Deadwind (2018; d. Rike Jokela)
A Finnish crime drama television series on Netflix I got sucked into. I’ve been doing mostly binge-watching these days. Having a hard time absorbing movies, I’m not sure what’s going on. I am grateful for the critic gig I still have at Ebert, because it forces me to see movies and to think about them and analyze them, one of my favorite things to do. It’s not an attention-span issue – because obviously binge-watching requires even more of an attention span. So whatever, I’m not questioning it, I’m just going with the flow. My new thing is crime series from all over the world. Netflix is acquiring them left and right. The fun thing about watching these series is I don’t know any of the actors – although they are stars in their home countries – so I get to be exposed to all of this fantastic international acting, another one of my favorite things. There’s a big world out there outside of Hollywood. Last month this “trend” for me began with “Valhalla Murders” from Iceland, which was not only a gripping serial killer drama, but also a great police procedural, as well as an interesting look at Iceland – its police force and politics. I have no idea if the image is accurate, and I’m not taking it as such, but every nation has its own culture, and it can’t help but seep into its popular entertainment. This month I moved onto Deadwind, from Finland, which not only is a murder-mystery, but also a noir, particularly in how the murder reveals a deeper layer of basically systemic corruption. Pihla Viitala as the lead detective is a fantastic actress, but everyone in it is good. Highly recommended.
I Am a Killer (2018)
Some docuseries on Netflix, with a different killer profiled each episode. And the killer is interviewed in prison for the series, they tell their own story. I’m a sucker for this shit, especially in stressful times. It’s weird to say I find tales of horrific murders “relaxing”, but I must remind the literal of you out there always ready for the head-exploding outrage that I do not CONDONE murder. When the Ted Bundy mini-series came out, along with the Zac Efron Ted Bundy movie, there were people on Twitter who seemed wholly unaware that True Crime fascination is not a new phenomenon. I mean, In Cold Blood was a bestseller. People aren’t fascinated because they endorse murder, ya maroons. “Ted Bundy was a horrible misogynist, what’s with the fascination, these people seem to ADMIRE him.” You need to get out more. True Crime is a multi-gazillion-dollar business. It’s your own fault if you don’t know that.
China Syndrome (1979; d. James Bridges)
I spent the last couple weeks reading the terrifying book Midnight in Chernobyl, which made me want to pop in this old chestnut. I am of the tail-end-of-the-cold-war generation, when the threat of nuclear catastrophe still lived within us as a palpable threat (hello War Games), and China Syndrome came out when I was too young to see it, but I know I saw it before the actual Chernobyl disaster, maybe on television. And it absolutely terrified me. I still think it’s a damn fine movie, with very good acting, particularly from Fonda and Lemmon.
Delhi Crime (2019; d. Richie Mehta)
Wow. WOW. This crime series from India was absolutely fantastic. Based on the investigation into the 2012 gang rape in India, which ripped the country apart, igniting protests and debates that went on for months and months – about rape culture, misogyny, police incompetence, the position of women in society – etc. – Delhi Crime follows the Deputy police commissioner (a superb Shefali Shah), as she rallies her police department – basically a skeleton crew – into investigating the crime, under enormous pressure from above. The characters were so interesting, and the issues of the the police force – specific to India – made this an extremely interesting series. I don’t know anything about the issues, and so I won’t assume that what I see here is the truth – there was some anger about the “love letter” approach to the cops in the series (at least when I clicked around) – and so I can’t speak to that. Locals would know best. All I know is: the cast was excellent, and I found myself totally sucked into the personal nature of their quest to find the rapists, how much this case got under everyone’s skins, and how difficult it was to investigate. Apparently this is going to be an anthology series – same characters, different crime – and I will definitely be watching. Highly recommended – but with major trigger warnings attached. I followed that case very closely, so I was at least somewhat prepared for the details about this brutal attack but still: it’s a very difficult watch.
Darkness Falls (2020; d. )
I reviewed this movie for Ebert. Not good. Sorry!
