Never Be Bored

15 November 2018

Non je ne regrette rien

Thoroughbreds, 2017 Cory Finley film. A Simple Favor, 2018 Paul Feig film, Kaleidoscopes EP by Transviolet, dont smile at me EP by Billie Eilish.

Picture green manicured lawns, huge mansions, money, SAT study guides, tension so thick you could swim in it. Picture Lily, a girl with a high pony tail and perfect red lipstick, all angst and rage and frustration and desperation and expensive clothes. Picture Amanda with wild curls, calm unblinking stare, casually admitting to Lily that she doesn't, actually, feel any emotion—at all, ever. Lily, hating her new stepfather with a passion; Amanda, asking: "You ever think about just killing him?" 

Thoroughbreds is a thriller set in the wealthy suburbs of Connecticut, and start to finish, it's an experience. It was originally written as a screenplay, which makes sense when I watch it in a way that's hard to describe—it's got this blend of minimalism and simplicity in storytelling and yet takes place in such a maximalist and excessive setting. Plus I low key want to be Lily when I grow up, which probably means that I did not take the same message from the movie as the writers intended. The soundtrack is also excellent—the song in the trailer is "Sila" by A Tribe Called Red (a DJ collective) and Tanya Tagaq (a traditional Inuit throat singer), and honestly it's a bop.

One review that shows up in a lot of promotional material compares Thoroughbreds to Heathers, an excellent movie currently streaming on Netflix.

Two unlikely friends, murder, excellent outfits, remorselessness, slightly creepily cheery French songs. If you liked those elements in Thoroughbreds, you might like them in A Simple Favor. Emily, enigmatic PR director, and Stephanie, cheery vlogger, become friends after they met when their sons beg for a playdate. When Emily disappears, Stephanie tries to find out what happened to her, only to find out that she really didn't know Emily at all.

My music recommendation for Lily is Transviolet's Kaleidoscopes EP. I found this alt band after falling in love with "The Hamptons," which has a great music video that practically could have been set in Lily's backyard. Shoutout to the outwardly perfect/internal disaster themes of "Pretty Head," which I think Lily would have on repeat.

My music recommendation for Amanda is Billie Eilish's dont smile at me EP. Electric pop with poetic lyrics delivered almost carelessly, which I think Amanda would appreciate. My favorite song from the EP is "my boy," but the music video for "bellyache" was what got this EP on this rec post. Watch Billie dance around the middle of a desert, singing this delightful song about having lost her mind and murdered a bunch of her friends.