Category: Film

Bingeing on Films & TV

JWF Leave a comment

To celebrate the departure of 2020 and to break the usual routine, the Chief Penguin and I indulged in several films. Then we continued our practice of watching one of several series in the evening. We began Thursday, Friday and Saturday with what we called Morning Movie Madness—a feature length film viewed after breakfast and after our sometimes morning walk.

FILMS

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)

Set in Chicago in 1927 during a studio recording session, this play by August Wilson focuses on Ma Rainey’s band members, and the anger, disappointment, and rage they experience as Black men in a white world.  One man is philosophical and still dreams, while another seethes.   Young Levee, a talented and conceited trumpeter, has ambition, but depths of resentment that erupt abruptly.  

Levee (nypost.com)

Chadwick Boseman is brilliant as Levee in his last performance, while Viola Davis is superb as Ma Rainey.  Although the setting is a recording session, there is little music and lots of conversation.  A serious play with relevance for today.

Mank (Netflix)

This is a dense film full of flashbacks. It’s based on screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz’s labored writing of the script for what became Citizen Kane, released in 1941. Orson Welles produced, starred in and directed that film and also received partial credit for its writing.  Kane, the character, is a composite of several moguls including William Randolph Hearst.  

Hearst, Louis Mayer, and Irving Thalberg are all characters in Mank, and this film lays bare the nasty politics and smear tactics employed by movie studios in the 1930’s.   I didn’t love this film, but appreciated the cinematography (shot in black and white) and afterwards, sorted out the sequence of events.  The Chief Penguin thought it was superb and considers it a strong Oscar contender.

On the Rocks (Apple +)

A full-page ad in the newspaper led me to this film by Sofia Coppola.  Laura, a young mother and writer, is stuck and feels unappreciated and ignored by her busy husband.  Her playboy father, played by Bill Murray, is lonely and wants attention. He encourages Laura’s worries and, wondering if his son-in-law is having an affair, involves his daughter in all sorts of tracking adventures.  It’s light fare and lightweight.  I’d call it just fair overall.

SERIES OFFERINGS 

Murder in Manhattan

The Undoing (HBO) 6 episodes

Jonathan, Elena, and Grace (express.co.uk)

Thanks to Cynthia for recommending this crime thriller.  It’s on HBO, but you can purchase it without becoming an HBO subscriber.

When Elena, the mother of an elementary student at a posh private school is murdered, suspicion falls upon oncologist Jonathan Fraser and his therapist wife Grace.  Their son Henry is a classmate of Elena’s son.  The series focuses on the Fraser family including Grace’s wealthy father (Donald Sutherland).  Did Jonathan commit the murder?  Can his brilliant lawyer save him?  Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman play the lead roles.  I found it suspenseful and enjoyed the acting along with street scenes I recognized. 

Marriage Mart in Regency England

Bridgerton (Netflix) 6 episodes

Simon & Daphne (hellomagazine.com)

Using the romance novels of Julia Quinn as a jumping off point, Shonda Rhimes has created a series that is fun, frothy at times, bold, and always sexy with plenty of skin.  She has updated the hunt for an eligible male with a racially diverse cast (the real Queen Charlotte may have been mixed race!) and incorporated contemporary songs played in a classical style.  Randy men (rakes, some) indulge in the pleasures of the flesh while young women are expected to remain untouched and virginal until their wedding nights.  

The focus is on Daphne Bridgerton of a prominent family and Simon Basset, the enigmatic Duke of Hastings, who has just returned to London.  Simon has vowed to never marry, and Daphne wants only to marry for love. Together, they pretend to be attracted to one another to ward off suitors and ambitious mothers.  Daphne and her nerdy sister Eloise push back against society’s expectations. Eloise and another Bridgerton sibling even share a cigarette in the garden! 

The costumes are gorgeous and the ballrooms elegant, while Lady Whistledown’s scandal sheet is brought to life and wit with voiceover by Julie Andrews.  Overall, it is a definite change of pace from more staid historical dramas!  

