#wawwa review

[verumfm]

is that … DARIKA WATTANAKUN returning home after a journey? the town of cynefin welcomes you, frey. please be sure to review our local laws before you settle in.

the following faceclaim & position are now taken: wawwa nicha & muse 12.

( wawwa nicha , cis woman , she/her ) — one day the sea will sing of DARIKA WATTANAKUN, the thirty-two year old farmer from the town of cynefin. there will be verses about sunlight filtering through the leaves of gingko trees, the gentleness of calloused hands mending a punishing ache, kindness borne in the eyes of an austere face, and the whistle of a scythe accompanying the sung melody of a work song in the hums of their hymn, about a person who is trained in the magic of khemia. the land will know them as someone indomitable and forbearing, but perhaps, you’ll hear the old crones hiss that they are obstinate and reticent. only the shadows of the ocean floor will bear witness to the truth. ╱ frey, 27, she/her, gmt+8.

[theopulenthq]

Welcome to The Opulent HQ, Alex and Eli! Please review the checklist and send in your account within 24 hours!

{wawwa nicha, 32, cis woman, she/her} We are so glad to see you safe, QUEEN ARANYA CHAKRI of THAILAND! It’s dangerous out in the world these days, but I hear that you are ELOQUENT and ALTRUISTIC enough to handle it. Just don’t let your MELANCHOLY bring you down! Stay on your guard, because with your secret being at risk for exposure, you wouldn’t want everyone to find out YOU ONCE CONSIDERED LEAVING YOUR HUSBAND AND NOW YOU'RE QUESTIONING YOUR CHOICE TO STAY. {alex, 26, est, she/her, n/a}

{henry zaga, 25, cis man, he/him} We are so glad to see you safe, VISCOUNT AUGUSTUS ROMAN of FRANCE (Brazil) ! It’s dangerous out in the world these days, but I hear that you are PASSIONATE and RESILIENT enough to handle it. Just don’t let your AGGRESSIVENESS bring you down! Stay on your guard, because with your secret being at risk for exposure, you wouldn’t want everyone to find out YOU ARE A MERCENARY, LOYAL TO NONE AND WILLING TO KILL ANYBODY FOR THE RIGHT PRICE. {eli, 26, gmt-3, she/her, n/a}

filling in the connection for karolina's benefactor !

[freddyfreebat]

We Are Who We Are Is Coming-of-Age Poetry

review by Jen Chaney for Vulture  —  🚨 mild spoiler alert 🚨

It is impossible to watch We Are Who We Are, the new HBO series from filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, without being reminded from time to time of Guadagnino’s film Call Me by Your Name. Like that movie, We Are Who We Are is a coming-of-age story set in Italy. Like Call Me by Your Name, the cable drama focuses on characters exploring their sexual identities. While We Are Who We Are does not contain any scenes that center on peaches, it does include a moment in which two women thrust their hands into a freshly baked apple pie. Armie Hammer does not dance to a Psychedelic Furs song in this series, but Caitlin (Jordan Kristine Seamón), one of the show’s teen protagonists, does sway sensually to a cover of Laura Branigan’s “Self-Control.”

Despite these common denominators, We Are Who We Are establishes itself as a different animal, in large part because of its medium. Guadagnino, who created, co-wrote, and directed the series, has eight episodes across which he can drape his narrative, and he embraces the notion of taking his time. We Are Who We Are, debuting Monday night, is a series that you want to keep watching not out of curiosity to find out what happens next, but because of the environment in which it unfolds. Guadagnino places his camera in the spaces shared by Army brats living on a military base in Chioggia, Italy, and just lets these kids be. Watching it is akin to being a fly on the wall in a hyperspecific setting, assuming you are a fly who happens to be a gifted cinematographer.

We Are Who We Are is gorgeously photographed and obsessive in its attention to detail. Guadagnino is drawn to the messes people make and don’t bother to clean up, both literally and emotionally. In the fourth episode, which focuses on a celebration that stretches from day to deep into the night, Guadagnino pauses on empty beer bottles, remnants of cooked spaghetti, and PlayStation controllers tossed aside and still faintly aglow to capture the mood of a party that’s gone on a little too long. The relationships, particularly between parents and children, ebb and flow in a similar fashion; at times they are vital, but they can quickly turn into something fatiguing.

