11.3.23 - Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, Coming to America | Gems From the Rabbithole #1
Last week I watched some heavy-hitters...
Ok, I had a lot to say this week. I dunno if my future posts will be THIS long and in-depth. I’m playing in the grass, remember? We shall see. Anyways…
Last week I watched some heavy-hitters — a top Oscar-contender that received a nine-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, another film currently holding a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and living on every critic’s “best of 2023” list, and a movie I’m personally calling the greatest comedy movie ever made.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023 | In theatres)
In a nutshell, Killers of the Flower Moon is about white people white peopleing. Based on true events of the Osage Indian Murders, the movie recounts a purposely hidden piece of American history most of us knew nothing about. It’s a story of the capitalist greed and flagrant racism woven into America’s fabric but erased from it’s history books. Unless you took an American History elective in college and happened to come across this period, you more than likely were like me at the ripe age of 33 sitting for a history lesson one Saturday night at AMC Theatres.
The film is set in the Great Plains in 1920s Oklahoma where the oil-rich Osage Nation reside and are reeling from a string of (not-so-mysterious) murders at the hands of greedy, opportunistic white men plotting to steal the wealth they delusionally believe belongs to them. Off rip, the world Martin Scorsese creates is intriguing. It’s the Roaring Twenties in bumblefuck Oklahoma where the brown people are the rich ones and the lowly whites wait on them. A period film depicting brown people in positions of wealth seems almost fantasy; the history we typically see shows us in servitude or enslaved, impoverished, and beneath the boot of the white man. Much like the story of Black Wall Street, our happy ending is never seen through as it’s usually burned to the ground.
When the white men start marrying the Osage women and people start being picked off one by one, it sets the plot in motion. Soon, we’re watching a familiar DiCaprio-DeNiro-Scorsese crime drama showcasing corruption, violence, greed, and conspiracy in all it’s glory. And, in true Scorsese fashion, the musical score, the beautifully lit and colored visuals, and the actors’ performances are world-class. I read that Native actress Lily Gladstone, who plays Mollie Kyle, the Osage wife of the film’s protagonist Ernest Burkhart, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was in the midst of registering for a data analyst course at her local community college and set on giving up on acting when she got a callback from Scorsese himself. I agree with critics that Gladstone is the soul of the film; she’s elegant and quietly powerful and I found myself enamored watching her and really any of the Indigenous actors on the screen. Watching Native Americans on screen is damn near akin to watching martians — unless you live in the Midwest, Native Americans are practically erased from our day-to-day lives. I feel close to them in my shared oppression as a person of color but also wholly unfamiliar.
My one critique of the film is its erasure of the Osage point of view. The movie is essentially told from Leonardo DiCaprio’s perspective, with long stretches of time towards the second-half of the movie where we don’t even see Mollie. His character Ernest is given a conscience, he’s humanized, and at times receives our empathy as the doting husband; nevermind that Ernest is a murderous co-conspirator plotting and carrying out serial murders of his family and neighbors. Was Ernest Burkhart deserving of this human depiction or should he have been shown as the one-dimensional pure evil which he was? Native viewers have called the movie an “imperfect triumph” — a win for representation but frustrated with their story yet again being told through a white male lens. Perhaps the film’s source material — David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name — does a better job here.
Final Verdict: Highly recommend watching. Beware: The movie is 3.5 hours long — that’s longer than Oppenheimer and The Godfather 2. In my opinion, it’s worthy of the runtime and I was locked in the whole time. If you already know you can’t stomach long movies, I suggest waiting till it hits streaming where the pause button can be your best friend.
Past Lives (2023 | Prime Video, Apple TV)
Imagine being happily married right? Happy married, living your best life, feeling comfortable and confidant with your partner. When one day, HE (or SHE or THEY) sends you a message out the blue. You know who I’m talking about... Y’all haven’t spoken or seen each other in years. No bad blood, the romance has been dead, it’s just fond memories left. They’re in town for the weekend and would love to catch up. It would actually be nice to see them — a relic of your past life. Now imagine your conversations with them, imagine how you’d feel before, during, and after meeting them, imagine your partner in the midst of all of this, imagine…
In Past Lives, we see what happens if the one that got away came back. Not to blow up your whole life, but just to hang out and catch up (and perhaps mentally blow your shit up). In the movie, two childhood sweethearts in South Korea are separated when one moves to the States. Decades later, they reunite for a week of contemplating old memories, impossible futures, and the choices that make a life.
Past Lives does something to you. It drums up memories of the friends and lovers who’ve dissipated with time. While watching, I thought of two people in particular.
25 years ago, my bestest friend in the whole wide world moved to California. When she left, our beautiful little world of days-long play dates and sleepovers, inside jokes and best friend handshakes basically came to a screeching halt. The future where we were by each other’s side through first love and first prom, going away to college and going on dates, being bridesmaids in each other’s weddings and being by each other’s sides during heartbreak, simply never happened. I’ve watched her life with her beautiful family play out via Instagram. It’s the sweet memories of our short time together that keeps a smirk on my face as I scroll through her feed.
In my early 20s, there was a guy and we had a thing. We didn’t date, as we lived in different countries; but what existed between us was more than friendship. One week, he came to visit New York and, by extension, me. The week was magical and that was that. I used to fantasize about a life with him — his family and friends intermingled with mine, our connection lasting way beyond the sparks of the will they-won’t they. We spoke on and off for several years, until that eventually ended. Another person for me to creep on Instagram maybe once a year.
