TV: Little Fires Everywhere (2020)

This limited series was fantastic! I read Celeste Ng's well-written slow-peeled-onion story Everything You Never Told Me for a book club and was enthralled by her storytelling style and capability. I should have read Little Fires Everywhere, but I watched this first. 

Watching Little Fires Everywhere during this this period of racial unrest, it was especially apparent how on the surface, the issues that the main characters face have much to do with white privilege and conscious and unconscious bias. The script is full of judgmental and downright racist statements. But the beauty of this story, which you learn as the onion peels, is that in this case, its not simply about racial issues. Its about the house of cards the two main characters built for themselves.

Ep 1-3 I spent trying to decide who was worse: Mia or Elena? At the end of ep 3, Mia was in the lead for being unnecessarily secretive and vindictive, whereas Elena was just being a self-focused elitist racist. Her hate-ability was passive. Mia was actively hurting people.
By the end of ep 4, you get a sense that the composed Elena is coming unhinged, and there’s a feeling of familiarity to it: she’s done this before! What’s worse is that she has raised another little monster and propagated her self-focused elitist-ness! And while teenagers make dumb teenagery decisions, mini-Elena takes it to another level of threatening and de-valuing her so-called friends’ lives.
At the end of ep 6, the flashback episode, you come away with a good foundation for both Mia and Elena. Their lives of struggle and unhappiness were of their own construction. They both set up their lives so that the cards would fall and they would have to hurt someone in their future, namely their children.

The last two episodes for me was about redemption. 

I streamed this in September of 2020 with a limited pass to Hulu. 

Movie: Still Life (2006, released in the US 2020)

I found this movie as I scrolled through the offerings on Laemmle’s website at the beginning of October. I saw a familiar face on the poster, and after some quick research discovered it was the same director of Ash is Purest White, and the familiar face was that of the lead actress from that movie. I knew immediately that I had to watch this film and I invited Dante who I saw AIPW with.

The movie opens with a slow camera moving along and looking into the faces of the passengers on a river boat at the end of this long pan, we are introduced to the main character. For the first 30 – 45 minutes, Sanming gets into situations that make him seem like a pushover of a guy, but eventually you get the sense that he knows when and how to fight his own battles. He traveled from one part of China to Fengjie County to search for his ex-wife and daughter. 

A few acts into the movie, we meet the actress’ character, who has also travelled from one place to Fengjie County. but she is in search of her husband. 

I remember reading about this director after I watched AIPW and I remembered that he used his art to shine a light on what is happening in China. In this film, looming over all the characters and blocking the sunlight from the story is the backdrop of the flooding of this area and the ongoing eviction of its residents and demolition of their homes to make the area a more enticing tourist location. 

At a certain point, the two main characters’ searches had proven fruitful, but not completely fulfilling, then the movie just stopped. Roll credits.

I get a sense that the director was trying to convey a sense of the unrequited life of the people from Fengjie County. How these two emigrants from another place landed there and immediately became overcome with the oppression of inevitable homelessness and the hopelessness of the situation. And all for what?

And then there were random speculative events that had nothing to do with the story, but added to the film another heaping spoonful of something to think about!

I enjoyed the film thoroughly. The acting was superb. The locations and landscaping were haunting and honest.

I streamed this during the pandemic, when Laemmle's had streaming options, 4/25/2021.

Photo by nana_yu

TV: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan (2021)

 Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan series was an opportunity for the producers to utilize the cornucopia of footage, photos, primary source documents, and the people still alive who could speak on the topic of Billy Milligan. Unfortunately, they didn’t use it well.

The production techniques they used made this documentary series seem more like watching a ghost hunting or mythical creature reality series. They used anticipation and/or ethereal music throughout giving the impression that every moment was building to something, but you never got to a peak, just a few hills here and there. The interviews involved flashes between slow zoom in, shaky cam and security-camera effect. Some of them even looked like they were staged in these abandoned-seeming locations that had no significance to the story. On top of all that original footage they had to work with, there were terrible reenactments.

On top of the really strange production, it was too long. After the first two episodes, there is hardly any mention of the other personalities. It turns into his family, friends and some of the psych experts recounting his escapes and returns to mental institutions.

There were a lot of interviews with French-speaking psychology experts posing thoughts and commentary about the Milligan story, and I found myself thinking, “What does this have to with a French-speaking part of the world? I’m so confused!” It was impossible for me to take this docuseries seriously.

Overall bad, over-produced storytelling. This 4-episode series could have easily been cut down to 1-2 episodes.

I watched this on Netflix, 1/24/2022.