The series opens as Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer of IT and Shazam!), and his two mothers, Sarah (Chloë Sevigny) and Maggie (Alice Braga), arrive in Italy, where Sarah is set to serve as the new commander on the aforementioned Army base. Fraser is immediately agitated because a piece of his luggage is missing, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that intensity is his default setting. With his bleached-blond mop of curls and baggy leopard-print pants, Fraser would stand out in a crowd no matter what. But Grazer infuses the boy with a constant itchiness that makes it impossible to take your eyes off of him.

His relationship with Sarah, his birth mother, is dysfunctional and fraught; at times he has an infantile desire to seek comfort from her, and at others, his resentment borders on violent. Sarah may be a military leader, but as a mom she is needy and extremely permissive. When Fraser has a meltdown over a meal he made that didn’t turn out well, Sarah calmly and without hesitation pours him a glass of wine. 

One wouldn’t expect a woman whose workday is peppered with formalities and protocol to be so liberal in her parenting, and that’s part of the point. In every piece of character study in We Are Who We Are, there are elements of surprise, contradiction, and a refusal to come to strict conclusions. Is Fraser gay, straight, bi? In the first four episodes provided to critics, it’s not clear, in part because it isn’t necessarily clear to Fraser yet.

The show hints that Caitlin, Fraser’s next-door neighbor with whom he forges a friendship, may be trans but, again, leaves that up to interpretation. Just when you think you are starting to have a sense of who she is, she and her father (Kid Cudi), more of a classic military man, privately celebrate the arrival of a pair of matching MAGA caps. (The series takes place as the 2016 presidential election is unfolding, though, at least in the episodes I saw, it is not an overtly political series.) Like Fraser’s relationship with Sarah, what first seems like a laudable bond between parent and child starts to show tinges of something poisonous.

The tension between freedom and restrictiveness seeps into just about every frame of We Are Who We Are, as the teens in Fraser and Caitlin’s social circle roam the base while soldiers in the background engage in military drills. It also informs Guadagnino’s aesthetic. For all his specificity as a filmmaker, there are times when he can luxuriate in a moment a bit too excessively. In the beginning of episode four, a paintball game devolves into a paint-and-water-splattering fight that unfolds in slow motion for close to two and a half minutes. Some viewers might get impatient with that meandering, leisurely approach, while other may find themselves swept up in the moment, transported by the series’ sense of place and mood.

When Fraser sees Caitlin for the first time, he spies on her in class as she’s reciting a poem by Walt Whitman, then snaps a photo of her on his phone, a moment that aptly summarizes what We Are Who We Are is. It’s not a traditional television show. It’s poetry. It’s a photograph of a moment in time. Every episode is an invitation to just sit within those verses and pictures and appreciate them, without judgment.

[therewrites]

We Are Who We Are Overall Thoughts *spoilers*

This review will be discussing briefly some of the episodes so far, so SPOILERS

So I started watching the HBO original series, We Are Who We Are, and I am conflicted. When I initially watched it, the dialogue made it hard for me to enjoy it so I stopped. Then after a couple of weeks after its airing, I thought, what the hell? And this time, I was pleasantly surprised. I always maintain the belief that pilot episodes are either boring, messy, or just bad so I try to push past it in order to get to the good shit. The pilot for We Are Who We Are was...I’m not sure how to explain...different? It certainly wasn’t bad and it made an impression on me, but this show as a whole is hard to limit by just a few words. It’s really something that you should watch and experience yourself.

It was only after the first 3 episodes that I began to understand the tone and mood that Luca Guadagnino was trying to convey. A lot of the time, the dialogue is abrupt and choppy and can make no sense. It can be frustrating, especially when you have two characters that aren’t communicating effectively. But I think that was the point. Guadagnino is a very realistic director, he captures the most realistic elements in a film. A lot of the conversations between characters is meant to emulate real life. Like, what the hell do you say when a conversation becomes awkward? Well, nothing sometimes.

While Guadagnino’s typical cinematography may suggest whimsy, in WAWWA’s case the small structured and synthetic model of the military base is juxtaposed to the very concrete characters. When I started to view the show less as simply a televised airing of fictional characters and problems, and instead looked at them as people, I began to really enjoy it. 

