MONDAY, AUGUST 2 2021

BOOKSMART

With the short film The Tragic Fall of Valerie Mallory Finkerstein

It’s the last day of high school, which means tomorrow is the first day of adulthood. What better way to celebrate this milestone occasion than with an epic send-off party? The party to end all parties, in fact, that becomes the backdrop for anxiety about the future, youthful optimism, pushing boundaries and breaking rules, making mistakes and finding yourself. This is the timeless set-up for first-time director Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart. This smart, sassy, and sophisticated film gives us two richly nuanced - and screamingly funny - female protagonists in the midst of their sexual awakenings, finding themselves and each other on the eve of the rest of their lives (and having a lot of fun doing it). 

If falling for your best girlfriend is a bad idea, Valerie has set the table for a tragicomic romance. In Canadian filmmaker Martina Monro’s The Tragic Fall of Valerie Mallory Finkerstein, the titular Valerie invites her closest friends to be the audience and Greek chorus at a meticulously planned outdoor birthday meal for her best friend Ava. Valerie plans to announce her love for the birthday girl in front of everyone... but what happens if Ava has already filled her dance card?