The therapy of Schitts Creek

 

Schitt's Creek won ALL the Emmy awards this year under the comedy/musical category. This was indeed the last year of Schitt's Creek. Earlier this year, the show said goodbye, and though no one cried - we all whispered a sigh of joy in how it ended. 

Schitt's creek started with a question - What if high rich people lost all their money and were forced to live in a small town with little or no money? From that premise - Schitt's creek got the best of both world - from the rich it got the panache, fashion styles in lavish dresses and wigs, and a sense of not working to make a living. From the small town, it got the sense of community, living off the treadmill, a small but healthy distaste of the city-life and lastly, a pondering on existence in such a small town in the context of personal ambitions. 

The rich people here are Rose's who are confined to a motel. They can not travel because of no-money. Confined to this two room existence, a lot of viewers have felt this to be similar to our existence in lockdown. 

Watching Schitt's Creek is a therapy of sorts.  It is a show that accepts gay love as the way it should be - completely normal and should not require any ifs and buts. It never decries the small town folks - yes, their mannerisms could be different but all of them are treated with a respect that seems in place. (Kudos to Moira Rose who walks this line so delicately in almost all of her episodes that she pulls it off by putting the focus where it should be - on herself :) ) 

My favorite bit of Schitt's Creek is Rose apothecary - a super store market selling all organic locally sourced products in a stored designed like an Apple store fashion sense. The fact that it exists in a small town, that it could be a viable business, that, yes, why this is not the acceptable way of how a small store should operate; and finally it doubles as a space for local events. Rose apothecary should be a norm; it should be the icon for 'small is beautiful'. It is run by folks who care. 

My favorite character of the show is Stevie. Stevie is the motel owner/manager where Rose are forced to live. Her character oozes empathy, plays the kind of friend that one could wish for and finally her character brings out the dilemma faced by so many small town people - should they stay there or move to cities for better opportunities. 

Schitt's creek existence itself is miraculous as it is a show that would never have been made had it not hatched out in a corner, away from all the influences that spoil the thought, creation of a practical town filled with ideas of an ideal society. 

Watching Schitt's creek while sitting in the present day India feels as much as if Schitt's creek is Westeros.  Lacking of emapthy, decency, basic tenets of societal living.  Schitts creek is escapism at its best, a wish for good. 

AV report June- Sept 2020

Nolan's Tenet has been released and deemed a dud.  Cinema theatres are about to open from Oct 15. Covid cases are still rising. Confined to our homes, Movies and TV are the only window to the external world out there. 

Real escapism is needed to escape the reality of our times.  Lot of escapism is needed :)

So, with that, here is how I have survived the last few months 

Movies

I vitelloni

With unemployment more than 25%, do you know how the unemployed youth is spending their time? When you have no work to do, the days are longer and the emptiness in abundance. Fellini's I Vitelloni covers the  story of such youth after world war 2 - no work, no jobs, carefree, with limited money, each one finding faults in the society in its own way.  This belongs to the 'slice in time'  genre of movies - a story of 4-5 friends and how they decide to spend their days and their years. They dance, drink, tease women and are philanderers. They are naive. As with all of us, they do not see any fault in themselves. I Vitelloni captures the times, the wastage of youth, the idiocy of their actions in a very real manner. 

4/5 - this cinema was not escapist at all :) 

LA Confidential

Take a great cast, put it in a great story, characters dying at any moment, add politics, mafia, corruption and an idealist cop who understands the politics of all of it, a hard hitting muscular cop who understands that his role in the system, a media who wants to profit from this shit-show who very well knows that the audience in real world loves this pulp-fiction and lastly a sensual mix from a prostitute who wants to break free but can not - all done in an incredible stylized manner, neo-noir genre is what it is called. The twists and turns come till the last moment. Great film to escape the current times. 

4/5

Old guard

Old Guard is a group of people who are blessed with a gift of immortality, rather a curse, but with a twist that the immortality has an end date which is unknown. What would you do if you are immortal? Living for 500+ years. Seen regime changes, world wars, famines and also all the good things. You still have to hide yourself as the immortality has to be kept a secret. There are interesting things to theorize with this premise and Old Guard does a decent job. By making this into a super-hero genre, it is able to do se with some nice action, albeit with a cliched villain who wants to replicate their immortality in a lab. Charlize Theoren is excellent, action choreography well done and supporting cast holds the fort.  Not so loud, not very flashy, Old Guard takes a reserved approach to a super hero genre. All in all, a perfect masala escapist movie .

