November 2020 Viewing Diary

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993; d. Steven Zaillian)
Popped this fave in because I was still revved up by Queen’s Gambit … I love this movie so much. Makes me cry every time.

Supernatural, Season 15, episode 17 “Unity” (2020; d. Catriona McKenzie)
It’s already fading from memory but I do believe this is the episode where Dean sits with his leg up on the chair in the bunker, and it’s a wonderful Legs moment. That’s all I got.

Jungleland (2020; d. Max Winkler)
I really liked this. I reviewed for Ebert.

What About Bob? (1991; d. Frank Oz)
Allison, Jeremy and I spent election night together, in an empty apartment. Squatting, basically. It’s a long story. We dragged a mattress into the main room, piled it with pillows, and we also hooked up a television. We ordered pizza to come to this empty apartment. In this way, we avoided the election counts coming in. We didn’t want to watch in real time. Jeremy had never seen What About Bob? At one point, he said quietly, “This is actually a horror movie.” It really is.

Seduced (2020; d. Cecilia Peck)
After giving it a lot of thought, I have come to the conclusion that Seduced – India Oxenberg’s docu-series about her experience in NXIUM – is far superior to HBO’s The Vow. Both should be watched. The Vow has some good parts to it. But Seduced, unlike The Vow, actually wants to educate on HOW brainwashing and indoctrination occurs. It really really breaks it down and I so admire Oxenberg’s strength and courage in getting herself out of there.

Supernatural, Season 15, episode 18 “Despair” (2020; d. Richard Speight Jr.)
I kind of missed all the brou-haha surrounding this episode because my family experienced a tragedy in November. I was still watching but I just didn’t feel like talking all that much. I said this somewhere else … the big scene between Castiel and Dean was notable for its top-heavy-ness, and its fanfic-driven dialogue (“I fell in love with the world because of you” – that’s the main theme of all the fanfic, but where have we seen this occur ON THE SCREEN during the actual show? Nowhere. If you want an arc to actually work, you have to show the damn arc.) The scene only works if you bought in to the whole Destiel thing, which I didn’t – although back in the good old days, the show was rampant with sexual subtext – Dean had sexual subtext with everyone. That’s who he is. I’ve written about this ad nauseum. That being said: it was a great scene, because something was HAPPENING. It was an emotional conversation between two characters about their relationship, and I have MISSED that on this godforsaken show. But still, Castiel has been basically separated from Sam and Dean for years now – he’s either had tuberculosis and needed pep talks, or he’s there to GIVE pep talks to Jack, the Castiel for the younger set. What is the POINT of Castiel (besides his fan base? Which – granted – is powerful. When they accuse the rest of us of for being homophobes for not liking their ship, I think 1. are you fucking kidding me and 2. How about you go out and volunteer someplace. Make yourself useful somewhere in your community, for the love of God.) The whole thing is frustrating, though – I generally have felt that Castiel was not only extraneous, but HURT the show by sticking around post-Season 7. He was FASCINATING in Seasons 4 and 5. and then … he just moped around for 4 years and couldn’t even fly and his powers were completely random. Dabb doesn’t know how to create an arc and sustain it. If you want the buildup to Castiel’s declaration of love to have ANY meaning outside of the Destiel fan base, then you have to actually create that arc, and work it, play it out over multiple episodes, hell, multiple seasons. The show was able to manage long long arcs before – primarily in the first five years, which have a self-contained quality, and the payoffs all felt earned, rather than … bones tossed to an isolated fandom. It’s worth nothing that this is the only scene I remember from that episode.

Collective (2020; d. Alexander Nanau)
One of the best documentaries of the year. As of now, it’s my #1. I reviewed for Ebert.

The Boys, Season 2 (2020)
Finished up The Boys. I’m super into it and can’t wait for Season 3. Can’t wait for JENSEN. I think the Deep is my favorite. Chace Crawford! He’s having this whole other experience outside the main characters’ conjoined arcs. What is he DOING? He’s so susceptible, so surprisingly vulnerable. When you consider the first scene in the whole series – where he sexually assaults the freakin’ ingenue … the fact that the series allows this character to be, if not redeemed, then at least made complex – also funny – this is one of the reasons I’m digging the series.

