Tell Me I’m Sorry

We're cleansing our hearts and brains this week by discussing a very good movie with real, human stakes! What a relief. Gina Prince-Bythewood's LOVE & BASKETBALL (2000) has us cheering, laughing, and appreciating the beauty of sports despite our own personal lack of athletic prowess. Do we question if the male lead proves himself to be a worthy romantic partner? Sure, but those reservations are also connected to the film's thoughtful portrayal of ambition and its evolving nature. We also appreciate any movie which gives us the opportunity to consider the weird cultural legacy of Tyra Banks.       Special thanks to Jess for providing this episode's Juvenalia Encore

Well, if you ever wanted to hear a 2-hour-ish rumination on the confusing and contradictory sexual politics of THE TWILIGHT SAGA, you're in luck. How does this series feel like an obvious metaphor for Christian purity culture while also having no sense of its own metaphorical resonance? What does Renesmee's “miraculous” conception say about the films' attitudes towards sex? Is it possible to tell a compelling story about a human-vampire romance if that story is solely in service to a stereotypical “happily-ever-after”? It's a minefield! At least the Volturi are fun.    Email us: girlhoodmoviedatabase@gmail.com  Follow us on Instagram: @girlhoodmoviedatabase Join our book club: See the links in our social media bios or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c Secondary texts referenced: Beauty and the Beast (1991) dirs. Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 2, episodes 13, 14, and 22) The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, translated by Jean-Yves Leloup, foreword by Jacob Needleman

It's finally time to discuss what might be the most lovably hated movie franchise ever: THE TWILIGHT SAGA. In this episode, which covers the first three films in the series, topics of discussion include: the chaotic aesthetics of the late 2000s, chosen one narratives, cultural appropriation, the false allures of choice feminism, and why 12-year-old Marin was a Twilight book purist who rejected these movies altogether. (We also talk at length about the 2010 Robert Pattinson vehicle REMEMBER ME, so if you don't want to know about its baffling plot twist, avoid 39:44 to 46:21).   Special thanks to Lindsey for providing this episode's Juvenalia Encore! Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @tellmeimsorry BlueSky: @tellmeimsorry.bsky.social Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Join our book club: See the links in our social media bios or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c Secondary texts referenced: Adventureland (2009) dir. Greg Mottola  Remember Me (2010) dir. Allen Coulter Good Will Hunting (1997) dir. Gus Van Sant “No, feminism is not about choice” by Meagan Tyler (published in The Conversation)

Chanlee Luu—poet, friend, and author of The Machine Autocorrects Code to I—joins the podcast to discuss Zhang Yimou's HERO (2002), the wuxia classic that's full of stunning martial arts sequences, gorgeous colors, and timeless questions about truth, narrative, and political sacrifice. We also use the film as a springboard to discuss Chanlee's own writing, her background in science, and poetry as archive, comfort, and resistance.    Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: Instagram: @tellmeimsorry BlueSky: @tellmeimsorry.bsky.social Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Join our book club: See the links in our social media bios or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c Secondary texts referenced: The Machine Autocorrects Code to I by Chanlee Luu, available wherever books are sold. Visit bookshop.org to order a copy from your local bookstore!  “50 Years of HOPE and HA-HAs,” a Vietnamese American art exhibition in DC which features one of Chanlee's poems

We're discussing a monumental film this week: Céline Sciamma's PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019). Yes, it's romantic and poignant and emotionally and intellectually rich, but it also features really direct communication between its two lovers—and that might be the hottest thing of all. We discuss myth-making, companionship as the bedrock for romance (also hot, Marin argues), the Green World Archetype, and, most importantly, which scenes make Maggie want to puke because they're so good.    This episode's Juvenalia Encore is a poem written and performed by Rachel Anne! Follow them on Instagram: @cairnradesign   Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Join our book club: See the Linktree in our Instagram bio (@tellmeimsorry) or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c Secondary texts referenced: The World to Come (2019) dir. Mona Fastvold In Secret (2013) dir. Charlie Stratton “Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma on her ravishing romantic masterpiece” by Emily St. James (published in Vox)

We're entering 2025 with new equipment and a revamped recording schedule, but we also want to take the time to appreciate the movies we covered and conversations we had in 2024—hence our creation of the prestigious Maggie & Marin Movie Awards. Which films were our favorites? Which intertextualities were the sexiest? Why does this episode open with Marin talking about Jojo Siwa? (It comes full-circle at the end, we promise.) Happy New Year!   Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Join our book club: See the Linktree in our Instagram bio (@tellmeimsorry) or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c

We've got a short and special episode this week to announce the very exciting news that we are launching a book club! We get into the goals of the club, how you can join, and why we're excited to discuss our first book, Democracy in Retrograde by Sami Sage and Emily Amick.  To sign up for the first meeting, go to the Linktree in our Instagram bio (@tellmeimsorry) or copy this link to your browser: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6062997/join/e74d1c

