FASHION IS MOVIES / MOVIES ARE FASHION
Reunion Newsletter [3.14.25]
Most of the cool stuff right now isn’t movies. We’re in the bad movie season. Even our tentpoles are there because nobody knew what to do with them. Captain America is best summed up by the roof implosion that occurred during one of its screenings, where nobody was hurt because there were only two people in the audience. The world has been polite to Bong Joon-Ho’s new movie, everyone’s been relatively quiet about their dismissal. I have not had one positive conversation about Mickey 17 though. I really like what they’ve done with The Monkey actually. It’s not great, but didn’t have to be. The middle of his three movies in two years, it’s like a bonus holiday episode. And dump it in the doldrums of a really bad movie season. This is perfect. It’s light fun, the themes are repeated and heavy handed, the gags are inconsistently conceived and executed. Whatever. Afternoon at the movies, have some popcorn, move on with your life. They gave us Longlegs not that long ago, here’s another little treat to tide you over without needing to go to YouTube explainers to understand the symbolism. And they already dropped the post-credits trailer for the new one, which I imagine will be heady, Keeper. I love how small horror movies have been scattering themselves these last few months and doing decent business. None of these movies need to break the bank, and none need to be think pieces. During a season dominated by discourse and drama and hyper seriousness about the most mundane things, it’s perfect to counter program with unserious horror. I haven’t seen Jenny Pen yet, but looking forward to.
For the switched on movie fan tired of a contrived and overly manufactured Oscar season, but not wanting to wash away in the bliss of oblivion, you have the fashion world. And the art-adjacent fashion world. This year, Paris Fashion Week became the preface to the main event, which took place in my hood, Anne Imhof at Park Avenue Armory. And to cap it off as if in a perfect Adam Silver-esque scripted denouement to the cognoscenti buzz in the air, the Luka-to-the-Lakers-is-Shams-Hacked-esque drop of ———DEMNA TO GUCCI!
I’ll go into all of this below in great detail, so read on if you want to know what the cool kids are dishing for us these days.
Before that though, I’m starting to put on more live performances. Short plays. Adapted from movies mostly. Scripted and rehearsed, but short, so it’s not a huge undertaking. And they’re meant to be, good and constructed. Maybe built off a work in progress, but this performance is fleshed out. Not table reads nor improv, which respectfully, I find generally boring beyond the novelty. I want these to be fun and engaging for the audience, without the huge lift of producing a short film or a full length play. Some come from upcoming theatrical releases, some are classic movies, some are developing scripts. We have a few coming up and are casting, as well as open to more ideas on projects. Check out the summary if you’re interested, and feel free to pass along to anyone you think might dig it. Submit on the links, or just get in touch directly. I don’t care about the process, I just care about connecting with people and making things.
REUNION CASTING:
— Sean Glass @sdotglass
EVENTS
• A few upcoming Reunion events. New invite page, let me know what you think. Feedback welcome, I want to get the kinks out. reunion.eventive.org
• March 21, we’ll host the final arts event at the unfortunately closing Five + Dime in the Woolworth Building. A Cinepoetic Happening with Lynne Sachs and Hannah Bonner. There will be short films and live poetry reading.
• March 24, we’ll host NYC premiere of Glue Trap, Justin Geldzahler’s debut feature at KGB Bar. Lots of cast + crew in attendance presenting. This came via Reunion friend, the film’s co-producer and colorist Sam Gursky.
• Expect a SXSW shorts night announced soon and join the SXSW WhatsApp group.
• MARCH 29 SAVE THE DATE for the live event.
RESOURCES
Vimeo Short Film Grant. Submissions open now. [Learn more]
NEWS
The important stuff on the important stuff. TL;DR + links if you want more.
WATCH: Why Are All the Oscar-Winning Filmmakers Broke? A really good take on a very mismanaged conversation. He articulates the difference between film makers and film workers.
