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denimbex1986 · 1 year ago

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'David Tennant bounds into the room, friendly, super articulate and energetic.

The actor and Doctor Who favourite, regularly voted the best Doctor by fans, is set to appear once again as the Time Lord in the forthcoming 60th anniversary specials.

The ongoing actors' strike prevents him from talking about those (Doctor Who is now a BBC/Disney co-production and US actors' union Sag-Aftra has been on strike since July).

But we're together, in a room full of books and leftover croissants - clearly actors need sustenance - to talk about Shakespeare, a playwright Tennant calls a "genius" who "had a particular sense of what it is to be a human" and expresses it "in a way no one else really does".

Tennant, who is an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company, is steeped in the Bard. One critic described his Hamlet, which aired on the BBC in 2009, as "theatrical history in the making".

He excelled as Romeo and Richard II and, when we met, had just finished his first day of rehearsals for an already sold out run of Macbeth at London's Donmar Warehouse.

He's no-nonsense about the superstition of only referring to this most atmospheric work as the "Scottish play". Tennant freely uses the word "Macbeth".

But he admits to terrible nerves ahead of the show - however successful you are, it never gets any better, he says.

Renowned actors have been in his shoes; famously Lord Olivier was Macbeth to Vivien Leigh's Lady Macbeth in 1955, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench had their turn in 1976 and Sir Antony Sher and Dame Harriet Walter in 1999.

For Tennant, Shakespearean roles are like "Olympic events for an actor".

"The idea that you're being invited to stand next to these greats and sort of challenge yourself, test yourself against them and see if you've got something new to bring to that… that's part of what's exciting about it."

West Lothian-born Tennant "always wanted to be an actor" (his childhood obsession with Doctor Who had a big part to play in that) and from the way people talked about the plays, "I knew there was something magical about Shakespeare."

But that didn't mean he was immediately hooked when introduced to Macbeth at school - although he's at pains to praise his teacher.

He says the plays were written to be performed and it's "a shame that the first experience of Shakespeare is sitting in a classroom, trying to mouth these words that don't sit in your mouth and don't necessarily make a lot of sense to you at the age of 14".

"That's why a lot of people fall out of love with Shakespeare before they've really had a chance to fall in love."

Tennant fell in love when TAG, a Glasgow theatre company, brought As You Like It to his school's assembly hall. "I didn't necessarily understand every word and some of it felt perhaps a little unnatural and foreign to me". But the teenage Tennant was transported "because it was live and it was happening".

Now his head is brimful of a play that opens with three witches plotting and takes us on a journey of murder and guilt. Tennant says Shakespeare's take is "incredibly modern".

"The way he expresses Macbeth's fear of never sleeping, the torture of being in the restless ecstasy of never being able to close your eyes."

Even for Tennant, though, Shakespeare needs decoding. He tells me, when he opens one of the plays, he "100%" puts the modern translation next to the old. He deciphers the language so theatre audiences don't have to.

"If we're doing our job halfway properly, you shouldn't have to worry about understanding every syllable. You will be transported by it."

There can, though, be layers of meaning that still surprise you 10 weeks into a run, he says. "Usually on a wet Wednesday afternoon matinee, you'll suddenly go 'oh, that's what that line means.'"

Macbeth is one of 18 Shakespeare plays that would have disappeared if, seven years after his death, the actors John Heminges and Henry Condell hadn't published their friend's greatest plays in the First Folio.

That book was the first time the plays had been put together.

Before then, only 18 had been printed, in small paperback editions known as quartos.

The First Folio was registered for publication on 8 November 1623.

There were 750 copies made. Without it, we could have lost all the unprinted plays, around half of Shakespeare's works, including not just Macbeth but Julius Caesar, The Tempest, As You Like It and Twelfth Night.

Four hundred years on, 235 original First Folios are known to survive - 150 are in the US, and about 50 in the UK and Ireland.

The BBC is running a huge amount of content to mark the 400th anniversary. The celebratory season will include the 2018 adaptation of King Lear starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Shakespeare Live! from the RSC, and a semi-fictionalised comic drama on Radio 4 about the creation of the First Folio.

Tennant says: "The reason that those plays are still performed around the world and the reason that Shakespeare is the cultural colossus that he is, is because that book was published."...

For Tennant, Shakespeare is "weirdly modern" because he captures how complicated it is to be human.

"He writes about the moment he was in, which seems to, by dint of his genius, also be the moment we are in."

Tennant is one of the UK's most exciting actors, known to wider audiences not just for Doctor Who and Broadchurch, but his film role as Barty Crouch Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

But you get the sense that there's even more magic, for Tennant, in performing Shakespeare.

It's why he is celebrating the anniversary of the First Folio, that book that was the first step in creating a legacy for the greatest playwright in the English speaking world.'

#Shakespeare #David Tennant #Macbeth #Donmar Warehouse #Doctor Who #Broadchurch #Barty Crouch Jr.#Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire #60th Anniversary #Richard II #Romeo #Hamlet #RSC

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bambiesque · 1 year ago

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New thread for Whittaker!Doctor.

Episode: The Woman Who Fell to Earth - Hi, Ryan, Yas, Graham! I love how Northern it is. Sonic Swiss Army Knife - thank you! The tooth monster is so horrible. I like that Ryan is the Doctor's favourite because he agrees with her, just like Five and Nyssa. Good start.

Episode: The Ghost Monument - I like the new credits more than Twelve's. Venusian aikido! Ohm, Ryan used a gun so he's no longer the Doctor's fave. Honestly, the Doctor running to greet the TARDIS was quite romantic. Love the new look.

Episode: Rosa - Great episode. Ryan especially is excellent - love that he keeps using Rosa Parks' and MLK's full names. A proper history episode, haven't had one of those in a long time.

Episode: Arachnids in the UK - Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Silly fun, enjoyable but no thanks to the giant spiders.

Episode: The Tsuranga Conundrum - Nice to see Brett Goldstein. Bit of a mixed bag though. I liked Graham and Ryan's story better than Eve's. The Pting is very cute.

Episode: Demons of the Punjab - Another lovely historical episode. I do like that it's teaching us things. Graham is very wise. Once again, the Doctor has learnt nothing about taking companions to see their relatives.

Episode: Kerblam! - That robot delivery thing is horrible. Poor Kira, I liked her. It was a fine episode but nothing very exciting.

Episode: The Witchfinders - I love Alan Cumming. I'm surprised The Doctor hasn't been burnt at the stake for witchcraft before now tbh. The historical stuff has been really great this season.

Episode: It Takes You Away - Yas wanting to reverse the polarity was a highlight. Sad but lovely. And Ryan calling Graham grandad was very touching.

Episode: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos - Not a great series end but also not terrible. I enjoyed it on the whole. I love the whole TARDIS team.

Episode: Resolution - Your standard Dalek story but it was very enjoyable. Like the extended fam. I love how Yorkshire Whittaker!Doctor is.

Episode: Spyfall 1/2 - Great introduction for Dhawan!Master. (I still miss Missy though). Everyone looks fantastic in their tuxes. Fab Bond episode to start and then a nice historical ep with Ada Lovelace and Noor Inayar Khan. Love the Doctor's eyerolling over the Master's theatrics and then they go to the Eiffel Tower for a date. Bless. Aaand then Gallifrey is destroyed again. *sigh*

Episode: Orphan 55 - Nice exciting episode. Loved all the characters and the very tight plot. One of the best.

Episode: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror - I do enjoy the historical episodes and the little educational asides. Good but not one of my favourites.

Episode: Fugitive of the Judoon - Jack! I like Ruth. A very exciting episode, a good mystery and lots of interesting things going on. Whittaker!Doctor is brilliant.

Episode: Praxeus - I liked everyone getting to go off and do their own thing. Too many creepy birds though. Some nice educational moments.

Episode: Can You Hear Me? - Love Whittaker!Doctor talking to herself and forgetting she's alone. Love how awkward she is when Graham is trying to talk to her. Yaz's story made me cry.

Episode: The Haunting of Villa Diodati - Gorgeous, creepy, funny. A perfect episode.

Episode: Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children - I don't hate the Doctor's history reveal. I think destroying Gallifrey again was stupid and I don't understand why we're still associating The Master and the Cybermen this closely.

Episode: Revolution of the Daleks - Harriet Walter! Jack! I like that Ryan and Graham decide to leave and aren't forced out traumatically like all the other New!Who companions. It's just a continuation of Resolution and the Dalek story isn't as good as that one.

Episode: The Halloween Apocalypse - I like the way everything is set up for the whole season. It makes an interesting change. Not sure how I feel about Dan yet.

