APRIL 2025 WAS A MOVIE (SO WAS MARCH)
Here are the movies I wrote about on Substack for the past two months and the ones I *didn't* write about — plus a Q&A with a David Lynch superfan.
WAS A MOVIE is the recap of my life lately, the movies I watched, and the bits that made my life feel cinematic.
This month’s WAS A MOVIE recap comes early, with last month’s recap coming late. I got sick twice in the past two months and can I just say? Not a slay. That’s two bruising reminders to say “no” more to going out, to keep my phone on DND without guilt, to embrace JOMO (the joy of missing out) and to mask the hell up.
I’m currently typing this from the Amtrak train to New York City, where I’ll see David Cronenberg’s newest film The Shrouds1 tomorrow, and then attend a Lincoln Center event as a part of its series, L.A. Rebellion: Then & Now.
I love moments like this, where the finest institutions shed light on the icons of Black art. The same swell of excitement I got today flipping through the Pharrell-covered Met issue of Vogue fills me now thinking about the spotlight on the LA Rebellion, a Los Angeles-based collective of African, African-American and Caribbean filmmakers who shone in the 1970s and 1980s.
Per the about page for the film series, curated by Claire Diao and co-organized by Madeline Whittle, Film @ Lincoln Center is “proud to present a retrospective program showcasing the vast, vital influence that the L.A. Rebellion and its spiritual descendants have exerted on the cinema of the African diaspora in the decades since the movement’s founding.”
I was thinking about taking the subway, then, down from the Lincoln Center to the Film Forum movie theater, since its screenings of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep (1977) got extended through ‘til May. I was pulled in yet another direction: Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Macbeth in Stride, which looks very Black and fun.
And of course, there’s always Sinners to watch again — and it wasn’t even the one 70mm IMAX theater in New York City (of eight in the United States! complete with fun little Sinners-themed film strips), calling my name.
It was the Sinners-themed meal that was a siren song, drawing my attention to Nitehawk Cinema. I have so many questions about the origins of “Smoke” and “Stack”:
Smoke: Tennessee Whisky, brandy, smoked maple, peychauds, absinthe
Stack: cornbread, smoked turkey burnt ends, fried mac and cheese, garlic remoulade, red Mississippi BBQ
Ultimately, I got invited to go dancing on Saturday night — and the only thing I love more than revolutionary Black cinema is dressing up and shaking my ass.
How Saturday unfolds will just depend on how long the formal Rebellion talk and my informal subsequent yapping go, and then whether I have energy after already having gotten up early for my bi-monthly SATC-style brekkie catch-up with the (gay) Charlotte York to my (gay) Samantha Jones. Will I want to see Smoke and Stack and Preacher Boy again or will I want to take a disco nap?
I know it may seem stupid to “waste” my precious time in NYC on seeing a show I can see at home. “Why not prioritize The Killer of Sheep, for example, or another repertory screening?” You might ask. “Why not go to a live show?”
Originally, I had plans of getting a squad together for a Broadway show, but that plan disintegrated. But trust, I’ve met my live show quota: The past two trips to NYC were for a concert and for a podcast taping. Even the trip before that: It wasn’t for a liveshow specifically, but I did see a Broadaway show!
If you’ve been reading SENSUAL TERRORS, you should know by now: I firmly believe a screening’s circumstances shape your screening experience.2
In an ideal world, where I’m not physically disabled or a sufferer of sensory issues, I would kiki for breakfast, attend the film talk, skip the pre-game (because I don’t drink) to go see Sinners again, and then go shake my ass. But we’ll see what my body and brain wants to do.
Movies I mentioned in my March Substack posts
The Substance, dir. Coralie Fargeat
You can also watch the conversation on YouTube.
Anora, dir. Sean Baker
The Color Purple, dir. Steven Spielberg
Daughters of the Dust, dir. Julie Dash, a daughter of the L.A. Rebellion, per FLC
Candyman, dir. Bernard Rose. which I’ve written about previously
Interview with a Vampire, dir. Neil Jordan
Eve’s Bayou, dir. Kasi Lemmons, which I’ve written about previously
Precious, dir. Lee Daniels
Pariah, dir. Dee Rees
The VVitch, dir. Robert Eggers
Disobedience, dir. Sebastián Lelio
TBH,
’s taste in movies is goated. I need them in the Criterion Closet, stat!
Nosferatu, dir. Robert Eggers
Movies I watched in March, but didn’t write about on Substack
Conclave, dir. Edward Berger — Which is going triple platinum right now, unfortunately. Per Variety, Conclave streams were up 283% after Pope Francis’ death. Not to be a Catholic gatekeeper, but I ain’t never heard y’all talking about the Vatican this much ever.