SXSW 2025 Awards: Amy Wang’s Slanted Wins Narrative Feature Award [IndieWire]
Amazon MGM Will Release 12-14 Films Theatrically In 2026 As Studio Commits “Financially And Philosophically” To The Big Screen [Deadline]
Robert Rodriguez launches Brass Knuckle Films, turning movie fans into investors [Fast Company] Similar to Pressman Film fund, from same people.
Francis Ford Coppola Boards SXSW Pic Brother Verses Brother As Executive Producer [Deadline] Congrats to Reunion featured filmmaker Ari Gold!
Hot Rumor: Nathan Fielder Has Been Visiting Elizabeth Holmes in Prison as Part of Some Top-Secret Documentary [Jeff Sneider] Wild if true!
Elizabeth Olsen Stars in ‘Seven Sisters’ Drama Pilot Ordered By FX; Sean Durkin To Direct [Deadline] MMMM reunion!
Sony Boards Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, Sets Fall 2026 Release Date [Deadline] They gave him $20mm plus points and bonuses. His second movie, Weapons, hasn’t come out yet. Amazing agents + managers. This is entirely off the hype of Barbarian.
20 Movies Shot on Film in 2025: Separate Safdie Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, and More [IndieWire] Gazer out April 4!
Grace Glowicki’s Dead Lover Acquired for Theatrical Release Out of SXSW by New Distributor Cartuna x Dweck [IndieWire] Collab between some people with good taste and doing things that are attuned to the moment.
Bleecker Street acquires US rights to Spinal Tap II and original 1984 cult classic [Screen Daily]
Jenna Ortega and Taylor Russell in Talks for Single White Female Remake [Variety] Cool as far as remakes go.
News broken by [Jeff Sneider]. Worth a subscribe. He and Matt Belloni are some of the only ones breaking things that aren’t fed to them. And he’s the only true independent. Warning, with love, his takes are often very, as the kids would say, cringe, but he does the work really really well. There’s a reason he’s indie, because he doesn’t really get along with the general industry, which says even more to his ability to capture scoops when it seems like nobody wants him to be the one doing it. I hope this doesn’t come across insulting, as it’s kinda a well known thing he talks about alllll the time. People don’t like him. But it’s a very cool example where he’s one of the best at what he does despite losing the popularity contest.
Chloë Grace Moretz To Star In Serial-Killer Thriller The Edge Of Normal For Piggy Director [Deadline] I liked the short and feature Piggy. One of the only decent ones at pandemic Sundance. Vanishing Angle too on this. Cool
The $5 Movie Club That Wants to Know What You Thought of the Film [THR]
Portishead Co-Founder Geoff Barrow Launches Invada Films; Company Wraps John Minton’s Debut Feature Game Starring Marc Bessant & Jason Williamson [Deadline] Love Geoff Barrow. This will be cool. Very cool people associated.
SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATIONS
Continuing the big fashion news theme, the final bow for Donatella Versace, here's a nice history.
The positive reviews / response is misleading. NOBODY likes Mickey 17. There's good will for it, and a well-protected roll out, but nobody actually likes it. The delays were because they knew it wouldn't deliver to Bong Hive, which also perpetuated the good vibes reviews halo effect. In a month, people won't call this 'well reviewed,' it was just that they were able to control who talked about the movie in a unique way given the extreme good will of the journalists who were so rewarded for talking about Parasite. I just had lunch with a YouTuber whose channel pays her rent because of a Parasite video she made going viral, establishing her as a credentialed and sponsored journalist. None of these people were going to come after Mickey 17, but they would be the first to write about it. If you talk to people who actually saw it, I haven't heard one positive response.
WATCH
New Directors/New Films 2025 lineup announced [Film Linc]
MoMI’s First Look Film Festival 2025, through Mar 16. [Tickets]
With a trailer edited by yours truly (Max).
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie [wide] A reminder they still canned Coyote vs. Acme.
Opus [wide]
John Malkovich sings on the Opus EP, written and produced by Nile Rodgers and The-Dream. Holy shit this would have been a major moment in 2013. Is this The Idol x Mandy (or looked at Google image search of Beyond the Black Rainbow) x Under the Silver Lake x 2013 music culture, but by A24 and bad?