Episode: War of the Sontarans - Yay Mary Seacole! I do like Sontarans but I don't like the makeup this time. Swarm and Azure's makeup however is amazing.

Episode: Once, Upon Time - I love Bel. I think her and Vinder's story is the most interesting this season. I'm still not really invested in Dan.

Episode: Village of the Angels - A good episode but I didn't really like the ending. I do love a good weeping angel episode though.

Episode: Survivors of the Flux - Yaz looks fantastic in all her 1904 outfits. I don't really care about the Flux or Division - I don't think more mysterious secret organisations were needed. Kate!!!!

Episode: The Vanquishers - Oh there's two Whittaker!Doctors in the same place at the same time. Yaz is having so many impure thoughts. Poor Jericho.

Episode: Eve of the Daleks - Time Loop! My favourite trope. I loved it. And yay to Dan for giving a few home truths to the Doctor and listening to Yaz.

Episode: Legend of the Sea Devils - Pirates, beautiful ships, swordfights, Whittaker!Doctor being brave and honest with Yaz. Lovely ending.

Episode: The Power of the Doctor - This episode is going to make me cry isn't it? Oh yes, the regenerating Cybermen. Ugh. ACE!!! TEGAN MY LOVE!!! Bye, Dan. I'm so pleased they all made their own choice to leave. "Your Master awaits." But what do they mean by that? Really? KATE!!! She did not sign up for this drama. The Master is looking good like a professor. "How did you escape from Gallifrey?" How does he escape from anything, Doctor? FFS. Love a bunker. Lava pools seem to be Whittaker!Doctor's quarry. Poor UNIT. Dear lord, just ask her on a date, you idiot. It's not really regeneration, so much as a body swap. Oh Tegan <3 Lol at the Master wearing a bit of every Doctor. All the Doctors. I'm crying. Yaz is awesome. I love Tegan so much. I love Ace. I love the Master's emo hood. Brave heart, Tegan. *crying forever* "All children leave home!" *yeah I'm never going to stop crying* Graham! Oh Kate <3 The only thing I like about the regenerating Cybermen is the beautiful Galifreyan swirlies. Oh poor Master. He needs some hugs and some therapy. Him and his bisexual TARDIS. I do love that there's five women here and one man. And the Cloister bell. Oh Yaz <3 Jo!!!!!!! My darling, Jo. Ian! Mel! Tag, you're it! Incredible. Hello (again) David.

Whittaker!Doctor Era Roundup

I love Jodie. I love the fam. I love how Yorkshire it is. I don't really have a strong opinion about the Timeless Child revelation, but I do think getting rid of Gallifrey again was a mistake. I hope we can dispense with the Master & Cybermen connection now too. Overall, I love how Whittaker!Doctor was brave, excitable, full of nervous energy and a little bit steampunk!

Favourite Companion: Yaz

Least Favourite Companion: Dan

Favourite Episode: The Haunting of Villa Diodati / The Power of the Doctor

Least Favourite Episode: Revolution of the Daleks

Final Doctor Rankings:

Smith

Davison

Pertwee

Tennant

Capaldi

Whittaker

TBaker

CBaker

McCoy

Troughton

McGann

Eccleston

Hartnell

Top 10 Companions: (Yaz goes in at 13, Kate at 16, Ryan at 20, Graham at 21, Dan at 41)

Jo Grant

Amy Pond

Tegan Jovanka

Rory Williams

Barbara Wright

Vislor Turlough

Clara Oswald

Sarah Jane Smith

Martha Jones

Donna Noble

Top 5 Masters:

Gomez

Delgado

Simm

Dhawan

Ainley

#doctor who #new who #whittaker!doctor #thirteenth doctor

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chiseler · 5 years ago

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Two-faced Woman

Although one image of Joan Crawford has persisted in the cultural memory—a hard woman on the edge of hysteria, with caterpillar eyebrows, big shoulders, and burning eyes—in fact she remade her image many times, perhaps more times than any other star. At MGM in the late 1920s, she was photographed by Ruth Harriet Louise in a dazzling array of personas, almost as though she were auditioning to be a female Lon Chaney—the woman of a thousand faces. It was with George Hurrell, Louise’s successor as chief MGM photographer,that Crawford would define her archetypal look of bold, hard-edged glamour. In the earlier pictures, she hasn’t settled on an identity, and she’s so young there’s still baby fat in her cheeks. In some portraits, with her fresh face and short bob and sporty clothes, she is the twenties’ ideal of the boyish woman. Modeling fur coats, she is a shop girl on the make, eyes uplifted in hungry aspiration. In a black wig, with a handkerchief to her mouth, she tries out the tearful appeal of a wronged maiden. Swathed in a bizarre gold-lamé cowl, with her lips lacquered and her huge, luminous eyes fixed on the camera, she’s an exotic temptress. Gazing up lovingly at Robert Montgomery in a still for Untamed (1929), she’s the girl next door. She did cheesecake photos, but she also appeared as Hamlet in a pose and costume imitating John Barrymore. It’s an extraordinary picture, gorgeous and glowering and—if you look too long at her fierce, dark-rimmed eyes—rather alarming. There’s no Hamlet-like doubt or introspection in them, only implacable will.

This burning drive was always at the heart of Crawford’s screen presence; but throughout her career, the peculiar instability of her identity remained as well. If Barbara Stanwyck was driven by the determination, as she said, to “be the best of all,” Crawford’s drive seems more like a dogged, unappeasable need for approval and acceptance. She could play tough and hard, but it always feels like a brittle shell, as mannered as the refined hauteur she wears in other roles. Underneath is a strange blend of fiendish energy and quivering need. Even in her later roles, when her looks have become harsh, her face can open up in a soft, glowing plea, so naked it’s uncomfortable to watch.

One of the earliest and most interesting demonstrations of Crawford’s duality comes in Rain (1932). (In the silent flapper roles that made her a star, Crawford is radiantly confident and spontaneous in a way she would never quite be again.) This was the second of three Hollywood adaptations of Somerset Maugham’s play, which is also memorably alluded to in Scarface, when Tony Camonte takes his boys to improve their minds at the theater. The play is a scathing attack on missionaries, whose prudishness, sanctimony, and hypocrisy are contrasted with the natural sensuality of life on the tropical island of Pago Pago, and with the compassionate tolerance of disreputable Americans like Sadie Thompson (Crawford), her marine sergeant beau O’Hara (William Gargan), and the philosophical store-keeper Mr. Horn (Guy Kibbee). There is nothing fundamentally implausible about the play’s premise, in which the domineering missionary Alfred Davidson converts Sadie, a loose woman with a shady past, and then succumbs to his own lust for her. But as written, and more importantly as played in the 1932 film, the story comes across as something much stranger and more disturbing.

The problem is that Davidson, as played by Walter Huston, is so hateful, so gratingly smug, spiteful, and bullying, that it’s impossible to believe he could convert anyone. Every one of the sympathetic characters sees through him immediately and despises him. He mercilessly persecutes Sadie, coercing the local governor into deporting her back to San Francisco, where she is wanted for a crime she says she did not commit. Sadie lashes out at him furiously—and then abruptly, as though her brain has just snapped, she falls under his spell, reciting the Lord’s Prayer in a robotic, hypnotized voice. Crawford plays the converted Sadie as brainwashed, doped, pathetically clinging to the man who insists that she must be punished, even unjustly, in order to be saved. When she gazes upward with blurry eyes and intones, “I must be punished,” it becomes shockingly clear that this relationship has nothing to with religion; Crawford is playing Sadie as a masochist who gains a sense of worth through submission to a man who breaks her spirit, then grants her fulsome praise and loving approval once she is his slave. This is not a case of spiritual fervor as a substitute for sex; on the contrary. Sadie is a sometime prostitute for whom sex is just a fact of life; she is emotionally enslaved to Davidson because she believes he is a “holy man” who can cleanse her of sin, whose love for her is pure, and this bondage is only broken when he reveals himself to be just like other men. (It’s never clear in the film what exactly happens when Davidson comes to Sadie’s room—whether he rapes her or only attempts to.) By this daring move, Crawford makes some sense of a script that is otherwise unconvincing and overly schematic.

She is much more successful in this radical transformation than she is in playing Sadie Thompson as she first appears—a vulgar, earthy, good-hearted good-time gal. It’s a part Joan Blondell could have played with perfect ease and natural sympathy, while conveying the kind of secret shame and regret that might lead a woman like Sadie to be vulnerable to a soul-saver. Crawford is anything but easy in the role; her slangy, red-hot-mama act is as caricatured as her look, with so much makeup caked on her face that it’s almost a clown mask. The artificiality is not entirely wrong, since Sadie has clearly developed this persona as her way of getting by, and her forced gaiety and defiant brassiness are put on like her cheap bangles and black fishnets. She’s all nervous energy, constantly fidgeting and fiddling with her clothes and fretting about the constant pounding rain.