Take the main character of Fraser, played by Jack Dylan Grazer. Fraser is meant to be seen as an extremely complex and troubled kid, but the difference between him and every other teen in a coming-of-age drama is that he isn’t polished. His drinking and drug habit isn’t framed as romantic or beautiful, in fact most of the time it’s portrayed as his weakness of sorts. In the first episode, Fraser has one of his mothers drive him home after getting pretty wasted and Luca graces us with a direct shot of him throwing up. And before that, Fraser is stumbling on a bridge when he drunkenly falls and cuts his face. Everything the character does is messy, uncoordinated, yet extremely real and relatable. Hell, in one shot you can clearly see him do a Naruto run!

Caitlin/Harper is a character that I enjoyed watching, as well. Jordan Seamon did a fantastic job and I really connected with their character. Initially we see Caitlin as this mysterious girl, and in the pilot we are meant to assume that their relationship with Fraser is supposed to develop into a romantic one. This is not the case as it seems that Caitlin is trying to come to terms with who they are. The biggest shift in Caitlin’s character isn’t their friendship with Fraser but probably when they get their period. 

This was a moment that even I related to, even though I am cis when I first got my period I didn’t tell my mom until the day after. The possible confusion and shift in their reality that Caitlin felt was only heightened with the conflict of their boyfriend wanting to be more physically intimate, and Fraser’s eventual discover of Harper. I would have like to see exactly why Fraser seemed drawn to Caitlin. I’m assuming viewers were supposed to think that Fraser is attracted to her, or something. But both Caitlin/Harper and Fraser are queer coded and their respective sexualities are alluded to not being straight. It would’ve made their standing as platonic friends more clear if this had been established stronger. 

I definitely think the writer could have devoted more time to giving certain characters proper conversations. It would’ve given more development to certain characters and better context for things. However even without that, there is a lot that the audience is showed that can’t be told through dialogue. The power struggle between Sarah and Richard being one. So far, there hasn’t been any explanation as to why they have a such a volatile relationship other than Richard being a homophobe. 

Through deeper inspection, I was able to interpret it as: Richard may heavily resent the fact the Sarah was promoted to Colonel and not him. It is never made clear who has the better credentials, Sarah or Richard, but assuming that she was the one promoted it is a safe guess. This may be highlighted by the fact that Sarah is a women, and also gay. Even before episode 7, it was clear that Richard did not respect her authority. I also interpreted it as Richard being upset that and openly gay women was promoted instead of him, a black man. 

Of course this is just based on my own personal knowledge of how the U.S. military can be towards people of color and LGBTQ+. Regardless, the competitive tension between two parents is palpable without needing dialogue to explain.  

When conflict happens, I can kind of figure out which characters are going to react and which one’s will stay silent. I think the show is trying to accomplish a drastically realistic and raw series. It took me while to adjust to it, but by maybe the 2nd or 3rd episode, it starts to grow on you. Despite not liking a good majority of the characters, I was very surprised by how invested I was in them. 

Like, Danny is my least favorite character because he displays very abusive and explosive tendencies, and doesn’t seem to care about the world around him. However, getting glimpses into his character and seeing how Richard ignores him for Caitlin/Harper, his suicidal thoughts, and how he is trying to reclaim his cultural and religious background makes me empathize with him. 

Even though I hate his character, I can see that he is struggling. I appreciate the way that this show freely shows dark skinned black boys dealing with mental health issues, and personal development. Rarely are issues like suicide talked about in the black community, so seeing Danny talk about it and Craig offering(admittedly poor)comfort was touching. This is a general vibe that I get from nearly all the characters on WAWWA. I also appreciated the how Danny is actively trying to convert to Islam. In shows, rarely is Islam ever portrayed in a positive manner. Especially when female characters are shown to be struggling with their religion, Islam is shown as this barrier that prevents them from living life. Hopefully it goes without saying that the “taking off the hijab” as a way to show that a female character is “liberated” is overplayed and does not offer any respect to the countless Muslim women who choose to wear hijabs. 

Now I think the pacing of some of the storylines could have been handled a bit more gracefully. Like how we jump from Fraser and Harper being kind of enemies(not really but you know what I mean), to just them hanging out in Richard’s boat was jarring. I would have at least liked to see the scene of them talking on the rocks at the beach. It would’ve given more insight on Caitlin/Harper’s character and also on Fraser too. Also how quickly Maggie and Lu(Jennifer but I love the name Lubaba, it’s my aunt’s name)jump into a physical affair. I just would have liked to see a build up of tension between all these characters but I don’t think this entirely ruins the plot. 

