{"id":157362,"date":"2020-06-01T10:15:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T14:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=157362"},"modified":"2021-03-19T15:01:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T19:01:45","slug":"may-2020-viewing-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=157362","title":{"rendered":"May 2020 Viewing Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homeland<\/em><\/strong>, Season 1-6
\nI finally caught up with Homeland<\/i>, binge-watching it as I endured my lonely quarantine. Binge-watching has been a comfort. I’m having a hard time absorbing new things. I’ve been re-reading books. Re-watching things. Or, succumbing to the almost numbing drone of a binge-watch. I got so into Homeland<\/i>, even at its most outrageous, and very much appreciate Claire Danes’ spookily accurate depiction of the mental illness from which I suffer too. Like, wow, it’s a mirror. I wrote about that aspect of it.<\/a> Unfortunately, without me even realizing it, I became over-invested in the Carrie-Quinn thing, and my hopes\/dreams\/fantasies about it. I didn’t mean to let this happen! It just happened! I blame quarantine. So when Quinn bit it, I instantly lost interest. I hate it when other people do that – care about their ship more than the actual show – and look at me I just did it too. I’ll get back to Homeland<\/em> and finish it off!<\/p>\n

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\nHelp I love him so much I’m a teenage fangirl help<\/i><\/p>\n

I Know This Much is True<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Derek Cianfrance)
\nThe HBO adaptation of the Wally Lamb bestseller. Yes, it is a grueling watch, with a lot of misery, but the acting it top-notch. I reviewed for Ebert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Big Knife<\/strong><\/em> (1955; d. Robert Aldrich)
\nThis was a fun re-watch. I co-hosted one of Criterion Channel’s Movie Clubs – which they do every Sunday on Twitter – and the movie everyone was watching was The Big Knife<\/i>, one of the most bitter blistering cynical movies about Hollywood ever made. Script by Odets who, yeah, really let his hatred hang out in this one. <\/p>\n

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Within Our Gates<\/strong><\/em> (1920; d. Oscar Micheaux)
\nI wrote about Within Our Gates<\/i>, the second film by this pioneering African-American director (if you hear anyone saying Tyler Perry is the first African-American to own\/run a studio … just know that they are ERASING Oscar Micheaux. I am only mentioning it because I see it a lot. This is not to diminish Tyler Perry’s accomplishments. But in the rush to say “so and so is the first” or “this is the first time this has happened” – you are erasing the people who were the pioneers in the past.) I wrote about it for this new site NY1920. <\/a><\/p>\n

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days<\/strong><\/em> (2006; d. Marc Rothemund)
\nInspired by writing a post about this HERO<\/a>, I watched the film based on her “final days”, with much of the script coming directly from the transcripts of her interrogation, and her final moments. Julia Jentsch is incredible in the title role. Scholl was a hero who went to her death fighting for other people. She was not under threat. She was a German. She had been in the Hitler Aryan Youth groups. She was not going to be sent to camps. But what was happening was wrong, and she was brave enough to call it out. Because of her example, it is impossible for Germans to say “But we didn’t know what was happening.” Oh stuff it. If a 21-year-old girl knew, then you have no excuse. <\/p>\n

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The Vast of Night<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Andrew Patterson)
\nI cannot say enough good things about this movie. It’s streaming Amazon Prime. Do NOT miss it. Here’s my rave review at Ebert.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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Manhunt: The Unabomber<\/strong><\/em> (2017; d. Greg Yaitanes)
\nI remember all of this going down. It was wild. This series was interesting showing the investigation, and the “linguistic” aspect of it, how the warrant was issued mainly because of the linguistic similarities between letters\/manifestos\/whatever – because there was so little actual proof. Wild. Paul Bellany as Ted Kaczynski.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Valhalla Murders<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Thordur Palsson, and others)
\nPalsson created this series from Iceland about a serial killer on the loose, and a detective who becomes obsessed with solving the case. But there’s corruption everywhere. It’s really good, the acting is excellent, and the SCENERY is MAGNIFICENT. Why have I not gone to Iceland? And now … I’m trapped in my apartment. But it was nice to visit Iceland through this series. <\/p>\n