Director Lewis Milestone combats the staginess of a filmed play with lyrical, scene-setting shots of raindrops falling on sand and palm fronds and water; and with fluid camera movements that circle around the characters. But it is Crawford’s performance of Sadie’s conversion that makes the movie more than just an artfully crafted but flawed and heavy-handed message drama. Her transcendent and pitiful submission would reappear in future films like Possessed (1947), Sudden Fear (1952), Female on the Beach (1955), and Mildred Pierce (1945), which represents the apotheosis of her double nature: a strong and self-reliant woman martyred by abject, obsessive love.

by Imogen Sara Smith

#Imogen Sara Smith #The Chiser #Joan Crawford #Two-faced Woman

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Doctor Who : Revolution of the Daleks to Air on New Year’s Day, Trailer is Here

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Series 13 may still be some way off (filming recommenced on eight new episodes earlier in November after an enforced Covid-19 break), but there’s not long to wait until Doctor Who is back on our screens. As teased at the very end of the series 12 finale, “The Timeless Children,” festive special “Revolution of the Daleks” is confirmed to air on New Year’s Day 2021 on BBC One. That’s three years in a row that the BBC has opted to see in the New Year with the Doctor.

Revolution of the Daleks Trailer: ‘Maximum Extermination!’

Also fresh from the BBC are a bunch of new images from the special, featuring newly announced guest stars joining the already confirmed John Barrowman, who’s back as Captain Jack Harkness. Take a butcher’s at the new pics below and you’ll see that Barrowman isn’t the only returning character in the Special. Chris Noth, who played unscrupulous business tycoon Jack Robertson in Series 11’s ‘Arachnids in the UK‘, is also back. “It’s safe to say the Doctor and all those involved were less than impressed by his questionable actions,” says the press release, but “viewers will have to wait and see just what brings him back this time…”

Making her Who debut will be Dame Harriet Walter, recently seen in Killing Eve and Succession, alongside Misfits and Utopia‘s Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.

Revolution of the Daleks Images: Will an Old Villain Get His Comeuppance?

Chris Noth and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett

Dame Harriet Walter with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Chris Noth

Revolution of the Daleks new design

The Doctor’s Fam

And back in October at the online NYCC Doctor Who panel, we got our first look at a jumpsuit-ed Doctor inside that intergalactic prison, chalking up her days. Speaking at the NYCC panel, Jodie Whittaker told fans “Clue is in the photograph that I may have been there for a while!”

The Doctor banged up abroad

And here’s her trio of companions, trying an admin-based approach to defeating space evil. Again, speaking at the NYCC panel, Mandip Gill provided a bit of context for what’s happening: “We’re back in Sheffield, not knowing where she’s gone […] We don’t know where the Doctor’s gone, we don’t know if we’re now in Sheffield forever and if our journey with the Doctor is over […] Yaz is struggling with the idea of not being on the TARDIS anymore.”

The companions stumble upon a plot that involves a Dalek, confirmed Gill and Bradley Walsh at the NYCC panel. “From way, way, way back, by the way,” teased Walsh. “What happens next is extraordinary.”

The companions

Revolution of the Daleks Air Date: January 1st 2021

We were told for months that “Revolution of the Daleks will air during the upcoming festive period on BBC One.” Now we know for sure that means New Year’s Day, the same as the previous two Jodie Whittaker-led festive episodes. The exact time slot is still to be confirmed.

Revolution of the Daleks Story: How to fight a Dalek without the Doctor?

Here’s the official BBC synopsis:

The upcoming festive special will see the return of one of the Doctor’s biggest and most feared enemies – the Daleks. The Doctor is locked away in a high-security alien prison. Isolated, alone, with no hope of escape. Far away, on Earth, her best friends, Yaz, Ryan and Graham have to pick up their lives without her. But it’s not easy. Old habits die hard. Especially when they discover a disturbing plan forming. A plan which involves a Dalek. How can you fight a Dalek, without the Doctor?

Entitled “Revolution of the Daleks,” the extended episode will see the Doctor once again go up against the mutant abominations. The race of foes last appeared in 2019 special “Resolution,” which featured guest star Charlotte Ritchie possessed by a Dalek that wreaked havoc in the city of Sheffield before it was sucked into a vacuum corridor in space.

Previous to that, the Daleks also featured in Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat’s goodbye episode “Twice Upon a Time,” the last in the new series’ run of regular Christmas specials. Will either of those encounters have a bearing on the Doctor’s next adventure?

Before the Doctor can face Skaro’s most dastardly for the umpteenth time, there’s also the small matter of – spoilers – her escaping from maximum security space prison, the tricky situation in which the Doctor was left in at the end of series 12. A wave of the Sonic, some reversal of the polarity, and a winning grin could fix that, surely?

Writing about that cliffhanger in the official press release, showrunner Chris Chibnall exclaimed, “We can’t leave the Doctor there!

“Well, we did. But rest assured, the Doctor and her friends will be back for a one-off extended Special around Christmas and New Year. (I don’t know when they’re going to put it on yet, otherwise, we’d tell you!).”

Teasing what to expect from the next episode, Chibnall promised “There will be Daleks. There will be exterminations. Thrills, laughter, tears. You know. The usual.”

He later added:

“We’ve crammed this year’s Doctor Who Festive Special with an explosion of extraordinary acting talent. Where else would you get British acting royalty, a globally renowned US screen star, an (inter)national treasure of stage and screen and one of Britain’s hottest young actors — just in the guest cast! Put those together with Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole (and Daleks! Did I mention Daleks!) — and you get a cast to be exterminated for. And things will explode. Promise.”

Revolution of the Daleks Writer and Director: Spyfall Part 2 director returns

Lee Haven Jones, who previously helmed part two of the series 12 opener “Spyfall” and “Orphan 55”, directed the festive special, from a script by showrunner Chris Chibnall.

Revolution of the Daleks Cast: Graham, Yaz and Ryan report for duty

There’ll be a complete roster of companions, with Bradley Walsh’s Graham, Tosin Cole’s Ryan, and Mandip Gill’s Yaz all returning to join the Doctor after they arrived safely back in Sheffield following their Gallifreyan adventure.

Also listed on IMDb as appearing in the episode are John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, Nicholas Briggs (obviously) as the voice of the Daleks, Dame Harriet Walter, Chris Noth, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Taggart and The Loch’s Gray O’Brien, and one Guillaume Rivaud.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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the-domestication-of-the-dog · 5 years ago

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The 10th Annual L.A.O.K. Awards

Wow. Ten years of the Layokies. What a trip. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to all five of my faithful fans for your readership over the years. In my first ever Layokies post, I named it the “1st (Possibly) Annual L.A.O.K. Awards.” I had no idea how long I’d be working at the Academy, let alone living in LA, but here we are. I bragged about seeing 180 movies that year. I just checked my Letterboxd stats for this year and it turns out I watched...180 movies. However, this year I hit a new personal best for new releases: 125. While this is about half as many as some people I know, some of the first Layokies were based on a field of 60 or 70 movies, so I’ve doubled up on my old self. Funny thing is, I can still look on other year-end lists and find many films I haven’t seen, and even some I haven’t heard of, so the field of films I’ve added are probably in the middle to bottom range of the pack. But someone out there has to watch Tolkien, Gemini Man, The Goldfinch, and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, so it might as well be me.

In all honesty, my absolute favorite thing about living in Los Angeles and working at the Academy is access to watching movies and being around the general cinephile community, and even a bad couple of hours in a movie theater beats a lot else. Over Christmas break I saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Shawnee, OK’s own Cinema Center 8.