Header image is Viola Davis as Ma Rainey (okayplayer.com)

Happy young woman watching TV

2020 in TV: My Favorites

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When I went back through my blog posts for 2020, I was surprised at how many TV series I had watched, particularly since March. I have listed only a selection, but these are the ones I thought were the best or enjoyed the most. In several cases, the categories are in order of preference rather than alphabetically. Happy viewing!

TV MINISERIES

DETECTIVES, CRIMES & SPIES 

Acceptable Risk (Acorn)

An Irish series set in Dublin and Montreal, this pharmaceutical puzzler involves the murder of a high-level drug company executive and the investigation that follows, initiated by his wife, a lawyer for the corporation.  One of the best series we viewed this year!

DCI Banks (Amazon Prime)

Helen, Alan Banks, Annie (tv.eiga.com)

Complex series set in Yorkshire with fully developed characters based on the novels of Peter Robinson.

The Night Manager (Amazon Prime)

A suspenseful series based on the novel by John le Carre.  Hotel manager Jonathan Pine is recruited to spy on wealthy businessman Richard Roper who is suspected of illegal arms deals.  Hugh Laurie is perfect as Roper.

The Sommerdahl Murders (Acorn)

Danish detective Dan Sommerdahl works with his crime technician wife Marianne and his best friend, who’s very friendly with Marianne.  A lively series from Scandinavia.

Inspector Vivaldi Mysteries (Amazon Prime)

Wonderful Italian detective series set in Trieste.  Frederico Vivaldi is the lead detective and his son Stefano is also a police officer.  Their relationship is strained while Stefano’s mother, Laura, tries to ease the tension.

(pbs.org)

Flesh and Blood (PBS Masterpiece)

Her three grown children are distraught when their widowed mother, played by Francesca Annis, takes up with a retired doctor.  A fascinating thriller with a twist!

Mystery Road (Amazon Prime)

Detective Jay Swan is sent to help find two missing boys in Australia’s outback.  Great portrayal of the mistrust and suspicion between the indigenous people and whites.  

DOCUMENTARIES

Lenox Hill (Netflix)

Dedicated NYC hospital neurosurgeons and their patients in an emotionally charged and incredibly candid series. The lead doctors are graduates of Penn’s medical school.

Soldier Father Son (New York Times)

Single father, a soldier, raising his two sons, one of whom follows in his footsteps.

HISTORICAL DRAMAS

Belgravia (Epix)

London, 1840, striving middle class family vs. upper class toffs in a tangled story of love, marriage and ambition. Based on Julian Fellowes’ novel of the same name.

The English Game (Netflix)

A most absorbing series about the game of soccer and the rivalry between the mill workers’ teams and those of the arrogant rich.  This is Julian Fellowes at his best!

DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENCE

Self-Made (Netflix)

Madam CJ Walker was a Black cosmetics entrepreneur, a success story in an earlier and more difficult time for women and minorities.

A Secret Love (Netflix)

A documentary about a lesbian couple who lived together in Canada for six decades.  Most of that time they were closeted and presented themselves as simply close friends.

FAMILY DYNAMICS

The Restaurant (Our Time is Now) (Amazon Prime, Sundance)

This Swedish series follows restaurant owners Helga and her adult children, Gustaf, Peter, and Nina, from 1945 to the early 1970’s.  A social history of the era midst the trials and tribulations of love, marriage, and career.  Excellent!

Unorthodox (Netflix)

This semi-autobiographical series follows Esther Shapiro, a Hasidic Jew, through marriage and flight from her home in Brooklyn to refuge in Berlin.  

From Father to Daughter (Amazon Prime)

The coming of age of the daughters in an Italian winemaking family.  Documents these females’ evolving role in the family and the business over several decades.

