Unpretentious love, boring murders and closet pride: Reviewing new series
The painful history of being proud of television, a pretentious and superfluous novelty for classics, a guy had to keep his two teenage sisters, a British and expectant British thriller and bloody revenge that is hotly served. That's what we thought about "Out of the Closet on TV", "High Fidelity", "Everything Will Be Okay", "Deadwater Fell" and "Reprisal"
Unpretentious love, boring murders and closet pride: Reviewing new series
HollowVisible: Out on Television
What: Comedian Wanda Sykes ("Black Like") and actor Wilson Cruz (Ricky Vasquez from "These Are My Lives") are among the producers of a five-episode documentary series by Apple TV Plus, exploring the importance of television as an intimate medium that shaped American consciousness, and at the same time How the LGBT Movement Shaped Television. The series deals with topics such as homophobia, concealment, the evolution of the LGBT character and the exit from the television industry, including interviewers Alan DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Anderson Cooper, Billy Porter, Jesse Tyler Ferguson , Sykes and Cruz themselves and many others. Ryan White and Jessica Hergrave, who created Netflix's "The Keepers," are behind the new series, which is also available in Israel and with a Hebrew translation.
What we thought: Throughout the "Visible" episodes (hereafter "visible"), several different speakers repeatedly say, "This is the power of television." On a chronological axis, since the first time the word "gay" was uttered on screen in the McCarthy Commission's filmed broadcasts, the series has best portrayed the power of representation within such a medium and central medium of American community life.
With restraint and gentleness, on the one hand, it is "visible" how ignorance and general anti-LGBT discrimination have removed from the screen those who are suspected of such, while on the other hand it is crucial for their representation - whether in the news and scrutiny or in obscured works - for the confident stray children who are alone Not only gays but also lesbians, not only they and they but also trans and trans, not only white but also black. "Visible" tracks the difficult and painful evolution of all these groups, and sharpens how important these resolutions are for viewers. Someone like them.
Through eye-opening archive footage - which makes the first few chapters particularly interesting - along with jaw-dropping stories and commentary by speakers of various generations, "visible" depicts an endless Sisyphean struggle that lasted about 70 years, with plenty of lows and a few highs. White and Hergrave are aware of the strength of their own pathetic history, the unbroken history of blatant homophobia and the tragic stories that touch the hearts of anyone who has one. Therefore, "visible" is careful to avoid manipulation and exaggeration, which produces a fascinating, important and very exciting work.
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To the full articleHigh Fidelity
What: Nick Hornby's wonderful book (in Hebrew "High Fidelity"), which has already received unforgettable cinematography by Stephen Freers, arrived Friday as a new Hollow series. This time the protagonist is a protagonist, played by Zoe Kravitz ("Big Little Lies" and Lisa Beaune's daughter, who starred in the movie 20 years ago) - a small record store explores her relationships from the past, while accepting her passion and love for music. At present, the series has not been purchased for broadcast in Israel.
What we thought: In one of the episodes, the heroine visits a recording studio of a singer that she socializes with. After a singular take, he asks her what he thinks and suggests that he let himself go, thinking what Prince would do. The singer enters the recording booth again, and what do you think is happening? Of course, he mimics Prince. The heroine loves it, his producer dies on it.
It is amazing how this scene captures the spirit of "high fidelity". A banal bursting series, almost all of its characters are cliché, but it wraps it all up in a bit as cool, as if, and as original as Prince's imitation and reliable like a mostly-empty record store that earns three permanent employees in 2020. No Bubble Problem Fantastic, it's a legitimate choice for any piece. The problem is that "high fidelity" is constantly striving to assure us of its aspiration for the truth as expressed in the musical snobbery of its characters, except that most of them are shouting "pose," just like the Instagram crap that the series so mocks them. You might think that this was a deliberate irony of "high fidelity," but it is difficult to find a reference to this.
The counterweight to all this lies in the character of Clyde (Jack Lacey, "Dead on Stage"), a kind and kind guy who came to New York from a much less hipster place. He, too, is of course a cliché of the nice guy under the heroine's nose, but in a universe like his "high fidelity" normality is air to breath. The moments when he's on screen are the best because they strip away from the series the desperate, even pathetic attempts to be vocal all the time, injecting her with some of the honesty she so desperately wants to equal herself. Unfortunately, although Lacey is second in the credits, his screen time is too short, and the result accordingly. "High fidelity" remains most of the time engineered, pretentious and sweaty with effort.
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To the full articlepose. Zoe Kravitz, "High Fidelity" (Photo: PR)
"High Fidelity" series, Zoe Kravitz (Photo: Hollow, PR)
Everything's Gonna Be Okay
What: A new Freeform network comedy ("Good Trouble," "This Mature") starring Josh Thomas ("Please Love Me"). Nicholas, a 25-year-old neurotic guy, had to grow up when his father was dying and he himself became the guardian of his two half-sisters - Mathilda, a 17-year-old autistic actress (much like the actress who plays her, Kayla Cromer) and 15-year-old Genib (Maeve Press). It is currently unknown whether the series was purchased for broadcast in Israel.