Swastika (1973; d. Philippe Mora)
Eva Braun’s creepy “home” movies. This was a very controversial movie at the time, since the footage is presented with very little editorializing and so all those happy scenes of swimming and laughing and having snacks on the terrace, etc., could be seen to be less than critical of the Nazi regime. I found the whole thing completely ghastly, Eva Braun yipping and yapping about how much she likes Clark Gable was particularly ghoulish.

The Life Ahead (2020; d. Edoardo Ponti)
Wonderful movie. It’s on Netflix. I reviewed for Ebert.

Beanpole (2020; d. Kantemir Balagov)
This has been such a strange year, in terms of movie releases. Festivals canceled, release dates pushed back … lots of conversations about how to “measure” this year as a critic. End-of-year is a busy time, with voting. I realized I had seen barely any releases, outside the stuff I reviewed for Ebert. So I decided to catch up. Beanpole is an extraordinary film. The screengrab below is just one example of its gorgeousness, its specificity in color-schemes, which doesn’t feel belabored, or carefully plotted out – the colors seem to just emanate from that specific world. I was absolutely stunned when I learned that the two actresses – Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina – have no experience. Beanpole is their first film. Extraordinary performances.

Supernatural, Season 15, episode 19 “Inherit the Earth” (2020; d. John F. Showalter)
The “theology” of this show leaves much to be desired, in terms of consistency. I have thought that Chuck as God was a mistake from the jump, and things were made even worse by how Chuck as God was written AND played by Rob Benedict. Whose bright idea was it to have a Big Bad who was bored and over-it for three years? Terrible anti-dramatic choice. Angry about what was done to Amara, and then to never even acknowledge it. She was, hands down, 100% more interesting than Chuck as God could ever be. Benedict was so good as Chuck before Chuck became God. The God thing brought out horrible tendencies in his acting until I could finally barely look at him. I knew every single response he would have to every single situation. No dramatic tension. Never in the HISTORY of Drama has BOREDOM been considered a dramatic choice. So … I don’t know. Meanwhile, Castiel’s gone, and nobody even references him. I can understand the upset. There was a ticking-off-of-boxes vibe to all of this … getting rid of everyone extraneous, leaving just Sam and Dean. So I was good with that.

Bacurau (2020; d. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles)
Had been meaning to see this for months. Finally caught up with it. It lived up to the hype. One of my favorites this year thus far. I can’t stop thinking about it.

Time (2020; d. Garrett Bradley)
Definitely in my Top 10 docs of 2020. Extraordinary.

Memories of Murder (2005; d. Bong Joon-ho)
Memories of Murder is a masterpiece. I saw it when it first came out, saw it again on DVD, wrote about it, and since then it’s been increasingly hard to see. Unless you owned the DVD, it was un-seeable. Not streaming anywhere. This was an outrageous situation, especially considering Bong’s status, and the fact that he’s a major contemporary filmmaker. Winning the Oscar for Parasite made the situation urgent. Finally, Memories of Murder is available to stream. If you haven’t seen it – you must. It’s the story of South Korea’s Zodiac-killer – and – unbelievably – someone finally confessed to the crimes, during Parasite‘s march to Oscar gold. An extraordinary situation. They finally know “whodunit.” See this film.

Da 5 Bloods (2020; d. Spike Lee)
I loved every second of this bold, ambitious, HUGE film – particularly Delroy Lindo’s performance. For me, it’s the best of the year. Inspired by Treasure of the Sierre Madre, even complete with a moment where a Vietnamese police officer says, “We don’t need no badges!”

Supernatural Season 1, episode 1 (2005; d. David Nutter)
As much as it hurts to go back, it’s important because nothing that was done to the show in the last 5 years can take away from what it established and what it accomplished. And they got so much mileage out of the pilot. The pilot lasted them until Season 11! With the return of Mary! So horribly squandered in the following seasons, yes, but think about a pilot providing that much material! The further away they got from the pilot, the worse the show got. It made the “montage” of the penultimate episode problematic, to say the least. Because the second you “flash back” to earlier seasons, it’s immediately apparent how much they abandoned the LOOK of the series, how flattened out they had allowed it to become. All bitching aside: it’s a great pilot.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 1 (1993; d. Robert Mandel)
Decided to start a re-watch. This year has been about binge-watching for me. I’ve needed it as the world has gone all chaotic and uncertain. So. Dana Scully arrives in her boxy suit and awkward haircut. She looks like a teenager. They would figure out her “look” by Season 2, and Kim Manners et al reveled in her coloring, and figuring out ways to highlight it. It’s such a paranoid pilot. And … if you think about it … it’s all there. Meaning the whole series. It’s all right there in the pilot. Plus: chemistry between the two leads. Already there. So is The Smoking Man.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 2, “Deep Throat” (1993; d. Daniel Sackheim)
Seth Green! Adorable. UFO-technology? A hidden air base? Secret government officials all wearing sunglasses? Check. “They’re here, aren’t they?” “Mr. Mulder, they’ve been here for a long long time.” Jerry Hardin as Deep Throat!

