June 27July 3, 2025

Hello, friends! 

The Phoenician Scheme and Materialists (held over by popular demand!) continue this week, and joining them are two great new films: Jane Austen Wrecked My Life and F1: The Movie. 

Written and directed by French filmmaker Laura Piani for her feature film debut, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is a cozy throwback for all those movie lovers who are also book lovers and for those who are yearning for a smart, sweet, and gently funny romance. 

It follows the story of Agathe -- charmingly played by Camille Rutherford -- a struggling writer who works at a bookshop in Paris and whose passion for Jane Austen shapes her old fashioned dreams of love. When her best friend signs her up, without her knowledge, for a Jane Austen Writer’s Residency in England, Agathe gets the chance to pursue her writing but also finds herself plunged into her own Austenesque romance. 

It’s a film that makes a lovely entry into the category of other successful, modernized versions of Austen’s work like Bridget Jones’s Diary (which is, of course, a riff on Pride and Prejudice) and Clueless (an iteration of Emma). It’s less overtly a comedy than those earlier films -- its humor is gentler and subtler -- but like those earlier films it shows a deep understanding of Jane Austen’s work and the themes she cared about while also demonstrating a keen intelligence and creativity that makes it a fresh, original work in itself, rather than merely an adaptation of Austen. As Alissa Wilkinson describes in her NYT review, “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is not quite like any of those [earlier Austen films] — more of a cousin from out of town, a little different, a little more intriguing . . . it’s a rom-com laced lightly with Pride and Prejudice overtones, and it’s also a love letter to writing and reading, and to Austen, too.” 

It’s a thoroughly enjoyable film, and it may not stick around for long, so be sure to nab the chance to see it while you can!

And for a radically different kind of movie, but not without its own rather warmly old-fashioned romance, we’ve also got F1: The Movie officially opening today.  As I noted last week, I went into this film a bit skeptical and cynical but came out of having been fully won over. There is little about the narrative that’s surprising in the way it plays out: an older race car driver (Brad Pitt) comes out of retirement to help his old friend (Javier Bardem) get his struggling F1 crew on its feet and to provide some old-dog wisdom for the hot new driver on the team (Damson Idris). It’s the kind of story we’ve seen before. But part of the pure pleasure of the film is in simply watching such a terrific cast of actors do their thing--delivering their lines with wit and aplomb, dazzling us with their beauty and charisma--and doing so all under the slick, high-octane direction of Joseph Kosinski, who, as we saw in Top Gun: Maverick, knows his way around an action scene. 

The racing scenes are, truly, thrilling (and I don’t even like racing!), and the actors sell their characters and the stakes of the plot in such a way that the 2 hour 35 minute runtime really does (appropriately) race by. One of the joys of the film, too, is Kerry Condon, who plays Kate, the technical director of the F1 team, whose engineering expertise is just as essential as Brad Pitt’s character’s wisdom. And while she does become the love interest, it’s refreshing to have a blockbuster film not only give a female character a leading role but also a vital one, and it’s part of why the film works as well as it does. 

I will also note that the conversation around this film has inevitably, but also fascinatingly, circled around Brad Pitt himself, one of those actors that is, for better or worse, a rare but bonafide Hollywood star, whose mere presence in any film is explosive and whose talent as an actor is hard to separate from his star-charisma, perhaps prompting questions like, “Is he, in fact, a good actor, or is he just BRAD PITT?” The film, quite cleverly, both in story and in dialogue, alludes to Pitt as a star who is an aging star, implicitly posing the question of whether this star has still “got it.” The film, of course, by definition, in putting Pitt in the lead, presumes to answer its own question, but as an audience I think we get to answer that question for ourselves, too--while having a blast doing it with a summer movie that is, simply, superbly fun.

We’ve also got two special events this week: first, if you missed the first showing of Rear Window this past Sunday -- and what a delight it was! -- don’t forget we have an encore showing on Thursday at 7:45 pm.  

Second, as we close out Pride month and look towards Bellingham’s very own Pride weekend, July 11-13, we have a very special program of films made especially for 9+ kids and families: New York International Children’s Film Festival Kid Flicks, the Pride edition.  It’s a 65-minute program of short films, carefully curated by the New York International Children’s Film Festival, and designed to celebrate diversity, community, self-expression, and love. We’re honored, too, to be supported by PFLAG Bellingham Whatcom County as a sponsor for this program.   

Join us on Saturday at 1:30 pm or Sunday at 10:00 am for this warm-hearted collection of short films! 

See you at the movies, friends!

Melissa