If you're going to binge, watch these 9 things →

It’s been 44 days. I live on a busy street. It took me all morning to motivate myself to run and when I finally did, a woman in an oversized pickup truck yelled at me to “PUT ON A MASK”. She’s right. I shouldn’t run anymore. I have decided I am best inside, doing what I hoped I would when this pandemic started, watching everything.

Now I thought - I have to watch what I put in my mind at this moment. What I choose to watch could drastically shape my mood, so I have to be intentional about my media diet.

Films, when watched correctly, can change your life.

Art History: A Watchlist of Quarantine Classics V1 →

Art History: A Watchlist of Quarantine Classics V1

It is day 146 inside. I have completely lost sense of time. It took me almost a full hour to count up the amount of days Los Angeles has been “Safer at Home.” I am bad at math, yes, but I am overly distracted at this moment. There is access to anything and everything on the world wide web at all times. Everyone knows where everyone is.....at home. Despite social distancing measures, there’s all kinds of connection fatigue at levels we’ve never seen. As my dad says “ If you were here, we wouldn’t be talking as much.” He makes light of the situation but it is true– I struggle. The comfort of family leaves behind the largest hollow. I realized that after a month of watching every new movie I “must watch,” I have now turned to the familiar, the films that taught me to be courageous, the tv shows that stayed up late with me, and the characters that help put me to bed. Cheers is still my favorite bar. Luckily, it is the only one open right now.


When you revisit a classic, it immediately takes you back to a moment in time. Watching a feel good classic is the equivalent of having a deep hang with your oldest friend–something we are all deeply craving.



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Film Talk: Now Entering: "Days of the Whale," Grief, and Refuge →

There is a group of people that exist in limbo. The immigrants, migrants, any one who has to say a Latinx, Asian, or African before they can say ‘American.’ Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to step fully into the world you hear family members sighing over? Have you ever wondered what it would be like coming of age or even being a young adult in South America? It is something I often think about. Having migrated here when I was eleven, I find I am attached to films that tell the story of what my upbringing would have been had my parents not brought me to the United States.

Last month I was introduced to a very special film: Days of the Whale, directed by Catalina Arroyave Restrepo. In this 2019 Colombian film (which scored a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes), Cris and Simon are two young graffiti artists who combat the battle for power among their city with art. The two defy a criminal gang when they decide to paint the mural of a whale over a threat written on a wall. The film, driven by the pair’s love for one another, their band of struggling artists, and their craft, weaves an important portrait of Columbia and the enduring qualities of those who inhabit it.