspect of the film’s mood and tone is just about perfect. I guess I’ve seen so much low budget horror that doesn’t really match the standards or production values of even some of the smaller-budget Blumhouse movies.

While you may not be near any of the scattered drive-in across the country that will probably be playing the movie, I definitely recommend downloading and/or renting it if you’re a fan of quality horror. The Pierces are extremely talented filmmakers who I’m sure will be doing better things down the road. For me, this is right up there with The Invisible Man, as far as this year’s stronger horror films.

Out now on VOD and Digital is Will Dennis’ quirky road comedy VANILLA (Gravitas Ventures) about a comedian (Kelsea Bauman) who goes on a three-day road trip from New York to New Orleans with an ice cream entrepreneur (Dennis), to sell his van with a questionable past to his ex-girlfriend. Both of them see the trip as a date, of sorts, but they set up a number of rules and boundaries to make the trip work.  It’s a pretty simple premise that’s made more fun by the unique elements Dennis introduces. Vanilla is a sweet, cute romantic movie with two actors appearing in their first movie that reminds me a little of the early work of the Duplass Brothers or Joe Swanberg where there’s a simplicity to the storytelling, but it’s really driven by the wonderful chemistry between the two leads.  It’s kind of amazing how enjoyable this movie is considering the inexperience of both actors, and I hope this gets seen by more people.  This is a wonderful discovery film that I was told played at the Lighthouse International Film Festival in Jersey and the Phoenix Film Festival, just a reminder why film festivals are so important!

Also on VOD and Digital this Friday is Annie Silverstein’s BULL (Samuel Goldwyn), starring Rob Morgan from Mudbound, Just Mercy and Netflix’s Daredevil. Amber Havard plays 14-year-old Kristal, a young troubled girl who is on her way to ending up in jail like her mother. After an incident where Kristal is in danger of going to juvie, she’s given a choice instead to help her next door neighbor, Morgan’s bull rider Abe Turner, with errands around his home. Kris soon discovers her own love for bull riding, as this unlikely relationship grows. I’m a big fan of Rob Morgan as an actor, because his work is highly-underrated, and I do have to say that Bull is a great vehicle for Morgan to have more of a leading role than he normally gets. He shines in that capacity, and Havard does a decent job in their scenes together, even though it’s a far lower key role. Then again, I thought this was a moderately decent indie that covered topics very similar to other movies, including Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s The Mustang last year and Chloé Zhao’s The Rider a year earlier.  Unfortunately, the material and especially Silverstein’s writing isn’t up to par with those movies, and it took me a little longer to get into this vs. those other films. Oddly, this will probably be seen by more people due to its VOD release, and that’s fine since I’d love movies like this to find more of an audience even with its pacing issues.

Back in the VOD/digital world, we have a handful of new releases including Quentin (Rubber) Dupieux’s DEERSKIN (“Le Daim”) (Greenwich), which I got a chance to see at Rendezvous with French Cinema back in February before the world came to a screeching halt, and that series ended up also being sidelined. The movie stars Oscar winner Jean Dujardin from The Artist whose obsession with a designer deerskin jacket leads him into a life of crime as he tries to complete his all-deerskin wardrobe. I generally like Dupieux’s weird sense of humor, and though this is less of a genre film than Rubber, it’s an entertaining film as we watch Dujardin’s character get further and further into trouble as he becomes obsessed with making a movie… as well as abolishing the world of all other jackets besides his own. If that sounds weird like a strange premise, then you clearly don’t know Dupieux’s work, and maybe it’s not for you. Deerskin is a movie I fully appreciated, because it was so weird and you never know where it was going, even going into the realm of American Psycho as it went along. Dujardin’s expressive performance was quite fun to watch, plus it it also co-stars Adèle Haenel from Portrait of a Lady on Fire, for those who loved that movie. Again, not for everyone, but if you enjoy Dupieux’s strange filmmaking ethos then Deerskin is another highly original offering.

Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema will also be playing Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra’s new film Liberté (Cinema Guild), following it being a selection at the 57th New York Film Festival last year. This one takes place in the 18th century where a group of “bewigged libertines” engage in “pansexual games of pain, torture, humiliation and other dissolute, Sadean pleasure.” Sounds like something that would never play in Middle America if not for being available across the country thanks to this Virtual Cinema. I can’t remember if I saw Serra’s other film, The Death of Louis XIV, but this doesn’t sound like something I would watch unless I had free time at a festival, and clearly, I didn’t have time for this one at least year’s NYFF.

Another foreign film to look out for via virtual cinema is César Diaz’s Belgian-Guatemalan film, Our Mothers (Nuestras Madres) (Outside Pictures), which will be available via Virtual Cinema Friday. Besides being the Belgian entry for the 92nd Academy Awards, it also won the Caméra d’Or at last year’s Cannes, where it premiered during Cannes International Critics Week. It stars Armando Espitia as young anthropologist Ernesto who works for the Forensic Foundation in Guatemala as the country is in the middle of trying the soldiers who began the country’s civil war. Ernesto’s job is to identify the bodies of the missing, including possibly his father whose went missing during the war. The project began as a documentary and then became a narrative film.

Semi-related to the above, Cinema Tropical will be releasing three new genre-breaking films from a new generation of Brazilian directors, the “Cinema Tropical Collection” also done in conjunction with Lincoln Center, beginning with Gabriel Martins and Maurílio’s In the Heart of the World on Thursday, April 30.

Another movie getting a “Virtual Cinema” release (i.e. VOD/Digital) is Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra’s “docu-thriller” THE INFILTRATORS (Oscilloscope), which tells the true story of two immigrants who are thrown into a detention center. Marco and Viri are members of the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, a group of young DREAMers who want to put a stop to unjust deportations by being put in detention themselves, a plan that doesn’t go the way they planned. The film cuts between documentary footage of the real “infiltrators” with reenactments of the events inside the detention story, so it’s part documentary and part drama.

Also, Kino Lorber will be releasing Beanpole director Kantemir Balagov’s 2017 debut film, Tesnota (Closeness), virtually on Friday to help assist New York arthouse, Anthology Film Archives. This one is set in 1998 Nalchik in the North Caucasus of Russia and focuses on 24-year-old Jewish girl Ilana who works in her father’s garage, and while celebrating her young brother David’s engagement, he and his fiancée are kidnapped, but the Jewish community won’t go to the police to pay the ransom, so Ilana and her parents have to figure out a way to save them on their own.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Lots of stuff on Netflix this week, including THE HALF OF IT, the new film from Alice Wu, her first movie as as director since her terrific 2004 debut, Saving Face! This one stars Leah Lewis as Ellie Chu, a cash-strapped teen who writes a love to the school’s jock but ends up becoming friends with him and falling for the girl he has a crush on. I haven’t watched it yet to review, but I’m looking forward to it being a nice twist on Netflix’s other teen-oriented romance films.

Ryan Murphy’s second series for Netflix, Hollywood, will debut its first season on Friday, this one co-created with Ian Brennan (Glee, Scream Queens). It takes place in a post-WWII Hollywood and tells the story of a group of actors and filmmakers trying to make it. The cast includes Darren Criss, Patti Lupone, Mira Sorvino, Rob Reiner, Samara Weaving AND Michelle Krusiec, who starred in Alice Wu’s Saving Face! (See how it’s all connecting together?)

Chris Bolan’s documentary A Secret Love, which premieres on Netflix Wednesday, about two women, Pat Henschel and pro baseball player Terry Donahue, who fell in love in 1947 but had to keep that love a secret for 65 years due to the prejudice against lesbians they would have had to face.

Starting on Amazon this Friday is Upload, the new series from Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks and Recreation), with the first season being made up of ten episodes.  It stars Robbie Amell, who I got to interview last year for a small indie sci-fi film called Code 8. This is another dealing with life, death and the afterlife which seems to be a running theme through many series in recent years (such as Miracle Workers and The Good Place). In this one, Amell plays Nathan, a spoiled rich guy who ends up at Upload after a horrifying accident that takes his place, while Andy Allo plays the Upload “angel” assigned to Nathan who has to get him acclimated to his new afterlife. I’ve only watched the first episode of this so far, and it’s okay. I’m curious to see where it goes since it’s not a straight comedy perse like some of Daniels’ other work, and a lot is put on Amell’s shoulders to be funny, and Daniels is working with a lot of lesser-known actors for this one.