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 3, “Squeeze” (1993; d. Harry Longstreet)
Donal Logue! Here, a creepy thing with yellow eyes craws through ducts and rips out people’s livers. Dana faces professional ridicule for working with “Spooky Mulder.”

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 4, “Conduit” (1993; d. Daniel Sackheim)
Back in UFO-land. First time Mulder’s abducted sister is mentioned, but somehow Dana seemed to already know about it. Did I miss that conversation?

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 5, “Jersey Devil” (1993; d. Joe Napolitano)
“You got a date?” “No. I have my godson’s birthday party at 6:30.” This is the first moment where we get – ANY – information about Scully, beyond “I am a medical doctor.” Wayne Tippet as the irritated local police officer: he’s been in a million things. Got his start in the 1950s, died in 2009. Mulder has a love-sex-moment with the Primordial Female, and Scully goes on a date wearing a white lace top. The whole episode starts with Mulder looking at a girlie mag. So. Everyone has sex on the brain.

The Nest (2020; d. Sean Durkin)
I really liked this. Really strong film.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 6, “Shadows” (1993; d. Michael Katleman)
First Elvis reference from Mulder: “Do you know how hard it is to fake your own death? Only one person has pulled it off. Elvis.”

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 7, “Ghost in the Machine” (1993; d. Jerrold Freedman)
Deep Throat again, and a scruffy Steve Jobs type. Some familiar faces from Supernatural: Gillian Barber, who was part of the terrible BMOL story-line, but before that, she was in Season 1, in one of the best episodes in the whole entire series, “Faith.” Also Blu Mankuma, who played “Dr. Jennings” in “Simon Said,” the doctor being mind-controlled into a mass shooting.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 8, “Ice” (1993; d. David Nutter)
Arctic Ice Station + future jailbird Felicity Huffman. Also Xander Berkeley, who is always so good playing sinister dead-eyed characters. David Nutter directed (his first ep). This is a plague story. Supernatural’s “…And Then There Were None” were clearly inspired by this, especially with the wiggling worm-like creature beneath the skin.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 9, “Space” (1993; d. William A. Graham)
Directed by William Graham, who directed Elvis’ final movie, Change of Habit. Elvis really liked working with him because Graham took him seriously as an actor. Or, at least, gave him stuff to play, gave him suggestions on how to make things better … he came from a Meisner background, and Elvis was fascinated by it. Not too many people did ANY work like this with him once he got to Hollywood. And of course, he did fine on his own, he was a huge star, but he actually enjoyed learning about actor processes and trying to apply it. So … from Elvis to X-Files! Mulder as a NASA-fanboy is entertaining but … feels a little random.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 10, “Fallen Angel” (1993; d. Larry Shaw)
Deep Throat again: Mr. Jerry Hardin. You got your MOTW episodes. And then you have “UFOs falling from the sky and there’s a huge conspiracy” episodes. I love both, but I get excited especially for the UFO eps. The heartlessness of bureaucracies to do what is necessary to keep their secrets, no matter the human cost! “It’s like the Roswell cover-up all over again!” Yup, and I am HERE for it. Stunning final shot.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 11, “Eve” (1993; d. Fred Gerber)
Thoughts: In un-graceful hands, Scully would have been the classic Wet Blanket. The boring girl who holds the man back. What I call the Wet Blanket Wife, although Scully isn’t a wife. She really is there to hem in Mulder, and argue about his theories, but the way Anderson plays it … she HUMORS him, yes, but she also finds him charming, and she is legit surprised by certain things. I think this is because of how she plays it: she plays Scully with a softness, an openness and gentleness – even with all her smarts and bravery blah blah – she brings to it this ultra-female vibe (which ends up being key to the whole thing, really – this is a reproductive obsessed series). And so instead of being a boring nag who never wants to have fun – Anderson ALWAYS has sparks of fun in her, humor, gentleness, and so – we’re on her side, even though clearly we’re on Mulder’s side too. The series wants us to be on BOTH their sides. Deliberate? I don’t know. Think how much this could have been played as an unimaginative nag – and how that would have turned off so many girls. Instead, we get this super-smart woman, logical, rational, successful, who is ALSO open to unexplained phenomenon – but also not a pushover. She fights for her point of view. This just occurred to me watching this episode. It’s key to the series’ success, IMO – the way Anderson approached Scully, even in these early days, when we knew little to nothing about the character’s backstory. Now: this is a twin/doppelganger story, involving …”the men in the clouds” and inVitro fertilization. And: the brilliant HARRIET HARRIS. She was fantastic in her one scene in Phantom Thread but I just looked it up: she first blew me away in her two episodes in Six Feet Under. This woman can do ANYTHING.