It was quite a trip going back to this theater after so many years and to think of the love of film that was fostered there. Alas, the picture was pretty muddy, and I’m almost positive they showed it in 2k. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, in penance for naming The King’s Speech Best Picture in my first year (lol), I give you five real good’uns for 2019:

Best Film The Farewell The King Little Women Parasite Uncut Gems

Sometimes I touch on a year being good or bad for film in general. Not sure about the whole, but I’ll call 2019 a real SEC year (aka stacked at the top and mediocre to poor the rest of the way down). While I would probably only give one title on this list must-see status (Parasite), these are all definite should-sees. The Farewell made me laugh and cry and cringe. One might even go so far as to say it “gave me all the feels.” The King gave me actual siege warfare and period-accurate haircuts. Little Women hit me with that structure, and at first I was all “hol up,” but then I was all “OK I see you.” Little Women also made me cry because I cry in movies now. (A quick aside, because while I absolutely loved Little Women, it’s not really going to come up again. If you liked the movie and haven’t read the book, please do yourself a favor and make it the next one on your list. You can’t know how great this movie is unless you know how good Beth is. Beth kind of got lost in this one, and you need to know Beth.) Parasite blew me away through its normality (who, having seen The Host, Snowpiercer, and Okja could have guessed that it wasn’t about some actual alien parasite??). And Uncut Gems was exactly as perfect as I expected it to be. And the Layokie goes to... The King

Faithful readers will know that one of my absolute favorite genres is ‘discreet conversation behind castle walls,’ and The King absolutely nailed it. It has everything: leadership position foisted on a worthy but flawed character who doesn’t want it, conversations in tents about battle tactics, love built on almost nothing but mutual respect, and most of all, Robert Pattinson doing a funny accent (it’s just a French accent, but he makes it quite funny). I would have already watched this again five times on Netflix, but I’m hoping and praying for an Oscar nomination that will never ever in a million years come in hopes that I can see it again in the theater during nominations screenings.

The Next Five Six 1917 Honey Boy The Laundromat The Lighthouse Marriage Story Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Best Actor Timothée Chalamet - The King Adam Driver - Marriage Story Paul Walter Hauser - Richard Jewell Joaquin Phoenix - Joker Adam Sandler - Uncut Gems

Another super stacked category this year. You might even say they’re *puts on sunglasses*...Stacked Actors. (<-- This is a really good joke for anyone whose favorite band from 7th-8th grade was The Foo Fighters.) These are all kind of obvious, so I’ll take a second to comment on Paul Walter Hauser and the fact that I gave out a very specific award last year titled “Refuse to Watch - Any More Clint Eastwood Movies” after trying and failing to watch The 15:17 to Paris on a plane (one of the worst pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever witnessed). Then this year Richard Jewell was getting such good buzz, and it seemed like such a good cast, and it was such a low-risk watch (on my second screen at work while doing spreadsheets), that I decided to shamefully renege on my earlier pronouncement and give it a shot. And...it was great pretty good! What is the deeal with Clint Eastwood?? He’s made some of my least favorite movies of the decade (Gran Torino, Invictus, Hereafter was a particularly awful stretch, Sully was pointless, and even parts of American Sniper, which was otherwise tolerable, were absolute cringefests). Anywho, I was very impressed by Paul Walter Hauser’s understated but perfect performance, in which he gets one good chance to blow up and yell at people--which you know I love. I hope he gets nominated, because it would be a great Oscar clip. (My ultimate dream job would be to pick the acting Oscars clips and I would be very very good at it.)

And the Layokie goes to... The Sandman (love that everyone is calling him the Sandman again)

I touched on Adam Sandler “A” in the Best Supporting Actor section of my 2018 Layokies post regarding his performance in The Meyerowitz Stories, lamenting that he hadn’t taken more dramatic roles after Punch-Drunk Love and hoping that good writer/directors would keep casting him. One more wish granted by the Safdie brothers. Adam Sandler’s talent is undeniable. He is truly one of the Great Actors of his generation. I really hope this is a respected-actor-making turn for him, but the upcoming roles on his IMDd--Hubie Halloween and Hotel Transylvania 4--don’t give much hope for the immediate future.

Honorable Mentions Taron Egerton - Rocketman (but only for the phone booth scene) Shia LaBeouf - The Peanut Butter Falcon Noah Jupe - Honey Boy Robert Pattinson - The Lighthouse Jonathan Pryce - The Two Popes

Best Actress Ana de Armas - Knives Out Scarlett Johansson - Marriage Story Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell Florence Pugh - Midsommar Saoirse Ronan - Little Women

Found out last night from my resident celebrity expert Bridgette Smith that Florence Pugh is dating Zach Braff and it absolutely crushed me.

And the Layokie goes to... Elisabeth Moss - Her Smell

Her Smell was the last 2019 film I watched before writing this post, and I was really just looking for something to pass the time. I had been wanting to see it for a long time and noticed it was on HBO, so I pressed play and planned to work on this post while I watched. I couldn’t. I was riveted. The writing, score, and sound design are incredible, but it’s all tied together by Elisabeth Moss’s performance. She’s excellent at being revolting but still has all of those qualities that made her Peggy. You can’t not like her, even though you fairly hate her.

Honorable Mentions Awkwafina - The Farewell Cynthia Erivo - Harriet Lupita Nyong’o - Us (You know I love weird voices, you know I love actors doing weird voices and faces, but this was a bit much even for me. Reflective of Us on the whole, which I thought was interesting but really missed the mark.) Charlize Theron - Bombshell

Best Director Ari Aster - Midsommar Bong Joon Ho - Parasite David Michôd - The King Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems Céline Sciamma - Portrait of a Lady on Fire

And the Layokie goes to... Benny and Josh Safdie - Uncut Gems

Wired: New directors Tired: Old directors

Boy do I not understand the love for The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I’m not totally against boring movies if there’s a good reason for it (Midsommar was actually quite boring), but these were some of the least compelling films I watched all year. On the other hand, you have these young directors coming out of prestige horror, Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and to a lesser extent David Robert Mitchell and Trey Edwards Shults, making some of the most dynamic films out there. Reminds me of Roger Ebert talking about early Scorsese in Life Itself (which I can’t find a clip of). Then you have Benny and Josh Safdie doing Scorsese better than Scorsese with literally breathtaking shots like the one below. How they construct such amazing edits out of such disparate takes as the one in the still above is a wonder. They’ll go from five extreme close-ups in a row to a jaw-dropping shot of the inside of a jewelry store zoomed in from across the street. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg on what makes them the best filmmakers working right now.

Honorable Mentions Noah Baumbach - Marriage Story Robert Eggers - The Lighthouse Claire Denis - High Life Greta Gerwig - Little Women Alejandro Landes - Monos Sam Mendes - 1917 Alex Ross Perry - Her Smell Joe Talbot - The Last Black Man in San Francisco Lulu Wang - The Farewell

Best Supporting Actress Laura Dern - Marriage Story Lena Headey - Fighting with My Family Lee Jung Eun - Parasite (The housekeeper) Meryl Streep - The Laundromat Shuzhen Zhao - The Farewell (Nai Nai)

And the Layokie goes to... Laura Dern - Marriage Story

Here’s one for the Laura Dern stan accounts: There’s no question that Noah Baumbach is a talented director of actors, but Laura Dern makes so much out of seemingly not a lot in this role. She truly embodies a wholly unique and three-dimensional character that could have extremely easily been one-note.

Honorable Mentions Lily-Rose Depp - The King Florence Pugh - Little Women Margot Robbie - Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor Timothée Chalamet - Little Women Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse Shia LaBeouf - Honey Boy Al Pacino - The Irishman Robert Pattinson - The King

And the Layokie goes to... Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse

For being all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT7uR4wNMJs

Honorable Mentions Bill Hader - It Chapter Two Tim Heidecker - Us Sam Rockwell - Richard Jewell Song Kang Ho - Parasite (the dad) Lakeith Stanfield - Uncut Gems

Best Original Screenplay The Farewell - Lulu Wang Her Smell - Alex Ross Perry Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach Parasite - Bong Joon Ho Uncut Gems - Benny and Josh Safdie

And the Layokie goes to... Parasite - Bong Joon Ho

Another genre we don’t get nearly enough of: comedies of errors. A script like this is as sophisticated as any mystery, political thriller, or...some other sophisticated type of script, like uh, I don’t know, they usually just say Chinatown or Witness. I did think it lagged a bit in the third act, but everything that came before it was so tight. Twist after turn after twist, so funny, so shocking. This is such a rare prestige crowd-pleaser that it really does harken back to Hitchcock; if a wide audience can get over watching subtitles, this has to have one of the lowest barriers for entry of any foreign film in a long time. Here’s hoping for a Best Picture Oscar nomination and a wide release. Uncut Gems played at Shawnee’s other theater (titled simply Movies 6), so it’s not that far out of the realm of possibility. But I know people in LA, even that work at the Academy, who won’t watch subtitled films, so getting people to actually go see it is another question.