LONG-RUNNING SERIES

Endeavour (PBS)

(radiotimes.com)

This year was Season 7 of the adventures of Morse and Inspector Thursday, and it was as good as ever!

Grantchester (PBS Masterpiece)

Season 5 was the second season with Will Davenport as the new vicar replacing Sydney.  While it took some adjustment for us, Will has settled in. These episodes with his sidekick Geordie were both deeper and darker in character.  

NOTEWORTHY FILMS

(vulture.com)

Since we haven’t been in a movie theater since Covid-19, we’ve seen relatively few films. Nonetheless, these several stood out and are in order of preference.

1917

A grim, painful, and gripping focus on one particular battle during WWI.  

On the Basis of Sex

We viewed this after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.  It’s a marvelous testament to how she advanced equal rights early on in her career.

Radioactive (Amazon Prime)

This is a biographical film based on the graphic novel of the same name by Lauren Redniss.  Some interesting special effects and a sometimes strange juxtaposition of modern-day events with those of Marie Curie’s life. Still worth watching.

The Return (Acorn)

After serving ten years in prison for the killing of her doctor husband, Lizzie returns to her small hometown in Ireland.  Poignant and moving with Julie Walters in the lead role.

Note: Header image of young woman watching TV from vectorstock.com

Yellow orchid blooms

Tidy Tidbits: Tropical Blooms & Exotic Settings

JWF Leave a comment

When you can’t travel to new destinations, then it’s best to enjoy what’s local and watch or read about other times, other places. We did some of both this past week.

ORCHID SHOW—LOCAL COLOR

For their 45th annual orchid show, Selby Gardens honors founder Marie Selby and celebrates the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.  Entitled, Women Breaking the Glasshouse Ceiling, the displays in the conservatory feature purple, white, and gold, the colors most closely associated with the suffrage movement.  The orchids are beautiful as always, and this year, some of the arrangements revolve. There’s even a mobile of orchids and cut-outs.

Gold orchids

 Music from the 1920’s and period furnishings provide an appropriate backdrop. It’s all quite stylish.

The show runs until November 29 and is definitely worth a visit. There’s much more to see besides this exhibit.   For a a video preview, click here.

Creamy white orchids
Everyone must wear a mask!

EXOTIC LOCALES—VIEWING AND READING

The White Countess (Amazon Prime)

With a star-studded cast including Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson as the principals, plus Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, this is Merchant Ivory’s last film.  It’s set in Shanghai in 1936, and former American diplomat Todd Jackson is a recluse.  Now blind, his life marred by tragedy, he aimlessly whiles away his nights in sleazy clubs.  He’s well off, but a displaced family of Russian emigres lives crowded together in the ghetto.  

Among them is former countess Sofia, who works as a dancer and prostitute to support her young daughter Katya.  Sofia becomes Todd’s muse and inspiration for creating his own elite nightclub.  Watching these lost souls cautiously connect before the Japanese invade is a long drawn out process.  The overall great cast makes this an enjoyable escape from the everyday. Thanks to my friend Mary for recommending it!  

Singapore Sapphire by A. M. Stuart

Set in Singapore in 1910, this is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Harriet Gordon, a young widow and former suffragette, and Inspector Robert Curran.  Harriet is a relatively recent arrival in Singapore.  She volunteers at the English-style boys’ school headed up by her brother and takes on freelance typing jobs.  

When Harriet goes to retrieve her typewriter from a recent client, Sir Oswald Newbold, she finds him dead and his study ransacked. Curran, a former military policeman and cricket star, is assigned with his team to find the killer.  Other suspicious deaths and disappearances follow and Harriet, both curious and restless, gets involved too.  Add into the mix, art and artifacts, ruby mines, and gem dealers and you have an engaging, even exciting, plot.   (~JWFarrington)

Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Diversions: Other Lives on Screen & Page

JWF 2 Comments

RECENT READING

EVOCATIVE MEMOIR

The Farmer’s Son:  Calving Season on a Family Farm by John Connell

(irishcentral.com)

I had read good reviews of this work and since we were originally going to Ireland this month, I was doubly attracted to it.  Connell’s account of the months from January to June working on his father’s farm in County Longford delivering calves and lambs is both precise and brooding.  The work is hard, physical and unending, the winter weather cold and damp, the unexpected expected, and the life isolating.  His father is a difficult man with a temper and they often argue and then go for long periods without speaking. 