Emilia Pérez, dir. Jacques Audiard,
One of Them Days, dir. Syreeta Singleton
Grey Gardens, dir. Albert and David Maysles, which was a DNF for me. I can admit that, esp. since it doesn’t happen often for me — unlike the Oscar voters previously. But I knew this… from Reddit.
Infinity Pool, dir. Brandon Cronenberg
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, dir. Laurent Bouzereau
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, dir. John Cassavetes
A Woman Under the Influence, dir. John Cassaavetes
Resurrection, dir. Andrew Semans
Mildred Pierce, dir. Michael Curtiz
Movies I mentioned in my April Substack posts
Mulholland Drive, dir. David Lynch
Sinners, dir. Ryan Coogler
The Substance, dir. Coralie Fargeat
Us, dir. Jordan Peele
Dead Ringers, dir. David Cronenberg
The Parent Trap, dir. Nancy Meyers
GUT REACTIONS: The White Lotus & the enduring terror of "vacation horror"
In my GUT REACTIONS series, I contextualize films with their cultural significance. This installment talks about execution and cannibalism, and mentions suicidal ideation — because of that damn Ratliff family, naturally.
Infinity Pool, dir. Brandon Cronenberg
The Menu, dir. Mark Mylod
Opus, dir. Mark Anthony Green
Blink Twice, dir. Zoë Kravitz
(many others as foils!)
Opus, dir. Mark Anthony Green
Sinners, dir. Ryan Coogler
Movies I watched in April, but didn’t write about on Substack (yet)
The Woman in the Yard, dir. Jaume Collet-Serra… The post is percolating in the drafts as we speak.
Movie moment: Traveling to other countries to see David Lynch movies
My “movie moment” in January was about an impromptu solo date which ended up supporting my 2025 pursuit of building my physical media archive; my February “movie moment,” which was about my trip to the Metrograph movie theater in Brooklyn3 that also supported this journey.
This month, I’m trying something different, which is sharing someone else’s movie moment. I have written in the past the Lynchpins or David Lynch fans on Threads are really nice. One of them is my mutual Audrey, who has been living my dream: Traveling across Europe to different Lynch retrospectives.
Although she’s in her 40s and lives in Denmark, I see myself in her because of that fervor for cinema. And I think that’s what Lynch would have wanted.
✩✩✩
SENSUAL TERRORS: What is your relationship to David Lynch?
AUDREY: I discovered the work of David Lynch when I was 15. I was a big fan of NIN and Marilyn Manson and borrowed the videotape of Lost Highway. It had a huge impact on me.
How did you feel when you found out he died?
I didn't expect me to react that way, I was on the bus home after seeing The Substance at the cinema and started crying. I got just as upset as if I had lost a friend.
I know you’re based out of Copenhagen. What influenced your choice to go to Paris and Florence for Lynch retrospectives?
I was just lucky to had made travel plans there and the first thing I have checked was if they were showing any of his films and as I thought they did.
What was your Paris trip like?
I saw Mulholland Drive at the Champo cinema in Paris. Surprisingly, there were a lot of young people that hadn't seen the movie yet that night.
What was your Florence trip like?
It was the Odeon in Florence. Again, a very mixed crowd with lots of younger people interested in David Lynch.
I saw that you’re going to a Lynch retrospective in Copenhagen. What are your hopes for this and are they different from your trips to other countries? I really hope to connect with other fans if I have the chance. I also really love Cinemateket in Copenhagen; it feels really like home so I imagine it will the best opportunity ever to see all his movies there.
I hope you enjoyed this extra meaty edition of WAS A MOVIE. I can’t wait for next week because SENSUAL TERRORS is starting May 2025 with a bang… If you’re a Black cinephile, see if you’d like to participate in that big, Black, beautiful bang. Deadline is April 30, noon New York City Time.
I’m going with my FWB, which is kind of a dream realized or rather, recreated. The question now is: Which theater are we pulling up on?
The same way it’s intriguing to check out a chain restaurant or café in another country to compare the similarities and differences to your homecountry’s experience, it’s worth rewatching a movie again, in a different context.
This is only a sliver of the lore about my Valentine’s Day trip to Metrograph, which was rich with context — I keep having so many things to say about movies and what they mean in society, as opposed to the slice-of-life anxieties I experienced at that screening. But I think it’ll make for an interesting storytime soon…
WAS A MOVIE is a genius title for a life recap i’m obsessed