It’s been a long week and a long time since I did any kind of round up. I don’t know what I ever did before netflix and hulu, but I end most days in bed with my ipad streaming something. I need to do that to wind down and fall asleep. A lot of times it’s a terrible tv show, but sometimes I motivate myself to watch something important or cultural. So I thought for the long weekend I would share some of the less embarrassing films I’ve really enjoyed recently, all ready to stream. It’s like I’m doing the work for you:

L’Amour Fou: a documentary about, more or less, the relationship between Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berge, the life they built together and the dissolution and auction of the estate when YSL died. It’s slow and incredibly moving with beautiful shots of their homes in Paris and Morocco and their extensive art collection. The narration and the stories about YSL’s career and personal life are captivating. The still above is from the movie, and is admittedly a little nod to my family.

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman: Any fan of architectural photography, los angeles or modernism will get a lot of out this doc. It tracks Julius’ career and his start with Neutra. There are great interviews with him and lts of footage of him actually shooting and explaining why he’s shooting what he’s shooting. I met him once, on his 98th birthday, and I was speechless. He is a hero of mine.

Tiny Furniture: A film by Lena Dunham of Girls fame. She wrote/directed/starred in this and I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s thoughtful and awkward and painful and hilarious. She’s not afraid to be ugly, to be vulnerable, or to be strong. I really appreciate it.

Bill Cunningham: Most everyone has seen this by now, but if you’ve been putting it off, it’s great and light and happy with some very poignantly sad moments thrown in for good measure. I definitely teared up.

The Gleaners and I: I first saw this film in an art house theatre in Seattle when I was visiting a friend on bainbridge island right after college (I drove to Seattle from LA and back, one of the best experiences ever). Agnes Varda became my hero. The film is partially autobiographical and partially about the idea of collecting, scavenging as it relates to the food left over at the marché and to the making of artwork. It’s very meta about the creative process and the process of a life well lived. Some of it is kind of weird, but it’s poetic and thoughtful and very very french.

Wet Hot American Summer: I’m not even going to describe this. If you’ve seen it, you understand the genius. If you haven’t seen it, watch it this weekend.

Also, in case you hadn’t heard, Drive is available to stream now. And I still need to see Eames: The Architect and The Painter and Manufactured Landscapes.

What should I add to my queue?

[image: still frame from L'Amour Fou]