🎉 Happy Wednesday! I hope you had a great first half of the week.
Since the third Democratic debate is this week, I thought it’d be the perfect time to recommend a movie about an election — and what better election to watch a movie about than one that doesn’t matter. So, in keeping with this week’s theme of High School Comedies 🏫, here’s a recommendation about a race for student body president.
Election
STREAMING ON PRIME VIDEO
What it’s about: In the midst of a particularly contentious election for student body president at a Nebraska high school, a teacher (Matthew Broderick) makes it his mission to stop the potential landslide victory of an ambitious senior, Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon).
Why it’s great: To be honest, I usually struggle with Alexander Payne movies. I have a hard time connecting with his characters and find his dark humor more uncomfortable than sharp. Election is the one exception. That's because you're never truly on anyone's side. All the characters from Broderick's Mr. McAllister to Witherspoon's Tracy Flick aren't safe from criticism.
However, Payne takes care to point out why they're being criticized — and why they should be respected. Now, taking a look back at this movie 10 years later, it's an apt exploration of what it is to be an ambitious woman in a world that tries to tear you down at every turn. All the while, it's ridiculous and dryly funny. Just the way I like it.
The key players:
🎬 Alexander Payne
🖋 Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
🎭 Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell
The details: ⏳ 103 minutes // 🇺🇸 U.S. // 📺 Trailer
Fun fact: Keep an eye out for apples in the movie. Whenever you see one, trouble usually comes for one of the characters.
Don’t have Prime Video? Election is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, iTunes, or Google Play.
In movie news:
🐝 After Hustlers premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, Oscar buzz immediately started pouring in for Jennifer Lopez, who received strong notices for her performance.
My take: People often forget that before she was J-Lo, Jennifer Lopez was a serious actress who had Oscar buzz for movies like Selena and Out of Sight. She could ride that overdue sentiment to her first nomination.
💰 Upstart movie distributor Neon acquired the French film Titane, which is directed by Julia Ducournau, who received acclaim for her very good — and very disturbing — debut, Raw.
My take: While A24 is largely seen as the hot indie movie studio in the industry, Neon has been acquiring great projects including Apollo 11 and Parasite, both of which have strong Oscar buzz. A24 has to watch their back.
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Have a great night,
Karl (@karl_delo)