Breaking Bad (2008-2013; created by Vince Gilligan)
Can you believe it? I have never seen this series. I don’t know, I just missed it. I have no excuse. I missed it like I missed Mad Men in its first run. I binge-watched Mad Men a couple years after the whole damn thing ended. And I LOVED it. Sometimes I’m in the flow with the zeitgeist (I watched The Sopranos in real time, and Six Feet Under, I was on the HBO train at the time). I did try to “get into” Breaking Bad a couple of times – I admit it: I watched the pilot and I admired the filming but in general I thought, “Meh.” Then, a couple years later – I tried again. SAME RESPONSE. And I went further – I watched until the 3rd episode. I felt this pressure because, of course, the COMMENTARY on the series was soo positive and eventually I wanted to check out what the fuss was about. I felt bad almost but I just wasn’t feeling it. It took the pandemic to finally push me to get past the third episode. In this “okay what will I binge next” phase, I saw it was on Netflix and decided, “Okay, fine, let’s do this.” And I had this whole JOURNEY with it. I think there’s a reason it didn’t “grab” me. And that that reason is baked into the structure of the series, it really IS what the series is all about. It’s Shakespearean and it’s like hanging out with Macbeth for 5 seasons, which … is a tough sell. It’s difficult to hang out with Macbeth for five acts. Five seasons is even tougher. But that’s the show’s greatness.
Breaking Bad is about a man who transforms, who morphs into something monstrous, someone who will do anything to protect his turf, whose ego expands to gigantic terrible proportions. And … it’s not “pleasant” hanging out with people like that. I mean, Don Draper is kind of a monster in many ways, and that, too, is part of his fascination: he’s a BLANK, a CIPHER … but there was the charming facade and the sudden bursts of insight, kindness – that made it a really interesting character study. Walter White is not Don Draper. I was never on “his side”. You yearn for him to be taken down. I was on JESSE’s side. And this is not a flaw. This is a FEATURE, not a bug. Anyway, I fell in love with it. I inhaled it. Great acting.
Aaron Paul astonishes me. They all do, but I am particularly impressed with him. In these sometimes bleak days: this moment gives me LIFE.
Babyteeth (2020; d. Shannon Murphy)
I reviewed this lovely film for Ebert. I highly recommend it.
All I Can Say (2020; d. Shannon Hoon, Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould and Colleen Hennessey)
I was not a fan of this video-compilation of the final five years of Shannon Hoon’s life. I reviewed this documentary for Ebert.
The Woods (2020; d. Leszek Dawid and Bartosz Konopka)
Another of my foreign crime series phase. This one, from Poland, spans 25 years: at a summer camp for teenagers, four campers entered the woods and never came out again. What happened? 25 years later, a prosecutor – whose sister was one of the “disappeared” – starts to pick up the trail and begins to do a personal investigation. I found it haunting. I read a couple of comments calling it “slow” and … okay? Yeah. It’s deliberate and thoughtful and not a thrill a minute. It’s about one man’s quest to find out what happened to his sister so long ago. This event impacted everyone’s lives, mostly for the worse. I really liked it.
Athlete A (2020; d. Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk)
This was nearly unwatchably upsetting but it’s so important. This scandal (not the right word at all. More like: revelation of unimaginably deplorable criminal activity, I’d even call it a p*do ring) did get tons of coverage when it broke, I wouldn’t say it was ignored or not taken seriously, but in my memory it was such a crazy time in the world – the Presidential election was going on – the gymnastics news really hit the headlines that fall and into that winter – so … people were just mainly focused on other things, and this is one of the biggest sexual assault scandals in American history, and yet … somehow, the outrage felt more muted than with Weinstein, R. Kelly – maybe assault fatigue? I don’t know. These were all little kids, too. It just makes you furious. It’s such a horrific story with so many complicit in allowing thing to happen the documentary is actually traumatic to watch. I have nothing but admiration for all those young women who came out – the hundreds of them – who were brave enough to face him in court, and say what he did to them. I have nothing but admiration for Maggie Nichols, who reported him, and yet was … ignored, and then SIDELINED by USA Gymnastics, as punishment. It’s a disgrace. Interesting point made by an older former gymnast: If you look back at the top gymnasts in the 60s and 70s, they all look like women. They ARE women. Adult women. After Nadia Comăneci, though, everything veered downward, focusing only on youth, on teeny tiny little prepubescent girls. In other words: too young to consent, too young to make choices, too young to say “Hey. Stop abusing me”. Abandoned and neglected by the adults in charge of them, controlled and cowed by USA Gymnastics and the predators in charge of them. You can be competitive as a young athlete without being abused. The whole Kerri Strug thing looks VERY different after this one woman’s comment. That was an abused girl we saw, who should not have been in that position. An adult can make a choice like that. A child should never be put in that position.
The Real Chernobyl (2019; d. ?)
