Week Ending 11/15/24
Dropout humor
I never really thought about College Humor when it was still alive. It just didn’t resonate with me, so I pushed it out of my consciousness. This year, however, my partner got me into Sam Reich’s offshoot Dropout. I’m hooked.
The testing waters phase came from her sharing YouTube clips of “Game Changer.” Then “Make Some Noise.” At first, I recognized Josh Ruben and Jacob Wysocki. Then I started to get familiar with the channel’s regulars like Brennan Lee Mulligan, Grant O’Brien, Ally Beardsley, and Katie Marovitch. Suddenly I was compelled to watch full episodes to see if the vibe proved consistent throughout. It did.
Yes, the shows are funny (often very funny), but they’re also super smart. And, since the talent in front of the camera often double as the writers, no one is ever left hanging out to dry. Everyone is invested in the concept, the bit, each other’s success, and our enjoyment.
“Game Changer” is the flagship. A game show whose rules change every episode (unless the rules are repeated for “sequels” that themselves are tweaked by raising the stakes). I recommend watching from the beginning because the evolution from stage to COVID Zoom calls to epic outside-the-box chaos is impressive.
“Make Some Noise” is one such game that proved so successful (in large part to Mulligan, Ruben, and Zac Oyama’s chemistry) that they “spun it off unchanged” into its own thing. But there’s also new programming centering many of the actors I grew to love from their participation in “Game Changer.” Vic Michaelis’ “Very Important People” is a hilarious improv interview show where the host and interviewee don’t know who the later will be (or look like) until the cameras roll. Lily Du’s “Dirty Laundry” is a fun play on Mafia wherein she reads secrets that her four guests submitted and lets them guess (or hide) whose it is.
The one that you need to see, though? “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson.” While the game shows bleeding over into sketch comedy are the easy draw, you really start to see the potential of what Reich is doing by platforming talented friends in ways that let them go wild both in accordance with the assignment and to their heart’s desire.
Grace leads the third episode of “Dropout Presents” and boy is it a revelation of intelligent commentary and laugh-out-loud hysterics. Based on his own Fringe performance, the piece plays like a live show before revealing itself to be much more once meta cycles and fourth wall breaking constructions bring us into the complex and often impossible position of being an artist in a post-capitalist society. And being a person of color within that art world. And being a flawed human being who deserves dignity on planet Earth.
Did all that sound like I’m a paid spokesperson hocking Dropout subscriptions? Welp, this won’t help. Because despite “Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson” probably hitting regardless, the things he does at the tail-end really transcend if you’re familiar with the channel’s brand. Having watched “Game Changer” et al. this past year added a whole other level of understanding. It’s therefore worth delving into it all. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
What I Watched:
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT
(limited release)
Spoken by one of the nameless people we assume writer/director Payal Kapadia interviewed for their take on city living after growing up in the country, the above words resonated with me in light of everything that was been happening politically here in America with citizens continuing to vote against their own best interests. It's easy to say they are stupid or stubborn, but a lot of it does probably come from the fear of discovering there's no way out of their current predicament. So, they believe in the illusion that they deserve more rather than enough. They feed into the idea of an American Dream that may never have existed at all because resigning oneself to that truth is too horrible to fathom.
The sentiments aren't quite steeped in the same meaning where it concerns All We Imagine as Light, but there is still that notion of doubling down into one's own sunk cost fallacy since the prospect of admitting it's time to start over feels like an unacceptable alternative. Many of the people who've come to Mumbai to find success and happiness are left with only struggle. There's the home sickness. The financial issues. The loneliness. Dr. Manoj (Azees Nedumangad) wonders if the city doesn't actually have anything to offer him. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) has two decades of her life erased by a construction company looking to evict her without compensation. Mumbai might have taken more than it gave.
While those two exist on polar opposite ends of the spectrum (he's unrooted enough to cut ties without consequences and she's deeply rooted yet unable to stop external forces from digging her up), it's the two women in-between who lead Kapadia's feature narrative debut. Prabha (Kani Kusruti) is entrenched as a respected nurse who fulfills her duty as a Hindu woman in society and as a Hindu wife in a marriage with a husband she's only seen for about a week before he went back to Germany for work. Anu (Divya Prabha) is a new recruit basking in the freedom Mumbai has to offer from oppressive parents seeking to plan her future for her. The former has yet to fully embrace the opportunity to discover an identity of her own while the latter might have embraced it too much.
