MIX/VHS | Week 021

  Was Valentine's Day the best day of your life? Or are you feeling the Valentine's Day blues? Well, instead of mindlessly watching the same TV show you've binged 4 times now, and watch these great recommendations from the crew at MIX/VHS!

Amanda Knox

WATCH IT HERE!

The Amanda Knox story is, historically, a very divisive crime story, and the public opinion that has become enveloped in the "truth" has evolved to relatively toxic sides. Either you think she is innocent, or she is guilty. But as one of the first lines spoken in this masterful documentary presents, from Knox herself: Either she is a psychopath in sheep's clothing, or she is you. And both are equally terrifying. This incredible dichotomy of a revelation is expertly told and discovered in the Netflix-original documentary, that is engrossing to the last second. The editing, the cinematography, and the interviews of some of the key players of the crime are all must-sees.

- Jake

Baskets

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!

This show is literally gold. Baskets is about a man named Chip Baskets (Zach Galifianakis) who dreamed of becoming a clown in France. When he gets kicked out of clown school, he's forced to return home to Bakersfield, California, and a serious of catastrophes ensue. Not only is it absolutely hilarious but it's also amazingly touching, serious, and at times quite dramatic. Catch it every Thursday on FX!

-  Felix

The Lemon Twigs // I Wanna Prove To You

WATCH IT HERE!

The newest video release from Long Island born brother duo The Lemon Twigs, for their track 'I Wanna Prove To You' is adorable in every way. Introduced by director Nick Roney, he explains how he's bringing the guys in to experience real love as his grandparents have shared for the last 50 years. It's perfectly stylized, and full of stellar vignettes, progressing the bond of the boys and Nick's grandparents, until finally he's been replaced and the twigs take over. I love everything about this video, and definitely recommend checking it out.

- Sloane

Finding Sofia

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE!

Nico Cassavechia, the director of Finding Sofia, was kind enough to sit down and chat with me about his film during it's first United States screening at the Austin Film Festival last October. He was such a wise, artistic, humble, and traveled man, that after an hour and a half conversation with him in the pub of Easy Tiger, I wasn't surprised that he was the creator of this film. A young animator drops everything in his life to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina to pursue a beautiful young woman he met online named Sofia, only to find her living on island with her eccentric painter boyfriend and his assistant. A fish out of water scenario that leads to hilariously befuddling miscommunication and a message about artistic merit: this hidden gem just dropped on iTunes the other day, so check it out!

-  Spencer

Yearbook

WATCH IT HERE!

Straight from the canned nostalgia that made you gaga for Stranger Things, comes a retro short with a bit more to say. Okay, a lot more. Yearbook, directed by Carter Smith, captures the uncertainties of a group of 1970s high schoolers (or is it the 1960s? or early 1980s? I guess whenever everything was sepia-toned...), brilliantly framed as a series of confessionals during their yearbook photos. Nevermind the fact that nobody ever talked to the photographer for that long because they had about 2,000 whiny kids to get through in a day, just watch it!

-  JJ

Voces

WATCH IT HERE!

This short documentary made by an Austin high school student in 2014 about her immigrant mother living in America.  Not only does she do a fantastic job of telling the story of the hardships and tension involved with living day-to-day as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, but she also is incredibly brave by taking her camera and flipping it to show how her and her brothers must live because of the limitations put on them having this family situation.  It's a commendable short made from such an interesting prospective that we often don't get to see.  Very worthy of a watch with current events.

-  Carrie

Like this mix? Tell us what you think in the comments below, and let us know what you’re recommending for us to watch this week!