Hallelujah, folks. We've got a movie brimming with whimsy and goofiness that offers a tender vision of girlhood, first love, and queerness: Maria Meggenti's THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE (1995). Maggie takes us on some major philosophical quandaries—Why is it difficult to analyze joy? What if you don't need to love yourself before you love someone else?—and Marin puts her English degree to good use with an exuberant read on the film's title. Apologies for the delay in posting this episode. We recorded it at the end of October but a variety of factors (the U.S. presidential election, general exhaustion, etc.) collided shortly after and we've taken a break this month. We'll be back recording in December and have some very special projects and episodes on the horizon! Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Secondary texts referenced: National Anthem (2023) dir. Luke Gilford  “The Body Electric” by Hurray for the Riff Raff  “Review: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love” by Roger Ebert Beautiful World, Where are You? by Sally Rooney

This week we're talking about the definitive slasher of Maggie's girlhood, Amy Holden Jones's THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982)—a movie which offers just about everything you could want in a horror classic: inventive gore, insightful commentary on female sexuality and objectification, goofy phallic symbols, queer longing, and girls eating pizza over a corpse. Happy Halloween! Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Secondary texts referenced: Slumber Party Massacre (2021) dir. Danishka Esterhazy

We're prepping for Halloween by subjecting ourselves to the most stomach-churning sight of the 90s: Skeet Ulrich's greasy hair tendrils. Marin's pick this week is SCREAM (1996), the first horror movie that actually scared her. And while Skeet's hair IS an abomination, this film has plenty of other horrors for us to dissect: teenage misogynists, extreme fandom, and weaponized self-awareness. We also praise Drew Barrymore (naturally) and discuss how her one scene really is as affecting—in both its terror and its sadness—as everyone remembers.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Secondary texts referenced: “The fandom menace: People, get a life!” by Roger Ebert  Ghosts of You by Cathy Ulrich

It's the movie that launched Sofia Coppola's directing career and awakened Young Maggie to the beauty of Kirsten Dunst's armpits: the dreamy, detailed, and devastating THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (1999). We wrestle with the male narration, Marin details falling out of love with the novel upon which the film is based (and appreciating the film more as a result), and we talk about the knottiest of conundrums: how to protect adolescent girls from the world without totally depriving them of it.   Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Secondary texts referenced: Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen “No” by Anne Boyer (from A Handbook of Disappointed Fate) “Our Sisters Shall Inherit the Sky” by Alana Massey (from All the Lives I Want: Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers)

We're investigating a supremely entertaining work of garbage this week and, honestly, thank goodness—we needed some laughter around here. CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999) has it all: one of the most despicable romantic heroes in teen film history, ~tension~ between step siblings, a perfect Sarah Michelle Gellar performance, and a Counting Crows needle drop that offends Maggie but reverts Marin into a sentimental tween. We rant, we cackle, we reflect, we put this movie in conversation with some of the most influential art ever made (because this is our show and we do what we want). Enjoy!     Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Hannah Gasby: Nanette (2018) dir. Madeleine Perry and John Olb “Introduction to Les Liaisons Dangereuses” by Alfred Mac Adam (Barnes & Noble Classics edition)  “Pure Heroines” by Jia Tolentino (from Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion)

MILLER'S GIRL (2024) was panned by critics and didn't recoup even a fourth of its budget at the box office, so, naturally, we had to talk about it and dare to ask, “Is it really that bad?” The movie is fundamentally about a student being groomed by her teacher, so there's a lot at stake in terms of how it addresses victimhood, villainy, and power—and our feelings about the outcome are complicated. Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Bunny by Mona Awad My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell The Room (2003) dir. Tommy Wiseau  Jade Halley Bartlett interview with Forbes: “Miller's Girl As a Villain Origin Story”

We wade into the world of documentary filmmaking with Sandi Tan's SHIRKERS (2018), which reflects on Tan's teenage experience of making a movie with her friends and losing the footage after their teacher steals it. The movie's “layers of aboutness,” as we writerly types love to say, are plentiful—and get into as much as we can wrap our heads and hearts around: magical realism, punk spirit, youthful determination, and how to live a life that is in service to your art.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: “Lessons of the Line: Charles Simic and Me” by Dana Levin (from the Yale Review, spring 2024 issue) “After the World-Breaking, World-Building” by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal (from Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders)

The day has arrived: Maggie vibes with a movie much more than Marin does. The movie in question? Claire Oakley's MAKE UP (2019), a surreal and sparse story about a teen girl's coming-to-desire on the Cornwall coast. Maggie offers a compelling analysis of characterization which invokes the spirits of Dashiell Hammett and RHW Dillard (our beloved former professor), Marin argues that the film is at least horror-adjacent, and we discuss the symbolism of the sea (original, we know), the implications of “straight-baiting,” and the staying power of memes about men who don't furnish their apartments. Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: The Awakening  by Kate Chopin Syzygy, Beauty by T. Fleischmann The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett  Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal Claire Oakley interview with Little White Lies Claire Oakley interview with AnOther Magazine