One feels initially that Connell only reluctantly returned to the farm to deal with personal issues and to grapple with his writing.  The farm is a stark contrast to his previous life in Toronto and only gradually do his ties to the land and his connection to nature return to the fore.  His plain prose often surprises with its literary references while he conveys the details of delivering an animal, the evolutionary history of the cow, and shares his thoughts on his faith and his few friendships.  It’s chock-full of the endless round of daily farm chores and what they entail, but what remains with me is Connell’s journey to a fuller understanding of who he is and where he fits in.  Almost haunting.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

ILLUMINATING BIOGRAPHY

What Stars Are Made Of:  The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin by Donovan Moore

(nymag.com)

Like too many scientific fields, astronomy was a closed circle of men until well into the 20th century, open just a sliver for smart women (known as “computers”) whose job was to collect data.  Cecilia Payne was an exception.  Brilliant, driven, and not deterred by social mores or niceties, she barreled through, or navigated around, the hurdles designed to keep women in their place.  And, she was responsible for discovering the primary element found in stars.  

An English woman who studied at Cambridge, England, she was urged to come to the U.S., specifically to Harvard, where opportunities for women scientists were marginally better.  Intending to stay just for the duration of her fellowship, she ended up spending her entire career at Harvard, becoming the first chair of the astronomy department and ultimately, being granted the rank of full professor.  

Cecilia came of age in the 1920’s and, in the U.K. academic world, women were strictly governed by rules of dress and conduct.  From being heckled on the way down the lecture hall to the front row seats, to not being able to work alone with a male student or scientist in the observatory, learning required persistence and boldness.  Moore’s biography is engaging and accessible, and while focused on Payne-Gaposchkin, is a lesson in astronomy and a history of notables in the field, both men and women.  Thanks to my friend Suzy for the recommendation. (~JWFarrington)

CHOICE VIEWING

PHARMACEUTICAL PUZZLER

Acceptable Risk (Acorn)

(rte.ie)

This is one of the best crime/mystery series I’ve watched recently.  When an executive for global pharmaceutical firm leaves his home in Dublin for a meeting in Montreal, he never returns.  Lee Manning’s violent death raises alarms in Sarah, his lawyer wife, and sets her on a trail for answers to what all his international travel entailed.  Sarah worked for the same firm, Gumbiner-Fischer,  and has two children.  Probing close-mouthed company officers and getting nowhere, she teams up with police detective Emer Byrne, who later is officially removed from the case.  What was really going on at the firm and why all the secrets?  Intriguing, fascinating and totally absorbing!

ESCAPE FROM THE MIDWEST

The Chaperone (Amazon Prime)

(pbs.org)

This film is adapted from a novel of the same name by Laura Moriarty.  It’s the early 1920’s and 16-year old Louise Brooks from Kansas City, has been selected to spend the summer with the Denishawn School of dance in New York.  It’s a long train journey from her home to the city, and she needs a chaperone.  Her mother recruits an acquaintance, Mrs. Norma Carlisle, to accompany Louise and stay with her during the auditioning process.  Louise is feisty and bold and challenges the very proper, straitlaced Norma at every turn, as they both explore a new world of experiences.  Louise Brooks is a real person who eventually became a popular silent screen star.  This is light fare, a pleasant diversion for a summer afternoon, and fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy seeing Elizabeth McGovern blossom as Norma.

Note: The header photo seen in a restaurant run by women, “Behind every successful woman is HERSELF” seemed appropriate for this blog which is mostly about determined women.