Documentary on Sky News (on YouTube). I can’t find the director. It was excellent with awe-inspiring (in a bad way) footage of the days following the explosion. The helicopters, the sand/lead being dropped, the busses evacuating the populace. Plus interviews with many of the real participants (the ones who survived). I lived through this, of course, and remember it vividly. It was so frightening. Like I said: end-of-Cold-War-War-Games-baby reporting for duty. I remember glancing up at the sky, anxious and FURIOUS that that damn cloud was going to be passing over ME.
Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970; d. Denis Sanders)
Let’s go. I re-watched this extraordinary rehearsal/backstage documentary and then concert movie. It’s unbelievable. Elvis preparing for his 1970 Vegas opening: nervous, jittery, under unimaginable pressure, all alone with that pressure, and … keeping it loose, happy, goofy, with his musicians but always … ALWAYS … in control. Not in control like he doesn’t mess around, but nobody was in charge of those rehearsals but Elvis. Such an impressive film. Classic.
Elvis On Tour (1972; d. Pierre Adidge, Robert Abel)
Another amazing documentary that came out during Elvis’ life. I love the innovation of it: the whole thing is done in triple split-screen. It drives some people crazy but I love it. There’s so much to look at, and you get a three-dimensional feel to what was going on on that HIGHLY involved stage, with SO MANY PEOPLE. Also: hats off to 1972-Martin-Scorsese for supervising the Elvis career montages that break up the film. They’re so well done. This tour has one of my favorite Elvis moments ever: him listening to the Stamps singing “Sweet Sweet Spirit.” He just (“just”) stands there – in front of 1000s, wearing a skin-tight blue jumpsuit and a CAPE – and LISTENS. He hands the show over to his backup gospel group, and bows his head, and listens, enraptured. His stillness, his focus, his mouth murmuring the words … it’s just a breathtaking moment of relaxation onstage. And it’s REAL.
The Searcher (2018; d. Thom Zimny)
This lengthy HBO doc was, as I wrote in my review for Ebert, in its focus on his work and his journey as a musician, a long overdue act of redress. People got mad at me for saying this (not Elvis fans, but others). I stand by my statement. It was such an emotional experience I have shied away from watching it again. The other day, a thundery dark day, I watched the whole thing. It’s gorgeous. Mournful. Beautiful. Happy it exists. So happy.
Elvis: 1968 Comeback special (1968; d. Steve Binder)
It blows my mind. The cold-open. His face filing the screen. I cannot imagine what it must have felt like to be alive at that time and turn on the television, not knowing what to expect, and to THAT. Talk about being happy that something exists …
Suzi Q (2020; d. Liam Firmager)
I just reviewed this fantastic informative documentary about a pure raging ICON for Ebert.
Relic (2020; d. Natalie Erika James)
This’ll be my second review this week. Up on Friday. A new horror movie from a first-time director.
Emma. (2020; d. Autumn de Wilde)
My love for this new adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel – which I reviewed for Ebert – has not palled, even though I’ve seen it maybe 5 times now. I bought the DVD. Listen, buy DVDs while they still exist. Special features are going the way of the dodo-bird. You’ll miss it when it’s gone. There’s a commentary track, which I still haven’t gotten to yet, but I look forward to it. I think this is such a fantastic movie, breathlessly romantic – damn near erotic (that bloody nose!) – but also funny and stylish and beautifully choreographed. I am more and more impressed by the good old-fashioned choreography of BLOCKING in this film. It’s almost a lost art. It’s alive and well here. People moving through space, meeting up, retreating, everything carefully planned and beautifully executed. Love it.
Interesting about Don Draper versus Walter White. I always cared about Don. I was always willing to follow him on his journey, I didn’t get sick of him like I remember other people did. I’m not saying their responses were wrong. But that was mine. Don Draper was the costume (or armour) worn by Dick Whitman. In one of your acting posts, you guys talked about characters/ actors with a negative approach to life. I think Don Draper had a positive approach to life. He didn’t know it, and he was cynical, and scared. But he was always searching for meaning, connection. Usually in the wrong places haha.
Tom & Lorenzo (whose blogposts on the symbolism of the Mad Men costumes are incredible) said something like, Don does his cycle of crashing & rebuilding, and he gets a little better each time. That’s always stuck with me. And that let me care about him.
Random detail I loved: that Roger, so intelligent but also so shallow, liked women of substance. He liked them whipsmart, ladylike, and passionate underneath. Joan, Mona, Marie, even the dog food lady (and you can see why he chose Mona over her). I loved Mona. One of the jarring things about Jane was that she didn’t seem to be on either Mona or Joan’s level. Though her last episode suggests that, maybe with a decade more of life, she would be.
