![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
What I watched: film and television
Oct. 23rd, 2013 01:20 pmThings what I watched recently:
The Awakening, film, 2001, dir. Nick Murphy
1920s England: A woman who debunks psychics and hauntings is called to investigate a recent death at a boarding school. Brilliantly atmospheric; pathetically plotted. Its strengths have fantastic texture: historical setting, female protagonist, surprisingly explicit paranormal aspects, a boarding house and English countryside and greatcoats; it's a film about post-war England, about mourning and haunting. The plot in almost no way suits the setting, with a denouement that's thematically out of place and highly contrived. A deeply conflicting film which I hugely enjoyed but find fatally flawed.
Pontypool, film, 2008, dir. Bruce McDonald
Late winter in a small town in Ontario, a morning talk radio show begins while a bizarre disease infects the town. It's got some plotholes and/or wants more depth, but the small, cold, claustrophobic atmosphere combines well with gallows humor; there are some genuinely scary moments and it's consistently thoughtful. Who knew that memes could, however ironically, make zombies interesting again. Save this for the dead of winter.
American Mary, film, 2012, dirs. Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska
While trying to pay her way through med school, Mary Mason begins to do increasingly bizarre and unconventional surgeries. Not as strange—or therefore as gruesome—as it hopes to be, but in all other ways effective. Katharine Isabelle gives Mary intensity and depth; the film flirts with just enough objectification and cliché in order to invert it: the gaze is frequently female and always strong, and the writing above average while the atmosphere remains trashy and consumable. While not outstanding, it frequently delighted me.
Fringe, season 5, 2012-2013
Reboots are this show's strength and weakness: it's ballsy, forces forward movement and actual speculative plotting, but constantly endangers viewer investment. The season 5 reboot is easily the least successful in the show's history, but as the series finale approaches the show moves steadily towards an emotional climax—one (true to the show's history) littered with plotholes and emotional manipulation, but no less effective for that. Fringe has a fitting end, much like the final episodes of The X-Files, as flawed as the series has always been but capitalizing on its character-driven elements.
Once Upon a Time, season 2, 2012-13
Cora is a fantastic addition; Tamara a horrible one. Give me more evil people with complexity and depth but not necessarily much sympathy; do not introduce a woman of color as a transparently evil love rival-cum-villain, so help me. The hallmark of this show is its incredible inconsistency, and on that point I was well satisfied: further strong characters, fascinating relationships, and gaping plotholes/bad writing/horrible hair and makeup.
American Horror Story: Murder House, 2011
A small and troubled family moves cross-country and into a remarkably haunted house. Much more explicit—explicitly haunted, violent, and sexual—than I was expecting; to an extent the enthusiasm is most indulgent and even admirable, but it also runs fleeing from good taste and believably. At times deeply unsettling (the soundtrack is particularly good), but sometimes for the wrong reasons (pregnancy and abortion, actual and projected mental illness in women, and explicit comparisons to "The Yellow Wallpaper" from a strongly masculine point of view), and frequently inconsistent in tone and in plot. In short, interesting idea and unsuccessful execution; I'd like to see how the sequels compare.
The Awakening, film, 2001, dir. Nick Murphy
1920s England: A woman who debunks psychics and hauntings is called to investigate a recent death at a boarding school. Brilliantly atmospheric; pathetically plotted. Its strengths have fantastic texture: historical setting, female protagonist, surprisingly explicit paranormal aspects, a boarding house and English countryside and greatcoats; it's a film about post-war England, about mourning and haunting. The plot in almost no way suits the setting, with a denouement that's thematically out of place and highly contrived. A deeply conflicting film which I hugely enjoyed but find fatally flawed.
Pontypool, film, 2008, dir. Bruce McDonald
Late winter in a small town in Ontario, a morning talk radio show begins while a bizarre disease infects the town. It's got some plotholes and/or wants more depth, but the small, cold, claustrophobic atmosphere combines well with gallows humor; there are some genuinely scary moments and it's consistently thoughtful. Who knew that memes could, however ironically, make zombies interesting again. Save this for the dead of winter.
American Mary, film, 2012, dirs. Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska
While trying to pay her way through med school, Mary Mason begins to do increasingly bizarre and unconventional surgeries. Not as strange—or therefore as gruesome—as it hopes to be, but in all other ways effective. Katharine Isabelle gives Mary intensity and depth; the film flirts with just enough objectification and cliché in order to invert it: the gaze is frequently female and always strong, and the writing above average while the atmosphere remains trashy and consumable. While not outstanding, it frequently delighted me.
Fringe, season 5, 2012-2013
Reboots are this show's strength and weakness: it's ballsy, forces forward movement and actual speculative plotting, but constantly endangers viewer investment. The season 5 reboot is easily the least successful in the show's history, but as the series finale approaches the show moves steadily towards an emotional climax—one (true to the show's history) littered with plotholes and emotional manipulation, but no less effective for that. Fringe has a fitting end, much like the final episodes of The X-Files, as flawed as the series has always been but capitalizing on its character-driven elements.
Once Upon a Time, season 2, 2012-13
Cora is a fantastic addition; Tamara a horrible one. Give me more evil people with complexity and depth but not necessarily much sympathy; do not introduce a woman of color as a transparently evil love rival-cum-villain, so help me. The hallmark of this show is its incredible inconsistency, and on that point I was well satisfied: further strong characters, fascinating relationships, and gaping plotholes/bad writing/horrible hair and makeup.
American Horror Story: Murder House, 2011
A small and troubled family moves cross-country and into a remarkably haunted house. Much more explicit—explicitly haunted, violent, and sexual—than I was expecting; to an extent the enthusiasm is most indulgent and even admirable, but it also runs fleeing from good taste and believably. At times deeply unsettling (the soundtrack is particularly good), but sometimes for the wrong reasons (pregnancy and abortion, actual and projected mental illness in women, and explicit comparisons to "The Yellow Wallpaper" from a strongly masculine point of view), and frequently inconsistent in tone and in plot. In short, interesting idea and unsuccessful execution; I'd like to see how the sequels compare.
