#prestontaylorrr

[informalrevue]

BOOKSMART is perfect.

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut is absolutely and 100% perfection. The beauty lies not just in the fact this is one of the first (if not the first) fully female directed, produced, and written blockbuster comedies ever.

Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein are more than brilliant. They are so brilliant, the dialogue feels like a documentary on Gen Z. Their connection, their friendship, the comedic situations they inevitably find themselves in (because..high school) is so great, I had to see it not once, not twice, but three times. What is particularly brilliant for me about these two actresses is that they may fit the classical ‘outcast’ personality type and identity, yet they are the valedictorian and saludatorian and Feldstein’s character is the Class President. Moreover, the cast is a great set of Gen Z people who, by the way, never make fun of any of the queer characters.

The queerness of any of the characters in this film never takes over the narrative. Their queerness is, of course, a navigating factor for their actions (as any high school’s sexuality would be): queerness doesn’t take a backseat. However, no one gets HIV, no one dies of AIDS, no one is bullied or beat up for their queerness. And sure, those stories are important and sure this may be a little unrealistic -- even in California. But I think the point here is that this reality could exist for queer people. This reality could be. Isn’t that one of the things art’s supposed to do for us? Show us what could be?

Wilde’s direction is honestly un-matched. This film is bound for cult-status in the sense that its use of uncharacteristic formal direction is beautiful and totally not for show alone. There is magical realism all in and woven throughout the film but it’s hilarious and it doesn’t navigate the story. On the contrary, it complexifies the story; it helps us better understand the characters, their lives, and their experiences.

Fave scene: uber driver van watching porn. That’s all I’ll say if you haven’t seen it, you will still be happy; if you have, you know you busted a gut. GO SEE THIS FILM NOW. 

[prestontaylorrr]

August 22, 2015

[prestontaylorrr]

i just want to move and live out my days living on the coast of Australia writing the greatest literature this world has ever seen

[prestontaylorrr]

I call that time in my life the Messy Era because an acting teacher once told me that we have to learn to discovery aimlessly through creating a messy sauce. Later, we can clean it up. Later, we can change it around so it's suitable and tasteful--maybe tasteful, if we so wish. It has been said "Art imitates life." I heard a song once where the lyric had reversed that: "Life imitates art." I thought that was so ironically beautiful. It doesn't negate the first, because art is still the articulation of the human condition but it becomes so effectual--so impactful--that then life is created from it: "Life imitates art." That's beautiful. You see, I was creating messy things. But the emphasis isn't that they were messy, but that I was CREATING. I was trying...and mostly failing but if we didn't try without knowing that we would never fail, nothing will have ever been created at all in the history of the universe. Art is expression. Aimless. Unrestricted. Unapologetic. With no other goal than to express. THAT; that is art. It's Kierkegaard's faith -- that which transcends all universal; that which is equally self-expression and self-discovery. Shakespeare said, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on--and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Art is real. And art is fantasy. That is our luxury as its Creators. It is beautiful and it is ugly. And so is life.

P.T. Stone, Guidance