It's rare for me to see a film in theaters twice in one week. But A Real Pain, Eisenberg's second directorial effort, is both a rare film and absolutely for me.

I've had two cousins commit suicide in the past month—same side of the family but different families. This all comes in the week after I finished working on a piece about my own relationship with suicide and depression, pointing out how it seems to follow me around from my…

I'll never forget the first time I saw a Miyazaki film. It was on a couch surrounded by fellow undergrads at my then-girlfriend's apartment, notably called Chez Tits. She lived with four other girls, and they all had boyfriends. The boyfriends would come over, and sometimes we'd go our separate ways, but sometimes, some combination of these ten people would congregate in their living room.

One night, we watched Spirited Away. This was a college house, so there was music…

I wanted to go on an adventure. It was a simple wish. I’ve been couped up social distancing/self-quarantining for almost two weeks. I went to my Letterboxd accoutn and clicked on my watchlist—home to some 700-plus films—then sorted out the adventure ones that were streaming and then hit play. I didn’t read the description. I didn’t even know for sure it would be animated. I had absolutely no idea I was about to get Isle of Dogs meets Watership Down…