True Detective: Night Country, Poor Things +++
It seems like there aren’t as many new scripted TV shows that are piquing my interest at the moment - but that’s to be expected, after roughly 6 months of writers/actors on strike last year. Production stopped for quite a long time, so a lot of shows got pushed back until later this year or next year. That said, I would say the biggest “prestige” TV show on right now is True Detective: Night Country on Max (HBO). It stars Jodie Foster, which is pretty huge because she’s never done a TV show before (I guess unless you count her child acting), and a younger actress I wasn’t familiar with, Kali Reis, who’s also a professional boxer! It’s written by Mexican writer/director Issa Lopez. It’s also the fourth season of True Detective, whose first season was really beloved (the McConaughey-Woody Harrelson season). The quality of storytelling really took a nosedive in the 2nd and 3rd seasons, and even with one of my favorite actors starring in season 3, Mahershala Ali, I couldn’t manage to get very interested. This season is by far the best since season 1, and it leans very heavily into the supernatural elements that we saw in that season, except even more. This one takes place in the dead of winter in Alaska, where it’s night all day - it’s dark all the time, which adds a sense of disorientation to the already very baffling, and pretty horrific, murders the detectives are trying to solve. Among the many themes hanging over the season are environmental racism, generational trauma, and the importance of the dead. The people in this town, many of whom are indigenous, see dead people and believe in the power of non-human entities, which is something Foster mocks. She’s a sometimes racist, abrasive and demanding police chief who rubs everyone the wrong way - it’s a fabulous character for Foster to sink her teeth into, something we haven’t really seen from her before. The cast around her is also really great, including veterans like John Hawkes, Fiona Shaw and Christopher Eccleston. Anyway, if you’re a True Detective fan, I highly recommend this season - it brings a feminist perspective to the series that was quite lacking in the other seasons.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Prime Video
This show is getting a lot of attention, as it teams up Donald Glover and Maya Erskine (of Pen15 fame - a show I adored!). I really liked the first episode, but was less enthusiastic about the second one - I’m still a bit unsure if these two have good sexual chemistry or not, and I find the Glover character to be pretentious and annoying. Still, I’m intrigued, especially because I want to see what Erskine does with a role in which she actually gets to play a 30-something woman - she was hilarious in Pen15, but she was playing a 13 year old and it was very broad comedy. The show is a take on the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie movie from the mid-aughts about a married couple who are assassins working for rival agencies. Anyway, the guest star list seems amazing (John Turturro, Michaela Coel, Paul Dano, Sharon Horgan, Sarah Paulson Alexander Skarsgard), so I’ll keep watching .
What We Do in the Shadows, FX/Hulu
I’ve been recently catching up with the third, fourth and fifth seasons of this gem of a show, and just want to remind you all about it in case you’re looking for a feel-good watch. It’s a pure, silly, raunchy comedy about vampires living in Staten Island. My favorite part about it is Harvey Guillén as Guillermo (the vampires’ “familiar” or human helper). I love him so much and want all good things for him! But the other actors and the writing are also so goddamn funny.
I’ve been trying to make my way through all the Oscar-nominated films before the Oscars take place, and I’ve seen a few great ones in the past month.
Poor Things
This might be my favorite film of 2023. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), adapted screenplay by Tony McNamara (also wrote The Favourite, as well as one of my favorite shows of the past few years, The Great, on Hulu - RIP, as it was canceled last year). So already a dynamite directing-writing team. Add in the most stunning performance of Emma Stone’s career, and you have a winner, as far as I’m concerned. It’s a Frankenstein-style story with lots of fantastical elements: one of the funniest recurring gags is all these hybrid animals the Dr. Frankenstein character (nicknamed “God” and played wonderfully by Willem Dafoe) has created. The “monster” of the story is Stone’s character, which we basically see grow from a toddler to a mature and badass young woman in the space of 2.5 hours (I won’t spoil the whole conceit here by telling you how that’s possible). The surrealist set design and costuming are amazing, and (as with all of McNamara’s works) it’s incredibly funny and raunchy - in short, if sex makes you uncomfortable, skip this one.
I think it’s a big toss-up as to whether Stone or Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) will win the Oscar this year. I love both performances equally but Emma Stone already has an Oscar and I know she will be nominated for more, whereas I can’t necessarily say the same for Gladstone. There are so few great roles for Native actors on TV or in film, so I’m hoping she wins this one. It would be historic. I also don’t think Killers has a good chance to win many other awards as it’s going up against the behemoth of this Oscars year, Oppenheimer).
Anatomy of a Fall
This French courtroom drama has gotten a lot of attention since winning some big Golden Globes. Many people believe the director, Justine Triet, “took” Greta Gerwig’s place in the Best Director nominations. However, it’s sexist to think there can only be one female director nominated. I definitely feel sad about Gerwig being left out of the directing nominations for Barbie, which was a concept film in which very specific directorial choices were made and she deserves the nomination. But the fact is, Best Picture has 10 nomination slots and Best Director (and Actor/Actress, etc) only has 5 - so some of those directors are gonna be left out. I can’t say any of the other 5 directors (Scorcese, Christopher Nolan, Lanthimos, Triet, Jonathan Glazer) are undeserving - though I haven’t yet seen Zone of Interest yet (I hear very good things).
Anyway, the film is very good, though perhaps a bit too long for my taste. It reconstructs the death of a writer who’s married to another writer (an incredible Sandra Hüller) who is suspected of killing him. They have a child who’s a pretty key witness to the event, but he happens to be blind or at least very sight-impaired. It’s very much a psychological drama where details about this marriage and this woman’s character are slowly revealed and we’re left to try and decide whether we think she’s guilty or not. I will say that I thought the ending was really impactful and well done.
Passages
Made by veteran indie director Ira Sachs, this film flew pretty far under the radar last year, but it’s really good. It’s basically a love triangle involving a gay couple and a woman who one of the men falls in love with. British actor Ben Whishaw (who voiced Paddington and was also in the amazing 2022 film Women Talking) is the only one in the cast I was familiar with, but he’s not the protagonist of the film. It’s his husband, played by German actor Franz Rogowski, who falls in love with this gorgeous woman, played by French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos. Tomas, the protagonist, is quite a piece of work - definitely not very sympathetic - but he’s played really skillfully by Rogowski. Anyway, if you like arty/indie films, this one is really worth a watch.
Speaking of Oscar nominations, the one that most baffles me is that Charles Melton wasn’t nominated for May/December (you may recall from my last newsletter that I declared he was a “lock” for a Supporting Actor nomination). While the film likely wasn’t too popular among Oscar voters (because it kind of skewers actors), he gave a quiet but incredibly moving performance and I would’ve wanted him to win the award.
So tell me, what’s your favorite film of the past year and who are you hoping wins at the Oscars next month?
And what are you watching and loving on TV right now?
Finally, this is a really good piece touching on what it’s like to be a creator/artist right now (and that includes writers, musicians, photographers and so many other creative types) - and how much time we’re forced to put into marketing ourselves.