Marie was a good match for him. I didn’t really ship Roger & Joan (I didn’t like her for a long time), but to me Joan was the love of his life, and I wonder if he ever realized it.
Sorry to talk about Mad Men and not Breaking Bad!! I’ve never seen the latter. I always meant to, but it’s too dark for me these days.
One of my favorite lines in the whole entire series came from Mona:
“Just because she went to India, doesn’t mean she’s not an idiot.”
I am laughing out loud just typing this.
Myrtle – I love talking about Mad Men – love to hear your thoughts!!
I found Don Draper fascinating in the same way I find black holes fascinating. Like … there’s no real substance. He was literally The Man in the Grey Suit. He WAS the suit, the surface – what was so fascinating was watching him get busted on lies, and then either wiggle out of it – or come clean (but not really) – in this disarming way. It’s all advertising – he was slick enough he could create himself the way he created a product. Not that it was all a sham – but that anything that was REAL was part of the product – which is why I think the final scene was so brilliant.
You think that maybe he might be … “getting it.” He might be about to really change.
And then ….. “I’d like to teach the world to sing …”
His moment of enlightenment is immediately twisted into an image he can sell – and – OF COURSE – becomes one of the most popular television commercials of all time. And it’s “selling” things like diversity, positivity, togetherness, the New Age-y pop-psych 1970s self-self-self vibe. That’s my theory anyway – it’s not explicitly said that Don Draper MADE that commercial, it’s up to interpretation – but that’s mine. And I think it’s brilliant.
For me, Don’s only pure relationships were with his kids. And maybe with Peggy, too. Those two are so similar – which i LOVE – because it’s not at all clear from the pilot that they’re similar at all. The way Peggy developed – as his protege – was for me the real “hook.” And if you think about it, Don – with all of his monstrous behavior – was on the right side of progress. He wasn’t “old guard” – even though he was very square compared to Megan (oh Megan). He didn’t resist Peggy being great, he stuck up for Peggy … of course he sometimes pulled back the support – he was so unpredictable sometimes. Great character.
I love the complexity of Don Draper.
and Roger is awesome.
We never hear what happened with his daughter who joined the commune-cult. I wonder if she eventually got sick of it and came home.
Haha, I actually always related to that about Don, seeing the world in the form of ads. I remember going to museums when I was studying lots of stage stuff (opera/musical theatre/theatre). And when my family walked up gallery row in Santa Fe, this mile of art galleries, I realized that I “interpreted” the pieces of art as a set. Santa Fe has one of the great American opera venues, so it was on my mind. Like, oh that abstract piece reminds me of the Ring Cycle. What a great unit set it would be! I love a good unit set. I think my mind needed a way to process the energy I got from the pieces. I have no background in visual art whatsoever. I end up translating it in my head to other forms (fashion as well, I’ve definitely thought “I’d wear that painting” before).
And one level, the series is about creativity. It literally follows “the creatives” everyone envies, the most talented of them. And that was where those two connected – “They can’t do what we do.” The first episode is about the creative process for the tobacco ad, and the last one has the coca-cola ad.
Peggy thinks in advertising too.
So I was kinda like, oh, he’s a creative person, of course he thinks in ads. Of course it’s also so meta! Like you say, it’s also a comment on his way of seeing the world, the transactional aspect of his relationships, the surface fantasy.
Hahaha, that reminds me of an interview I read with Matthew Weiner. In season 6 Don kept making ads where the product wasn’t actually there. The hotel for the “suicidal” Hawaii one (hahaha), and the Heinz ketchup one, “Pass the Heinz”. Which I thought was brilliant for the record; it made MY mouth water for a ketchup-soaked hot dog. But Weiner was like, oh my gosh I never even noticed that, that wasn’t planned at all. But so meta.
Oh- I would also add Anna Draper to the list. I think that’s the healthiest personal relationship he ever had. I’m so glad he found her (or she found him lol) when he was just starting to craft Don Draper. She was like, well what am I going to do with you. Like she’d just found a stray. I remember my shock when she opens her door- she had only appeared in ominous flashbacks- and she’s overjoyed to see him. And you have to COMPLETELY change your assumptions. And it was so shocking to see him actually being there with her, emotionally present, not a few steps removed like usual. Like, Don is capable of that???? There’s a person Don let get that close?? Anna was such a great person.
