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josselien
Reviews
Poker Face (2022)
Who is playing poker, and with whom?
It's a dark themed movie with a dark undertone, but there is hope for all characters, including that of redemption for Jake Foley. It is easy to get judgemental about all these characters and the slow paced start. Plus the viewer remains with lots to ponder after the final score. It may leave those members of the audience that only like with straight answers, behind.
I wonder what the dislikes are truly about? To me, this tale of several poker player friends from childhood, once again reaffirms why being a billionaire with an extremely expensive art collection does not equal "being happy". (No value judgement, of course, on anyone who is truly happy being one.)
Russell Crowe's broody acting never ceases to intrigue. His direction induces bouts of confusion to the spectator in several places. The analogy to a high stakes poker game is hidden in plain view. Every time the information dust settles it's like the storyline puts a few more cards on the table. With every plot development, the story becomes clearer, simpler and more about what is truly important and valuable in life.
Who is the winner of this poker game between creator and audience? Is Crowe consciously or subconsciously baring his soul with this movie? I reckon audience members that perceive the posing and answering of that question, walk away with a very high net entertainment value pot at the end.
The Exchange (2023)
We want ~and desperately need~ more!
This series represents a delightful, and sorely, missing link in the ever-expanding multicultural mix of modern series.
How often do we see normal modern Islamic people act out the daily soaps of life on Western television? Spoiler alert: Never.
Why is it so that the only Islamic cultural representative in Western series is usually a rabidly insane terrorist, on a par with that rare Western, severely mentally ill Hannibal Lecter? Spoiler alert: Because we only look at their extremists, who, when it comes down to it, historically, are not really crazier than our own. Case in point: the European and North American witch hunts, that were seen on in most Western cultures, until just a couple 100 years ago.
How is that specific (Western AND other cultures) attitude going to promote world peace? Spoiler alert: it won't. It will keep us locked in all of the same old self-fulfilling prophecies and vicious circles of violence. If we all, globally, want to come out of the simmering WWIII tinder box without further damage, we need more series like The Exchange on Western television and more access to education for women everywhere.
On my several visits to Islamic countries, the only people I ever met, were, spoiler alert: just like you and me. Hospitable, kind, funny, loving parents, struggling in their relationships, trying to make sense of politics and make economic ends meet. Sure, they had some different cultural customs. (Some of which actually included the home creation and joint consumption of the best goshdarn food I've ever had.) But they had the same dreams for their own lives and their childrens' as we do.
Until The Exchange came around, the only chance I as a Westerner, had, to see normal Islamic people living courageous, extraordinary, positively contributing lives on television, was to visit one of their countries. Which luckily for me, I was able to (for which generally still all too white Western privilege, I will remain forever grateful).
It is time they came to more frequently visit our television screen in return. I personally warmly invite them with wide open arms and the hope in my heart that they will grace us more often with their joyful presence. To me they are just as extremely hospitably welcome to add to our viewing pleasure, as I felt welcome and safe being their guest, being offered lodging in their family homes, sharing their meals, playing with their children, as the strange, out of place, exotic white Western solo-travelling female person that I was, on my visits to their countries.
The Exchange is more than adding the spice of female emancipation in a traditionally patriarchical society; that as a struggle, on the key headlines, is no different than ours. As a series it is a high quality streaming delight. Both the female and male actors in this series deserve so much more, in terms of chances to command our Western cinema screens with their amazing talents, the way they do in this series. We will ultimately only sell ourselves short if we don't provide it. We want their lives understood and their benign, loving, all-round human dreams to come true, just like we want ours to. Because only that, not the further elaboration of differences, will bring world peace. Insh'Allah, so help us God Almighty.
Aside from all of that ideological palaver, mundanely The Exchange is also just one heck of a gripping, extremely well casted story about two resourceful women trying to make a career in the male dominated world, with ample interhuman twists and political turns. It will keep you hooked, in line with the best that modern acting and streaming has to offer.
Lastly, the fact that The Exchange complies with Kuwaiti cultural censor demands is no reason to think it is more boring to watch than a Western series. On the contrary. It reminds me that the restraint of leaving details to the imagination, when the acting is as good as this, means a great deal more edge of seat viewing pleasure where it comes to being confronted with romantic interactions on screen, than what nowadays seems like an obsession with explicitness in Western acting.