3.5/5

Ford vs ferrari

The worst thing about Ford vs Ferrari is its title. Honestly,  this is like Mahabhratha being titled Pandavs vs Kaurava. Once you get past the initial 15 mins of the movie, it is all about the behind the scenes of speed racing - what research is done, identifying risks, research, trial, error, can money buy progress? and how speed racing is an art not some capitalistic tool. Yet, it is what it is - Ford throws money to build the fastest car, but it is not enough.  Matt Damon and Christian Bale are excellent. Best part of the film is that it does not take itself too seriously and it also does not make the speed racing very flashy. 

3.5/5

Frozen 2

Frozen 2 cashes on top of Frozen 1 with a bizarre storyline, too much of feel goodiness and honestly the emotional heartfelt touches seem too artificial even for an animation world

1.5/5

Psycho

Psycho is actually a masterclass in film making but it much effort to identify the mastery. How is the director trying to show a particular scene, what does this scene signify. Even for those who know the ending, the movie is very taught, it pulls you in though its sheer mastery. The camera effects are brilliant. Hitchcock had a great knack of knowing what the audience is thinking at a given time and then he uses this to deliberately not resolve this. The conflict is within the audience's minds and that I think is the ingenuity of Psycho. 

4/5

Les diabolique

Is he dead or is he alive? Was that a perfect murder? Who is lying? What is the truth? Les diaboliques  was truly ahead of its time in bring such complex plots to screen. The setting of a boys boarding school adds whole level of eeriness to it.  

3.5/5

Martian

The Martian is a feel good movie with feel good actors - Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain.  This was a re-watch.

3/5

Pyaasa

Pyaasa is all about Sahir Ludhianvi and S.D. Burman - it is a movie with damn good songs with damn good lyrics and nothing else matters here. Yes, the plot is there, it is ahead of its times as it shows a red light area, protagonist landing in a  mental institution, media trials and what not. The jumps between scenes are not smooth; too many things happen in too few scenes until a songs comes in and adds a depth to a scene that is so profound that - nothing else matters. Above all, its ending is a positive one. 

5/5

Homemade

Homemade is a product of 2020 - a movie made by 20+ filmmakers while respecting social distancing/varying degrees of quarantine norms and made minimally with minimum crew. Some are fairly very creative, some very funny ones. I liked the auto-biographical aspect of Gunindher Chaddha's one - mainly because it has a foray into the lives of Indians in these times. Overall, it has various nuggets to please every kind of viewer, including one where Pope and Queen go skinny dipping :) 

3.5/5

TV Series

Laakhon mein ek - Season 1

A good one time watch - reasonably well made series. Although, it has some cliches but some of the lines are good. A honest attempt to capture the lives of people struggling to fit in.

3/5

Homecoming Season 1 & 2

A fantastic season 1 followed by a dud season 2. Sam Esmail is a genius - both Mr. Robot and Homecoming follow the same style of cinema making applied to two different stories. The store delivery is top notch. 

Season 1 - 4/5

Season 2 - 2.5/5

Schitts creek - Needs a separate review

The leftovers - Needs a separate review

Good Omens - Book and TV Series Review

Good Omens
By Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Two words review - Its ineffable.

There is an angel and there is a demon, both assigned on Earth.  The world is going to end, an armageddon is coming. This war is the reason why the world was created. The god's army is preparing a war with the satan's army. Both sides believe they will win. This war will happen on Earth and will destroy the planet. And along with the angel's antique book store and all the Sushi. So will go the Queen's soundtrack and nice Bentley cars obsessed by our demon. Together, they decide to take matter on to their own hands and save Earth.

Goofy, hilarious and very very clever is what Good omens is. In the hands of two people who would become masters of world building and story craft in future from the time book was written,  Good Omens is a prescient foreboding of it all. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, living in different continents would exchange floppy drives with new passages thrown in between.  Good Omens is filled with insane creativity and imagination.

Crowley, our demon, is duty-bound to mess up humanity's existence. While other demons will tempt humans with greed or lust, our Crowley will architect a highway that will cause future traffic jams (and incalculable human pain) while it exists.  The demon is bit more fascinating than the angel, they always are for people like me.  This demon wears shades all the times, even while driving and especially during night, you know why? because it is cool.

The book of Job takes new meaning as the technical work documentation for jobs of angels and demons. Pages are riddles with hilarity, reminding so much of Hitchhiker's guide. The lens to view the world changes after reading this book.  Local surrounding actions can be deemed as the work of either Aziraphale or Crowley.

