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Josie and the Pussycats 2001
The 3 Small Words they’re singing about are “military industrial complex.”
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Suburban Birds 2018
An ambitious and promising debut. I'm particularly impressed by Sheng's insight into group social dynamics; the way he keenly observes how his characters occupy physical space with each other, exposing the various emotional subtleties embedded in those minute interactions and exploring the tragic tendency among kids and adults alike to instinctively deflect or sublimate any complicated feelings that may arise within such microscopic expressions of intimacy.
More impressive still is the film's quietly brain-crackling Moebius-strip plot structure, by which the…
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Seven Brides for Seven Brothers 1954
The incredible barn-raising dance understandably gets most of the attention here, but it's the weird little "Lonesome Polecat" number that's stuck with me the most. Not only is the sequence a low-key formal and choreographic marvel in its own right, but the song itself is (to my ears at least) a legitimate proto-freak-folk bop, prefiguring that Hurley/Stampfel sweet spot where a surface layer of knowingly silly Americana pastiche gradually gives way to surprising depths of genuine emotion. Certainly not something I expected to hear in a '50s MGM musical!
I'm surprised the song hasn't been covered more, I've been humming it to myself all week.
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