Past Lives forces us to imagine all the could haves and past and future possibilities of our lives. Then, we’re made to mourn them and find happiness in where we’re at in our reality. Our lives are nothing but a series of choices, opportunities presented and decisions made, mixed in with a lil fate and a pinch of destiny.
Past Lives is one of the most mature love stories I’ve seen; what could turn petty and messy just doesn’t. A TikToker said it “feels like a warm hug and a gut punch all at once.” A lesser (or major, depending on how you look at it) theme of the movie is also the loss that occurs with immigration. The lives — people, memories, connections — immigrants leave behind when emigrating and the sacrifices made when starting anew.
This is a debut film from Celine Song, a filmmaker I’ll undoubtedly be following from here on out. Her ability to create a film that’ll tug at literally anyone’s buried conscience and force you to think and feel things that laid dormant, makes this movie so successful.
Final Verdict: If you’re in the mood for something cozy, nostalgic, and moving to watch solo or for a date night, this is more than a solid choice. It’s also an A24 movie so, ya know.
Coming to America (1988 | Prime Video, Apple TV)
I wish I kept count on how many times I’ve seen Coming to America. I’m not someone to speak in movie quotes but if I did, Coming to America would be my language. I rewatched it last week for no reason at all, as if I don’t have a long list of movies I’m supposed to be working through. Like how many times am I going to laugh at the same god damn moments? As if I didn’t already know she was Joan of Ark in her former life? As if it wasn’t already a shame what they did to that dog? As if Randy Watson wasn’t always good and terrible?
Watching it this go round, the movie really felt like a modern-day Shakespearean comedy. A prince travels to a distant land disguised as a common person in his quest to find his one true love; along the way, he faces the competition of his new lover’s princely fiance, fights to impress her stately, overzealous father, and encounters all the wild characters of her village, while struggling to keep his identity a secret. Brilliant.
So much of this movie is just iconic. From the over-the-top, sickening choreography of Prince Akeem’s arranged bride’s entrance to Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall playing damn near ever character in the Queens barbershop to the fucking lions head shawl adorning King Jaffe Joffer to THE Samuel L. Jackson playing a petty criminal with like two lines of dialogue?!
Final Verdict: For me, it’s undoubtedly the greatest comedy movie I’ve ever seen and, dare I say, the funniest movie ever made. That’s a big statement that probably warrants its own dissertation, or at least Nite Owl essay one day…
What’d you think of Killers of the Flower Moon? Did Past Lives give you all the feels? What’s the funniest movie you’ve ever seen? Let me know in the comments!
You ever find yourself at 3:16am, one eye open, fighting sleep and watching Issa Rae’s Ancestry.com results? Here are some gems from my recent late night Internet deep dives…
WATCH: Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad’s Architectural Digest Home Tour - I shamefully don’t listen to Jon Batiste’s music. He’s New Orleans jazz royalty, very decorated and I know I’m missing out. I’m suffering even more FOMO after watching his and his beautiful wife Suleika’s recent Brooklyn brownstone home tour. It’s not even my favorite home. I just loved their vibe and chemistry as a couple; they seem so purely in love and enamored with each other but surprisingly not in a cringey way. Also, I loved their approach to the home’s design and decor and how they made it so authentically them.
BUY: Nike Air Huaraches - I’m at the age now where I’m buying shoes for comfort and not just style. My lower back said “Bitch, I need arch support. Stop playing.” My sister SWORE by these shoes, calling them “pillows for your feet.” A bit hyperbolic I know, but I low key agree. I been wearing mine nonstop since buying them. They run hella small. I typically wear a 9/9.5 and bought a 10.5.
READ: Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey - This book changed my life and I’m currently relistening to the audiobook for the third time this year. In a nutshell: white supremacy and capitalism have tricked us into being complicit with “grind culture” and working ourselves to the bone. Hersey asks “How many times has exhaustion and busyness stolen your joy or connections with loved ones?” For anyone trying to break from their obsession with hyperproductivity and exhaustion from the grind, Hersey will set you straight and have you approaching your life with more tenderness and taking more naps because fuck capitalism.
LISTEN: good kid, m.A.A.d city in Alternate Narrative Order - When I need to feel inspired, I put on good kid, m.A.A.d city. Kendrick is a genius and sometimes I just need his good juju to rub off on me. The other night, I was listening to the album for the millionth time and simultaneously reading the Genius lyric annotations for the first time, when I discovered the Alternate Narrative Order. Similar to watching Star Wars movies in Machete Order, listening to Kendrick’s album in this order will have you visualizing the story of K.Dot, Sherane, the robbery gone wrong, and his spiritual awakening as if it were a John Singleton movie.
COOK: Carmelized Banana Toast - I hate fall. I really do. Summer baby all day. Comfort food is what gets me through fall and this lil treat is giving comfy clothes on the couch in autumn. It’s kinda breakfasty, kinda desserty, and dumb easy to make. It’s one of those Pinteresty recipes that I ACTUALLY followed through and made and, as the kids say, it slaps.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, what you want me to write about, what you want me to watch. Or just drop me a line and say hey!
If this edition of The Nite Owl spoke to you, feel free to pass it along to others :)
Past Lives is now on my list
love the internet deep dives list!