Honorable Mentions Peterloo - Mike Leigh

Best Adapted Screenplay Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi Joker - Todd Philips & Scott Silver The King - David Michôd The Laundromat - Scott Z. Burns The Two Popes - Anthony McCarten

And the Layokie goes to... The King - Joel Edgerton and David Michôd

It wouldn’t be the Layokies without me championing one film that no one else cares about. I just really really liked The King. Timothée Chalamet is so hot right now! How did this get so overlooked?? 😭

Best Documentary Apollo 11 Honeyland It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It Maiden Mike Wallace is Here

And the Layokie goes to... Maiden

As I’m in the process of producing a documentary right now, it pains me a bit that my top two picks in this category are almost entirely archival. I thought Mike Wallace is Here was so well done, and the director did some amazing things playing with aspect ratio. But Maiden came into port first. What is wrong with people who don’t appreciate sports? This xkcd comic (who I usually appreciate) makes me so angry. Tell the women who worked their asses off for years to claw their way into this male-dominated space and literally made the world a better place that their efforts were no more than a weighted random number generator on which to build narratives! Clearly the narratives are there, but it rarely has as much to do with the result of the competition as it does the effort that it took individual human beings to get there. See also: Undefeated (currently streaming on Netflix).

Honorable Mentions Fyre They Shall Not Grow Old Satan & Adam

Best Foreign Language Film Duh Parasite

Biggest Missed Opportunity Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (How the first live action Pokemon movie should have happened)

Not Even Close to Enough Monsters Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Most Unbelievable Cosplay Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers

Absolutely Crushing the Sensitive Dad Roles Billy Crudup in After the Wedding and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Good in Everything Too obvious, but Florence Pugh - Fighting with My Family, Midsommar, Little Women Robert Pattinson - High Life, The Lighthouse, The King Adam Driver - The Dead Don’t Die, Marriage Story, The Report, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Destigmatizing Fatness Award Dolemite is My Name The Laundromat Skin Almost Hustlers but then not (Lizzo got what, 30 seconds of screentime??)

#WasteYourAudience’sTime2019 The Souvenir The Proposal

Didn’t Actually Deserve to be Driven into the Ground Dark Phoenix The Kitchen

Just Plain Liked It Triple Frontier

Most Forgettable Tie: Tolkien and High Life (not for me, but it took me a full 10 minutes to convince Becca that she watched this, and I had to describe the masturbation chamber aka fuck box in a lot of detail before she got it, and I’m still not totally convinced she remembers it)

The Something Award Motherless Brooklyn

The Nothing Award Judy

Worst Movies 1. Rambo: Last Blood 2. Between Two Ferns: The Movie 3. Abominable 4. The Lion King 5. Godzilla: King of the Monsters 6. Wine Country 7. Jumanji: The Next Level 8. Frozen II 9. The Goldfinch 10. Pet Semetary

Best Scenes

Avengers: Endgame - The hammer, the portals, all the nerdy/normie BS, what can I say call me a basic bitch but there were some genuine holy schmoly moments in this that made it a really fun movie to experience in the theater

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - When Mr. Rogers uses the puppets on Lloyd

Captain Marvel - When she went full shit on ‘em

Climax - The opening dance sequence (the only thing that made this movie worth watching)

The Farewell - Too many to choose from, but I think my favorite moment in this movie was when they were taking photos of the fiances and another couple stumbled in on them, claiming they were lost. That couple leaves and we never see them again. These are the kinds of details that make movies come alive. Absolutely brilliant.

Gemini Man - The motorcycle chase (a rare scene actually made better by the high frame rate)

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum - The knife fight in the knife store

The King - The conversation between Hal and Catherine

Knock Down the House - When A.O.C. debated the incompetent proxy

The Last Black Man in San Francisco - Skateboarding into town

Little Women - The “break-up” scene between Jo and Laurie (not a spoiler)

Midsommar - The drug trip scene (not that I’ve ever done drugs but this was the most accurate drug trip scene of all time) and the Ättestupa ceremony. Also found out in the video linked above that Ari Aster pronounces it Mid-SO-mar?? I thought that was the dumb way to pronounce it but apparently I’m the dumb one. Also also, another amazing detail worth mentioning: I absolutely loved that every time they were in their community sleeping barn, there was a baby crying somewhere on the second floor that we never see. Such a perfect way to put the characters and the audience on edge and indicate that there’s something wrong here.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - While I didn’t care for this movie, the scene where Brad Pitt went to the movie ranch and when he fantasized about going to the film set were absolutely dripping with tension, which made them as just as riveting as the rest of the movie wasn’t

Parasite - When the other family comes home early

The Peanut Butter Falcon - The scene after they come out of the corn field and share one of their first genuine moments

Uncut Gems - *Sarah Palin voice* All of ‘em, any of ‘em. But seriously the finale with the Celtics game

Us - The initial home invasion and the visit to the Tylers’ home (Tim Heidecker and Elisabeth Moss)

The A.V. Club also does a best scenes list at the end of the year, and I love writing mine first and then seeing what they came up with. I’m always surprised at how many we match on. Just goes to show that a good scene is universal. I also enjoyed some of theirs that I overlooked here, including from Her Smell, Bombshell, Ad Astra (I almost included the moon chase myself and thought the baboon scene was equally compelling), and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Stupidest Scenes Every other John Wick 3 scene

Deserves Discussion The Dead Don’t Die

This movie was a lot of fun. But then it also completely sucked? Not really a Jim Jarmusch fan in the first place, but this had so many awesome elements to it: a great cast, great soundtrack, really fun and unexpected ways of breaking the 4th wall, but then it was also pointless and boring. I would love for someone to tell me why this is a good movie after all, but judging by its complete absence from the end-of-the-year discussion (or any discussion), I’m guessing no one cares enough to mount that challenge.

Best Visuals Alita: Battle Angel Aquarella A Hidden Life Honeyland Midsommar Monos

Many LOLs It Chapter Two Jojo Rabbit Parasite

Best Song Ready or Not - The Hide and Seek Song (why was this not submitted?)

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Best Soundtrack Waves - Never have I already known so many songs on a film’s soundtrack; it’s almost as if Trey Edwards Shults is another white guy around my age with the same interests as me...

Worst Accents Midway

Started But Never Finished Cats Cold Case Hammarskjold Genndy Tartakovsky’s ‘Primal’ - Tales of Savagery The Highway Men High Flying Bird Queen and Slim Spies in Disguise

Didn’t See Ash is Purest White Atlantics The Beach Bum The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open (still really want to see this one) Clemency Diane Invisible Life Luce Shadow Synonyms Transit Woman at War

Absent on Purpose Pain & Glory Ford v Ferrari I think these are the only two contenders that I’ve seen and haven’t mentioned. I actually liked both of these movies quite a bit. Just didn’t stand out for me in any one category I suppose. But then also: Booksmart Brittany Runs a Marathon Just Mercy The Mustang

Hah!

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janeaustentextposts · 8 years ago

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How did women learn about the whole sexual attraction thing? Like, that men sometimes only wanted them for you-know-what?

It might really depend upon the individual, their position in society, and their own parents’ approach to education. (Their mother, in particular.) To a certain extent, I think Georgian and Regency families were rather more practical about things compared to Victorian levels of rigorous shame, though well-bred ladies were certainly still expected to adhere to standard guidelines of modesty for behaviour and conversation. Among themselves, married women who were closer friends might more easily discuss such things.

With novels like Tom Jones upon the bookshelves and Sheridan’s wickedly funny plays upon the stage, anyone with access to that 18th century media would have certainly found examples of the perfidy of men (and women) and the pitfalls (and pleasures) of sexual allure. Of course to some extend very young girls would be protected from the most blatant of these things, until they were perhaps older and wiser, and had had things well-explained to them by a sensible mother or governess.

Again, as it’s such an intimate and variable thing, it’s near impossible to make generalizations about this for the whole of women in the era. A family’s position and expectations could have a significant effect on a girl’s education. The ‘fallen women’ in Austen’s novels are varied creatures, but they generally all seem to lack a sensible mother/woman’s guidance and caution. There are generally two types of these girls who find themselves involved with men on shaky ground: the unaware girls, who are rather more preyed upon; and the savvy girls who seem more than aware of their powers, and use their charm (clearly including physical appeal,) to further their own aims (i.e. a desired marriage.)

First we have the naive, motherless girls. Georgiana Darcy is only spared by the force of her trust in her brother, her sole surviving immediate relation. Eliza the elder is a ward of Colonel Brandon’s father, and evidently has lost her own parents, and is entirely at the mercy of those who should have protected her, and instead manipulated her and ultimately drove her off into a life of sin and misery; Eliza her daughter is put into school, but even trusting her to the care of teachers is not enough, and she is seduced away by Willoughby. Harriet Smith is the illegitimate daughter of somebody–and while she’s still a sweet-natured girl, there’s definitely a sense that she will never rise above a certain level in society, despite what Emma may think, and that she is better off respectably married to a farmer, living out her days in happy obscurity in a country village, where even her attachment to Miss Woodhouse is lessened by the distances between their stations after their married lives begin, and Emma’s cohorts largely see this as a good thing. Even those who are the result of illicit sexual relationships, though no fault of their own, are left a little on the sidelines in Austen’s society.

