Drawing Austin Briggs
The perennial question, how to pick a Film for Movie Night. Streaming home pages are tuned to one viewer, yours, alone, at midnight. Drop three or four people onto the same couch and the recommendation engine has nothing useful to say, if it ever did.
For the film-school friends — Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966). The Czech New Wave anarchic feminist romp they've all heard cited but rarely sat through. 76 minutes, hilarious, genuinely radical, impossible to be smug about because it refuses every grammar of taste. Criterion Channel.
For the partner who doesn't watch arthouse — Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 1983). Burt Lancaster sends a Houston oil executive to a Scottish village to buy the whole shoreline. The executive falls in love with the village instead. 111 minutes, gentle, funny, Mark Knopfler on the score. The most romantic film no one ever recommends for a couple. Apple TV+ / rent.
For movie night with your parents — 20th Century Women (Mike Mills, 2016). Annette Bening as a single mother in 1979 Santa Barbara, raising a son with the help of two younger women. A film that takes parents seriously as people, scored to Talking Heads. Nobody gets bored, nobody gets condescended to. Prime.
For work friends — Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 1987). Holly Hunter as a network news producer who can do everyone's job better than they can; Albert Brooks and William Hurt as the men who love her. The funniest film about being good at something ever made. 132 minutes, sharp enough that even half-watchers will lean in. Max.
For a first date — Out of Sight (Steven Soderbergh, 1998). George Clooney as a bank robber, Jennifer Lopez as the federal marshal hunting him. The trunk scene. 123 minutes, the sexiest Soderbergh, propulsive enough that the date will not think about whether you're trying to impress them. Apple TV+ / Prime.
For "we always end up watching the same thing" — In Another Country (Hong Sang-soo, 2012). Three short films, one Isabelle Huppert, one Korean beach town. Hong's whole project is small variations on the same scene, a cure for the rut. 89 minutes, light, restorative. Criterion Channel.
If picking is the problem
Nous is built for that part. Join with friends, everyone swipes, the room finds its match. No one defends a pick. No one settles. Takes five minutes.
Let the room decide.
— nous.app