A Voice Note from Maxienne straight to you

♥️ After promising forever, I finally leaked the Letterboxd so you can enjoy all of my objectively correct movie opinions. I still haven’t disclosed my Top 4. That’s very intimate and a big step for our relationship. I have to decide what “Top 4“ means to me. Is my Top 4 the movies I consider perfectly executed and the best that cinema has to offer? Or is it the movies that personally mean a lot to me and represent who I am to some extent? There are films that I love and films that are masterpieces. Some are both, but they are not the same thing. Much to consider...

If you are already over there and want to follow me, go ahead but I’m going to include a monthly recap in LoveNote so you can still check it out without another social media account.

♥️ SPEAKING OF WHICH, I saw Obsession last night and it is as great as everyone has been saying it is. Not just good for a horror movie, but exceptional for any genre. If you are one of those people who generally doesn’t like horror but enjoyed Hereditary, which a many people consider a gold standard, this is on that level of quality. This is a very special movie.

It’s very different than I anticipated, but in a way that is so satisfying. The script is dense, every line, beat, and word feels considered and included for a reason. Nothing is wasted. I feel like I was given what I didn’t know that I wanted.

My only issue: I thought it was too short. I may be the last American with a long, healthy attention span, but the pacing felt so quick, almost like scrolling through TikTok. I could have gone for another 15-20mins honestly. I think that has a lot to do with it being written and directed by a 26yr old Youtuber. It’s interesting to observe the structure of storytelling morph now that the generation that grew up with infinite scroll is coming of age.

♥️ It doesn’t feel like summer yet, but it already is in my mind. I am spending my last days in Philly making plans with friends and making sure to check off every restaurant on my PHL wishlist before it’s too late. I currently have upcoming reservations at Pearl and Mary Oyster Bar, Kalaya, and Wilder. I have been before, but I would love a repeat of high tea at The Dandelion or I could always go for some southern comfort from The Love.

The one that has consistently gotten away is Friday Saturday Sunday. You can only make reservations there on the first of the month and every time there has been an opportunity, it has slipped away from me. If someone were able to break this curse and make it happen before I head out, you would be my hero!

♥️ A Psalm for the Wild Built. First of all, thank you to the boy who gifted me this book! I loved it. It’s a quick read, less than 150 pages. You can knock it out over the weekend. This book is a Hugo Award winner and has a very compassionate vision of the future, which I found really refreshing. The dedication page reads “For anybody who could use a break“ - relatable, right?! Science fiction typically focuses on dystopia and right now there are a lot of voices trying to convince us that that is inevitable and we need to resign ourselves to it.

Dystopia is the result of many things, one of them being a lack of imagination. Dystopia is intellectually lazy. I think it’s important now more than ever to spend time imagining a beautiful version of what’s to come because it cannot exist without beginning in our heads. Believe me, I am cringing at myself as I write this, I fully know this is corny - but we need to give ourselves the space to dream big and wildly and not judge that part of ourselves even if its seems impossible.

I love technology but you cannot truly love something without being critical of it. To get the best of it requires equal parts a sober assessment of the reality as well as a completely unhinged imagination. The space between those two is where real progress and innovation is found.

♥️ Human Memories of the Future. Kind of in the same vein as my soapbox rant above. This is an exhibit at the New Museum that I’ll be checking out later this month. The visuals that I’ve seen so far seem very cool and very pink which is fun considering the subject matter.

From the press release: “…200 international artists, writers, scientists, architects, and filmmakers, highlighting key moments when dramatic technological and social changes spurred new conceptions of humanity and new visions for its possible futures”

Can’t wait!

♥️ SPEAKING OF NEW YORK…

• New York: May 24-25

• Chicago: May 30-June 1st

• New York: June 1-2

• Philadelphia: Remainder of June

• Chicago: July - F O R E V E R