Brujos webseries
I’ve talked up Open TV in this space before, but I can’t help that its programming has been great and so relevant to my interests. Samantha Bailey’s You’re So Talented offered a previously unseen Chicago, and she followed that up with Brown Girls, which has become one of my favorite series about female friendships. Then I heard about Brujos, which is a new webseries about queer Latinx witches who are basically fighting white supremacy. Um, sí! please. Its undeniable queerness and brownness will serve as a high bar for entry for some, but for others—namely, queer and brown folks—it will feel like a Buffy The Vampire Slayer that was made for them. Creator-writer (and MacArthur fellow) Ricardo Gamboa stars as Panfilo in the series, which offers a bold new portrayal of marginalized, radicalized people on the small screen. Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke co-directs the series, which is streaming for free on Open TV’s website. [Danette Chavez]
The trailer for Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver
I wrote about this in my official capacity as a Newswire writer, but here’s my personal testimony: I am so goddamn in love with the international trailer for Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. Specifically, the second half, scored to Golden Earring’s borderline-perfect driving song “Radar Love.” (In fact, consider this a sub-Staff Pick: If you haven’t listened to “Radar Love” in a while, cue it up.) It feels a little silly going nuts over an ad for a movie that won’t be out for months, but the editing on this gets my blood pumping so hard that I want to get granular: There’s a bit at 1:55, with the guns cocking and the gum popping, that makes me want to shout, but nothing beats the shot (at 2:11) of Ansel Elgort’s Baby stomping across outdoor tables in lockstep with the beat. I don’t know for certain that Wright edited this thing himself, but it wouldn’t surprise me; it has that razor-sharp attention to detail that’s always set his work apart. We’ve still got a few months to wait before Baby Driver hits theaters in June, but for now, this wonderful little short film will have to do. [William Hughes]
Rectify
You oughta know by now that some of us are very fond of Rectify, the Sundance TV show that concluded its four-season run in late 2016. But consider this a special reminder for those who weren’t following along with TV editor Erik Adams’ reviews: You should watch all four seasons of Rectify. The very height of “prestige TV,” the show plays out like a long indie film, following the life of Daniel Holden after his release from prison—after 19 years on death row. Rectify plays like a family drama, murder mystery, and slow-motion legal thriller all at once, with ambiguity its not-so-secret weapon the whole way through. How would decades awaiting death affect the psyche of an already fragile soul? Why would somebody confess to a crime they’re not sure they committed? How is life in a small town changed for family members—of the victim and the alleged perpetrator—once this old wound is reopened? Even the things that seemed like slightly weak points on Rectify end up paying off handsomely, and the emotional rewards in the final season just keep coming. It’s messy and weird, but beautiful all the way through. [Josh Modell]