But at the heart of it all, there is a bit of bad-ass in our angel and our Crowley is also a wee bit do-gooder. In times of armageddon, it is their friendship that wins the hearts of everyone.  This armageddon itself was predicted down to its last detail in the prophecies of Agnes Nutter. There is also an anti-christ, a hellhound who takes the form of a dog whose name is also Dog. The four horseman are now riding bikes and one of them is replaced by a new sin, called Pollution, more suitable to our times. God Omens take known things around us and offers a never thought before Biblical angle that even God did not intend. For all it does, who knows, it may be part of God's plan :)

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Good Omens TV series
Written by Neil Gaiman
with Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley

It is good that TV series was written by Gaiman himself. This protects the essence of the series. Gaiman understands this medium enough to tailor it. The story is timeless as ever, recent events since the time novel was published adds more flavor. Using Queen's songs as soundtrack provides an excellent background score, makes the book things more visceral. But the best part of the TV series is the casting of Aziraphale and Crowley as Michael Sheen and David Tennant respectively.

I would have watched this show for Michael Sheen even if everything else is removed. But David Tennant, as menacing as he was in Jessica Jones season one, is as Crowley as Crowley could ever be. Both David and Michael nail their respective characters and add more flavor to it.   While Aziraphale's expressions and style of delivery is definitely angel-like, David's walk and mannerisms like a drunk, rich, reveling in the use of modern conveniences and luxuries makes him a likeable devil. David Tennant portrays as if the Crowley was written for himself only.

This TV series is not the greatest ever but it is something that does enough justice to the book and more. Book is more rewarding but viewers of TV series will be content. TV series so far have not been able to do justice to bizarre hilarious books. Tragedy and violence is the primary medium of TV, it comes naturally with all the action and gore. Next to that, it is the drama with sombre mood building and nihilistic characters that is the recent phase. But goofiness and hilarity is difficult to portray. When TV does it in direct manners, the wit is lost and when it is under a symbolic gesture, people fail to grasp it.  Also, wit that comes from wordplay comes more alive in books that verbal utterance.

Take the scene where Crowley is threatening its plants to perform (that is grow fast and be green) else there will be consequences. It works, David pulls it off very well. But in the pages, it is peak hilarity. In the TV series it comes at an odd time, establishes some humor and goes. In the book, it is begins with a natural section, describing the Crowley's home where Hastur is about to come for him. It all seems connected.

But the TV series shines in characterization and soft expressions with the background of music. Michael Sheen must win an award for this.  Just look at this video -







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After the book and the series, there is one more things to be done. Find all other works of Gaiman and Pratchett and devour them

Review: The Americans - TV Series

Slow Burn is a trope where the story focuses on development of characters, evolution of story, while keeping the in-your-face conflict taut.  In the trope, the tension of main conflict is not resolved, although it is teased multiple times. This slow unraveling of the story until it climaxes is called Slow Burn.

For some reason, I have found myself drawn to Slow Burn based TV series a lot.   First, it was Breaking bad, but I think there also too many things were happening. Then, it was Line of Duty which is sheer brilliant. The Americans - TV Series, I believe has been the best so far.

Two Russian spies pretending to be a couple have been tasked to settle in US, live life like normal Americans blend in,  but at the same time,  their main task is to spy for the Russian government. They get their assignments via a Russian handler. Both of them are trained in defense, offense, and using sex, emotion or whatever in their means to achieve their end goal.

The series start with the couple - Elizabeth and Phillip, already living in US for many years, they even have two kids - Page and Henry. To masquerade their spy activities, the couple operate a small travel concierge company which employees 3-4 other people.

In the very first episode, an FBI agent moves in to a house opposite to their house. With this, the series sets itself to its primary conflict - will they get caught? Their missions are dangerous, their next door FBI agent is leading them. In other conflicts, their kids do not know about their spy game, but till now they were small. But now, as they grow and become curious, will they find out?

In another side, we have the Russian embassy where schemes are being devised to aid these folks. Folks in embassy do not know of their identity. The setting is when the US-Russia conflict was at its peak. 

The greatest con pulled by The Americans is to make Americans care for two Russian spies. Think about it, let me add some Indian flavor. There are two Pakistanis, a couple, living in India, spying on India, killing Indian people, stealing trade secrets, copying war codes and what not but still the Indians like them enough for them to be ok. To pull it off is ingenious.

