So Long Billie aka Pompei

[wilder]

Jimmy is about to become a man. Turning 13 in a deserted region in France without a father around means he looks up to his older brother Victor (Aliocha Schneider - Closet Monster, Netflix's Vampires) and their mentor Toxou. They scrape by on ripping off tourists, digging for ancient artifacts, and charging their younger friends to watch them have sex. Everything changes with the sudden arrival of the troubled Billie (Garance Marillier - Raw). Victor and her fall passionately in love which leaves Jimmy and the rest of the gang wondering what will happen to them if he leaves. A film infused with the spirit of Pasolini and taking place in a harsh yet beautiful landscape reminiscent of Malick, directors Anna Falguères and John Shank take us on a twilight-fueled journey to the dark side of coming-of-age.

Directed by Anna Falguères & John Shank
Release Date - On blu-ray from Altered Innocence June 29, 2021

[jenkins]

after my HWTBF sale order arrived I ordered six VS movies from a target B2G1 sale and I just ordered, not on sale, this and Adoration and Altered Innocence Vol 1. this is my assessment of the VS partner labels

AGFA -- a few obvious supports (Ed Wood, The Zodiac Killer movie made to trap the zodiac killer), but overall the most accepting of the unknown out of all of them. it's a miracle they exist because a lot of this would not only be forgotten without them but, even better, without them some of these would be never known. in cahoots with VS and Bleeding Skull and SW and they just touched hands with Shout

Fun City Editions -- seemingly the coolest although I'm going to select another candidate for coolest. respect to these movies that are somehow both unknown to me and overly familiar to me. I was previously familiar with Smile. they're good but I know their kind of good. though I haven't even watched Jeremy or I Start County yet (I own them)

Circle Collective/Utopia -- I'm not clear how but they're connected. I am pro-Donny's Bar Mitzvah although Shiva Baby is the widely welcomed. I like Shiva Baby though I heard someone compare it to Philip Roth and that's crazy. Crestone has the only Animal Collective score there is, which, respect

Gunpowder & Sky -- still learning about them, only one release. Prospect is too expensive and it comes with trading cards

Music Box Selects -- contemporary art house movies that you would expect to be embraced by the contemporary art house? could be simplifying it, being hard on it, but after all these are the answers I'm making up. potential to bring some bangers

Pulse Video -- a French version of a video-nerd boutique label

ETR Media -- Green Jello is dumb so I want to see what they do next

Saturn's Core -- a bunch of regional VHS stuff that I don't know much about and might be a sort of variation of AGFA

Altered Innocence -- I think they like cool stuff. I went pure AI with this order because it's just dawned on me that I need to see their shorts. these are the Knife + Heart people and Knife + Heart is a contemporary example of a cool genre movie. Equation To An Unknown is a "long-lost masterpiece of gay erotic cinema." I own The Wild Boys and I ordered the three I mentioned and basically I'm doing that to encourage my perspective to travel in that direction. I think they comprehend vibes

[jenkins]

what I wrote about it for the VS community, where it's like here in terms of i don't like the common movies to like, but also like here you find your people

It's a gorgeous mood piece. It's high-caliber contemporary arthouse and exactly what I wanted. This movie is hetero af but I am aware that it's still a million miles from the cinematic interests of many VS fans. It requires a certain degree of patience. There's a lot of visual storytelling, quiet scenes. (Although also Suicide's Dream Baby Dream plays from a car once. And there's a score of jangled guitar riffs like Neil Young in Dead Man-ish, music cues for simmering existentialism in a small town.) It's French and romantic. If this wasn't from a partner label and I visited here to talk about it that'd be a major wtf. May we fans of this find each other.