TV: Being Mary Jane Seasons 1-4 (2013-2019)

 Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know. - Pema Chodron

When I first started watching Being Mary Jane, I enjoyed it. The show felt like a more grown Insecure. You have a main character who seems put together outwardly, but is a hot mess internally. She is surrounded by interesting characters who support her. That seemed real. It had a sense of authenticity.

At the onset, Mary Jane was already in these fraught romantic relationships. There’s David, the tarnished penny that keeps turning up, and Andre, the married man. As the show progressed, you see her fighting her way out of those relationships, but instead of learning from them, she hauls around the unresolved emotions, ruins a couple of potentially healthy relationships, and runs in heels towards unhealthy relationships. She not only sabotages her romances, but her friendships and family, too. Sabotage seems to be her method of operation. 

Of all the relationships MJ sabotages, I’m most upset about Sheldon, played by Gary Dourdan in season 2 and Lee played by Chike Okonkwo in season 4. How could you Mary Jane?!

In season 3, one of Mary Jane’s close friends commits suicide and the season ends with a lot of issues unresolved. 

Season 4 was terrible. The script was awful compared to the other seasons. It seemed like that authentic character interaction was lost in the writing. It was more “put together.” Characters were finishing each other’s sentences, there were silly comedy tropes and techniques, and I really hate silly comedy music. No matter what she did that was reprehensible, people were forgiving Mary Jane left and right. I hate-watched the season because I was hopeful for season 5. Lo and behold, they only finished one episode of season 5 and gave up, like I should have at the end of season 3.

I listened to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast episode (search for session 3) analyzing BMJ, and it brought my attention to how much in transition MJ is at the beginning of season 4. Note that she’s living in a hotel and having a hard time finding a permanent place to live while her position at work is also fluctuating. And then when she gets a permanent residence, she kicks her love-interest to the curb! 

If they ever think to revive BMJ, or maybe if they want to make a made-for-TV-movie to finish it off, I’d like to see the movie fast forward into MJ’s future and show her lying on a couch, being analyzed by a therapist (An idea put forth by Dr Shivonne Odom on Therapy for Black Girls). They can go through her past relationships, and flashback what happened after her friend died in season 3, since that is yet to be resolved for viewers.

I think Being Mary Jane seasons 1-3 are worth watching with your full attention, but pull out the ironing board, a jigsaw puzzle or feather duster so you don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time watching season 4. FYI: I heart Gabrielle Union. I have listened to both of her memoirs twice.

I binged this series on Hulu.

Movie: Tár (2022)

 “Tar… What is that movie about? Some sexually predatory artistic genius? She’s an EGOT, for crying out loud, and it’s so punitive. They drag her down so far that after that after a while it sort of turns into a gothic horror film.” Critic, Peter Rainer at the AirTalk 2023 Oscar Preview

Tár - A strange movie with nearly five minutes of credits at the beginning of the film, and a short set of end credits with music that yanks you out of any atmosphere left over from the last scene. Tár is about an egotistical conductor. She’s just so focused on her life,  maximizing her experience and prioritizing her pleasure and her expertise, that she loses sight of other people. Turns out almost everyone in her life dislikes or fears her. Her ego-self has lied to her and convinced her that she’s immune to the consequences of her cruel and inappropriate behavior. Those pesky consequences catch up to her when a scandal involving the suicide of a protégé comes to light. I gotta appreciate the comedy of a conversation  between Tár and her mentor when she asks him about how he would deal with “a student or a colleague misinterpreting your actions” and he immediately jumps to the conclusion that he’s been accused. Once convinced he’s not, he begins listing off conductors who have been accused and there is a list!

Cate Blanchett disappears in this performance: she is Lydia Tár. I was skeptical at the beginning of this, but I fell into it, and into the rabbit hole of the story until the end. The last chapter, so to speak, was rushed, and again the ending was odd. I see why Blanchett was nominated, but I also see why people aren’t raving about this movie. Overall, the story left a lot to be desired. I can’t think of any good reason to see it again. I’m trying to think of Tár in the same vein of Everything Everywhere All At Once, because I gave that movie a lot of credit for being different from traditional storytelling. Both movies use nontraditional techniques. So, with Tár I wonder what questions are still left unanswered. At the end of the movie, I still don’t know who was tormenting Tár throughout the film. Did we start to channel the mental break depicted in Black Swan? Or was what we saw onscreen Tár tormenting herself or paranormal, even? What was the story with the Russian cellist?

Click here to hear the AirTalk 2023 Oscar Preview

I watched this movie on a DVD checked out from my local library.