Never Be Bored
27 December 2020
Everywhere except where you're supposed to be
Selah and the Spades, 2019 Tayarisha Poe film. Deadly Class tv show; Thoroughbreds, 2017 Cory Finley film; Looking for Alaska, book by John Green and tv show.
There are lots of good reasons to watch Selah and the Spades. In this 2019 Tayarisha Poe film, Selah Summers runs the Spades, the most powerful faction at a fancy boarding school, selling drugs and alcohol with her best friend Maxxie to the other students at Haldwell—which also hosts the Skins, the Bobbys, the Prefects, and the Sea. The problem is that it's senior year, and Selah hasn't yet decided who's going to continue her legacy after she graduates. And then, she meets Paloma.
Watch this movie, streaming on Amazon Prime, for a brilliant and diverse cast. Watch it for gorgeous aesthetics, including an incredible senior prank scene shot like something out of some high-concept art film. Watch it for the line: "Not everyone has a type. I don't do that... I never wanted to." And watch it for the excellent end credits song, "Infinince or Infinity" by Terence Etc., which shows up briefly in the film when Selah, seeing Paloma listening to an iPod shuffle, asks—"Doesn't it drive you crazy that you can't pick what song plays next?" "Not really," says Paloma. "I mean, the right song always plays."
Take the factions of Haldwell several levels more lethal and camp, and you'll get the gangs of King's Dominion in Deadly Class, a tv show based on a comic book. At this school for assassins in the 80s, the children of the Soto Vatos, the Kuroki Syndicate, Russian KGB agents, and other fun families learn the "deadly arts." Although definitely a Bit Much at times with the gritty and the gore, this show is still a entertaining choice for fans of over-the-top dramatics.
If you liked the elite private school meets ruthless pursuit of goals vibes of Selah and the Spades, try the movie Thoroughbreds, also recommended in Non je ne regrette rien. Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke star as Lily and Amanda, once close friends who drifted apart, now reconnecting over Lily's hatred of her stepfather and Olivia's suggestion of murder as a possible solution.
If your favorite part of Selah and the Spades was the senior prank scene, you might like Looking for Alaska, a story set at a boarding school in Alabama. I first read the book by John Green, which is great, but—and I never thought I'd write this—the tv show might actually be better. Both book and Hulu adaptation follow transfer student Miles Halter, collector of famous people's last words, and his new group of friends, including one larger-than-life Alaska Young.