Black Bag [wide] Soderbergh burned me with Presence, I don’t know about this one. I am suspicious of good buzz on him because he’s so connected and beloved to cinephiles who lead the charge. I love that, and it’s real, and he’s tremendous, but it doesn’t make me like the movies. I’d rather rewatch The Limey and study the editing choices Sarah Flack made.
Novocaine [wide] Happy Dan Berk is making theatrical movies, I remember him from back in the day making content for Stylecaster, which was a thing in like 2009ish. I will not watch this movie though and hate seeing the trailer over and over again. I talked about Jack Quaid’s impermanence last week thanks to an unintentionally on the nose headline about his painless comedy.
The Electric State [Paris + Netflix] The Russos are back to prove they can’t make films under two hours—let alone make anything remotely interesting with $300+ mil. But they’re in the shot on film article 🤷♂️. Had a hilarious conversation with someone at a theater who did a preview for this. They’re an events person, not a movie person, and they were hyping me up about how they’re doing cooler things, etc. … like The Electric State preview…and of course as I continued to listen, this person did not actually watch the movie. They just manage the space. Had no idea what the context of this was. It’s funny how our world is today.
The Russo Brothers’ Joyless Netflix Mockbuster Is Only Compelling as an Argument for Letting the Movies Die [IndieWire]
The World Is a Tire Fire [The Ringer]
Netflix spent $320M on a movie you’ll hate [NY Post]
I Think The Russos’ New Netflix Blockbuster Might Actually Be Harmful To Movies [Screen Rant]
Book vs Movie:
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut in 35mm [Angelika]
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [Angelika]
The Actor [Angelika]
Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus [Angelika]
Palindromes, 4K restoration w/ Todd Solondz in person [IFC]
Young Hearts w/ filmmaker in person [IFC]
Who By Fire w/ filmmaker Philippe Lesage in person [Film Linc]
Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2025 [Film Linc]
Film at Lincoln Center Spring Lineup Announced [Film Linc] Lots of good stuff here—Inherent Vice in 70mm, Caught by Tides, The Shrouds, and more!
Luis Buñuel’s ÉL, 4K Restoration [Film Forum]
An Unfinished Film, w/ filmmakers in person [Film Forum]
Fellini, John Sayles, Irish animation, and more [Metrograph]
MAR 17: Hundreds of Beavers anniversary screening w/ actor Mike Wesolowski and fight choreographer Jon Truei [IFC]
MAR 20: Noir City Hollywood 2025 [AC]
MAR 21: Réne Clair series opening at [Film Forum]
APR 4: A Man and a Woman, 4K restoration [Film Forum]
STREAMING
Paweł Pawlikowski’s new short, Muse [MUBI]
All We Imagine as Light [Criterion Channel]
Better Man [Paramount +]
Every Little Thing [VOD]
I’m Still Here [VOD]
The Strangler, 2K restoration [Tubi]
Trap [Netflix]
ON OUR MIND
WATCH: Death Stranding 2 trailer reveals Luca Marinelli, wife Alissa Jung, and more additions to the cast. Kojima is one of our most prescient artists working and this looks unreal.
Conner O’Malley can’t be stopped.
READ: Interview with Brutalist cinematographer Lol Crawley [The Talks]
Panavision throwback to True Detective S1.
EXHIBITION: Syd Mead: Future Pastime, opens MAR 27 in NYC [Info]
BUY: Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers by Alain Corneau [Radiance Films]
Criterion New Releases Announcement—including a new edition of Sorcerer w/ a discussion between Sean Fennessey and James Gray.
NEW: That Bowling Alley on the Tiber by Michelangelo Antonioni [The Film Desk]
John Carpenter returns to NYC live in concert on Oct 10.
Silent Hill returns after 13 years with a cool new setting.