I was very iffy when I learned that the show would be focusing on trans identity and gender and sexuality, but not actually hire a trans male actor. I was afraid that the show would completely botch the experiences of being transgender, and honestly I don’t have the authority to speak on whether or not this affects the quality of the show. I am cisgender, and only can empathize with this particular situation as much as I can. But I would like to hear to the opinion of someone who is trans and elaborate on the ways that they did/didn’t like Jordan Kristine Seamón’s portrayal. 

Now at the time I’m writing this, the season finale has yet to come out. But I’d also like to briefly discuss the most recent episode and how it developed Jonathan and Fraser’s relationship. I was VERY worried that Guadagnino was going to take their relationship in the direction of inappropriate. While nearly all the depictions of Jonathan and his actions have been trough Fraser’s pov, it didn’t stop me from side-eyeing some of the interactions they shared. Of course after it was mentioned that Jonathan was supposed to be in his late 20s, nearing 30 I was immediately uncomfortable with the very flirty behavior he exhibited. 

So when the scene of Fraser going up to his apartment after Craig’s death, I was very on edge. If Guadagnino had gone the extra mile to show an even larger age gap then I would’ve been pissed. While I enjoyed Call Me By Your Name, the implication that sexual relationships between barely legal teenagers and adults well into their 20s was sensual is something that I see as very weird now that I’m older. So seeing Jonathan as the object of Fraser’s affections made me extremely warry. 

And honestly, I’m still surprised that the scene even happened in its entirety. I’m sure that Jack was not in any danger of being exploited but there were definitely points while watching I thought, what the fuck is going on? I was very worried that it would escalate, but I was happy to see that Fraser was the one who stopped it from going further.  It made sense to me that this scene took so many liberties to be as graphic as possible without being too graphic, in order to show why a situation like that would be scary and confusing for Fraser. It wasn’t lost to me that Marta and Jonathan were the one’s initiating all the sexual advances. They held all the power in that scenario, even more so because Fraser is younger and has the tendencies to not make the best decisions. Though it seemed that Fraser was trying, he knew that the situation was fucked up.

I’d like to hear what JDG felt and thought doing this scene. What was his character’s thought process?

I’ve seen a lot of people compare the show heavily to CMBYN, which is fine. Besides certain cinematic parallels that people pointed out, I don’t see the clear comparison. CMBYN is more of a love story and it’s more polished than WAWWA. Now when I say tat, I don’t mean it as a negative. Rather, We Are Who We is obviously more devoted to realism and its characters. I appreciate the inclusion of more LGBTQ+ people and black main characters with development, something that CMBYN lacked. And for some people who didn’t like the show based solely on the fact that it wasn’t a CMBYN tv show, I suggest just going into it with no expectations and enjoy the mess. 

And I’d also like to take a moment to commend Jack Dylan Grazer for his job in We Are Who We Are. All of the main cast are amazing actors and actresses and did a really good job bringing their characters to life. Though, I had always associated JDG with supporting roles that, while highlighted his acting talent, only put him in a one-dimensional light. As good as It 2017 was, JDG’s role of Eddie is only meant to be seen as a comic relief. In WAWWA, I was able to forget that he was teen actor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and really see him as Fraser. It’s worth mentioning that in a GQ interview, Grazer also mentioned how this role made him reevaluate is approach to acting. 

And after reading an interview he did with a Interview Germany, with him saying he spent months in Italy reading the script and trying to perfectly craft this character, I was immensely impressed. I hope that he knows that all his hard work payed off and made a really dynamic and interesting character. I really hope that in the future JDG continues with more mature or multi-dimensional roles because he displayed that he has the talent to do so. Him being so young makes me optimistic in knowing that he is definitely going places in his career. I also hope that there will be a season 2 of WAWWA because despite having hour long episodes, the show still felt way too short. There is a lot about Fraser’s character, and all the others’ characters, that I want more information and analysis on.

[thingsarentgood]

First episode of We Are Who We Are review under the cut *spoilers*

So I was entertained by the first episode and do intend to come back for episode 2 but something about the show feels off. Maybe its that it feels a little pretentious to me? Like, it was trying very hard to set a tone and a mood and style while also being both real and raw which kind of clashed. For instance when the camera lingered on certain things for no discernible narrative reasons (which could be a metaphor for Fraser's mental state, I admit) it felt like the shot was happening more for the sake of looking interesting than meaning anything. I wasn't too fond of Call Me By Your Name either so that could just be a personal issue.