Interestingly, the girls who tend to use their sex appeal as active agents sometimes have mothers/chaperones who either don’t care or else seem likely to encourage their behaviour in pursuit of men. (And honestly I’m not judging. Poverty and spinsterhood can and could be miserable things.) Lydia runs away when her parents and Mrs. Forster should really have spent a lot more time examining and explaining why this was a terrible idea. Mary Crawford has been brought up amongst morally-lax men and her half-sister Mrs. Grant is a largely ineffectual chaperone. Mrs. Clay has already been married once, and is now back in her father’s house, so she’s made a match before (implied to not be THAT great, however,) so she’s learned some lessons and is now out to do her best with Sir Walter (and ultimately, Mr. Elliott, when she becomes his mistress and it’s clearly stated in the text that it is her intention to use her sexual prowess to persuade him into marrying her, himself.) Lucy Steele evidently has an uncle who looks after her to some degree, but handily manages to finesse her way into exactly the sort of position and wealth she desires–and while she gets away with it, her methods are hardly to be recommended to all young ladies. (One might argue that because Lucy is so canny, she manages to hold onto her ‘virtue’–barely–through a long and secret engagement, and then an elopement with another man, until she is secure of the Ferrars heir.) Isabella Thorpe’s mother is either a blind fool, or (more likely) just as secretly sly as her children, and condones Isabella’s grasping methods of trying to flirt her way into an advantageous marriage. Women like Mary, Mrs. Clay, Isabella, and Lucy certainly are aware of sexual allure, and its effect on men. Lady Susan Vernon takes this to extremes.

Every novel has some varying example of a woman whose sex appeal places her in a precarious situation, and while the savvy thrive and play the risks to their unrepentant advantages, the naive tend to be much more easily brought low by the consequences of catching a man’s eye on a primal and physical level.

If a young woman has a relatively liberal-minded, sensible, and caring mother-figure, she may be given adequate knowledge of scoundrels and the pitfalls of seduction enough to be on her guard against such persuasions. Depending on their own character and circumstances, however, they might just as easily take that knowledge and apply it in order to give themselves leverage in finding their way to a marriage to the man (and money) they want.

#AMAAA #Ask Me Anything Austen-Adjacent #Anonymous

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ladystylestores · 4 years ago

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Family affairs: Everyone learns they can’t go home again in Killing Eve S3

After being shot and left for dead by Villanelle, Eve (Sandra Oh) is now working in the kitchen of a Korean restaurant.

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She’s trying to patch up her marriage to Niko (Owen McDonnell), who is recovering from PTSD.

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Villanelle (Jodie Comer) on her wedding day, to a wealthy heiress in Spain.

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Villanelle’s former mentor, Dasha (Harriet Walter) shows up unannounced.

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Villanelle and Dasha have some issues to work through.

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Meanwhile, Eve’s former boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) isn’t in good favor at MI6.

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Another MI6 supervisor, Paul (Steve Pemberton) is vying for control of the division.

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Carolyn finds an ally in MI6 agent Mo Jafari (Raj Bajaj).

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Carolyn’s son, Kenny (Sean Delaney) has left MI6 and is now an investigative journalist with The Bitter Pill.

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Eve finds her own ally in Kenny’s new boss, Jamie (Danny Sapani)

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Yeah, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia) is still around, with his own agenda.

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Villanelle is less than pleased when Konstantin comes to call.

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Villanelle’s latest kill takes a page from Dasha’s old playbook.

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Villanelle wants to be a Keeper with The Twelve.

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Villanelle tracks down Eve during a London visit.

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A violent fight leads to a passionate kiss.

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Killing Eve burst onto the scene in 2018 to rave reviews, as viewers and critics alike were enthralled by the sexually charged cat-and-mouse game playing out between MI6 agent Eve (Sandra Oh) and expert assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Alas, while S2 had some powerful moments, overall it lacked the same taut, addictive focus. But the series came back strong for its third season, fleshing out the story in some fresh, fascinating ways. Small wonder it’s already been renewed for a fourth season.

(A couple of major spoilers below for first six episodes of S3—we’ll give you a heads-up when we get there—but no major reveals for the final two episodes.)

As S3 opened, we learned that Eve survived being shot by Villanelle in the S2 finale (duh). She is keeping a low profile, working in the kitchen of a dumpling eatery in London, and living on a shocking amount of junk food in her dismal flat. Her long-suffering math teacher husband Niko (Owen McDonnell) also survived his encounter with Villanelle in S2 (although his fellow teacher, Gemma, did not). He is now an in-patient being treated for PTSD, and unreceptive to Eve’s efforts to reconnect.

Meanwhile, Villanelle is marrying a wealthy heiress, but her plans for a life of semi-retired luxury are upended by the appearance of Dasha (Harriet Walter), her former mentor from Russia. She gets sucked back into working for the shadowy organization known as the Twelve in exchange for a promotion to “Keeper” (aka upper management).

Eve’s former supervisor, Carolyn (Fiona Shaw), is out of favor at MI6, with an irritating rival named Paul (Steve Pemberton) challenging her former dominance over her division. Carolyn’s estranged son, Kenny (Sean Delaney), has left MI6 and is working as an investigative journalist for an outlet called The Bitter Pill, while her former Russian paramour, Konstantin (Kim Bodnia), is plotting to flee the country with his now-teenaged daughter, Irina (Yuli Lagodinsky).

In my review of the first S3 episode, I noted that the series faced a major challenge in its third installment, as viewers have come to expect shocking twists, thereby making it harder to achieve that element of surprise. “I trust that the writers and new showrunner Suzanne Heathcote have plenty of exciting twists and suspenseful moments in store for us [in S3],” I concluded. “But at some point, the basic premise—already wearing a bit thin—will run out of steam altogether. And then the real question becomes, where does the series go from there?”

Well, I’m pleased to report that S3 successfully met that challenge, mostly by changing the focus a bit. Keeping Eve and Villanelle (mostly) apart was a good creative strategy, even more so now that we’ve moved well beyond the “who’s the predator, who’s the prey” dynamic of S1. This third season is really about family, as every major character must grapple with the high personal cost of their decisions thus far.

(Warning: major spoilers begin below this gallery!)

Villanelle has that magic touch with children.

Gemma Whelan plays Carolyn’s daughter (and Kenny’s sister) Geraldine, who tries to repair her relationship with her mother.

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You may remember Konstantin’s strong-willed daughter, Irina (Yuli Lagodinsky) from S1.

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Niko moves back to Poland and his roots.

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Villanelle does a favor for Konstantin in exchange for information about her biological family.

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Meanwhile, Dasha has her sights set on Niko.

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Eve witnesses the attack.

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Niko survives, but rejects Eve.

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Eve confronts Dasha about the attack on Niko.

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Villanelle looks over family pictures with her brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman).

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She bonds with half-brother Bor’ka (Temirlan Blaev), who is obsessed with Elton John, at the local Harvest Festival.

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Her mother, Tatiana (Evgenia Dodina), insists she leave: “Do not bring your darkness into this house.”

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Villanelle’s revenge.

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Eve still clings to the futile hope that she can fix her marriage, unable to see just how damaged and shattered Niko has become after all she’s put him through by exposing him to the risks inherent in her job. Those risks are only heightened when Villanelle discovers she’s still alive and her obsession with Eve rekindles anew. But our favorite assassin is also confronting her own past in Dasha—the woman who turned her into the “perfect killing machine” and then betrayed her—and in a sudden desire to seek out the mother who abandoned her to an orphanage as a child.

Carolyn suffers a devastating loss when Kenny (allegedly) commits suicide by jumping off the roof of his office building at the end of the first episode. She’s a woman who has spent a lifetime suppressing any genuine emotion, who must now deal with her estranged touchy-feely daughter, Geraldine (Gemma Whelan), seeking to bond in their shared grief. Konstantin is trying to keep his daughter safe, only to realize she has her own inner darkness, exacerbated by his constant absence, the nature of his work, and Villanelle’s pernicious influence.

As always, all the performances are spectacular. Most of the attention has a focused on Oh and Comer, and rightly so. Villanelle is just as outrageously unpredictable and charming (in a deadly psychopath way) as ever, with even more spectacularly outré outfits. You never want to take your eyes off her; no wonder Eve remains obsessed.