Demna takes over at Gucci. I predict this will be straightforward. I think this will signal the end of his ironic snarky this of that-ness, the end of his commentary. I think he’ll just design really beautiful clothes. That’s the most radical thing he could do with Gucci. The last time Gucci was famous for simply really really beautiful clothes was Tom Ford Alessandro Michele was incredible, and brought the brand to new heights, but there was a style. I don’t know what word you use for his prints, someone else knows better, but it maybe like Rococo. This wasn’t necessarily Gucci specifically, it was just its iconography spun through the filter of this guy’s vision, which was complex and immense. Think about the movie that came out while he was there, House of Gucci. These people and designs had little to do with Michele’s work, they were being remixed and commented on. But the brand came to prominence for lush Italian excellence. It wasn’t Armani, nor Valentino nor Versace. Those were kinda ridiculous. Of a moment. Gucci wasn’t over the top. It was classier. It was the best. It did not need to comment nor generate pomp & circumstance. It could just be beautiful. That’s how it rose to prominence, and that’s what Tom Ford achieved again. It’s why before the company was called Kering, it was The Gucci Group. So I think that’s what he’s going to do. Bring it back to excellent beauty. Vetements and Balenciaga both existed in a conversation of their own. They were such massive cultural forces. They were not in dialogue with other brands, even Michele’s run of Gucci was its own thing, but paled in impact to Demna’s Vetements and Balenciaga runs. I don’t know if he’s capable of making tight silhouettes that aren’t statement making room filling pieces. I imagine he would be. And nothing would be cooler at this stage. He’s already made all the commentary his career could possibly have space for. At least for now. It would be so cool if he proved he could dress the world in normal clothes too, impact even more people. What a run that would be. Imagine if my parents wore something Demna Gvasalia designed.
On the Jubilee Sam Seder video… I’ve seen more discussion about this one than the other videos, which kinda occupy their space of the internet and stay there, rarely cross over to mainstream. Kinda like we talk about film trade controversies vs what regular folks hear about. But this progressive Sam Seder vs. 20 conservatives video seems to have sparked a lot of attention. I actually agree with Sam Seder on pretty much everything here, and consider the kids they cast him up against as threats to our society who should be sent away. But this format isn’t really fair, and thus the ‘discourse’ surrounding it wouldn’t really be productive. I watched this entire thing, I didn’t even speed it up. I can’t tell you anything I learned, nor understand more. I don’t know what the point is. So re the format. It’s one super experienced vetted popular trained guy who constantly does this, literally like every day he’s on the spot, debating people and talking to experts about these exact issues. He’s 58 years old. They put him in the middle of a room with a notably diverse group of 20 twenty-somethings who identify as conservative. Seder makes a claim, and they each have to race to the chair in the middle to debate him. The others listen and raise a flag when they disagree with the conservative representing them, and think they can do a better job. When 11/20 raise flags, they’re booted, and the next person gets a chance. Let me be clear, I was not using metaphor there. There is a physical chair, and they’re scattered around the room, and the way they get to speak is by literally standing and running to this chair when a countdown ends. It’s very Squid Game coded. It’s not even logical nor fair, like some people are further from the chair than others. Some are aggressive, some are just not the type to push another human being to get to a chair for the privilege of debating someone who could and should be their teacher. Seder is on stage the entire time. He’s in rhythm. Warmed up. It’s not a drain on him, it’s the opposite. He’s flowing, cooking, ready with it. They all sit there thinking of their one big point, probably anxiously repeating it to themselves over and over again until they have their moment of opportunity. They’re like lambs to slaughter though. It’s not a Roman Maniple. It’s not 20 trainees ganging up on one master samurai. It’s 20 trainees competing with each other for the chance to face off Mano-a-mano against a master swordsman. One at a time, he’s going to cut them down with ease, and what do we learn from that? Respectfully, and again, I agree with Seder, but what do we learn from Seder undressing the guy who thinks federal government offices pay taxes? That dude is a moron who has gotten far too much emboldening energy from his echo chamber. He should be criticized more regularly, it’s a shame it has to be on this stage. But yeah, of course 58 year old famous for how good his takes are Sam Seder destroys that child’s arguments. Again again again, I disagree with the entire platform these people represented. But beyond just the opinion development skills and the debate skills on display, some of them were outright racist and violent xenophobes, some the same religious crazies Seder referenced in his warnings. I don’t know. So the whole thing was either inexperienced but solid kids debating a master, some were fine. Or overconfident kids being put down. Or absolute crazies given rope to hang themselves. All things equal, Sam Seder has no more than the pressure of a little embarrassment, the rest have all these structural threats gamifying their personhood basically. The whole set up is kinda a social media simulacrum but even more hellish, vs for the single speaker it's kinda utopian throwback to pre social media times, put on a socratic pedestal. I don’t know who wins here except whomever gets money for the clicks.
