Hi Stoners. We are almost a quarter through 2024, a quarter closer to the fleeting warmth of summer months (I’m in Canada), another quarter closer to another year gone by. (George Constanza voice) Spring, rejuvenation, all that crap. Something about March being the rebirth of self? Someone link me, I can’t find it now. I guess I’m feeling “all that crap” that too. I cut my hair shorter, I found a pair of boots I like so much I am reduced to wearing them with near every outfit. To me that is as close to rebirth as it gets.
With every sunny day that passes I think more about my approaching 30th birthday. I’ve started seeing an acupuncturist (highly recommend), and I’m watching what I eat. I’m thinking about movies that explore what it means to “be 30”, how society perceives us, how we perceive ourselves. Some movies I haven’t rewatched since I was no more than half the age of the main character. With that rewatch comes the dissolving of the romantic fascination for their struggle and is replaced with some shocking revelation, like looking in the mirror and thinking “is that what I fucking look like?”
I present to you a recommendation of 7 films featuring a bunch of barely 30-somethings just trying to make it out there.
Frances Ha
May 2013
Directed by Noah Baumbach, Starring Greta Gerwig / Mickey Sumner / Adam Driver
💓 If you love: Ladybird, Breathless, Bushwick
A movie about rejection, friends outgrowing friends, and paying rent. Frances (better known as Barbie director Greta Gerwig) is a dancer in New York City who is between jobs, apartments, and relationships. She is deemed “undateable” and never seems to quite fit in with people her age. Frances Ha is a story that emotionally speaking, feels real without feeling raw. It’s a laugh followed by a cry followed by some semblance of hope. Great inspiration to take a trip to Paris you probably can’t afford.
Ed Wood
September 1994
Directed by Tim Burton, Starring Johnny Depp / Martin Landau / Sarah Jessica Parker
💓 If you love: Man on the Moon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Elvira
Johnny Depp portrays one of Hollywood’s “worst” directors of all time in this 1994 biopic directed by Tim Burton. Ed Wood was a 30 year old struggling film director who built a bad reputation producing strange and eccentric films in the 1950s which came to be beloved cult classics after his death in 1978. In this telling, we follow Wood (Depp) as he attempts to make a name for himself as one of the silver screen’s great storytellers only to discover much more about himself and the value of art and life along the way.
American Movie
January 1999
Directed by Chris Smith, Starring Mark Borchardt / Mike Schank
💓 If you love: The Room, This Is Spinal Tap, Thanksgiving
A movie about movies, American Movie is a documentary about two independent film makers in Wisconsin during their production of a horror movie between 1995 and 1997. Truly a film about being balls to the wall, it follows director Mark Borchardt and his best friend Mike during their numerous set-backs and roadblocks towards completing Coven, their feature length film. Hugely entertaining, it won the Grand Jury prize for a documentary at Sundance in 1999. If you have a dream, watch this movie.
Trainspotting
February 1996
Directed by Danny Boyle, Starring Ewan McGregor / Ewen Bremner
💓 If you love: Kids, Pulp Fiction, blokecore
“Choose life”. Ewan McGregor plays Renton, a young heroin addict in Scotland who is disinterested in participating in the societal trap of consumerism, having a job, or just plain growing up. Surrounded by a cast of equally bad influences, Renton (McGregor) is having a sort of Saturn returns moment complete with rude awakenings and deadly temptations. Trainspotting is a must see for anyone in their quarter life crisis era.
Promising Young Woman
December 2020
Directed by Emerald Fennell, Starring Carey Mulligan / Bo Burnham
💓 If you love: Pearl, Mysterious Skin, having a dominatrix fantasy
I wrote about how much I enjoyed Emerald’s work directing Saltburn in my first post on this newsletter. Promising Young Woman is her first feature length film. It tells the story of 30-year-old Cassie (Carey Mulligan) and her vengeance seeking quest after her best friend takes her own life. Much like Saltburn, this film is rich with intense visual queues. Most notably for me are Cassie’s costumes which feel like contemporary camouflage for her character. Throughout the film you’ll catch her ultra-feminine silhouettes featuring dainty gold jewelry or cutesy hairstyles, an obvious juxtaposition to her extra curricular pursuits. A great thriller watch with a strong post-feminism point of view
Garden State
July 2004
Directed by Zach Braff, Starring Zach Braff / Natalie Portman
💓 If you love: Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, over the ear headphones
Returning to the hometown he left behind in search of stardom, Zach Braff (writer, director, and star of the film) must face not only the death of his mother, but the emotional damage inflicted upon him by his father throughout his life. If that sounds heavy it’s because it is, but thankfully Garden State is known best for its beloved manic pixie dream girl, Sam (Natalie Portman) and soundtrack which Braff won a Grammy for (just another thing he did on this picture). A coming of age, quirky indie rom-com if there ever was one.
Uptown Girls
August 2003
Directed by Boaz Yakin, Starring Brittany Murphy / Dakota Fanning
💓 If you love: Bridget Jones’s Diary, Mary Poppins, Betsey Johnson
I miss Brittany Murphy. I remember renting Uptown Girls from the corner store with my cousin one hot summer evening in 2004 along with our Slush Pups. This movie is burned in my brain and probably responsible for 1/16th of my personality as an adult woman. Molly Gunn (Murphy) — first of all, what a name — suddenly finds herself in a world of trouble when her rich, dead daddy’s bank account goes empty. With no clear direction in life, she takes up a job as a New York City nanny and encounters Ray (Fanning). Together, the two learn how to balance each other out and find the maternal love they were both missing in their lives. This movie is sure to heal your inner child (mommy issues much?).
Thanks for reading!
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Written by: Olivia Biggar (you can call me Liv)
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