How does Americans pull it off? One word - doubt. The Americans - our spies, with so many years in US are now doubting whether US is indeed a real enemy? They have better infrastructure, better food, ordinary folks do not hate Russia, they are people and like our species, they are inherently good. They want better future for their kids, want the world to be a happy place. The classic Arjun-Krishna dilemma - Why should we hate them? These thoughts are contrasted with life of challenges back home with some flashbacks. 

To top this setting : Slow Burn. The main conflict is not resolved at all. It is accepted, internalized but yet it is always there. And the minor ones, just keep on adding. Americans does not give you an inch in resolving even the minor ones. Only in later seasons, we start to see some closures, but in first three, it was just - keep the pot boiling.

The writing is very good. After reading a lot of their interviews, the writers admit that their approach was - what would this character do in this situation, what would be the logical next step? With this,  because it is so grounded in our psychology, it is so believable.  The last episode is a killer one. The last season is a killer one. RT rates it at 99%.

Just as much as it is a spy drama, it is a discourse on marriage as well. Two people tasked to live together as a couple, found some meaning of love with each other, who are now partners, but now are facing the trials of marriage, of raising kids but with different parenting philosophies, who come with different beliefs.

There won't be another The Americans for a long time. Just like there won't be another West Wing ever.  There won't be another Seinfeld.  Once you start, you will have to watch till the end. Be prepared.

On Newsroom

Last week, Aaron Sorkin's Newsroom aired the final episode of its final season, season 3 to be precise. What started as perhaps the best openings of any TV series ever, Newsroom's ratings plummeted with every season. Newsroom had it all - support from HBO meant complete freedom, a talented cast except with couple of minor hiccups, a subject matter that deserves attention and fresh treatment and most important, Aaron Sorkin at its helm. Yet, even with all of this, something was always amiss.

The first season of Newsroom was quite creative as it showed real life incidents being covered live by a news channel. With the power of hindsight, Newsroom was able to poke holes in the coverage of the present news channels such as Fox or CNN and at the same time, it tried to project how an ideal coverage would look like. It would have been a great season had it not been the unnecessary romantic sub-plots infused into the media story line. More than 50% of key newsroom characters are in a relationship with another main character. Any time spent in going into their personal lives was a drag.

Not everybody liked the fact that Newsroom was covering actual issues. I am not sure with how much seriousness Sorkin takes the fan reaction, nevertheless, the second season was completely fictional. Newsroom's fictitious channel is in the middle of airing a fake story regarding US defense. The show deconstructed how a story is manufactured at such a grandiose level and what are the  repercussions of airing a fake story.

Season third consisted only of six episodes and has no major arc whatsoever. There is a small arc with Neal gets access to some highly confidential Govt. documents and rest of the series mainly talk about issues regarding source protection.  The final episode has a big flashback component and it was put in there because Sorkin wanted to write it in to give the show a background.  The background in no meaningful way compliments the finality of the episode.


The fundamental problem with Newsroom is its sub-plots and side characters. A lot of criticism comes because Sorkin's dialogues are actually monologue rants between two individuals who tend to disagree. Even when there is no disagreement, there is still a monologue rant. I agree with the charge but I disagree that this is the issue with the Newsroom. Newsroom suffers because it fails to put these rants in the right context of things. The rant-ing characters are only utilized to air these rants. Most non-rantish discussions are related to office romance which nobody cares about for the most part.


Maggie is one of the most awful and frustrating character in the entire series. It is not because of the actor's acting but just how the character is defined. She is emotionally vulnerable yet emotionally strong, and she goes into these extremes every other episode. It is impossible to empathize with her. Other side characters are not developed enough and suddenly are given enough screen time to make us like them but it rarely works that way.

The other charge against Newsroom is its pushed-down-to-throat idealism. It is preachy, like a self help book, rather than based on observations and experiences. No-one likes to read a self help book.  This type of thing worked on West Wing because it was a point of view from a democratic government standpoint and there were enough contrast points to add richer flavors to the argument. In comparison, Newsroom has its own point of view which is the only one and it is right as well. Newsroom appears smug in many conversations and hence the audience fallout.


The problem with Newsroom began when even loyal fans of Sorkin failed to defend him. The failure of this show lies entirely in the treatment of the subject matter and nothing else. But, it was okayish entertainment overall but in patches, it was magical. This fan will wait for another Sorkin series, atleast he is trying to raise the level of programming.

