That Horrible Pen

This piece contains spoilers for both Un beau soleil intérieur and Superbad .             The past two movies I’ve watched this summer as of this writing have both been films I initially felt were a bit outside my comfort zone: Claire Denis’ Un beau soleil intérieur (2017) and Greg Mottola’s Superbad (2007). The perfect decade split between the two was a complete and happy accident, but noticing it got me interested in actually bringing the two into conversation somewhat when my first thought was just to write about Superbad since I had the most to say about it. I used the word “initially” before because these were both movies I went into without a certain amount of excitement. I picked Un beau soleil intérieur despite the synopsis not necessarily grabbing me because I wanted to see something else by Denis and it was the film that was available on Hulu. I’ve had positive experiences being pushed a bit on my taste by friends befo...