I Carry You with Me is the first narrative film from documentary director Heidi Eiwing (Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka). Based on a real-life story, there are very good reasons this swooning, sweeping tale of queer, immigrant love needed to be told in a scripted way. Sam describes the film as “a beautiful, passionate, and epic drama”, while Luis praises “the moments of silence”. I Carry You with Me is out now on VOD and digital release.

Not Pixar releasing one of the best identity-discovery movies Mary has ever seen during Pride month? Nope, as far as Brynne is concerned, Luca is strictly a buddy movie; the queercoding must be all in our heads. Pixar’s latest offering—which, like the studio’s previous movie, Soul, debuted on Disney+—is generating many thoughts about the creative state of the computer animation powerhouses behind it. The sun-kissed story of two Italian boys who happen to be sea monsters is currently enjoying a strong 3.9 average rating, with the hot takes and deep dives continuing to roll in. Bene, bene.

There’s a strong chorus of “just let us enjoy fun, dumb movies” in the initial response to F9: The Fast Saga (now in theaters), but it’s clear some fans are feeling a little let down by the first entry in a while to feature neither the late Paul Walker, nor Dwayne Johnson. “What a terrible day to have eyes,” writes Youssef. “F9 more like F nein,” quips Richard. Then again, Jay argues, the film is “not as good as 5, but way better and crazy than 4, it has moments that made me feel like I was watching 8, which is better than 2, but not as good as 3, which pales next to 7, and it tries to throwback to 1 but 6 did that better, and at least matters, unlike Hobbs & Shaw.” Glad we cleared that up.

Ripped straight from A’Ziah King’s infamous Twitter thread by an A24 dream-team headed up by director Janicza Bravo, Zola is at last hitting US theaters after its Sundance 2020 premiere. “Bravo’s sounds and images—candy-sweet, cyanide-laced—impart the feeling of being extremely online,” writes an admittedly biased Hari Nef. “Many have tried this; it’s possible only Bravo has succeeded.” In full length, the day-glo noir holds a different energy from its trailer, the suspense building to a “searing critique of whiteness in America through the lens of Twitter melodrama” according to online personality Ira Madison III. And this math from Sadie: “More movies need to have the zero boobs: ten d–cks ratio.”

Is anticipation ever not high for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? With that out of the way, it is clear that anticipation is high for Black Widow, which arrives on July 9, more than a year after it was originally scheduled to. It’s landing on Disney+ at the same time as it goes into theaters, a now-familiar move that nevertheless feels particularly notable in the case of an MCU film, the closest we have to a sure thing in contemporary cinema. Get yourself in the mood with more than 460 other bad-ass women.

Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson is the subject of Fred Scott’s documentary Being a Human Person, which plays at the Film Forum in New York from July 2. “Watching Roy Andersson work and seeing his process is such a treat,” writes Connor. “So much work put into every single one of his sets. How crucial it is for a scene to be as human as possible.” Janne is a fan too, recounting a charming story about meeting Andersson while hungover.

In theaters and on Hulu this July is the stunning directorial debut from The Roots’ bandleader Questlove (aka Ahmir-Khalib Thompson), Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), combining unearthed footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival with modern testimonials to create one of the most impactful music documentaries ever made. The Letterboxd team went crazy for it at Sundance earlier this year, where it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize in the documentary section. Unmissable.

No Sudden Move, the latest heist thriller from master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (his sixth, if you count Out of Sight) has a stacked cast, many of them Soderbergh vets—Benecio del Toro, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Ray Liotta, Bill Duke, Jon Hamm, Brendan Fraser, filmmaker Amy Seimetz and Julia Fox from Uncut Gems, just to mention a few. Letterboxd members lucky enough to attend the Tribeca Festival screening seem happy: “Pretty solid upper-middle-tier Soderbergh… delivered with aplomb, good technical craft and the social consciousness that’s been a part of a good number of his films,” writes Scott. On HBO Max from July 1.