The recurring characters are this show are so so good.
Anyone who doesn’t understand the true crime phenomenon should go down to their local library and find the Dewey section 364.1523. Ours is at least seven stack sections long, probably more! (Note that I can rattle the number off by heart.). I find it confusing that sometimes the very people who devour it will abhor the horror genre in fiction and movies.
I guess we all have to dance with death in our chosen way, though.
Barb – exactly. (sorry it took me a while to get back to this.)
Dewey section 364.1523 – oh my gosh, love the specificity!!
Interesting about horror movies – is that true? I wonder why, what the aversion is? I do know that when I spend a lot of time reading non-fiction I sometimes find it hard to segue back to fiction. Maybe it’s along those lines? Thoughts?
True crime has always been huge. It’s fine if you’re not into it – but people are not into it because we glorify these monsters. Maybe some people are but the majority of people just find the whole thing fascinating, the psychology of it, the investigation of the crimes, how detectives put the pieces together …
The Ted Bundy doc came out and the Twitter brigade just could not comprehend how interested people were in it, and they whined and moaned about it incessantly. Like, fine, you don’t pay attention to the world but don’t blame US for that.
I’m waiting patiently for your July 2020 Viewing Diary!
No pressure!
Sorry but I won’t be doing one for July. I saw like 2 things. Weird month.
I love crime drama and consume it too quickly in both video and reading. I really enjoyed Valhalla Murders and felt like a voyeur peering at the landscape, architecture, and daily life scenes of Iceland. One of the reasons I love to travel us to observe, absorb, and participate in different cultures. I do this with TV/film viewing, as well, and what a treat when I can combine my love of crime drama with new cultural experience. Ooh, Finland! I will have to search out Deadwind. Have you seen The Dublin Murders on Starz/BBC1? It veers into psychological triller as well as crime drama. I think you would really enjoy it.
Barb,
Love that you know the exact decimals for True Crime (or any favorite section of the library)! I can’t say that I’m particularly drawn to true crime documentary, but I do like fictionalized accounts of true crime like the Zach Ephron EW,SE,&V film about Bundy and TV show Mindhunters. As for horror, I feel the genre has become so diluted because everything incorporates horror these days. Nothing shocks and horrifies anymore. We’ve become desensitized. (Sigh! I sound like my mother.) I started watching Supernatural as a “horror” show, but now it’s labeled more as fantasy/sci-fi. Lately the best horror shows I have seen are season 1 and 2 of The Terror on AMC. They also qualify as period dramas and psychological thrillers. Highly recommend!
Melanie –
//I do this with TV/film viewing, as well, and what a treat when I can combine my love of crime drama with new cultural experience. //
Yes! Me too! Netflix has been so great for that recently!
Dublin Murders sounds right up my alley – I will look for it!
I will also check out The Terror. I agree with you in re: horror. It’s very difficult to create something legit frightening – one of the reasons I so appreciate The Babadook is that it took a well-known format and went so deep into it it was one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in a long long time. Actual horror AND psychological horror.
Oh, Sheila,
I share your love for Emma! I will have to watch again with attention to the choreography. My family won’t rewatch with me – I think its mediocre Emma/Austen overload – not really a commentary on this version, which I agree us superior. Have you seen Sanditon? I think it is a well done presentation of Austen’s unfinished work. I am a fan of Austen’s humor and use if sarcasm and irony, which completely transcends her time, imho.
I haven’t seen Sandilton – wow, will have to go check it out. I’m sure you’ve seen Love & Friendship then? If not, I so recommend it!
My number one favorite genre to watch or read is historical crime drama. We have just finished watching Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and season 2, Angel of Darkness on TNT. Besides the compelling crimes the depiction of late 19th C. New York City is detailed, fascinating, and seemingly done with attention to historical accuracy. Another highly recommended show.
I keep meaning to watch The Alienist. I loved the book so much – I love that hybrid too, history/crime – one of the reasons why I thought Alias Grace was so interesting.
I really hope the scenes of NY are accurate. There were several times when I lost track of the dialogue or story because I was caught up in the street scenes. The British have really raised this to an art form – immersing the viewer in another time period. I enjoy a new historical period in the same way as a new cultural experience. Turn of the 19th/20th C. New York is a relatively new experience for me. I’m anxious to hear what you think as a New Yorker.
I remember being blown away by the descriptions of 19thc New York – like Union Square and all the other environments – and how much Caleb Carr made it come to life for me – so I look forward to seeing the re-creations