Western cinema should really take notice here. Nothing is more killing to romance, than obligatory expressions of it. Especially those added for no other reasons than the assumption that that is the only thing that draws viewers.
Better Call Saul (2015)
Better Call... the wisdom of the Award Gods into question
I don't agree you need to be a Breaking Bad fan to appreciate Better Call Saul. It stands completely by itself. It was actually through getting hooked on BCS that I decided to give BB a peek. Did like that a lot too, but not as much as Better Call Saul. It's just the smartest story on the slippery slope of crime ever. Walter White turns into a fairly simple, one-dimensional criminal monster once his former life unravels around him due to his own choices. However, Saul, the sad, despicable and paradoxically likeable criminal lawyer continues to believe in his own charismatic lies to the completely inglorious end. Award kudo's to Kim, oops I mean Rhea, and Patrick, are totally in place, while it remains a complete and utter mystery why Bob Odenkirk did not receive even one Golden Globe out of five nominations for his unwavering, deeply intelligent, Saulful performance. But as I've argued before, the wisdom of the Awards Gods is often strongly overrated.
Derry Girls (2018)
We Want More (and AI is never going to be able to create this level of comedy because it's simply not smart and funny enough)
It can not be overemphasised how extremely excellent and fabulously funny this show is, notwithstanding the seriously painful historic backdrop every NW European of my generation remembers so well. It can also not be overemphasised how much we need more of this level of quality on streaming services, and how poor the chances of that are, now that this completely overhyped, and fairly incapable AI phenomenon is going to create all the scripts with the help of just one human. Of course this series should have also gotten all the other awards it was nominated for but didn't win, silly jury's, but hey, to err is human. Never was there a more deserved Bafta, surely, than the one Shiubhán McSweeny's received. Do watch her acceptance speech on YouTube - but only after you watched her do Sister Michael. Otherwise you'll miss the essence and that would be a shame. What else was so wonderful about this, oh yes of course The Cameo. However, surely, none of the cast would have shone as brightly, had it not been for the actual Girls themselves.
Fences (2016)
"Pitts perfect"
Broadway is a bit out of the way for a European, and I somehow, completely unbelievably, managed to miss this movie back in 2016, but I am glad I caught it now.
I was stuck in snowed under Pittsburgh Airport for long enough in January 1992 to recognize how the city's unique DNA defines the core of the story and the movie. No other city on earth, surely, can give you the experience of depression as a state of redemption, the way Pittsburgh does.
Yes this is a theatre play adapted for screen. But no, to me that is not a weakness. Not with this cast, adaptation, and these direction and filming choices. Fences simply shows you the reason why these things are called Screen Plays. Copy paste this review text to A River Runs Through It, search replace Pittsburg with Montana, for a comparable force of subtle cinematographic magnitude; hidden in the plain view of the sometimes unforgiving harshness of life and what it makes some people become. A subtitle for the story might have been "Rose's Back Yard" since that's the setting of the key parts of the narrative.
Washington and Davis are two very tall peaks in the Himalaya of superb acting. Each don't really need any help carrying any movie or play they're in and put together, they totally reinforce each other's' stellar acting power.
That is why it takes all the more talent and skill for rest of the cast to, without exception, individually shine out like spectacular gems in the light of two giant suns, rather than be as snowed under as Pittsburg Airport can get in winter. Mykelti Williamsons' nails Gabriel as masterfully as Jack Nicholson nailed Randle McMurphy. The actors behind Bono, Lyons, Cory and Raynell, also manage to evoke complete literary classics in a relative small number of movie lines.
The fact that this level of craftsmanship gets all too often missed or glossed over by audiences, is why acting careers are so frustrating to people who are in it for the art rather than the fame. And why I give this movie a 10 out of 10.
As for the more average reviews of this movie, perhaps it's just that not everybody completely fathoms the consideration that appears to have gone into every detail. Nuance does tend to get lost in public opinion. But it is not wasted on me and that's why I am very glad I very belatedly caught this.