Curtain Call: July "Summerween"

Curtain Call is a monthly roundup column pulling together favorites from film, fashion, culture, and more. Take a gander!

Hello hello,

Writing this letter in the midst of August melancholy. I got a summertime cold, which makes me feel like Bubble Boy watching everyone play outside while I require medication and a missive to stay horizontal. My friends joke that I am a sickly Victorian child, and though I try to push back on this via weighlighting, supplements, and the like, a summer cold convinces me that no matter how much I try to fortify my constitution, it’s simply destined for collapse. That said, staying in bed gave me the excuse to dive into Jersey Shore from the beginning, so now my house is filled with the smell of cardamom tea and the sound of Jwoww telling men she’ll rip their heads off post-coitus.

August, cold or no, is when I feel the most at home during the season. There is the aforementioned melancholy, the quickening toward darker days and my best wardrobe. After my friend Simone’s birthday in late July, I am ready to rush past the dehydrated doldrums into crisper wind, yet not too quickly since most people have finally caught up to the sadness I’ve felt since the end of May.

July, however, felt more cinematic than my normal summers. I launched full tilt into a “Summerween” watch of sorts and descended upon every cultural event with air-conditioning I could. Below you’ll find a roundup of those films, outings, and bits in between.

Thesis (1996)

An underseen horror and the indecently good feature debut of Chilean-Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar, the film follows student Ángela (Ana Torrent) as she works on her thesis on audiovisual violence. Seeking guidance and more sources from her professor (José Luis Cuerda), she stumbles upon him dead in a screening room, the videotape that likely gave him a heart attack still in the VCR. With help from gore fanatic Chema (Fele Martínez), Angela must figure out what the tape means—and who might know she has discovered this snuff film secret.

Thesis is incredibly paced, with hot actors who do, in fact, look like people. The twists don’t feel contrived but instead like a perfect puzzle movie with an elevated sensibility, like art house does genre horror. I’ve been recommending this movie left and right: it’s thrilling, sexy, and kept me guessing until the very end.

American Ballet Theatre

I’ve been to the ballet a handful of times, mostly in Paris and Cleveland (though as an ill-fated PR campaign would say, “Cleveland is my Paris”), and had yet to make it there until Simone took me for a belated birthday celebration. Not knowing that the 30 under 30 ticket situation could lead to orchestra seats, we kept going deeper and deeper into the MET opera house only for my jaw to drop at our proximity and an usher to be delighted at my utter dismay. We ended up being seated for a special performance: the lead ballerina was out, and thus three different pairs would perform the three different acts of Don Quixote.

Our seats were smack dab in the friends and family section. People wore t-shirts with their kids’ names on them and cheered extra loud when they bowed. The final ballerino was a cut above the rest and ended up being promoted to principal dancer a few days later. It felt like we caught him on the ground floor in a way.

I cannot recommend signing up for the $30 Under 30 program if you haven’t already. I, for one, have 30 minutes and will be using it as much as I can until February.

A statement necklace

Up until recently I wanted nothing to do with jewelry. I had my tried and true pieces and stuck to those. But something shifted: I wanted more glamor, and I wanted pieces that weren’t just iterations of the same thin gold bands and mini diamonds that the clean girl aesthetic has so pushed. I needed excess, elegance, and a hint of robbing a wealthy great aunt’s closet.

Trawling the Real Real turned out to be the best solution: Brunello Cucinelli makes the most incredible glass bead necklaces that have a fun level of movement and shine and offer a different motif from the statement necklaces worn by Housewives of yore. Is it a little Luann? Sure, but she’s lived many lives, and I want to channel even an eighth of that unflappable sensuality.

The Vourdalak

Vampires are not normally my bag, but this 2023 French drama-horror film has become one of my more memorable first-time watches of the year. Directed by Adrien Beau, the film follows the Marquis d’Urfé (Kacey Mottet Klein), an emissary for the king of France who gets stranded in a small village. Begging a family to take him in, he quickly discovers that their dysfunction stems from an iron-fisted patriarch, who returns from battle as a horrifying, emaciated puppet and vampyric entity.

The puppet as a main character and slightly whimsical bent of the film overall were jarring at first. Yet after the initial shock, I found the choices genius. The puppet’s artificiality shocks then lulls the viewer into a trance only to then use it to explore the darkest themes around connection, parenthood, and generational pain. Mottet Klein gives an impressive performance somehow oscillating between bumbling fool, pervert, and a giving man. I was shocked I could feel so much and have so much fun at the same time.

Sex Hair Texture Spray by Dom Dom

My mother has made it a habit of sending me inappropriately-named products, but in this case I have forgiven her. This texture spray turns my bob from severe corporate sleekness into roughed-up volume. It creates layers I didn’t know I possessed and height I didn’t know I could reach. When I use the spray, I look like I might have two dirty gin martinis, a devil may care attitude, and a third husband en route, and that’s just the beginning of the evening.

My only qualm is the texture is not quite as touchable as other similar products, but I think the other benefits are worth the cost. Plus it smells incredible and I can skip perfume.

Met Costume Institute’s Costume Art & Revenge

This year’s Met Gala theme left me, at times, underwhelmed, since it was run by a one Jeff Bezos and, once again, people cannot interpret a theme. Yet the Costume Institute’s actual exhibition did not disappoint. With focus on the body whether augmented through clothing, pregnancy, disability, and more, Costume Art chose to highlight the moments when fashion and the body transcend their boundaries and become art together. With looks from Michaela Stark, Commes des Garçons, Alexander McQueen, and more, it felt tailor made for me.

I was also struck to see two looks from Robert Wun’s Fall Winter 2024 collection called “TIME”, where he explored flesh, muscle, bone, and soul. When I previously worked at a magazine (they did not make me sign an NDA but I’ll sit on those goods for now), I pitched interviewing him for print but was told that he wasn’t big or important enough to warrant that. Due to sheer need to fill the front of book section, the piece ended up in the issue despite hemming and hawing about “earning my place”, and two looks I discussed in the piece resurfaced in this MET Costume Institute exhibition.

Always remember: vengeance is best served cold and when no longer needed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t savor its sweetness.

The Resurgence of Nancy Grace

Is she ghoulish? Garish? Confounding? Yes, but I cannot quit her. What keeps me coming back are the one liners, mispronunciations, and mind-boggling fashion choices. Casey Anthony announced a “mem-war” (memoir) only to be read by the likes of now-deceased OJ Simpson? While Nancy is wearing a powder blue see-through lace turtleneck in the middle of summer? I am tuned in, tapped in, turned on. She’s like a comforting blanket of entertainment justice. I need her to get a hold of the Love Trapped podcast case just for her to talk about fake twin pregnancy conspiracies and interstate restraining orders.

All of You!

I reached 100 subscribers yesterday and just wanted to say thank you for all the support. I can’t wait to keep writing for you and, like any good showgyrl and in the words of Cristal Connors, show you what you want to see. Thank you! More to come!