The responses are all over the place. A closet industry of responses to this video. Reframes are hilarious. This guy thought he won and got ratio’d, I think that’s what the kids say.
ON ANNE IMHOF’S DOOM
The richest influences on movies are often not movies.
Of course I’m a huge cinephile and probably love movies about movies more than any other movies, and love when movies reference other movies and love spotting those homages and talking about them. Movies are the best and highest art form humans have ever known. The 7th art is all-encompassing. Anything anything else can do, movies can do better. At least up to this point in history. But while all possibilities exist within movies, sometimes it’s that scale that cripples movies. The days and life and process of a filmmaker can get bogged down with too many things. The industry of it all is so distracting.
Art forms more focused or free can often unlock that which eludes the filmmaker. The simplicity of a song can distill a universal truth. A silhouette of clothes alone can evoke a time and place. I think the coolest film deck and mood boards are packed with non-film references.
Anne Imhof took over Park Avenue Armory for the last few weeks. It’s a huge open space, the drill hall. I’ve seen things there like the Ai Wei Wei exhibition where you wandered around in pitch black and surveillance cameras and hidden lights tracked and marked your movements in unexpected and subversive ways. Imhof won Venice Biennale with her German Pavilion housed “Faust” in 2017. I was there but don’t remember, as I was kinda in space on that trip, having just left my job and more exploring. So I probably walked through for a few minutes but for sure did not take in the full 5 hours, nor its breadth or meaning. Here’s some video of it. Fun part when she nonchalantly walks through about 5 mins in, wearing black hat, and nobody seems to notice.
Also check out the album they put out.
DOOM, the Park Avenue Armory show this week was another level. 60ish cast members. A giant room with 20 something Cadillac Escalades (sponsored) scattered across a floor made to be a giant high school gymnasium basketball court. A ring in center court is where about half the action occurs, but there’s truly no center to this performance. It’s all-encompassing. Much like The Brutalist, its three hours flies by. I was not rushing out when it ended, and never bored. The timer on the center court clock that ticked throughout did not feel like a punishing reminder of how much more we had to sustain, what I feared a ‘durational artwork’ would feel like, but rather it made me yearn for more. I would have hungrily gobbled up another three hours. Had I had more time, I’d have gone back too see it again.
Doom uses the Romeo & Juliet story as a construct by which to invoke visual iconography and storytelling tropes baked deep into our DNA. It’s told in reverse, so it starts with mourning, and the loose narrative brings us to a form of morning, of love, as we exit. It does appear to climax and send us off with hope. All of that is emotional, purely. There is no expository dialogue nor plot devices. Imhof’s tools are purely aesthetics and feelings. Narrative is exclusively felt, not told. What’s different from an abstract or experimental film is that there are different ways to go about finding those feelings. This isn’t some touristic contrivance like Sleep No More, but there are many ways to spend the time and experience the performance. There are rooms I didn’t even know were there until after.
I chose to pick one spot and stay there for the entire time, experience whatever I received from that vantage point. Maintain my state of receiving, keep my body from activating any other mechanism. I did not want to be maneuvering amongst the crowd, nor thinking about where the best spot would be. I just committed in the beginning and did not move, so I was constantly engaged and taking in whatever was around me. But if you watch this video, you can see the hallways were full of locker room style performance pieces.