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AKA Jane Roe<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Nick Sweeney)
\nI reviewed the new documentary about Norma McCorvey, the real Roe of Roe v. Wade, for Ebert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Twin Peaks<\/strong><\/em>, Season 1, 2 (1990-1991; d. David Lynch and others)
\nI decided to commit to a full re-watch. It’s been such a vile and upsetting couple of weeks – well, in general, the last couple of years have been vile and upsetting – that watching something I know so well, whose rhythms I find soothing and familiar – has been comforting. Brief comfort. But not meaningless. Everything triggers in me a response: the music, the opening credits, the green-color of the credits text … and all the characters. The humor. The fear. The kindness with which people treat each other – right next to the monstrous cruelty they inflict on each other. The relationship between Harry and Dale Cooper is one of the most soothing beautiful portrayals of the possibility of male friendship\/male collaboration in existence. Both come to the table with things of value. Neither of them discount the other. There’s no EGO in their shared dynamic. They are OPEN to each other. I find that soothing too. I love this series, even when it goes off the rails in Season 2. I watched this show in its first release. It was appointment television. My boyfriend and I were living in Philadelphia and we cleared our calendars for each new episode. To this day, there’s been nothing like it. I couldn’t believe it was happening AS it was happening. And so there was a weird deja vu in 2017 when Twin Peaks<\/i> was suddenly BACK, and I felt exactly the same way: I cannot believe this is happening. Is this … real? Season 2 is really strange. James in the Sunset Boulevard<\/i>–Postman Always Rings Twice<\/i> situation is unbearable. Nadine going back to high school. Audrey suddenly being like a totally different person than she was in Season 1. Audrey opens up the underbelly of our world, the human trafficking, the pedophilia, the whole sorry sordid context of powerful men like Epstein\/Trump\/Weinstein … with their rapacious desire for young flesh. Audrey has absorbed that world. She is so isolated, so … strange. Her high school co-horts feel her strangeness. Season 2, once Lynch left, “cleaned” Audrey up, made her socially acceptable, because what she revealed in Season 1 was far too dangerous to let stand. Anyway, I watched the whole thing and I might just start another re-watch. It’s such a deep and textured and layered world, and it gets deeper every time I watch it.<\/p>\n

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Lance<\/em><\/strong>, Part 1 and 2 (2020; d. Marina Zenovich)
\nThe latest in ESPN’s 30 for 30 series … I’m fascinated by Armstrong mainly for his sociopathy. It was so CLEAR in his interview with Oprah. It’s even clearer here. He is clearly still defiant, and the main takeaway I get from his behavior in these interviews is: “Wow. This is an angry angry man.” I don’t think this discounts his work for cancer research. For a long time, I thought it was a “front”. I think it eventually BECAME that (his speech after “coming back” to “win” the Tour de France: “To all the haters out there, sorry you don’t believe in miracles.” You know. He WIELDED his cancer activism as a smoke-screen. But I don’t think it started out that way.) I think, too, it’s very revealing of how he was basically a Big Target for a systemic problem. Everyone was doping. You either doped or you didn’t compete. You couldn’t compete. So … where does cycling stand now? I would have liked to see a little follow-up about what’s being done, what even CAN be done. The doping in cycling makes baseball doping look like kids smoking weed in the school parking lot.<\/p>\n

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\nShirley<\/em><\/strong> (2020; d. Josephine Decker)
\nIt’s coming out at the end of this week and I reviewed for Ebert. All I will say is: Elizabeth Moss plays Shirley Jackson, and it’s directed by one of my favorite new young directors. So. Happy to have gotten the assignment.<\/p>\n