The Undoing, episodes 3, 4 (2020; d. Susanne Bier)
I don’t have HBO. Allison and I watched the first two episodes, I think, when we were off in the woods, and then later, she caught me up with two more episodes. It’s sooooo trashy. But I kind of can’t stop watching. I still haven’t seen how it all ends, although I made Allison told me whodunit.

A Teacher, 3 episodes (2020; d. Hannah Fidell)
Watched the first three episodes of this with Allison. It’s kind of shocking, and if you know me you know I don’t shock easily. Kate Mara is an excellent actress (better than her sister, #sorrynotsorry), and she goes here to some pretty disturbing places. I’m all for that. I’m just not sure if the TREATMENT of the subject is the right choice. People don’t want to believe there are grey areas, and of course legally there can’t be, but at the same time … reverse the genders. This whole thing would look very different. But … I dated someone older my last year in high school. He was 20. We’re still friends. Soooo … I don’t know. And then in my mid-20s I fell madly in love with someone 13 years older than I was. When you’re 25, 13 years is a big gap! Now, it wouldn’t matter at all. My thought is: once two people are consenting adults, it’s nobody’s fucking business. I don’t care if the guy is 60 and the woman is 26. Calling that a “predatory age gap” means you don’t think a 26 year old woman is capable of making her own choices. It may be creepy, it may be weird, it may not have anything to do with what YOU consider to be “healthy”, but I don’t remember you being nominated Head of the Moral World. I didn’t feel like finishing this one, as much as I love Mara. Apparently it was a 2013 film as well, which Fidell also directed. So now it’s a mini-series. I guess I don’t get it.

The Opening Act
I really loved this. I reviewed for Ebert. I made Allison watch it with me. I could not have gotten through quarantine without her in my “pod.” Thank GOD. Anyway, she loved it too.

Supernatural, Season 15, episode 20 “Carry On” (2020; d. Robert Singer)
All I have to say is: Thank God the centaur finally returned. That’s all that really matters.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 12, “Fire” (1993; d. Larry Shaw)
“Mulder, you just keep unfolding like a flower.” Suddenly, X-Files is a soap opera! Phoebe does not work for me at all. Nor does Mulder having to overcome his fear of fire, a fear that has never been mentioned before this episode. Mark Sheppard is entertaining as an evil supernatural arsonist.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 13, “Beyond the Sea” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Major Briggs!! And Brad Dourif. Great actors on this show, man.

Last Call (2020; d. Steven Bernstein)
Rhys Ifans as Dylan Thomas, drinking those final 18 whiskies. I reviewed for Ebert.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 14, “Gender Bender” (1994; d. Rob Bowman)
An Amish man with fluctuating gender. Where do they come up with this stuff.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 15, “Lazarus” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Scully dated her much-older instructor at the FBI Academy! Racy! Inappropriate! Predatory age gap?

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 16, “Young at Heart” (1994; d. Michael Lange)
Last episode it was Scully’s past that came back to haunt her (them). This time it’s Mulder’s. Oh, and the prosecuting attorney looked really familiar. I couldn’t place it though. I went to IMDB and scanned her credits, realizing: “Ohhhhh THAT’S where I know her from!”