From what I understand, there were lots of little performances happening throughout the room, like a flex dance-off in one corner that whomever happened to be around there would see, but nobody else. This could be like a Mercutio-Thibault scene perhaps, I don’t really know. Things were happening all over the room, but I liked the feeling of taking it in as a generalized movement. There would be a rap show in one corner, a punk show with mosh pit in another, a piano ballad right next to me. Talia Ryder and Eliza Douglas sung songs from atop the cars, walking through the crowd, and from the rafters high above us.
The sound is all DFA, death from above, huge speakers hung just above our heads, scattered throughout. It’s lush and full. No matter where you walk, you feel enveloped in the sound and whatever Imhof prescribes us to feel in those moments.
It’s a social experience. We talk throughout. It’s very nightclub-esque. Imhof came out at one point and happened to stand right next to me while one of the big set pieces happened across the room, so a bunch of the cool people came over to say hello to her. They talked like they were on the street, normal, nobody was worried about being distracted, or too loud. It was all part of the experience. Seeing friends, checking out people’s outfits, filming it on your phone; all considered and incorporated. Performers revealed themselves and stepped slowly, the crowd figured it out and parted ways for them. But nothing needed to be said nor adjusted, it all flowed naturally, and this was all part of the art and experience. How do we interact with one another and our environment? This is certainly core to Doom’s exploration.
Speaking of phones, I don’t know if we’ve taken a few laps around the sun already, or what, but people filming on their phones did not feel weird, nor did it feel distracting. The most sophisticated fancy people took videos. And there was no knee-jerk reaction in my head. I understood. I thought it was a good idea actually. At first, by habit, I kept my phone in pocket, wanted to experience it without distraction, and be considerate of others around me. But then it just felt natural, like my video was part of the art, as accurate a recording as anything else. I felt like it should be captured. That there was no definitive way to capture this art, so for us to populate the internet forever with crowd sourced images in hundreds of forms and angles is exactly the way to transfer these feelings for all eternity. Sure, the idea remains of experiencing it is the only way. But the videos I’ve seen since are powerful. They move me as well. Different, but they feel much more engrossing than a video of theater or typical performance art.
People were very emotional. I didn’t see anyone breaking down, but many told me they did. It’s intense. It made people cry, made people think about repressed stuff, experiences they’ve had. Current political climate and ideological threats against certain people. I felt more things during this performance than in pretty much any movie I’ve seen in the last year.
It takes a really really good movie to get people this emotional. Typically, performance art triggers people with stunts or shocks or aggression, think like Vito Acconci. Eliza Douglas naked dripping candlewax into her mouth in the middle of the room is probably the closest to ‘shock value’ that this dips into, but it did not feel shocking. It felt emotional, just felt heavy. Douglas just gives heaviness. Even the chords she plays on guitar evoke that. Grunge era sludge. Her singing voice is not what you expect it to be. The whole presence she brings is heavy. Imhof pulls no tricks though. The ‘durational’ description of the work is really nice because it implies one must experience it all…to experience it all. There is no particular scene meant as a climax or a key explainer. It’s not really paced to rev up or slow down. It’s all structured within equidistant movements, and it’s really up to you to engage deeper or detach for each. No pressure is felt, you can meander, you can leave, you can get a drink, you can sit, stand, do whatever.
Coming back to what I said at first…work like this is a wonderful influence on filmmaking. Explore how to evoke the same things within the form of a movie. It’s challenging. Challenging to apply the framework Imhof utilizes to her advantage. Her freedom of space and time is actually a restriction in film. The audience has to pay attention the entire time, and they have one window pov. But what if you achieved what Imhof did? What would it look like? How would it come to those like feelings? How would you lead an audience and engage them how she does? How would you represent Eliza Douglas as superstar in film the way she becomes the most powerful force in the room of Doom?
There’s a million videos on the internet of this. I encourage you to take a dive. Click and click and click. Read the pieces. Here are a few I liked.
Eliza Douglas talks about the clothes here. And the cast here.
Note a lot of Imhof work is compared to Demna because of Eliza’s placement and muse-ness in both. While it comes from the same milieu, it’s not of the same spirit.
Some more of my videos.
