The Filmic 5: The Kids Are Alright Edition

Your Weekly Film Superlatives By Critic and Film Scholar Jack Hanley

I. Film I'm Loving This Week: CLUB KID (Dir. Jordan Firstman)

Through a deliriously messy collision of queer hedonism, narcissism, and unexpected fatherhood, Jordan Firstman’s assured debut revels in the contradictions of a self-deluding generation determined to mistake indulgence for liberation. It is a well-worn tale indeed, but beneath its deliciously chaotic parade of sex, drugs, and emotional dysfunction emerges a surprisingly nuanced and tender meditation on arrested development, vulnerability, and the ways we construct identities around our own carefully cultivated delusions.

Employing lively visual language and a winning cast, Firstman subverts the late-stage coming of age template with a surprisingly moving celebration of human imperfection that understands growing up may indeed be inevitable- but need not require surrendering the glorious absurdity of who we once were.

II. Recommendations I Loved This Week

"Spooky Season" may be over- but the joys of Arthouse Horror last forever. I adored that my favorite feisty film-critic Richard Brody weighed in on my favorite genre to close out October with three brilliant, if under the radar, selections.

The most pleasant surprise? Two-thirds of his brilliant picks just happen to be episodes covered on my film project (along with co-host Scott Aigner) BLINDSPOTTING: A FILM DISCOVERY PODCAST. We hope YOU listen to Richard and discover these amazing films and then listen to us discuss them.

Episode 4: Ganja & Hess - Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast

Two dear friends and Film Festival colleagues attempt to bridge the gaps of their long-distance relationship AND their own film educations through a bi-weekly screening and discussion project of the gap films that have eluded their cinematic disco…

Buzzsprout

III. Film Journalism That Made Me Happy This Week.

Gen Z will be the savior of cinema...and their cinephile Gen X parents couldn't be prouder. The kids are alright...

IV. Film Podcast I Had On Repeat This Week

I once joined my dear friend and co-conspirator Zach Eastman on his classic film podcast YESTERYEAR BALLYHOO REVIEW for a 5 HOUR gushing deep-dive deconstruction of the "greatest film ever made" (https://ballyhoorevuepodcast.com/ep-95-citizen-kane-1941-or-a-magic-trick/)

Should YOU not have a spare 5 hours (and we understand), this week's BBC In Our Time throwback episode on the wunderkind who changed it all will MORE than suffice. Enjoy this fascinating examination of how a 25 year-old upstart crow once broke all the rules of cinema...and influenced nearly every film that came after.

BBC Audio | In Our Time | Citizen Kane

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' celebrated and influential film from 1941.

BBC News

V. Your Cinematic Moment of Zen

Jack Hanley is a film scholar, podcaster, and critic based in Boulder, CO. He is a programmer with the Chicago Underground Film Festival, Slamdance's Indies Awards, and the Boulder International Film Festival. He is one-half of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast, founder of the Reel Horrors Short Film Festival, and a member of the Denver Film Critics Society. Find him at Kinophilia on Medium and at HanleyOnFilm.com