“So it’s an artsy looking John Wick, where the dog is now a pig, and John Wick is now a Chef played [by] god-damn Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage? Well it looks like I’ve found my Movie of the Year people!” —Angier Corleone. Pig is in theaters from July 16.

2021’s other undersea creature fantasy (i.e. the one that isn’t Luca), Undine is still in theaters. Writer and director Christian Petzold spoke to Reyzando Nawara for Letterboxd, about women as subjects, and the new film’s connection to his previous work, 2018’s acclaimed Transit. While we’re talking about mermaids, check out this epic list of films in which a mermaid appears.

We’re spotting more and more working filmmakers in the Letterboxd ranks, so we did what we do best: we created a list, one featuring movies out this year made by Letterboxd members. They include several from the recent Tribeca Festival: Dating and New York’s Jonah Feingold, who chatted with Selome Hailu about rom-coms for our Festiville coverage; Bing Liu, who made All These Sons with Joshua Altman (and talked to Mitchell Beaupre about their film); and Chanel James, who co-directed quarantine delight as of yet with Taylor Garron (the pair detailed their Zoom-movie adventures with Selome). If you’re a member and you’ve made a film, let us know about it in the comments so we can add it to the list.

Benjamin’s Summer of South Korean Cinema challenge is now underway, and he’s created a gargantuan list of suggestions to go with it that provides viewing recs for days. 대박 !

The 74th Festival du Cannes 2021 kicks off on July 6, only a couple of months later than when it usually takes place. Our correspondents Brian Formo and Ella Kemp will be keeping you in the loop via our Festiville HQ. Follow us there, and you’ll get updates in your Activity feed from Cannes, Fantasia, TIFF and more in the months to come.

The pandemic-delay has a knock-on effect for various other festivals that are obligated to follow Cannes. To fill the cinematic gap from the resulting postponement of his beloved Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival, prolific Letterboxd member Doug Dillaman (5,785 films and counting!) and some of his pals have created a film-watching challenge with some very creative parameters. NOT the New Zealand International Film Festival begins July 8, and anyone can participate, even those of you beyond the South Pacific. Get in!

As the guys from podcast/blog F this Movie come to the end of their Junesploitation watch challenge, there’s plenty of inspiration to be found in both their chosen parameters, and the films they selected to watch.

Lost George A. Romero film The Amusement Park, a 52-minute Lutheran commission gone awry, is out now on Shudder. Letterboxd editor-at-large Dominic Corry spoke to Romero’s widow Suzanne about the deeply unsettling movie for our Horrorville HQ, where you’ll find a wide range of horror-centric content. Boo!

Letterboxd member Daniel Scarpati has written a book about a critical film-centric job that rarely gets discussed—that of an on-set PA/gofer. He spent 600 days in the trenches as one, and the resulting work, Gofers: On the Front Lines of Film and Television, is now available to purchase. Based on his recents, Daniel also appears to be an Ernest Cinematic Universe completist. Good for him.

Geena Hardy celebrates the all-too-rare science-fiction films that feature young Black protagonists in her list SynthNoir: Black Teen Science Fiction Narratives. She’s happy to add any entries that qualify, so let her know what’s missing. (How excited are we for the impending Attack the Block sequel?)

Sometimes, it is nice to behold a man’s bottom in a movie that is not necessarily about that feature. Letterboxd Show co-host Slim is aware of this pleasure, and has created a helpful list of films in which a casual male derrière is featured (Paul Verhoeven is a significant contributor to the canon). Get your fill of man ass right here.

Speaking of bottoms… Many know it as the “fanny pack”. South of the equator, it is a “bum bag”. Nobody should get away with referring to it a “waist pack”. Letterboxd editor-in-chief Gemma Gracewood is a big fan of the functional accessory, so much so she has compiled a list of films brave enough to feature the utilitarian pouch. Submit yourself to Fanny Pack Supremacy.

Dom’s pick: each month, Call Sheet editor Dominic Corry finishes with a film for your watchlists. This month: the prison-set supernatural horror, Maléfique (2002). An underseen slice of French genre fun with a pronounced Twilight Zone-influence and a nasty edge.