Friends of Metrograph Ivy Wolk, Damon Krukowski, Naomi Yang, and Lyla Wolf each share a film they love, streaming on demand on the Metrograph At Home platform.
Ivy Wolk selects
Psycho Beach Party
Psycho Beach Party, dir. Robert Lee King, 2000
Like if the James Gunn Scooby Doo films, John Water’s Cecil B. Demented (2000), and The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) had a Mormon-soaking induced three-way baby. Lauren Ambrose is one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the screen, something I’ve believed for years. She is radiant and hilarious as a femcel strag-hag (that’s a fag-hag for heteros) who gets possessed by a Joan Crawford-esque angry fucker spirit. When she slips into a Blaccent… there has to be a word stronger than TRANSCENDENT. Production design, costuming, unabashed homoeroticism, comedy, camp, wigs, and gore are in their best form here. They don’t make films this way anymore. They don’t let actors give turns like this anymore. Camp from a place of pure love needs a major return. Pure goof without a wink that says “isn’t this the worst”… let the winks go back to saying “we know we are the best.” Also, come back to the Five and Dime, Amy Adams, in good movies, Amy Adams in good movies…
Ivy Wolk is a comedian, actress, writer, and internet personality based in Brooklyn. She can next be seen in Sean Baker’s Anora.
DAMON KRUKOWSKI AND NAOMI YANG SELECT
Rock n Roll High School
Rock n Roll High School, dir. Allan Arkush, 1979
A great fantasy film-not exactly for the stock plot of suburban high school rebellion-but the fantasy that the Ramones would be the band to inspire a Southern Californian student body in 1978 is too good not to enjoy. When Dee Dee saw rushes of the scene where the band arrives at the school, he said, “We look like we’re from another planet.” They were-but like a Japanese kaiju film, they are also a return of 1950s teenage rock and roll, now morphed into a punk band by New York City street life. The music fits. And when Riff Randell slips a slice of backstage pizza into her bag to save as a memento, so does the fandom.
Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are musicians (Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi). Damon is also a writer (Dada Drummer Almanach), and Naomi is a filmmaker (Never Be A Punching Bag for Nobody).
Lyla Wolf selects
Introduction
Introduction, dir. Hong Sangsoo, 2021
Desperation. Then a goodbye. Then a woman admits that cold food gives her diarrhea. This is how Introduction opens: honest and lifelike. Hong captures his story with what could almost be described as flatness, yet this brings out depth, and a refreshing attention to movement and light. Notice the curtains of weeping willow branches. Notice the cars passing the light-flooded windows. Notice the woman blink-a detail only made visible through the film’s greater simplicity. In this sense, Introduction feels rather like people-watching; what may seem like an ordinary moment, when looked at with thoughtfulness, reveals itself to be a story filled with tenderness and beauty.
Lyla Wolf is a writer based in NYC.