On Sunday, Showtime will launch the season debuts of Billions (Season 5) and the first season of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.

Also, Lionsgate’s free movie offering this Friday is Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, my #1 movie of that year… thanks for nothing, #Schmoonlight!

Next week, more movies and shows not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

BGN TVBlogEntertainmentExclusives SXSW Exclusive: A Conversation with Ben Robson of ‘Animal Kingdom’ By Kyndal Wilson -March 17, 2017 Animal Kingdom is an American drama television series inspired by the eponymous 2010 Australian film by David Michôd. The series follows a 17-year-old boy, who, after the death of his mother, moves in with the Codys, a criminal family clan governed by matriarch Janine “Smurf” Cody. Robson plays Craig Cody, the middle Cody son with a predilection for drugs and extreme behavior. He stars alongside Shawn Hatosy (Southland), Jake Weary (It Follows) and Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders). BGN caught up with the former Vikings star about his role on Animal Kingdom, his SXSW experience, and what he likes to do in his spare time. Black Girl Nerds: Welcome to Black Girl Nerds, Ben. Ben Robson: Thank you for having me. BGN: Thank you for joining us. So for people that don’t know too much about Animal Kingdom, tell us a little about the show and what separates it from other shows and stories out there about crime families. Ben Robson: So Animal Kingdom is about a dysfunctional crime family in the underworld of Oceanside which is just north of San Diego. There are four brothers who live together under the matriarchal character Smurf, played by the amazing Ellen Barkin. And what happens is her sister dies of an overdose and her nephew, Jay, has to come into the family and starts learning about this whole new world that he enters, our ways and motivations and the way that we live, which is obviously a pretty different way to how he has been brought up. Then you kind of see the whole show through his eyes. How wild and crazy and weird and fun we all are at the same time. BGN: Cool. And how are you liking Texas? How are you liking Austin? Ben Robson: I love it here! I was very spoiled in terms of coming to Austin City Limits last year. BGN: Oh, nice. Ben Robson: I had a great time, I got to see a lot of bands that I wanted, so I got to go on the boats down on the lakes and had that experience in lovely warm weather. BGN: Yes. Ben Robson: This is slightly different today. This is slightly colder today. You know, it’s great. It’s amazing to be a part of the festival and be a part of the community and meet everyone and make new friends and really understand all the different aspects of what we are doing. And it is a great city to be hosting at. BGN: And what are you most excited about the upcoming premier of your show? Ben Robson: Honestly, I am just super excited for people to see it. I think it is a really explosive entry into the season. It carries on basically straight on from the end of the first which was a very poignant ending and then we have a beginning to the next, which is the development of the fracturing of the relationship with Smurf and all the boys finally getting what they wish for. Trying to prove that their sort of the man and they are capable and have to start taking a lot more responsibility for their actions. Its really fun to watch it all unfold as it goes on. It gets darker and more twisted, more crazy. It should be fun to watch. BGN: Your character is a bit of an adventure junkie.  That’s putting it mildly! Ben Robson: Yeah, yeah! Absolutely! BGN: So tell me a little bit more about him, about your character Craig. Ben Robson: Yeah, he is that guy that you always want to be around on a night out or that sort of guy that is up for anything and someone you want to be around but maybe not live his life. He acts on impulse. He doesn’t really tend to question things till afterwards, which is what he has to get himself out of in these predicaments that he has got himself in. He definitely has an addictive personality of chasing adrenaline and the next rush. Whether its sex or drugs or motorbikes or any kind of extremity is the way that he lives. It’s a lot of fun to play. It’s a a lot of fun to watch. And you know, I don’t think any one is reigning him in anytime soon. There is some part of this season where he realizes that he has to start taking on more responsibilities. So you will definitely see a new side of Craig that hasn’t been seen before, which I am excited for people to see. BGN: I am glad you said that because I was going to ask you would you like to hang out with your character on a Saturday night? Ben Robson: I would love to hang out