Short takes #04

Strange Delight, The Bikeriders, a new gelato spot, stellar Thai comforts, my new favorite breakfast sandwich

Can a magnum opus be 500 words? No? I wrote an short essay for MUBI on diners in Michael Mann movies and it is a pure distillation of my sensibilities. It is my calling card. My short film. The precursor to whatever longer full-fledged work I have in me in the future. I’m very proud of it! And I have a feeling if you like this newsletter you might enjoy it, too. Big thank you to my friend Greg who encouraged me run with the idea.

Next time: genre movies, neonoirs, my new favorite restaurant.

• “The Shawshank Redemption but make it gay” is a tidy elevator pitch for THE GREAT FREEDOM, a poignant mini-epic starring everyone’s eccentric boyfriend Franz Rogowski that deserves your attention. Streaming on MUBI; 30 days free here.

• As a certified grade a neurotic person, I really got into Lucy Kerr’s debut film FAMILY PORTRAIT, which captures the discomfitting sensation of rustling anxiety to a tee. the mood is "the brink of disaster” made palpable and elegantly surreal through sonic distortions, manipulations of time, and as always, Deragh Campbell’s skittish yet grounded performance. Streaming and in theaters at Metrograph.

• The gritty title of Aaron Schimberg’s dazzlingly original CHAINED FOR LIFE belies the surprising warmth and humor that seeps through the cracks like lightleaks on film. (It’s also filmed, beautifully on super 16mm An endearing, lightly confrontational satire on representations in Hollywood. Schimberg wrestles with many of the same thematic concerns in his upcoming film, which stars Sebastian Stan and is also very good. Streaming on TUBI.

• THE BIKERIDERS was inspired by the photobook of the same name and ostensibly the people in it. Either they were very boring, or Nichols called it in. Maybe both. This is a spunkless, mild, Midwestern homage to Goodfellas, a big L for Nichols, who from the start of his career has peered into the middle America’s  masculinity and family loyalties. While he captures the camraderie and glossy sheen and rough and tumble beauty of motorcycle 60s, he fails to inject the proceedings with his own distinctive voice and leans too heavily into creating a mythological veneer. Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy do a lot of accents that are goofy and accurate. The movie is framed dramatically through her narration and hindsight but it would not pass the Bechdel test. In theaters.

• A Midwestern movie with some oomph: Joel Poetrykus continues his metal slackerism VULCANIZADORA with this bitteresweet ballad of male loneliness, guilt, and fatherhood. Coming soon, hopefully.

• Audiences seem to hate HIT MAN, pinning it as a typical Netflix movie even though it wasn’t produced by the streamer. I wasn’t a fan, but it’s no way on par with their dribble. Resurfacing my take from TIFF, where i was like, one of two people who didn’t like it! This is a Doestoyevskian comedy in its regards to self-perceptions and actions and its premiere joy is watching Powell’s vigorous range manifest in a wild variety of assassin-personae, at times aping Statham, Bale, McConnaughey. Gary undergoes steady transformation from extraordinarily unexceptional man with cats to charismatic and capable alter-ego Ron.  The character’s spark lies in his duality, and the contrast in Powell’s chameleonic range is no longer on display past a certain point. I failed to find purchase in the romantic chemistry between Powell and Arjona, through no fault of their own. As the film went on, it was easy to pinpoint why: the name of Linklater’s game is roleplay, and something so manufactured can only be so moving, or sexy. Though the sanitized cuteness is indicative of Linklater’s overarching vision, making light of more ponderous things like murder and morals, relieving them of their solemn weight.

• In any case, if you want to watch another highly compelling actor tasked with faking it til he makes it, I give you RICKY STANICKY, the new Amazon movie from the Farrelly Brothers. John Cena proves himself a a muscleheaded, funnier Jon Hamm, pulling out all the stops as the imaginary childhood friend of Jermaine Fowler, Zac Efron, and Andrew Santino. Amazon > Netflix

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Susan Kim at Bonnie’s

Doshi x Bonnies

A few weeks ago chef Susan Kim hosted her roving popup Doshi at Bonnie’s for one night, showcasing Korean-Chinese and Cantonese food in saucy, wok-fried glory.

There were springy packets of cheung fun noodles in black bean sauce, carrying more than hint of smoke, a fantastic play on jjajangmyun. Moules frites in spicy seafood jjampong broth, reminding me that Bonnies has some perfect fries. angsuyuk sweetened with lychee, the deep fried pork astonishingly soft and crispy. I didn’t miss the habitually chewy and over-sauced original one bit. All this makes the inventive meal especially one to remember since I haven’t been to a decent Korean-Chinese jjangjangmyun-jib in Manhattan in some time. Though I’ve yet to check out the newish Octo in K-town if anyone wants to come with me.

Apps and sides: corn cheese pancakes, which we dipped in an addictive peppy green sauce, a sort of pickled salsa verde redolent of fish sauce. It should be bottled ASAP. A normal looking salad of slivered cucumbers, kohlrabi, wood-eared mushroom, and tofu skin were blanketed by an invisible mustard dressing that cleared out my sinuses proper.  

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• Gliding through a slice of Mi Best Friend’s coconut flan with whatever utensil of your choosing is its own form of ASMR. Incredibly smooth. Instead of saying “..like butter” I’m tempted to start saying “like flan.”

• The highly considered breakfast sandwich at Cafe Mado is destined to become if not iconic then at least very popular. A healthy amount of stretchy white cheese—gooey, but importantly, not greasy—hugs an over-medium egg and a square of spiced sausage. Swiped with a peppery green sauce and packaged in an irresistibly buttery milkbread potato bun, it’s just the right size to hold with one hand and the right thickness for a perfect mouthful. It comes in an insulated foil pouch, too, so you could transport it to the office or have it delivered. Someone thought long hard about this, and it shows.

• Biddrina Gelato, from the Locanda Vini team in Clinton Hill, slings frozen scoops in the kind of high-end flavors that you’d only find in restaurants. Rosemary and ricotta, strawberry fennel, mulberry sorbet. The cantaloupe was so stellar it makes a case for the existence of the lowly fruit. Consider it the Italian response to Melona bars. 

• Every morning I’ve been making a Copper Cow Coffee’s pour-over Vietnamese latte and my life has been forever changed. The company has roots in Vietnam. The coffee is minty but potent and the condensed milk comes in single size serving packets, so you can easily modulate how much you want. I use about half a squeeze. 

• I’m ashamed to say i can’t stop eating the extremely bougie strawberry snack from Flamingo Estate that I planned to tuck away for the dead of winter. (It was a gift.) Plucked at the height of their perfection, Harry’s Berries are gently dehydrated, shellacked in their own nectar, then dusted with spicy guajillo chiles. A major upgrade from packaged date stripes with tajin. it would make a covetable thank you to whoever’s lent you the keys to their Hampton’s beach house. Evidently the company has just opened a pop-up there for the season...