No Borders Here #44
sapphic harmony, saxophone gold
Listen
Los Ribereños - Sibando
chicha/cumbia
Peruvian psychedelic cumbia with mournful chanting and an intro like morning rain.
Open Sky Unit - Sunshine Star
funk/jazz
More funk from the land of frittes, this one a vocal jazz barnburner possessing all the searing intensity of a solar flare.
The Rests - Someone To Call My Lover
dream pop/rock
A jangly Janet Jackson cover channeling bright lights, big hair and boomboxes. Sparkling like sequins.
Mayo Thompson - Dear Betty Baby
folk/rock
A shipwrecked croon sinking slowly beneath the weight of blue waves, strums and stomps.
The Breathers - Don’t It Make You Feel?
sad pop/soft rock
Sunset on the beach as glum seagulls lazily orbit a burger wrapper, sunbathers navel gazing, catching feelings as the horizon ignites saxophone gold.
Watch
Bitter Rice
A heist. Solidarity. Mud-wrestling(?). Most women harvesting the rice fields would only get one of these at most each summer, but not the protagonists of Bitter Rice! Fleeing the aftermath of a robbery, Francesca stows away on a train headed for the countryside, where women are contracted each year to perform grueling, precise labor tending to Italian rice fields. There she meets a frenemy, Silvana, who orients her to the surprisingly class-conscious world of the contracted workers. Unfortunately for everyone, some dudes come along to complicate the sapphic harmony and advance the plot.
There’s lots to like here: The camera is shockingly nimble, sweeping above the action with huge crane shots, or patrolling the corners of buildings, tracking characters moving in and out and across the farm. Singing plays an unexpected role, as the foremen prohibit talking during work, which means some dialogue and plot points get communicated by song—always a great device. It’s fundamentally noir, rigid morality and all, which makes the pacing tighter than the rural setting would suggest. And it’s just shot beautifully, with practiced composition and tasteful lighting. Does not induce appetite for rice.