Her Smell Is the Pick of the Week

I have become such a fan of Elisabeth Moss. I first noticed her as the Chelsea Clinton-esque President’s daughter on The West Wing. She had a small recurring role on it, but she really made an impression. Then, of course, she was on Mad Men, which I loved and loved her in. She was great in Top of the Lake and intense on The Handmaid’s Tale and now I want to see her in everything. Looking over her filmography, I see she’s been in lots and lots of things so I’ve got some catching up to do. It is always surprising to discover someone only to realize they’ve been steadily working for years and years. I should have been following her career more closely.

In the terribly named Her Smell, she plays a Courtney Love-type who has had some success, is clearly talented, but who keeps screwing up everything with her self-destructive tendencies. It was directed by Alex Ross Perry, who also directed Listen Up Phillip and Queen of Earth, both also starring Moss, and he wrote Christopher Robin. The reviews have been pretty mixed but everybody praises Moss’s performance and I’m pretty excited to finally see it.

Also out this week that looks interesting:

Blue Velvet (Criterion Collection): David Lynch’s darkly creepy, utterly weird drama stars Kyle MacLachlan who discovers a severed ear in a field and spends the rest of the movie wandering through the city in a nightmarish hellscape looking for its owner.

The Oath: Ike Barinholtz stars in and directed this satire about a guy who refuses to take the mandatory oath of faithfulness to the President of the United States. Presumed hijinks ensue.

Climax: Gaspar Noé directs this film about 20 urban dancers who join together in a secluded boarding school for a three-day rehearsal that turns into a drug-fueled nightmare.

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t: The late, great Agnès Varda wrote and directed this film in 1977. It’s about a teenage girl who helps a struggling mother of two procure the money for an abortion and the deep bond forms between them in the decades to come.

Lords of Chaos: Rory Culkin stars in this drama about a Norwegian teenager determined to escape his traditional upbringing by starting a black-metal band and engaging in shocking publicity that turns to arson, violence, and murder.

A Vigilante: Olivia Wilde stars in this action flick about a vigilante helping victims escape their domestic abusers.

The Nun: Kino Lorber is releasing this 1966 film from Jaques Rivette starring Anna Karina as an 18th-century girl who is forced against her will to take a vow as a nun and suffers various trials because of it.

Greta: Chloe Grace Moretz stars in this Neil Jordan-directed film about a young woman who befriends a lonely widow.