We watched, via Netflix, two movies one after t'other one evening during the week, and they unexpectedly turned out to have similar themes. Both movies had female leads - gals who, uncharacteristically, decided to take the law into their own hands:
Miss Meadows, and
I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore.
Miss Meadows has Katie Holmes as a young teacher with perfect manners, old world style, but packs a punch and a dinky firearm in her little handbag. She carries said bag a la Queen Elizabeth II, it's on her arm at all times. The story unfolds in both predictable and unpredictable ways.
In the film with the unwieldy title I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore Melanie Lynskey is Ruth, who is sickened by the human indecency around her. Her home is burglarized, the police are disinterested, so she teams up with her neighbor (Elijah Wood) to find the burglar and deal with him. It's complicated though. Things rapidly become far more dangerous than the pair ever expected.
Both movies belong to the genre 'black comedy'. Black comedy is a strange genre - I suppose a tag line for it could be "if we don't laugh we'll cry". There are a few wry chuckles available in these two films, about the characters themselves, rather than their actions, which is testament to the excellent direction and performances by all involved.
AND... for something completely different:
New on Netflix this month is Queer Eye, It's a re-boot of a 2003/4 show, back then titled Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I remember seeing episodes of the old 2003/4 show on TV, in England before I left. We've now watched the first few episodes of the re-booted version. The show now has a new cast, five different guys, but the mix of personalities is similar. One of the five is very camp - fun, lovable; the others are less overtly gay, all are charming. In the 2018 version we have diversity, this was missing in 2004. One of the new five is black, another is British and of (I think) Pakistani background.
As well as making over their subjects' personal styles of dress and grooming, and their homes being given an attractive uplift of new decor, there's an added psychological element. This, for me, is especially interesting. Lack of self-confidence is tackled in the first episode, and in the second episode the subject is a police officer. He has a touchingly candid conversation with the black member of the five guys, about....well you can guess. It's affecting, especially so at the end of the show as they all bid farewell.
Critics might judge Queer Eye as just another tacky reality makeover show, but it has more potential than that - and so far, for me anyway, it is living up to that potential.
Miss Meadows, and
I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore.
Miss Meadows has Katie Holmes as a young teacher with perfect manners, old world style, but packs a punch and a dinky firearm in her little handbag. She carries said bag a la Queen Elizabeth II, it's on her arm at all times. The story unfolds in both predictable and unpredictable ways.
In the film with the unwieldy title I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore Melanie Lynskey is Ruth, who is sickened by the human indecency around her. Her home is burglarized, the police are disinterested, so she teams up with her neighbor (Elijah Wood) to find the burglar and deal with him. It's complicated though. Things rapidly become far more dangerous than the pair ever expected.
Both movies belong to the genre 'black comedy'. Black comedy is a strange genre - I suppose a tag line for it could be "if we don't laugh we'll cry". There are a few wry chuckles available in these two films, about the characters themselves, rather than their actions, which is testament to the excellent direction and performances by all involved.
AND... for something completely different:
As well as making over their subjects' personal styles of dress and grooming, and their homes being given an attractive uplift of new decor, there's an added psychological element. This, for me, is especially interesting. Lack of self-confidence is tackled in the first episode, and in the second episode the subject is a police officer. He has a touchingly candid conversation with the black member of the five guys, about....well you can guess. It's affecting, especially so at the end of the show as they all bid farewell.
Critics might judge Queer Eye as just another tacky reality makeover show, but it has more potential than that - and so far, for me anyway, it is living up to that potential.
thx
ReplyDeleteLondon Spy on Netflix !!!
Anonymous ~ Thanks - we'll investigate that one - sounds interesting. I see Charlotte Rampling is in it - oddly we've seen her in two movies very recently, bit I hadn't seen her in anything for yonks. Netflix must have bought a job lot of Rampling material. ;-)
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