As far as story/characters go, my favorite line was from Maggie when she said something along the lines of when Sarah kissed her, it felt like she was kissing a mirror. In general Maggie's character as this kind of this quiet family rock was a nice change of pace from other more erratic characters.

Fraser is a firecracker and well done by Jack Dylan Grazer. He makes me nervous to watch and I know that was done with intention. I feel like the show implied he may have some mental disability as well which I hope they get into. He's both maddening and sympathetic and I'm actually interested to see where he goes.

Caitlyn/Harper is an enigma so far and I love them all the more for it. Juxtaposed against everybody else’s loud personality is this silent intensity portrayed skillfully by Jordan Kristine Seamon’s steely stares. It seems like they’ll be the perfect foil to Fraser so I’m actually excited to see more of their character and how their friend group handles their gender experimentation.

Overall, I think the show has potential to be great even if the first episode had it’s rocky moments.

[mrchalamet-mrstyles]

100% agree about James Ivory being responsible for CMBYN I tried to watch other Luca films but they are so dull, nothing special. I don't know how much control he has in casting but his cast are always weird and weak, thankfully he kept Timmy when he joined the project.

I admit I adored I Am Love, it was the only other Luca film besides CMBYN that I responded to at all. I'm hoping WAWWA will take a turn for the better as it goes but from reading early reviews, I'm not holding my breath. This kid is so unlikable to me.

[freddyfreebat]

so final thoughts on We Are Who We Are? highs? lows? good, bad? etc

I may need to rewatch the show at some point to fully get a grasp on the storyline and characters etc. There seemed to me to be a lot of unexplained or unexplored stories and characters, and I question the direction it took in the last couple episodes in particular.

Regardless of your take on the relationship between Fraser and Jonathan (for the record, I agree with the original description of it as an “innocent romantic connection”, and dispute the perception that it was in anyway predatory from Jonathan’s side), I think we can agree it was left rather unresolved at the end of episode six, with Fraser running out of Jonathan’s apartment, and then never mentioned again.

Episode seven was emotionally overwhelming for me. It felt like it really dwelled too much on the (admittedly devastating) aftermath of Craig’s death. The whole scene with the “gang” (minus Fraser) in the villa felt overdone, and the drug use in particular wasn’t something I felt we needed. The episode being even longer than usual just made it drag on too much. This is largely the reason I felt unable to really handle making any gifs from it (not that there was much I wanted to gif anyway).

I didn’t enjoy the finale, on the whole. I felt some of the character development from both Fraser and Caitlin was somehow abandoned. The introduction of the boy Luca seemed a weird choice, this random - apparently straight - boy who Fraser suddenly runs off with and after he kisses Fraser (cheating on his girlfriend) simply “pops” out of existence and leads Fraser to run back to Caitlin, who equally suddenly abandons her gender identity struggle and kisses Fraser (what happened to their deal that they would never kiss?)

The two of them running off together “into the sunset” felt like an incredibly cliché ending, and seemed to betray the concept of the series. The whole thing felt ultimately unsatisfying and anticlimactic. After eight hours, I had expected more of an ending, probably ideally an open ending that would lead us into a second season if indeed we get one.

This isn’t to take away from the amazing acting from Jack, Jordan, and the rest of the cast. And I appreciate much of this is subjective, and I’m sure many people did enjoy the finale and the series overall. I may rewatch it at a later point and change my perspective on it. But at the moment, I feel somewhat let down and disappointed, especially with how much I liked it at the start.

I will say, to try and end this on a high note, that I did enjoy the relationship between Fraser and Caitlin on the whole. The way Fraser supported Caitlin, and the way she stuck by him despite the rest of her “friends” treating him like shit, was really cute and wholesome. The fact that mostly they had an intimate but non-romantic relationship was also something that we don’t get to see much. (This makes the finale that much more disappointing to me, but still).

I felt the relationship between Fraser and Jonathan was cute, and on the whole innocent and sweet, with a meeting of minds despite the age gap. What happened in episode six... I’m not sure exactly, and felt we were owed some kind of follow-up.

Overall, a lot of promise, and I feel we need more time with these characters to more fully explore and start to understand their motivations.

The cinematography throughout was great, with the long camera shots and natural dialog and interactions. It dragged in certain episodes, most notably episode seven, which could have been a LOT shorter. But still beautifully shot and a nice change from a lot of frantic camera angles and choppy editing in many modern shows.