Oliver Assayas creates feelings in his films that leave me likely to wonder if I'm actually in them, experiencing the narrative. He does this, for me, better than any director working today. CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA is as enigmatic as the title, most of it taking place in a part of Switzerland that seems to be the outcome of a dream Thomas Mann had after reading Tolkien.

In the aftermath of the attack in Orlando, if you are nearby and can offer direct support, I’m sure you’re already doing so. We don't have clarity on the motive, but we do know that the LGBTQ community has been targeted, and that there is already conversation suggesting a link to the tiny minority of radical Islamic fundamentalists who support the use of terror. If you’re like the rest of us, and not there but want to prevent such things from happening again, here are three suggestions:

Friends, yesterday the NC legislature passed what is being called "one of nation's most anti-LGBTQ bills." Many of the people behind this bill surely believe they are doing God's work. Part of the reason they continue to believe this is that untold millions of Christians who have changed their minds about LGBTQ people have not yet said so publicly. It can be scary to admit you've changed, especially when such change appears to threaten not just dearly held beliefs, but whole systems of meaning, community membership, and sometimes even careers.

But amidst that fear, I want to ask you:

Beloved character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (probably most recognizable as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day) is also a delightful raconteur, whose stories find the sweet spot between knockabout humor and pathos. Following his earlier Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party - one of the most entertaining expressions of watching someone else's home movie you're likely to find - The Primary Instinct is a recording of a recent live performance. 

An utterly remarkable film, by which I mean every single scene, perhaps even every single moment of Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien's work of beauty, compassion, and the strength to enact non-violence. As if she were the heroine of an anti-Kill Bill, our female protagonist, discipled as an assassin of elite enemies, spends pretty much the entire film trying not to harm anybody.