Nass Recommends: Coherence
By Ted Myers
James Ward Byrkit’s 2013 film Coherence might just be the best-directed movie I have ever seen. A psychological thriller, the movie follows a dinner party that goes awry when a comet passes overhead. As the power goes out and the group loses contact with the outside world, they begin to find evidence of the group’s actions inexplicably mirrored, leading them to believe they might not be the only versions of themselves. With just a budget of $50,000, Byrkit somehow brings to life mind-bending events all within his personal Santa Monica home, using a cast composed largely of his close friends.
Two things make Coherence stand out to me, earning it a spot in my Letterboxd top four. For one, the movie was filmed entirely without a script. Instead, Byrkit simply wrote a plot overview and let his actor friends improvise their own dialogue. This choice gives such a natural air to the dinner party setting, and you feel that you are watching a group of old friends with a deep shared history reunite. Byrkit also kept plot details hidden from his cast, instead giving them quick notes on their character at the start of each filming session. Thus, when strange events begin to unfold, the cast’s reactions feel strikingly genuine. Secondly, Coherence maintains scientific plausibility throughout. Inspired by the Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment, the film follows real physical theory and seldom deviates from plausibility. I have only seen this level of scientific grounding before in Nolan’s Interstellar, a film with a budget 3300x larger and with Nobel Laureate physicist Kip Thorne (a Princeton man!) on the writing team.
Coherence checks all of my boxes for an excellent film. It is shot beautifully, and delivers one of the most realistic overall acting performances that I have seen. The dense plot keeps you entertained and ensures that you never predict what will happen next (least of all the ending…). All of this was achieved on an incredibly low budget and with a unique directing style. Go watch Coherence (free on Tubi)!
Nass Recommends: Interviewing
By Claire Beeli
I took my first journalism class at Princeton this semester, and for the first assignment, I profiled a classmate. I sat with Noel for an hour and asked about their upbringing—their first two months of life in Chula Vista, California, their magical early childhood in Mexico City, and their busy adolescence in Jersey City.
It was an exercise in attention, but it didn’t feel like work. I felt lucky to take note of the flowers and constellations they’d inscribed on the arms of their jacket, the patches stitched on their hat. I wanted the interview to go on longer so I wouldn’t have to start talking, so I could remain submerged for just a little longer in what it means to be Noel. When I learned how their artistic practice and sense of identity are rooted in the natural world, I sensed how easy it would be to write about someone with such a rich selfhood.
Then I thought: Everyone is like this. I should do this more often.
Nass Recommends: The Pitt (or alternatively, the city of Pittsburgh)
By Elena Eiss
Perhaps you have already heard of The Pitt. I was surprised that many people had, that people outside of Pittsburgh were even watching the show. It feels a little wrong, you know, to watch this artfully crafted, award-winning TV show just as a medical drama? When they wheel in a man on a gurney who has choked on his broccoli at Pamela’s, does that mean something to you, or do you wonder whether the name refers to a restaurant or a person? When an older woman with a leg wound shares that she is a member of Tree of Life Synagogue, do you then understand why she is afraid of fireworks?
I recommend that you watch The Pitt and tell me what it’s like. Record everything unfamiliar, everything that might allude to someplace real. Think of it as medical charting. Write everything down, and I will provide a diagnosis––or sue for malpractice. It strikes me that most people don’t know a thing about Pittsburgh, and if The Pitt is the only Pittsburgh hasbara you can get, you should take it. It’s fun to reference-spot: Wholey’s, Mister Rogers, the T, the Freedom House Ambulance Service. I feel that the second season does this more egregiously (a furry in the ER?? Just because Anthrocon happens annually next door to my high school doesn’t justify this shits-and-giggles jump scare), and so far, the season’s realistic, hour-by-hour coverage of hospital life doesn’t hit like the first.
So an alternative recommendation: the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Living it, not just in it. Find yourself in a UPMC hospital—our state’s largest non-governmental employer—by any means. Navigate your way through its maze of floors visiting a grandparent or its near-governmental bureaucracy trying to afford medical care. The show can’t capture everything: confined within hospital walls, it misses the lives affected years after a single ER visit or what happens when a local hospital is taken over and abandoned.
So visit urgent care. Pass miles of personal injury lawyer billboards on I-76. Order an omelet at Pamela’s.