The contrasting parallels connecting these roommates are therefore the film's backbone. Prabha enjoys the company of Dr. Manoj, but would never consider romantic feelings since she's already married—regardless of how that marriage is in name only. Anu sneaks off with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon), a Muslim boy whose parents would never accept a Hindu woman just as hers would never accept him. Tradition becomes Prabha's prison. Religion is Anu's. The former is ruled by the guilt of straying from who she is as a wife while the latter is led by the desire to never regret missing out on an opportunity for love. Both are confused and worried about unseen futures dictated by people other than themselves.
It's interesting then that Parvaty becomes a sort of guide towards answers while falling victim to the same fate. She doesn't want to leave the city, but she has no choice. Her fight is a lost cause in the eyes of the law and she has zero allies to change its mind in a world where the company kicking her out pitches prospective new residents with the slogan that "privilege should only be given to the privileged." Prabha and Anu are able to see Parvaty as cautionary tale and aspiration. By witnessing what has happened to her, they can project themselves onto that path to consider if following suit wouldn't be so bad. Her village serves as a paradise of possibility by giving them the chance to step outside of who they're supposed to be so they can decide what it is they want.
The juxtaposition is obvious. Mumbai is noise and haste. Parvaty's home is calm serenity. Where she laments the lack of electricity in the city after hers is shut off in a bid to force her out quicker, the lack of it on the beach isn't an issue at all. There's privacy here too. Anu and Shiaz can walk the sand without worrying about who might see them instead of needing to hide in the trees to steal a kiss. Prabha can run down to the water with worrying about mixed company whereas just the attempt by Manoj to talk to her forces a calculated pose and cadence so as not to be labeled a "flirt." The place that's supposed to provide the potential for your dreams to come true proves claustrophobic as a result. The city doesn't help level the economic playing field. It often exacerbates the chasm.
Kusruti and Prabha (the actor who plays Anu, not the character played by Kusruti) are great in these roles. You really get a sense of the conflict that drives them and the uncertainty of letting go from convention when toeing the line is quite literally a necessity for survival. It's an empowering journey for both characters too considering their evolution from following the lead of the men in their lives to forcing those men to adhere to their terms instead. And their epiphanies arrive in profoundly warm, mystical fashion compared to the cold, industrialized complex of the start—a cave of sculptures and lovers' declarations for Anu and a fantasized reunion for Prabha. By escaping the grind, these women can reset, turn the page, and take control.
- 8/10
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL
(in theaters)
There are the cages people put us in and the cages we construct around ourselves. Grace Pudel (Sarah Snook) is a victim of both.
The first prison she resided in, however, was created by fate. Born the twin of Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), both children would enter this world at the price of their mother leaving it. And since their Frenchman father (Dominique Pinon's Percy) had recently fallen victim to a drunk driving accident (leaving him a paraplegic and alcoholic himself), the siblings were forced to fend for themselves even before they were actually, inevitably left alone. Percy's death and the lack of homes willing to take on two children at once meant separate foster homes on opposite sides of the Australian desert.
Oscar-winning (for animated short Harvie Krumpet) filmmaker Adam Elliot's latest Memoir of a Snail starts at the end with an older Grace reminiscing about a life marred by tragedy to her best friend—a snail named Sylvia. Her best human friend Pinky (Jacki Weaver) has just passed from old age and Grace can't help but take stock in everything she's experienced up until this point in the hopes of finding a path out of the malaise and pain of grief yet again. So, she goes back to the beginning. Birth. Becoming an orphan. Lonely togetherness and lonely isolation. Even the happy moments ultimately reveal themselves to be carrying an unavoidably nightmarish wrinkle.
The film is shot entirely in "clayography" with nary a second of CGI. It's a feat worth mentioning because of the amount of fire (what looks like crinkling cellophane) and expansive sets (the opening credits one-shot unfolds via a swooping camera through a massive, hoarded pile of meticulously positioned objects) being used. Add the water (a surplus of tears and even sweat drops upon an upper lip) and meta stop-motion (Percy was an animator and Grace aspires to follow in his footsteps) and the detail to craft is impossible to ignore.
