When Elizabeth Nichols receives an eviction notice from her fraudster landlord in the Lower East Side, she is introduced to her neighbor, Philly Abe, a prolific artist and muse who has lived in the building since the 80s. Inviting her into her apartment, Philly now becomes Nichols’ muse in this beautifully observed exploration of the human cost of gentrification. Nichols’ camera is clearly fascinated by her fiery-haired subject, and intimacy grows between the two as we hear the back and forth between Philly and the filmmaker. Moving between modern day and the art videos of Philly’s past, Flying Lessons captures a disappearing generation of artists and outsiders who called New York City home, reflecting on the diminishing space for radicals under modern capitalism. Nichols’ debut feature is a vulnerable and tender portrait of an intergenerational friendship and what it really means to be a neighbor. (CT)