'Palm Springs': Let's do the time loop again
Andy Samberg's charming time loop rom-com arrived on Hulu via a record Sundance sum this week. It does not disappoint. Plus: Troye Sivan's dreamy new single.
Hey friends! It’s been a while, but at least nothing important has happened in the last month or so.
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Let’s get right into it!
MOVIES
Palm Springs (2020), dir. Max Barbakow
Nyles (Andy Samberg) has been to more weddings than you could imagine. Well, technically, only one — over and over again. Thanks to a plot device about as ubiquitous to Hollywood as the fugue is to Baroque-era Western music, Nyles is living the same day in a constant loop. Fan theories differ as to how long he’s been stuck in the loop, but Nyles reveals that it’s long enough that he has A) forgotten most details of his pre-time-loop existence and B) settled into his own brand of gentle nihilism. (The possibility of the character’s name being an incognito pun had not occurred to me until just now — seriously, try saying “Nyles’ nihilism” out loud.)
Then he meets Sarah (the incomparable Cristin Milioti), the sister of the bride at the never-ending destination wedding. After a hilariously convoluted sequence involving an impeccably cast JK Simmons during which Sarah joins the time loop with him, Nyles is tasked with serving as her guide through her new, repetitive existence, while reexamining his personal set of time loop ethics.
If I were lazier, and more importantly, if screenwriter Andy Siara and director Max Barbakow were lazier, I could write “hilarity ensues, etc.” and be done with the synopsis. But Palm Springs is aware of its place within the canon of time loop entertainments and as a result, we have an ambitious comedy imbued with an unmistakable cynicism that the film sometimes celebrates, but also sometimes needs to overcome. It is in the breakthroughs during which the characters recognize that distinction that Palm Springs feels revelatory and fresh among its genre predecessors.
When sitting down to write this piece, I googled how many times the phrase “eerily prescient” appeared in writing about this movie. Dear reader: it’s a lot, but really, come on. Though the creators had no concept of the world they’d release it to, the neverending monotony of our new quarantine lifestyles further elucidates what makes Palm Springs work: it asks the viewer to consider (and laugh at) its zany, supernatural world while also contemplating our own roles in the world we inhabit. It wants you to ponder: what matters when nothing matters? It’s a comedy with genuine intelligence, heart, and charm — providing laughs and all the trappings of a satisfying rom-com while wrestling with the philosophical complexities of what it is to be alive.
That’s a tricky tight-rope walk — it only works when the movie is actually entertaining. Palm Springs, thankfully, is an absolute blast, thanks in no small part to its starring duo. Samberg and The Lonely Island’s particular brand of comedic delivery works better for me than I’ve always felt it should. Here, he’s doing some of his most impressive work, landing his charmingly churlish jabs and plenty of dick jokes with aplomb, but less desperation than many of the “goofball white guy from SNL” comedic film actors of his ilk (*cough* Adam Sandler).
It was famously reported that Neon and Hulu shelled out a record $17,500,000.69 for the rights to Palm Springs out of The Sundance Film Festival. I hope all of that money went directly to Cristin Milioti’s bank account. The multi-talented Tony nominee and Grammy winner famous for her excellent work in Once stood out in a stacked cast full of winning performances. She is Samberg’s straight man at times but is more than able to match and exceed Samberg’s goofiness when necessary, sporting manic energy that’s impossible to look away from. In a movie full of stars, she shines remarkably.
Add on delightful turns from JK Simmons and Meredith Hagner, playing Nyles’ endearingly awful girlfriend, plus a wonderful two-or-so minutes of screen time from June Squibb (I hope she had a nice afternoon on set) and we’re left with perhaps 2020’s most fun film. Astonishingly well-paced, cleverly plotted, and brilliantly performed, Palm Springs is worth reliving again and again.
MUSIC
Troye Sivan is turning a page. He’s never been a stranger to introducing melancholy into his synthpop grooves; even his more rapturous love songs from his early catalog communicate a yearning, a youthful insecurity lurking beneath the glossy pop-prince surface. (See: his declarations of angst and confusion while confessing his love on 2015’s WILD — “You make my heart shake, bend and break / but I can’t turn away” — or his willingness to hollow himself out entirely and hand over himself completely to a lover on YOUTH, from the same album.)
2018’s Bloom era, though, seemed to mark an inflection point for Sivan. On standout tracks ‘Bloom’ and ‘My My My!,’ he was still just as lovestruck, but with a kind of self-assured ownership indicative of a maturing artist.
If Bloom was the result of maturing, then ‘Easy,’ the second single released in support of his upcoming In a Dream EP, proves that maturing is a double-edged sword. Over his (and frequent producer/collaborator Oscar Görres’) signature breezy synthpop beats, Sivan ruminates on the fallout of a low point in a relationship — presumably with long-time boyfriend Jacob Bixenman. The same lover for which he sang lyrics like “Living for your every move” on ‘My My My!,’ he confesses on the chorus of ‘Easy,’ “I can’t even look at you.”
This contrast is even starker in the visuals. In the ‘Bloom’ music video, Sivan dons a face of makeup (several, actually) and bops along to his anthem in luxurious and fashion-forward outfits. On the ‘Easy’ video, directed by Sivan himself, he’s dressed down, bare-faced, and resigned. When he turns on a television in his desolate house and finds himself in makeup, it seems almost ridiculous and grotesque — a twisted parody of his previous persona.
The song also happens to be absolutely fantastic, as is Troye’s way. Along with ‘Take Yourself Home,’ the first single released from In a Dream, this new era in Sivan’s career promises to be just as satisfying — sonically and lyrically — as his previous efforts.
That’s all for this week! Until next time, friends.