Did you ever work a soul-crushing service job that sometimes sent you to the bathroom crying? Then we have the episode for you! Andrew Bujalski's SUPPORT THE GIRLS (2018) is a lovely and loving film which follows a restaurant manager and her all-female staff as they try to make it through the day. We talk about its authentic approach to solidarity, the dynamic ensemble of characters, our own hellish work experiences, and the significance of the film's male writer-director.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) dir. Martin Scorsese “Grip” by Joy Castro (from Island of Bones)

We're tackling religious upbringing this week with Laurel Parmet's THE STARLING GIRL (2023), a phenomenal film about a teenage girl's coming-of-age in her Christian fundamentalist community—and we're having necessary conversations about modesty culture (and the violence it inflicts), predatory relationships, and the work of protecting each other whilst living within systems that thrive precisely by not protecting our livelihoods.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Holiday Country by Inci Atrek The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich Interview with Laurel Parmet

It's finally time to talk about a teen comedy! Marin's pick this week is Natalie Morales's PLAN B (2021), which follows two South Dakotan teens as they try to obtain basic reproductive healthcare and endure lots of bullshit along the way. But the movie is also a funny and tender depiction of friendship and growing into yourself. We discuss its smart and empathetic use of humor, why its romantic subplots work, the logistics of its South Dakota geography, and the possibilities—and limitations—of art as an agent for political change. (Audio note: apologies for the muffled sound at parts—we recorded this episode while wearing masks in an attempt to avoid illness!)  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Forever… by Judy Blume Long Live the Tribes of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir by T Kira Madden

Courtesy of Maggie, we are finally talking about a movie from this decade: Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, THE LOST DAUGHTER (2021), which is also an adaptation of Elena Ferrante's novel. We marvel at Olivia Colman's face acting. We use the word “boundless” a lot. We remember the ways our girlhood-selves terrorized our mothers. We have a lot to say about mothering, art-making, and terrible men who are, nevertheless, alluring. Thankfully, this movie has a lot to say, too.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: A Life of One's Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again by Joanna Biggs Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante Transforming Girls: The Work of Nineteenth-Century Adolescence by Julie Pfeiffer Flash Count Diary: Menopause and the Vindication of Natural Life by Darcey Steinke Letterboxd review by @ducournau

NANCY DREW (2007) was one of Marin's favorite movies as a child. Does it hold up? Not really! But Maggie hypothesizes why it makes sense that Young Marin would be smitten with this movie. We also talk about the movie's depictions of danger, perfection, and violent /clueless/entitled men/boys—all of which leads us to wonder: are we over-thinking this PG movie? Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat “‘Nancy Drew' Revisited” by Barbara S. Wertheimer and Carol Sands, Language Arts Incorrect Logline: Warner Bros.

Early into this episode, Marin likens watching Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO + JULIET (1997) for the first time to “seeing God,” so, yeah, we loved this. We discuss the film's tenderness towards its characters and its refreshing portraits of girlhood and masculinity, particularly via the gaze of the camera itself. While Maggie's prowess as a high school literature teacher is on full display, Marin connects the film to not one but TWO teen dramas. Also, we introduce a new closing segment!   Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: “Elizabethan Street Fighting” by Shakespeare Unlimited podcast, ep. 24 “The Female Gaze” by Alexis Loftis, Sartorial Magazine “Jenny Han Explains How Pop Music is Central to The Summer I Turned Pretty” by Malia Mendez,  Los Angeles Times Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare  The Summer I Turned Pretty, season 2, episode 2 Dawson's Creek, season 3, episode 14

Welcome to the very first episode of Tell Me I'm Sorry! We're so thankful you're here as we discuss the underrated 90s GEM of a film, EVER AFTER (1998). Maggie shares her lifelong love of Drew Barrymore (which she proves via a reading from her teenage diary), Marin laments her young self's lack of appreciation for the film, and we talk about how this re-telling of Cinderella diverges from other versions of the fairytale to give us characters, friendships, and romance worth rooting for.  Email your own musings and questions to tellmeimsorry@gmail.com Follow us: The podcast's Instagram: @tellmeimsorry Maggie's Instagram: @_saint_margaret_ Marin's Letterboxd: @marinharrington  Secondary texts referenced: Wildflower by Drew Barrymore “Cinderella” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love by bell hooks “Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper” by Charles Perrault Archetypal Patterns in Women's Fiction by Annis Pratt Melanie Lynskey interview on Fresh Air Incorrect Logline: Letterboxd

In this short intro episode, Maggie and Marin introduce themselves, the structure of each episode, and the inspiration for the show's title! We also touch on the supposed feuds between Millennials and Gen Z-ers on the internet. (Spoiler: Maggie is a Millennial and Marin is a Gen Z-er and neither of us understand any of this nonsense.)