Where it stands apart from its ilk, though, is the darkly comic subject matter that pulls zero punches. Bullying. Abandonment. Bigotry. Religious zealotry. Psychological disorders. Gaslighting. Grace's tale consists of horror story after horror story with nothing but the letters from her brother and the kindness of an aging Pinky to shine a light through the darkness. This is a character mired in depression almost from her first breath and she fills the emotional void with things (preferably snail-related) until her only outlet with which to continue forward despite being broke is to steal. So, of course, what should have been the happiest day of her life instead proves to be the worst.
Thankfully, those moments of despair do sometimes carry a gift of perspective. Grace is a compassionate and caring soul who can be easily manipulated by exploitative personalities, so the chance to pause and look around with open (albeit tearful) eyes is crucial to her salvation. It helps that there's always been a bit of magic in her life too. Coincidences aren't therefore a product of luck as much as karma. After all the suffering she's been made to endure, she deserves a couple wins—even if just by accident. Our hope is that one day she'll be able to break free from the chains of her past to embrace an unknown future.
It's not a mistake then that Memoir of a Snail is R-rated. Yes, it earns the distinction with nudity and language, but I'm talking about the fact that its lesson isn't meant for children. Grace is an adult by the time she faces her moment of reflection and epiphany. She's already survived a debilitating childhood and is now facing the ramifications of the coping mechanisms she adopted to do so. Her kindness and morality are unassailable, so the lesson isn't to be better to others. No, Grace must learn to be better to herself. Sure, kids can benefit from that knowledge too, but they have time to figure it out. Adults in Grace's circumstances often believe their time has passed.
What Grace (and we) discover here, however, is that it's never too late. You can make the choice to stop going backwards along the trails you've already walked and become the snail who steadfastly moves ahead. You might even surprise yourself to find the way forward was always unblocked and waiting. You must only allow yourself the opportunity to notice it.
- 8/10
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This week saw THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (2017), GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE (2012), and HEREAFTER (2010) added to the archive (cinematicfbombs.com).
Helen Mirren dropping an f-bomb in THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS.
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 11/15/24 -
GHOST CAT ANZU at Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
KANGUVA at Regal Elmwood & Transit
MATKA at Regal Elmwood & Transit
A REAL PAIN at Dipson Amherst; Regal Quaker
RED ONE at Dipson Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
THE SABARMATI REPORT at Regal Elmwood
TUMBBAD at Regal Elmwood
I reviewed this one at The Film Stage all the way back in 2018. It’s finally getting a stateside release.
Streaming from 11/15/24 -
AN ALMOST CHRISTMAS STORY – Disney+ on 11/15
THELMA – Hulu on 11/15
“Margolin and Squibb's spin on well-worn genre tropes proves so wholesome that they were able to get away with a PG-13 rating despite three f-bombs. You cannot keep this granny down.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
THE HONORABLE SHYNE – Hulu on 11/18
WATCHMEN: CHAPTER 1 – Max on 11/18
NIGHT IS NOT ETERNAL – Max on 11/19
BUY NOW! THE SHOPPING CONSPIRACY – Netflix on 11/20
GTMAX – Netflix on 11/20
THE MERRY GENTLEMEN – Netflix on 11/20
SURVEILLED – Max on 11/20
MAYBE BABY 2 – Netflix on 11/21
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
GOODRICH (11/12)
GUARDIANS (11/12)
LET’S START A CULT (11/12)
THE LINE (11/12)
MAGPIE (11/12)
“Ridley and Latif play their parts in this pulpy thriller's machinations to perfection, so don't be embarrassed if you end up standing to cheer the satisfying result.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
RULE OF TWO WALLS (11/12)
“This film is as much a window into Ukraine as it is an object itself—a manifestation of Ukraine's soul. The result is a captivating piece that provides a different look at a familiar topic.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
RUMOURS (11/12)
“Those paying attention to the degradation of politicians into empty suits in it for the money won't gain new insight, but it is a laugh watching grown adults with nuclear arsenals smiling like children when someone compliments the dumb thing they said.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
SATURDAY NIGHT (11/12)
YOUR MONSTER (11/12)
ALLSWELL IN NEW YORK (11/15)
GET FAST (11/15)
RED ISLAND (11/15)
“Campillo's goal was to tell this tale from a child's eyes rather than document the events themselves. In many instances the filmmaker is trying to have it both ways only to end up smoothing down the edges.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.