What did we think: How to say it gently? As an actor Josh Thomas is an acquired taste. In fact, sometimes he wasn't even bought at all. From "Please Love Me" (which is available on Netflix, and also partly aired on yes under the name "Get Me"), a comic drama about a young man who acknowledges that he is gay and lives with his suicidal mother, it was difficult to survive beyond a few episodes simply because he was tolerable. Annoying, moaning, moaning, with a puzzling affection for shorts. And as if to emphasize, not to say defy, how much better casting can be with another actor, he always embodies younger characters than his real age (he's 32 now).
"Everything Will Be Alright" is very reminiscent of his previous series in its tone, and in all the flaws that involve Thomas. The thing is, the creator is pretty great. His series is honest and trustworthy, sweet but not synchronic, sad but not depressing. And in the case of "everything will be fine," as opposed to "Please Love Me," there is great counterweight in the girls' image. Matilda and Genevan are wonderfully written, like real ten, and naturally played by Cromer and Peres, and the interface between them and Nicholas yields lots of beautiful moments, and even some original and bad parenting solutions. In general, the characters are well drawn, even when they are likable and awful (Tallulah, Geniv's girlfriend, is the extreme marker for that), which contributes to the sense of truth that "everything will be okay" strives for it.
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To the full articleDeadwater Fell
What: A new four-episode drama by the British Sky Network, starring David Tennant ("Broadchurch") and Kush Jumbo ("The Best of the Fight"), which follows two families and their stories following a horrific crime. It is currently unknown whether the series was purchased for broadcast in Israel.
What we thought: Do you know that a British series is starting that doesn't really go anywhere, but you convince yourself that it's only four episodes and how bad it can be? If so, welcome to a series that makes it clear that can be very bad. On the face of it, nothing here indicates a disaster that is about to materialize. Even if the formulaic structure of a shocking murder that shakes a pastoral town is already eroded to its core, "Deadwater Well" should have provided the genre's fans with three entertaining hours - just as entertaining. And with a quality stamp like David Tennant hovering over everything, it's hard to imagine how it could be screwed up like that.
First and foremost, "Deadwater Well" feels like 13 episodes. The pace is down to a miserable slow pace, unnecessarily smeared scenes and thrown mini-stories that are supposed to "stir" this dish even more - but only emphasize how bland it is. Think of “big little lies” without the glamor of the big stars, the quality of the photography, the editing and the soundtrack - and you get this piece. A kind of excessive soap opera with obviously unconvincing touches of suspense. The question that seems to be constantly hovering over the killer's identity fails to hold the series because the characters are all terrible until none of them deserve our mercy.
Even Tennant, whose habit here far outweighs his castmates, seems bored by the supposedly "mysterious" character sewn for him. The disruptive dialogues he has to recite feel like a dumbbell that prevents his character from breaking down the so predictable way in which it develops. Yes, it's another nail in the Deadwater Well box - you can see its twist from a mile, and all attempts to disguise it in a way are about as successful as trying to keep viewers awake. No rhythm, no rewards, no single interesting character - no reason to waste your time on this series.
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To the full articleReprisal
What: A new Hollow action thriller starring Abigail Spencer ("The Times", "The Correction"), which embodies Katherine, a woman who seeks revenge on people who have wronged her and tried to kill her, led by her brother. Also Rodrigo Santoro ("300", "Westworld") and Ron Perlman ("Children of Anarchy") here. At present, the series has not been purchased for broadcast in Israel.
What we thought: Revenge is always a powerful and distinct narrative that helps viewers slip right into the plot and understand who the good guys are, the bad guys and where it's all going. In this case, too, Katherine's revenge plan is the steam that drives the series forward and creates an almost instantaneous identification with it. The series takes place in a violent world of gangs, so there's also a nice element of satisfying chauvinist reproach, which culminated in a great Spencer monologue in the third episode that all the men in her life ignored and put guns in her lap assuming she didn't know how to use them. She learned.
So that part is fine, nice and working, the less-worked part is the affairs of the gang and motorcycle gang wars, the leather jackets and the strip club that accompanies them. Perlman's presence, as expected, does not contribute to the matter and invites an unflattering comparison to the "children of anarchy". And while the series itself is surprisingly serious, dark, heavy, and weightless, its tone sometimes feels a little outdated, as if it belonged to the era of the grunge crime series of the early decades of "Banshee", "The Empire of Crime" and even "Private Justice" and the like. Fans of the Birmingham Gang, say, will immediately find something to love about it. Everything else should dig a little deeper.
Also, it's quite clear that the revenge plot (which, incidentally, relies too much on the accidental hand of fate) is not long enough to fill all the ten chapters ordered, so the rhythm stretches and sometimes unnecessarily stretches scenes. Three other positive things "Reprisal" has in its favor: Spencer, despite the crooked blonde wig, is wonderful and quality as usual; Dish Masood (from the live-action version of "Aladdin") is exciting and excellent as Ethan, a young gang member caught in the middle of this whole program; And incorporating Lia Delaria into a stripper club owner is surprising and yet provides a cool and modern twist.
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