But the supporting cast is every bit as strong, particularly Shaw and Bodnia, who quite possibly has the richest, most expressive laugh on TV these days. Among the new faces for S3, Harriet Walter is a sheer delight as Dasha, a chain-smoking, raspy-voiced former Olympic gymnast turned brutal assassin for the Twelve (and trainer of the the next generation of brutal female assassins). Game of Thrones fans will recognize Whelan from her days playing Yara Greyjoy, and she is given ample opportunity here to display her impressive range as an actress. And I loved seeing Lagodinsky return as Konstantin’s precocious, sarcastic, tough-minded daughter Irina.

The plotting is much tighter than last season—especially the final two episodes, as Eve pursues Villanelle by following the bodies piling up along the way—and while Villanelle’s kills don’t quite measure up to the macabre creativity she employed in the first two seasons, the S3 writers manage to pull off one very good twist. Concerned that Villanelle is once again behaving erratically because of her Eve obsession, the Twelve asks Dasha to intervene. Dasha decides to drive a wedge between the two women by killing Niko and framing Villanelle—making sure that Eve arrives at the Polish farm where he’s been working just in time to see it happen.

Eve tracks down Villanelle.

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Konstantin has plans to flee with Irina.

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Villanelle is a bad influence on Irina.

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Hélène (Camille Cottin) is a member of The Twelve.

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Villanelle does not hug.

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Yet another assignment, this time with fellow assassin Rhian (Alexandra Roach).

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Tensions are rising between Villanelle and Dasha.

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A hit at a golf resort in Aberdeen.

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Eve finds Dasha.

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Konstantin collapses at a train station.

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Paul might have his own plan in place.

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Carolyn faces off with Villanelle.

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Eve finds Villanelle.

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The happy couple, together again.

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It’s genuinely shocking in a way that Kenny’s death, while tragic, is not, thanks to some very clever editing. Unfortunately, the writers then blinked: Niko barely survives, although he (understandably) severs ties completely with Eve when she comes to see him in the hospital. I love the character, but it does undercut the power of the attack. I guess the writers are keeping their S4 options open where Eve and Niko are concerned.

By far the best single episode is “Are You From Pinner,” in which Villanelle visits her hometown in Russia and reconnects with her biological family, especially her brother Pyotr (Rob Feldman) and her coldly distant mother, Tatiana (Evgenia Dodina). Comer’s social awkwardness and discomfort with even small affections contrast sharply with the loud and boisterously enthusiastic family members. She tries to join in on a post-dinner singalong to Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock,” to comic effect, and watching her intensely compete in the dung-flinging competition at the local Harvest Festival—and her euphoria when she wins—is both hilarious and strangely touching.

Villanelle is trying so very hard to belong, even briefly bonding with her young half-brother Bor’ka (Temirlan Blaev), but she is far too damaged. And it is inevitable that the equally damaged Tatiana will reject her, telling her to leave and not bring her “darkness” into their house. Of course, Villanelle takes her revenge.

Killing Eve is based on Luke Jennings’ 2018 thriller Codename Villanelle, a compilation of four e-book novellas he published from 2014-2016. He published a sequel in 2019, Killing Eve: No Tomorrow, but despite Eve’s prominence in that title, Villanelle was clearly conceived as the central figure. So maybe it’s not surprising that we spend far more time on her backstory and family of origin issues than on Eve’s in S3, which makes Eve’s own journey back to Villanelle over the course of the season less impactful in comparison. The first two seasons did a better job balancing the focus between the two.

But that’s a minor quibble with an otherwise excellent season. These two women are clearly damaged in similar ways, with a shared social and emotional awkwardness, and morbid/violent bent. It’s just that Villanelle’s tendencies were encouraged and exploited via extreme physical and mental abuse, while Eve managed to channel her darker tendencies into her government work, and found some semblance of a family with Niko—at least until Villanelle burst into her life. But we still have little idea what Eve’s own early family life was like, or how it shaped her.

Here’s hoping that will be a major angle of exploration for S4, when Laura Neal replaces Heathcote as showrunner. Delving into how Eve and Villanelle have shaped and changed each other over three seasons would be another promising narrative vein to mine. Perhaps these two women can eventually find the families they have lost with each other, in their own uniquely twisted way.

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motivationsuccess · 5 years ago

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Success Quotes

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Success quotes from the masters ... What REALLYmatters ... maxims and mottos from magnates and millionaires ... success quotes from the great teachers and tycoons ... inspirational thoughts from scholars and superstars ...

Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it. Sam Ewing

Recipe for success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing. William A. Ward

Success in life consists of going from one mistake to the next without losing enthusiasm. Winston Churchill

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Albert Schweitzer

Listen a hundred times, ponder a thousand times, speak once!

Vision without action is a daydream, action without a vision is a nightmare. Japanese Proverb

There's no limit to what a man can achieve, if he doesn't care who gets the credit. Laing Burns, Jr.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington

My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil. Paul Getty

Even if at first you do succeed, you still have to work hard to stay there. Richard C Miller

Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. Confucius

To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract. Jim Rohn

The only way around is through. Robert Frost

When I was young I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work. Bernard Shaw

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to. George E. Allen

Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years. Bob Brown

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. Robert Collier

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. Isaac Newton

If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.

As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big. Donald Trump

Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure. Earl Nightingale

Find a meaningful need and fill it better than anyone else.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. Vincent T. Lombardi

A stumble may prevent a fall.

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. Winston Churchill

God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it into the nest. Swedish Proverb

Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure. Dell Crossword

When a man is willing and eager, the gods join in. Aeschylus

A successful man continues to look for work after he has found a job.

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don't fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. Jim Rohn

Choice, not circumstance, determines your success.

Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body and soul. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton

Meet success like a gentleman and disaster like a man. Frederick Edwin Smith

The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job. Zig Ziglar

Success: willing to do what the average person is not willing to do.

When you get into a tight place, and everything goes against you, 'til it seems as if you couldn't hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that's just the place and time that the tide'll turn. Harriet Beecher Stow

You've got to stand for something or you will fall for anything.

The superior man is modest in his speech, but excels in his actions. Confucius

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

The beginning is the most important part of the work. Plato

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. William Henley

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. George Bernard Shaw

The pain of not doing something, is greater than the pain of doing something. William Dennis Miner

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truth. Moliere

Never begin the day until it is finished on paper. James Rohn

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. Napoleon Hill

If we don't start,it's certain we can't arrive. Zig Ziglar

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein

To believe yourself to be brave is to be brave; it is the only essential thing. Mark Twain

There are seldom, if ever, any hopeless situations - but there are many people who lose hope in the face of some situations. Zig Ziglar

Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. Cadet Maxim, USMA, West Point

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The way to do is to be. Lao Tzu

Faith isn't faith until it is all you have.

What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right.

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another! Walter Elliott

Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional. Roger Crawford

Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your character, Your character becomes your destiny.

That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger. Fredrich Nietzchen

Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability. Flower A. Newhouse

Genius is eternal patience. Michelangelo

The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will be able to see farther. Zig Ziglar

The best revenge is massive success. Frank Sinatra

If you would live your life with ease; do what you ought, not what you please.

The worst bankrupt in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm. Let a man lose everything else in the world but his enthusiasm and he will come through again to success. H.W. Arnold

The two hardest things to handle in life are failure & success.

Neither success nor failure is ever final. Roger Ward Babson

Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction. Al Bernstein

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Herman Cain

Your successes and happiness are forgiven you only if you generously consent to share them. Albert Camus

Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket. Andrew Carnegie

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. Truman Capote

Spectacular achievements are always preceded by painstaking preparation. Roger Staubach

Success comes before work only in the dictionary.

Our duty as men is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The secret of success is constancy to purpose. Benjamin Disraeli

Sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success. Dowden

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thomas Edison

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally. David Frost

Failure is success if we learn from it. Malcolm S. Forbes

They are able who think they are able. Virgil

Well done is better than well said. Benjamin Franklin

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. Henry Ford

Adversity introduces a man to himself.

When you're up to your ears in trouble, try using the part that isn't submerged.

He who deliberates at length before taking a single step will spend his whole life on one leg. Chinese proverb

Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through. Face it. Joseph Conrad

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse. Rudyard Kipling

When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands. Carl Jung

The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. Mark Twain

Choice, not chance, determines destiny

I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly hones, who complained of bad luck. Joseph Addison

Good luck often has the odour of perspiration about it.

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Luck is good planning, carefully executed.

Good luck is what a lazy man calls a hard-working man's success.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Henry Ford

Great opportunities come to men who make the most of small ones.

