Shownotes
In a past episode, I unfairly dunked on the Sex and The City reboot after having only seen the first two episodes. The show has since really played to its original strengths while growing into its own new thing. AND JUST LIKE THAT, I BECAME A SEX AND THE CITY FAN1.
Movie of the week
The Lost Daughter
While holidaying in Greece, college professor Leda Caruso (Olivia Coleman) meets Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her family after the three year old daughter gets lost on the beach. Over the next days of their shared vacation, Leda remembers her past as young mother (played by the fabulous, fabulous Jesse Buckley).
What was probably meant as a moody drama in the original script (written by Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend) takes quite a dark turn in Gyllenhaal’s directorial vision: haunting close-ups and lingering, foreboding shots manifest the ultra-creepy undercurrent of the story. A style choice that juxtaposes the otherwise innocuous family vacation theme that we usually expect.
In movie canon, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s debut is a profound statement about the underexposed, dark sides of motherhood: she manages to flesh out three-dimensional characters that are unlikeable (mothers! unlikeable!) yet still resonate. You want to see Dakota Johnson and Jesse Buckley and Olivia Coleman succeed, their idiosyncrasies as mothers notwithstanding. But personally, I think that Gyllenhaal wanted to make thrillercandy about having a middle-aged woman’s vacation ruined by noisy children and disrespectful teenagers, because this happens, and it’s the worst.
Binge Watch
Top Of The Lake (Season 1, 2013 & Season 2, 2017, Limited Series)
Top Of The Lake is a complex and tragic crime drama with ample twists and red herrings, providing for good entertainment during a long ✌️ COVID quarantine ✌️.
Detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss, an American) has to find the mysteriously disappeared, 12-year old and pregnant Tui in the wilderness of New Zealand. There is also a female commune led by mother guru Holly Hunter, and yes, our wee Peggy has to speak in a Kiwi accent. Surprise: it’s not a Kiwi accent!!!
Top of The Lake is directed by the acclaimed Jane Campion, whose most recent release The Power Of The Dog is likely contender for Best Picture 2022. There’s some weird scripting going on in Top of The Lake, and it’s not as strong as American productions, but overall a solid B- for letting the audience solve the story with the detective, not long before them.
Retrospective
I Love You, Man (2009)
When dorky real-estate agent Paul Kleven (peak Paul Rudd) proposes to his girlfriend (peak Rashida Jones), he realizes he doesn’t have a best man because he barely has any friends. And then he meets Sydney Fyfe (Jason Segal) - the coolest person in LA.
“I love you, man” is a the sweet romantic comedy - a bromcom - about genuine friendship between middle aged men, and it held up surprisingly well since it’s release. Part of the appeal of is certainly that it’s just really funny and light-hearted and dumb. But also - it’s really hard to find male friends as a man?! I know men! They either have twelve good buddies from high school that they see twice per year or none.
Sydney Fyfe is an iconic and unattainable idealistic representation of what it means to be free and careless in your 30s, with no strings attached, all fun and funny. That’s the friend you always want to have as a best man. Unfortunately, that’s never the person anybody wants to be when everybody else has a family and can’t hang out willy nilly in a man-cave.
Sydney Fyfe - just an impossible illusion for middle aged men (and me)?
Maybe this isn’t so funny after all.
Weekend watch
The Worst Person In The World (2021) by Joachim Trier
What is an equivalent term to “Coming of Age”, but when you’re at the end of your 20s and you begin to realize that you’ve achieved absolutely nothing remarkable in your life, didn’t even try, and also you have a shitty character?
Anyways, The Worst Person In The World is a dark comedy chronicling four years in the life of Julie, who’s trying to navigate a challenging age.
All my movie critic friends2 loved it, and I’m excited to see it after watching Trier’s slow burn gay superhero romance drama Thelma (2017) a while back.
Weekly Wait
Euphoria (Season 2, 2019-2022, HBO)
If you are not watching Euphoria like a deranged addict, what are you even doing with your life?
Gritty, over-stylized, drugged middle-class kids and nightmare material for parents. All of that at a production value of 11+ million USD per episode. That’s Game of Thrones money! That’s HBO ‘FUCK YOU’ money, and it’s sure worth every penny. Fun fact: Kodak had to go and produce the 35mm Ektachrome film that the second season is shot on, because those don’t even exist anymore. You can see how well it delivers the youthful, worn but enigmatic look during the flashed out party-scene.
Look - if this were a financial newsletter, you know I’d talk about the economics of HBO productions during the streaming wars era, but alas, I will save this for the problematic satire podcast that I’m destined to make at some point.
Ah, yes, yes - it’s not the best writing in the world, is it? Euphoria is in for the cheap shocks - by building up an intense momentum, just to come to a screeching halt, THEN blowing up catastrophically. But I like cheap tricks. 💅🏼
Bonus Content
🎧 Jasmine Sullivan, Heaux Tales (Spotify)
“On her fourth album, Jazmine Sullivan contends with all that can be lost and gained through sex and love. She is in full command of her spectacular voice and totally delivers on an ambitious concept.” Pitchfork
🎙️The Lazarus Heist (The BBC)
““Almost a perfect crime.” The hacking ring and an attempt to steal a billion dollars. Investigators blame North Korea. Pyongyang denies involvement. The story begins in Hollywood.”
✉️ Flow State (Substack)
“Every weekday, we recommend two hours of music that’s perfect for working.”
And I’m not the only one: “And Just Like That…” has become the most watched program on Plex, easily overtaking Succession Season 3.
The podcast hosts of the podcasts that I listen to
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.