A MOTW with some added shadings in re: Mulder’s past and his guilt, and some tension there with Scully. This one though loops the MOTW in to the larger over-arching story of government conspiracy. Deep Throat returns.

My Psychedelic Love Story (2020; d. Errol Morris)
This documentary was fascinating. I reviewed for Ebert.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 17, “E.B.E.” (1994; d. William A. Graham)
The Lone Gunmen! Yay! Deep Throat has hidden depths. Really important episode. Plus … insane chemistry between these two.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 18, “Miracle Man” (1993; d. Michael Lange)
2nd Elvis reference! At the revival meeting, Mulder murmurs to Scully, “This is the part where they bring out Elvis.” I was like, “Oh wow, Scott Barstow, I remember Party of Five, I wonder what he’s up to now.” I looked him up. Read his IMDB bio. And then backed away very slowly.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 19, “Shapes” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Michael Horse as a Sheriff. A little Twin Peaks crossover episode?

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 20, “Darkness Falls” (1994; d. Joe Napolitano)
Jason Beghe as forest ranger! In his exit interview from Scientology, he told a great story about his friendship with David Duchovny, which stretched back to high school. I think this is a really good episode.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 21, “Tooms” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Mitch Pileggi arrives! And creepy Tooms returns. It’s weird when you can’t tell what is creepier – the character or the actor who plays the character!

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 22, “Born Again” (1994; d. Jerrold Freedman)
I love a good “creepy child” arc.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 23, “Roland” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Zeljko Ivanek – such a fine actor. I saw him on Broadway in Brighton Beach Memoirs, with Matthew Broderick. They played brothers. This is a little melodrama-y-soap-y.

The X-Files, Season 1, episode 24, “Erlenmeyer Flask” (1994; d. R.W. Goodwin)
“Purity Control.” Starts with a great car chase! In medias res! Season 1 finale. The shrieking monkeys. The toxic green ooze. The mysterious green bacteria with a virus embedded in it. This show is obsessed with reproduction, replication, viruses. DNA comes into play. DNA, extracted from the bacteria with a 5th and 6th nucleotide (great scene with the biologist who does the testing). “It would have to be …. by definition ….. extra-terrestrial.” Human-alien hybrids, welcome to the show.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 1, “Little Green Men” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Mulder and Scully meet in the secret in the parking lot at the Watergate Hotel. Fitting. Being separated brings out the yearning for each other, one of the major hooks for me of this crazy series.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 2, “The Host” (1994; d. Daniel Sackheim)
Mitch Pileggi is SO GOOD. Scully and Mulder – forcibly separated – find a way to work together, on this monster-in-the-sewer case and they’re all about yearning for one another. You can feel Scully lightening up a bit, the way she smiles at him, the way they clearly miss each other … it’s to die for. Meanwhile, this is one of the grosser episodes.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 3, “Blood” (1994; d. David Nutter)
Elvis reference alert, again from Mulder: “He’s probably one of those people who thinks Elvis is dead.”

Minari (2020; d. Lee Isaac Chung)
I don’t know, there’s still much more to see, but as of now, this might be my #1 film of the year.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 4, “Sleepless” (1994; d. Rob Bowman)
A man has not slept for 24 years. Mulder gets a new partner! The treacherous Krycek! (Gillian Anderson was pregnant when they were filming a lot of Season 2.) There is an amazing extended phone call between Mulder and Scully, and there’s intimacy there. And a long long silence. They’re teasing each other. I know there’s more going on in this series, but it’s that relationship that matters to me. I love how they prolong the agony. And prolong it. And prolong it. Oh, and Jon Gries as the final member of the sleepless squad, i.e. Travis in Supernatural.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 5, “Duane Barry” (1994; d. Chris Carter)
A lot of crazy shit happens in this episode, shit that will have an enormous impact on the rest of Dana Scully’s life. Nothing will be the same for her ever again. And yet what is the main thing I remember about this episode?

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 6, “Ascension” (1994; d. Michael Lange)
It’s almost like this episode is where the series REALLY begins. Oh, and I forgot to mention: Steven Williams as the new Deep Throat character, the Mr. X. Rufus from Supernatural! Such a fine actor.

The X-Files, Season 2, episode 7, “3” (1994; d. David Nutter)
A whole episode about vampires without “vampire” ever being mentioned. I’m really not fond of this one. It’s awkward.