Finally having an incentive
to do so, I subscribed to the Peacock streaming channel for a month (the
Premium Plus option to avoid ads), in order to watch some recent films, and to
catch up with a few shows of interest.
I’m a sucker for movies about
newspaper work, and She Said (MC-74) follows nicely in a
distinguished tradition. In advance the
title struck me as bland, and some people found the movie so, but upon viewing
I find the title perfectly emblematic of the film, leaving the storytelling
entirely up to capable women, and erasing the prefatory “he said.” Start with estimable NYT journalists Jodi
Kantor and Megan Twohey, who broke the story that unleashed the #MeToo movement,
and their film avatars Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan, reliably excellent. As are Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle, as
two of the women who come forward with testimony. Rest of cast, and other credits, also up to
the job of getting the story told. With
this film after I’m Your Man, I’m taking note of Maria Schrader as a
director to watch.
Is the title character of Tár
(MC-92) a “Rat”
or the epitome of “Art”? You’ll have to
decide for yourself, though accomplished writer-director Todd Field and star
Cate Blanchett - in a towering performance - offer plenty of evidence for any
interpretation. She’s a driven girl from an outer borough who’s raised herself into a "sacred monster" of music,
a Leonard Bernstein-wannabe who has swept herself into the highest ranks of
conducting, composing, and writing. And
into a position of cultural power, which she abuses unabashedly. She’s conducting a live recording of Mahler’s
5th symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic, while angling to make a
young cellist her latest catch, casting aside earlier conquests, and sidelining
her violinist wife and adopted daughter.
But does her deep and honest passion for music outweigh her more
unseemly passions for control and exploitation?
The viewer cannot look away from either the horror or the exaltation of
her quests. Even without a background in
classical music, this film immerses one in the subject and milieu, and leaves
one with unanswered questions and yet deeper understanding.
James Gray’s autobiographical
Armageddon Time (MC-74) is a
highly-divisive film on which I come down on the “No way!” side of the
divide. Despite decent acting (from the
likes of Anthony Hopkins, Ann Hathaway, and Jeremy Strong) and generally strong
design, this story of Jewish coming of age in 1980 Queens struck me as an
undigested and unconvincing memory-piece, with a resolution stolen from “The
400 Blows.” In the background, we see
Reagan being elected and get a foretaste of the future in the incidental
characters of Fred Trump and The Donald’s sister (played by Jessica
Chastain). Centered on a
not-especially-appealing 6th grader who forms a bond with the film’s
only black character, the story unfolds without great credibility or
continuity, despite some believable moments.
Among TV series, one Peacock
Original attracted my interest: Poker
Face (MC-84),
an intriguing blend of Russian Doll and Knives Out, starring
Natasha Lyonne and created by Rian Johnson.
She’s a wised-up drifter with a knack for finding her way into trouble -
and one superpower, the ability to tell whenever anyone is bullshitting
her. So episode by episode, she runs
into a lot of crime that she is uniquely positioned to solve. The mystery is usually given away early, but
the interest - and the humor - lies in how our little lady puts the whole story
together, and metes out her own brand of justice before moving on. Apparently modeled on Columbo, a show
I never remember watching (nor Rockford Files or Murder, She Wrote,
as other models cited) it’s witty and imaginative, and graced with any number
of familiar faces showing up in each hour-long episode. But crucially, the series has the beguiling
presence of Natasha Lyonne, who has enchanted me since last millennium’s Slums
of Beverly Hills and But I’m a Cheerleader.
Diversity is one of the great
advances in recent sitcoms. We Are
Lady Parts (MC-83)
is a case in point, a delightful romp about a group of British Muslim women, of
varying ethnicity, who form the punk band of the title. Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, with
obvious autobiographical elements, it’s narrated by a shy and awkward Ph.D.
student in microbiology, who’s a guitar virtuoso with performance anxiety and a
hankering for “Bashir with the Good Beard.” She’s the most endearing of a handful of
engaging characters, each with her own piquancy. All in all, too many good things to cram into
six half-hour episodes, so look forward to the greenlit second season.
Two documentaries caught my
eye on Peacock: Most of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 passed through Lowndes Country, where 80%
of the population was Black and not a single one of them was registered to
vote. After the SCLC Mississippi Summer
of 1964, SNCC turned its attention to a grassroots effort in Alabama , a story very effectively told in Lowndes
County and the Road to Black Power (MC-84). Stokely Carmichael is a major player but
local John Hulett is the hero of the piece.
The former first enunciated the slogan “Black Power” but it was a local
initiative to oppose the Rooster ballot insignia of the white power structure
with, instead of a Dove, the Black Panther image that was to become so famous
when adopted in Oakland . This is an
inspiring and little told story of bootstrap progress.
Paper and Glue (MC-80)
is a worthy sequel to the great Faces Places - even without the
participation of dearly departed Agnes Varda - as it follows the large-scale
photographic projects of French street artist JR, from a supermax prison in California to the border wall with Mexico , from the banlieues of Paris to the favelas of Rio . In stunning examples of the social power of
art, his building-sized portraits of local people build community through
process and result, cooperation and representation. Truly inventive and admirably engaged, this
is work that gives art a good name.
So I definitely got my ten bucks worth of quality viewing out of a month of Peacock, but it’s likely to be many months before I have any urge to re-subscribe.
So I definitely got my ten bucks worth of quality viewing out of a month of Peacock, but it’s likely to be many months before I have any urge to re-subscribe.