TV Series Review: The Wire

I would have never read To the Lighthouse beyond 30 pages or Catcher in the Rye beyond 20. I would have not sat through Goddard's films or American History X beyond its opening sequence. Along the same lines, I would have never finished Homer's Odyssey or Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali,.  There are some things you do because people tell that it is worth doing so. People vouch their sanity, sometimes even their existence to such works. The Wire is one such instance. In the medium of TV series, it stands  at the peak.


It takes time to warm up to the Wire. The first three minutes of the very first episode did not made any sense to me. But I went back to it after finishing the first season and  realized how it was just a cog in one giant wheel.  It even gets time to get used to various subtle accents. I preferred watching with subtitles on. But once you get the hang of the show, understand what it is trying to say, then what comes off is a magic. The same feeling that you get after reading through the first 40 pages of To The Lighthouse.  The writing flows. Stream of consciousness flows through you. You are eager to learn the next train of thought or imagination. You dig it. With The Wire, it is about 4-5 episodes. Interestingly, when The Wire asked critics to review episodes, it did not sent then one episode at a time, as it was the norm, they sent the entire season.

Once in a dinner conversation, a friend of a friend remarked that The Wire is discussed as a Homerian Odyssey work. Having read Odyssey, I had wondered how it would compare. I would still agree that the comparison is still a stretch but The Wire, with its grandiose scale and imagination,  has come the closest to its goal.


What is The Wire?
The Wire is a realistic portrayal of dysfunctional life in the city of Baltimore. It is a nuanced analysis of a system gone wrong and how it effects different people. It highlights the majestic design built into the system that hides its ills under a carpet and how all of us are fooled by it. The first season focusses largely focusses on the interplay of cops and drug sellers. It shows hierarchy in both the systems and it takes time to realize that the drug lords are much more organized than Police Commissioners and Majors. It is not that cops are good and drug sellers are bad. Cops beat people unnecessarily, they lie, sometimes steal and for the most part are not willing to do their jobs. And how can you hate drug sellers who are mostly small early teenagers, hope to be doctors, pilots or whatever will make them rich and are kind to their own people. There is no right or wrong in The Wire. There is only fact. This is what happens. Judging characters in Wire is akin to judging ourselves, our society and it is highly disconcerting.

The second season expands its scope by going one step up on the ladder of drug distribution, aka drug sourcing. We now look at life of people in shipping docks who are involved in smuggling trade in to Baltimore. The docks are dying, running off technology that is decades old and realizing that their skills  are not required in the new world. The next generation of dock children are lost looking for a future for themselves. We go more into the personal lives of our cops, or the lack of it.

The beauty of Wire is that it keeps on introducing new characters and yet each one fits the system. Season 3 goes back to the streets where there is a new attempt to legalize drugs in order to keep streets crime free. This season of The Wire starts going more into the political angles of the city, how police is controlled by corrupt mayors and how political players manipulate the system for their own good.

Many call the fourth season of The Wire as its greatest. One reason is that by third season, we are totally invested into this world,  we are comfortable being in it. We want to know what happens to our friends and what's new in store. The Wire does not disappoint. In the fourth season, The Wire takes on the education system by focussing on how our schools are failing. Reality is grim. It drains you all your energy by mere thinking about it. The system is fucked up that it is beyond anyone to set it straight. No one knows how to set is straight. And the worst part is that no one even wants to talk about it. Not David Simon. It is in this season that it hits us that this is the greatest strength of the wire. To take the ugly ,the broken, the untouchable and the untalkable and bring it into our living rooms, make it palatable although with huge gulps, to start conversations, to make us understand that the cocoon in which we live in is not the only world that is out there. Fourth season can be enjoyed on its own but to see it as a continuation of first, second and third season is something else. The paining which started on a handkerchief sized canvas is now covering the entire Berlin wall.

Fifth season extends on the fourth one by going into the dying print journalism industry. It has been called a very weak season but a David Simon blog post justifies the season. He writes that it is equally important to see what is not being said as it is to see what is been told. The meta takes a whole new meaning.


The Rage
The Wire is an outcome of a rage. The rage of David Simon. On perhaps the greatest country in this Earth, the system is so screwed up that it is beyond repair. If our civilization has to be collapse and thousands of years later if one has to study what led to its collapse, Wire will be one of the best sources to study. The channeling of this rage is evident in several characters. Several shades of rage come out sometimes in rants and sometimes in silences. Every episode starts with a line on an epigraph and each episode does feel like visiting yet another graveyard. With lines like "Maybe we won" and "Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same", there are shades of resignation and comedy.