Dog-Eared and Premiered: February 2025
Three books and four films I loved this month.
While this many not have been a banner month for politics, Americans, or humanity in general, the culture was damn good. Beyond what I detail below, I urge you to watch Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show and Jane Fonda’s Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award acceptance speech. And never forget: supporting artists and daring to create is resistance.
BOOKS
Black in Blues by Imani Perry
Oh, this book is astounding—not only is Perry a gorgeous line-level writer and a gifted storyteller, but she lends an incredibly generous perspective to some very difficult material. I love any take on history from a unique lens, so this immediately caught my eye when I unboxed it at the bookshop—it explores Black culture through the oft-revered color blue. Perry weaves an entrancing combination of true stories, social and political commentary, art theory, and spirituality into a read you’ll consistently reference. Released January 28.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
This delicious novel contains everything I love about a gothic tale—it’s set in a massive old country house on the English moors, follows a woman weighed down by a traumatic past, a loveless marriage to a scheming steel magnate, and stifling societal expectations, involves a mysterious and magnetic stranger (psst: a vampire!) who awakens deeply-rooted (and righteous) anger and vengeance, and its achingly beautiful and atmospheric writing enrobes incredibly well-researched historical details. It’s a slow-burn sapphic, feminist coming-of-rage retelling of Carmilla, Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 vampire tale that predates Dracula by 25 years (to my surprise I recently learned that Bram Stoker was also Irish—I always assumed he was British). And just when I couldn’t love it more, the novel’s U.S. cover features a crop of Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting The Nightmare, which is recreated (to my art history-loving delight) in both Francis Ford Coppola’s and Robert Eggers’ big-screen takes on Dracula. I read Dunn’s glorious novel hungrily over the course of just two sittings—it is absolutely my Thirst of 2025, and I do not place a book on that pedestal lightly. Released February 18.
Tender by Beth Hetland
I somehow missed Hetland’s searing graphic novel when it hit shelves last March, but—thanks to the Oscar buzz for The Substance (one of my favorite films of 2024)—it’s enjoyed a resurgence in publisher and bookseller conversations because of its myriad shared themes with the movie. This is a body horror story for the social media generation, about how going to great lengths to covet and curate an outwardly perfect, societally-acceptable life will (ahem….literally) eat you alive. As with the best graphic novels, the art underscores the narrative in unique and arresting ways—I especially love Hetland’s stunning (and horrifying!) dream sequence splash pages. Released March 12, 2024.
Sidebar shout-outs: Sharing several promising novels that didn’t quite hook me, but may fare better with you. They are: Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield (released February 11), The Echoes by Evie Wyld (released February 18), and The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (releases March 4).
FILMS
This utterly original 2024 documentary focuses on 26 royal treasures stolen from the Kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin in West Africa) by France in the late 1800s, when the country colonized the kingdom. Dahomey gained full independence from France in 1960, but at least 7,000 pieces of the republic’s plundered relics remained in both public museums and private collections in France. The 26 subjects of the film resided in Paris’ Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac until a repatriation campaign was won on behalf of Benin. There are many striking aspects of director Mati Diop’s succinct documentary (it runs just over an hour), the most notable being that it’s largely narrated by artifact number 26 in a modulated, genderless voice that speaks in deeply eloquent, thought-provoking prose. The film weaves together thoughtful visuals, insightful curator commentary, and a passionate, intelligent heated debate among Beninese university students to create an emotional play on form and structure that never delves into lazy info dumps or disaffecting preachiness. The film was rightfully shortlisted as the Senegalese entry for both Documentary Feature Film and Best International Feature Film at this year’s 97th Academy Awards. One watch will tell you why its subject matter didn’t earn it an official nomination… Currently available on most VOD platforms.
I always look forward to a new Steven Soderbergh film—it’s guaranteed to be stylishly shot with an intriguing, experimental storyline and a great score. The moment I heard the pitch for Presence—a haunted house movie shown from the perspective of the ghost—I was totally sold. And—despite a somewhat unremarkable (even at times cartoonish) script from David Koepp—it largely delivered on the enthusiasm it kindled. More of a relationship drama than a horror movie (it’s truly not scary or violent at all), it feels both voyeuristic and play-like, planting firmly in its single location while charting a beleaguered family’s day-to-day after they move into a new home that’s not as unoccupied as they initially assume. The POV never shifts from the inquisitive spirit moving unseen among them, and it’s a really cool concept slickly presented, as only Soderbergh could pull off. Released on VOD February 25.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
This isn’t my usual fare, but I heard from trusted sources that the fourth installment of the beloved novel-turned-film series was far better than it had any right to be, so—because I do shamelessly adore the first 2001 movie (we’ll strike the second and third from the record, though)—I decided to give it a try. Surprise—it had me deep in my feels by the twenty-minute mark. The film certainly sports its fill of contrived moments (it noticeably loses momentum in the final third), but it made me cry multiple times and incorporated some devilishly well-placed nostalgia, had a not-entirely-hokey or overly self-referential script, and the performances across the board were solid (if you’ve seen season two of The White Lotus, Leo Woodall’s casting may throw you for a moment, though he overcomes with plenty of charm). The narrative focus on a struggling single mom is really not my thing, but Renée Zellweger as Bridget—a role she reinhabits as effortlessly as pulling on a favorite pair of “absolutely enormous panties”—makes the subject relatable and warm. Overall, Chiwetel Ejiofor wins MVP of this one…it’s a silly, funny, sweet, weepy comfort watch. Released February 13.
Sidebar shout-out: I’m working my way through the late, great David Lynch’s filmography, and I absolutely adored his charming 1999 film The Straight Story, based on the real-life experience of 74-year-old Alvin Straight, who road tripped across Iowa and Wisconsin on his lawnmower to visit his estranged brother. This is not your typical Lynch film—it’s a straightforward (ha!), unfussy portrait of a salt of the earth man (played by the legendary Richard Farnsworth, whose earnest azure gaze cuts me to my very marrow—CBC Anne of Green Gables fans know) and the everyday Americans he meets along his journey. It’s filled with empathy and kindness, sweeping shots of bucolic rural vistas, and stand-out performances by Farnsworth and Sissy Spacek (as Alvin’s daughter Rose). If you want an undiluted shot of character-driven feel-good drama, this is it.
That’s all for February—is there something you’re looking forward to that releases in March? Let me know, I’m always adding to my read and watch lists!