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Fire Walk With Me<\/strong><\/em> (1992; d. David Lynch)
\nBy the time Fire Walk With Me<\/i> came out, my boyfriend and I had broken up (such a gentle term for the wrenchingly insane experience of walking away, which involved me literally – literally – fleeing Los Angeles for Chicago, with just a suitcase of stuff. I left all possessions behind.) Anyway, watching the original series was so much a part of our lives together and so when this came out, I had been living in Chicago for five months – and was already in a show and dating (ahem “dating”) about 3 people. One of whom was Window-Boy, whom old-timers here will recognize<\/a>. I met him practically as I disembarked from the plane. Not even really an exaggeration. So I was in a totally different place – geographically and emotionally, it felt like Twin Peaks<\/i> had aired 15 years before, my life was so totally different. I went to see Fire Walk With Me<\/i> by myself, at the movie theatre on … Diversey, I think? Or right around the corner from where Clark and Diversey and … Broadway? another one of those crooked streets (as my friend Ann Marie called them) converged. There was a big multi-story mall there and there was a movie theatre on a top floor. I saw Titanic<\/i> there. I saw a lot there. Critics were very negative about Fire Walk With Me<\/i>. Honestly, I think it’s scary-brilliant and I did then too. Sheryl Lee gives one of THE great film performances, in my opinion. Important film. Very glad Criterion put it out. It deserves to be recognized as a major work, disturbing in its implications, and one of the few films – ever – to deal with incest. <\/p>\n

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Twin Peaks: The Return<\/strong><\/em> (2017; d. David Lynch)
\nI am not exaggerating when I say that Twin Peaks<\/i> helped me endure the terrible year of 2017. When it ended I felt helpless. What was I going to DO now? It’s funny: re-watching it makes me realize just how well it’s constructed, how it really does make sense (or at least “sense”), how it’s not really just oblique, or symbolic, or whatever. It’s a mythology and a world and the Black Lodge has its point of view, and so do the doppelgangers, and somehow Philip Jeffries (aka David Bowie) has been turned into a steampunk chimney with a Southern accent and … I accept all of it? It’s bleak but it’s also HILARIOUS. I think Kyle MacLachlan gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen – playing three roles – but then really FOUR roles, because Dale Cooper is so altered when he returns. There’s way more to say about all of this but it just filled my soul and heart with happiness that this thing EXISTS now. We HAVE it. It was made on Lynch’s terms and we HAVE it now. Plus: this moment? The first time I saw it I literally gasped. The most purely romantic scene in Lynch’s entire filmography.<\/p>\n

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On the Record<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick)
\nA documentary about the allegations against Russell Simmons, and the difficult decision to go “on the record” against a powerful man. I reviewed for Ebert<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich<\/strong><\/em> (2020; d. Lisa Bryant)
\nBased on James Patterson’s book Filthy Rich<\/i>. Patterson was his neighbor in Palm Beach so he had a front-row seat. I’ve never read a book by James Patterson but I might read this one. This 4-part Netflix documentary doesn’t exactly break new ground and much of the mystery is still intact – who out there is following the money? I don’t believe for a second he was a “financier” and I wish the press would stop calling him that. I think he got his money through blackmail and sex trafficking. There WAS no “financing”. He blackmailed the Victoria’s Secret guy after worming his way in, and just held people’s “bad behavior” over their heads until they paid up. So there’s not much that is new here except there is footage of his deposition which I’ve never seen. Only a small fragment of it is on Youtube and it has always struck me as curious and\/or not-surprising that there is so little actual footage of Epstein out and about in the world. He didn’t go to parties, he didn’t make speeches, he didn’t go out in public. So the footage of the deposition was fascinating because you could actually see him in operation. The man was a cobra. I thought the doc was very well done. Brad Edwards is a hero. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeland, Season 1-6 I finally caught up with Homeland, binge-watching it as I endured my lonely quarantine. Binge-watching has been a comfort. I’m having a hard time absorbing new things. I’ve been re-reading books. Re-watching things. Or, succumbing to the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2627,4,31],"tags":[1156,2493,2546,1492,1434,2549,214,2557,2489,2637],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157362"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158241,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157362\/revisions\/158241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}