By perseverance the snail reached the ark. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Winston Churchill

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. Samuel Johnson

Take calculated risks. This is quite different from being rash. George S Patton

Success is all about the quiet accumulation of small triumphs. J P Donleavy

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service and our relationship to humanity. Martin Luther King, Jr

Success is not about money and power. Real success is about relationships. There's no point in making $50 million a year if your teenager thinks you're a jerk and you spend no time with your wife. Christopher Reeve

Self-trust is the first secret of success. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Half the things that people do not succeed in, are through the fear of making the attempt. James Northcote

The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well. John D Rockefeller

Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed - there is so little competition. Elbert Hubbard

There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same. Chinese proverb.

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great tasks. Helen Keller

When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity. John F Kennedy

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley

Opportunities are seldom labeled. John A Shedd

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is now what ships are built for. John A Shedd

Life is too short to be little. Benjamin Disraeli

Restless is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Thomas Edison

Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work. Bette Davis

We aim above the mark to hit the mark. Ralph Waldo Emerson

He who stopes being better stops being good. Oliver Cromwell

Always take a job that's too big for you, and then do your best. Harry Emerson Fosdick

Genius is nothing but a greater aptitude for patience. Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

Success is relative. The more success the more relatives.

You have arrived when the meeting can't start until you have arrived.

If a job's worth doing it's worth making sure that everyone knows that you're doing it.

Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily. Napoleon Bonaparte

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat. Napoleon Bonaparte

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.

It's easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top. Henry Ward Beecher

Whatever you do, do it with all you might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well now. P T Barnum

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle

I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution. Wernher von Braun

We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. Wernher von Braun

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. Les Brown

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently Warren Buffett

Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. Edmund Burke

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could no only a little. Edmund Burke

The man who has done his level best... is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure. B. C. Forbes

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. Maya Angelou

Success is dependent upon the glands - sweat glands. Zig Ziglar

If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Henry David Thoreau

You have achieved success if you have lived well, laughed often and loved much.

Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Anthony Robbins

Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom. George S. Patton

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those scared and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Theodore Roosevelt

Men do not stumble over mountains, but over mole hills. Confucius

Success: We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is devastation. Ignorance is tragedy. Ignorance is illness. It all stems from ignorance. James Rohn

I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change. James Rohn

An Unfailing Success Plan: At each day’s end write down the six most important things to do tomorrow; number them in order of importance, and then do them.

If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you. James Rohn

The book you don't read won't help. James Rohn

Great minds discuss ideas, Average minds discuss events, Small minds discuss people. Hyman Rickover

When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece. John Ruskin

Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night. Zig Ziglar

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I've lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

via SOFT SKILL AND MOTIVATION

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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years ago

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Netflix’s Challenging Black Earth Rising Seeks Justice in an Imbalanced World

This is a time full of television that requires sure and steady hands. There cooking shows, home renovation shows, and fashion design competition shows. There are shows where you compete by painting makeup, forging swords, and failing at cake-making; there’s a show about popping pimples and lancing boils, and several about tattoo artists. Yet it’s possible that “Black Earth Rising,” a co-production between BBC Two (on which it aired in September and October 2018) and Netflix, is more interested in what’s tactile than any other series on television. The characters who populate its complicated world are constantly touching things, as if to confirm they are still there, as if they could will those things to remain just so. There’s a simple explanation for this, a series on which very little is simple: When your hand rests on something, it can be verified, witnessed, documented, and trusted. What’s out of reach may as well not exist at all.

At its best, Simon Blick’s series lives in the spaces out of reach. “Black Earth Rising” centers primarily on Kate Ashby (Michaela Coel in a bracing, intensely vulnerable turn), a British investigator who, as a child, escaped genocide in Rwanda in the arms of her adoptive mother, Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter), an international lawyer who specializes in the prosecution of war crimes. She accepts the role of prosecutor in the case against Simon Nyamoya (Danny Sapan), a Tutsi General credited with bringing about the end of the Rwandan genocide, but who Eve charges with a horrific crime unknown, it seems, to all but the General, her colleague Michael Ennis (John Goodman), one or two others, and herself. Kate is horrified, deeply wounded—a Tutsi herself, she cannot understand why her mother would choose to prosecute the man who ended the nightmare. An explanation cannot be given, but is promised down the road, and then all hell breaks loose.

That’s the beginning. The beginning of the beginning. What’s most striking about “Black Earth Rising”—outside of the constant touching, the terrific performances, and the thoughtful filmmaking, anyway—is that it’s essentially a legal thriller mixed with a painful search for personal history, leaving threads dangling for so long that it’s easy to forget them entirely until suddenly they are yanked on, and something else unravels. It moves like a thriller. It shocks like a thriller. But imagine any legal thriller you like—say, early “House of Cards,” or maybe “Primal Fear”—and then involve the ruthless murder of millions, an army intent on slaughtering an entire ethnic group. Now imagine that the only people willing and equipped to fight for the truth and for justice are in incredible pain. Endless, unceasing pain. They’ve still got to solve the mysteries, race through the car chases, fend off threats from all sides, and maneuver through endless obstacles, and they’ve got to do it while struggling with their own, knee-buckling tragedies—some difficult to imagine, some upsettingly familiar and mundane. A bleak diagnosis. A sick daughter. A hateful aunt. Grief. Remorse. Isolation. It never stops.

Yet “Black Earth Rising” isn’t what you’d call relentlessly bleak. Oh, it’s difficult to watch—sometimes extremely so; watching this eight-episode season for review was so grueling, a step back and half a day away from it was necessary. But Blick gives his characters, particularly Goodman’s Michael, Coel’s Kate, and Tamara Tunie’s Eunice (an assistant Secretary of State for the U.S.), a sense of humor, dark and sharp though it may be.

More palpably, the brisk pace maintained by writer-director Blick throughout keeps the proceedings from approaching anything like self-indulgence (at least, right up until the end). Emotions matter here—they define Kate, and are the force against which most of other characters struggle against, are guided by, or both at once—but as the characters tell each other again and again, the moment in front of them is rarely the destination. Blick approaches the story that way, too. When quiet moments, static moments, occur, they always center on what a character is experiencing. If Kate needs to stop and get herself together, or Martin needs a moment to reflect or assess, that’s fine, that’s important. But because they never forget that the world keeps turning, because their urgency never lessens, the threads of the story remain taut. That’s why the touching, reminding, pressing, gripping, holding is all so important. There’s will and force behind those instances of contact. They are prayers, or promises.

They are also certain, and that certainty stands in contrast with most of the series. While “Black Earth Rising” dwells in the gray, it thrives. (That genocide is an unspeakable evil is never in question; almost everything else is.) The characters have firm, singular conviction, but they acknowledge the complexity that envelopes them, and almost everyone has warring interests and needs within themselves. The characters, too, are complex, particularly Martin, Kate, and Alice Munezero (the remarkable Noma Dumezweni), a former General now looking for the only right moment to push for dramatic change. But as the series moves toward a powerful conclusion—and powerful it is—Blick begins to paint with some broad strokes. By this point, “Black Earth Rising” has earned a few of those moments, but it’s frustrating to watch a show so willing to keep the viewer off-balance suddenly become narratively tidy.

The same is true of the direction, but as with the writing, so much of what comes before those few easy moments is engaging and thoughtful that the missteps begin to fade not long after they’ve passed. Blick forces changes in perspective with great frequency, and while that sounds a bit on-the-nose, it’s nearly always effective. The camera often views a character’s race down the stairs from above, or allows someone to make a decision in the instant it takes the camera to move from one side of them to the other. More affecting still are the moments in which the visual language enters the realm of the surreal, either because Kate’s memories are intruding on her present day, or because what’s happening is so unreal that to approach the story any other way would feel dishonest. Among the images that most compel: A man in a poncho at the end of a flooded tunnel, his nails caked in blood; A bullet enters a skull in a horrifyingly matter-of-fact shot; Bubbles coat the face of a woman underwater, her eyes wide. (Less effective: The show’s infrequent animated sequences, which though beautiful, tend to disrupt the flow of the series. There’s one magnificent exception.)

To unreservedly recommend “Black Earth Rising” is impossible. Its precise cocktail of genre and human nightmare won’t be for everyone. But this can be easily said: If you seek excellent performances, you’ll find them here—Coel, Goodman, and Dumezweni in particular. If you’re hoping to be simultaneously challenged and made deeply anxious, look no further. And if the quest for rightness in a world that too often makes rightness impossible compels you, “Black Earth Rising” is well worth your time. Just give yourself something to grab, or touch, or press while you watch it. The steadiness will help.

Full season screened for review.

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