with him on a Saturday night. I’m not sure I would want to try and keep up with him or maybe even help put him to bed. But I don’t feel like he is someone who needs that help anyway. BGN: Exactly. Ben Robson: For sure, I would love to. It’s always fun being around people who are free and spontaneous. You definitely have the most interesting stories and night and experiences with people like that. I think with Craig Cody, that is essentially what you are going to get every time. BGN: What’s the most spontaneous thing you have done? Ben Robson: Probably quite a few. Seeing as we are in Austin, I came to Austin City Limits deciding, I think within two hours of getting on the flight. I was out at a bar, booked my flight and I think I left the bar at two and I was on a plane at five a.m. and flew over, so that is one I could think of since we are in Austin. But there has been a few moments. I went to acting school without really telling anyone. Arrived in New York and didn’t even have anywhere to stay. That was another spontaneous one. Luckily it all worked out, but there has been a few moments. BGN: Yeah, I noticed things are like that sometimes when you just put it on the line. If you are going after something the universe finds a way of making it all work out. Ben Robson: That’s right, you got to put it out there and it will reward you. BGN: Yeah put it out there! Definitely. So what do you like to do in your spare time? Ben Robson: What do I like to do? I love surfing, which I have been doing a lot recently. Motorbikes, I’ve gotten into. I just got my own bike. BGN: This show is perfect for you. Ben Robson: So yeah. Well this show definitely got me into a lot more of the stuff I wanted to do, so that’s been great. I love reading. And hanging out, seeing people, enjoying being with people. BGN: You like to read? What is your favorite book? It’s hard to pick one sometimes. Ben Robson: Recently, The Alchemist was great. Shantaram was an amazing story. Shadow of the Wind, which I read, is another good one. Yeah, when you get a good book, it’s great. I mean, I also love watching movies and the rest but there is something about creating the whole world off the page. I find it super interesting, which I guess is kinda similar to acting. You get the script and you find your world. BGN: So in regards to Animal Kingdom, how do you prepare for your role? What do you do to get in the zone to portray your character? Ben Robson: Honestly, I think for me it was trying to get that aspect of freedom and spontaneity with Craig. And really pushing myself to do stuff that I have always wanted to try but then pushing it that to extra limits. So even on the bikes when its something I shouldn’t really be doing in terms of filming but then it’s like Craig Cody would do this and then, its amazing, you start pushing yourself further and you get that reward. As you were just saying. You put yourself into places and test yourself more, you don’t get that edge to push it that little bit further. I think for me that was a huge entry point into finding out who Craig was. I have read a lot of books about South Cal and try to really understand Oceanside and the area. In that kind of aspect and really just that surf culture. It is such a strong element of California and this family and the way that they live. It has a huge history of what’s become huge in skateboarding to surfing in today’s community. Yeah, there are a few entry points. BGN: So if you were to describe Animal Kingdom in three words, what words would you use? Ben Robson: Naughty. Wild, and Dark. BGN: Good! I like those words. Sounds like something, you know, I am definitely into. Ben Robson: It’s good fun to watch. It definitely covers a lot of stuff, but I enjoy reading on the page. Definitely covers the things I like to watch as well. BGN: So you know, we are Black Girl Nerds, so I have to ask you, what is one thing that you geek out over, that you nerd out over? Ben Robson: What am I nerding out over at the moment? I love anything that makes my life easier, so when the brand new iPhone comes out, it’s pretty great. Any app that gets me through from one thing to the next–new laptop, new iPads. I am kind of really digging Spotify at the moment. I loving moving playlists around. That’s what it is, isn’t it. Trying to find all these things. New video games, no virtual reality. I just did that for the first time the other day, that I would definitely geek out on. BGN: Awesome, well thank you so much for talking to Black Girl Nerds! We look forward to the premiere of Animal Kingdom. Ben Robson: Can’t wait. Lovely to talk to you. The TNT series returns for season 2 on May 30th.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/sxsw-exclusive-conversation-ben-robson-animal-kingdom/