Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 110

The Lie: Acting about Acting

My wife and I caught The Lie last night on Amazon Prime Video.  A scalding little movie, from the brain behind The Killing (Veena Sud), with one of its big stars ( Mireille Enos).

[spoilers follow]

First, let me say that I guessed the big shocking reveal at the end -- foresaw this about halfway through the movie.  The reason was two-fold: 1.  We didn't see Britney actually being pushed to her death.  2. Britney's body wasn't recovered.  And although the current was swift, the water didn't look particularly deep.

But this didn't spoil in the least my enjoyment of the movie, which grabs you by your collar as soon as Jay hears his daughter Kayla cry out, and keeps you there for the next ninety minutes.  Further, the acting is really impressive, with a typical brilliant performance by Enos across a simmering and wild range of emotions.

Joey King as Kayla was also noteworthy.  Her acting was, in effect, a double meta-performance.  She has to act to her parents as if she did shove Britney to her death.  She has to pretend to the police that nothing untoward happened.  And then the big reveal that she and Britney were putting this whole thing on: we need to believe, after that, that Kayla was acting about everything she said before.

I believed it, and so did my wife.   If you've read this far, through the warned spoilers, you've already seen The Lie.  If somehow you haven't, it's well worth seeing.

 
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Playlists: Science Fiction and Fantasy Songs, Songs about DJs, Songs about Phones

Joel Iskowitz illustrator; Delin Gonzales model

Three playlists for your listening pleasure:

 Science Fiction and Fantasy Songs

Songs about Disk Jockeys




Songs about Phones (from 1919-present)
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Big Sky 1.5: Winter Finale Indeed!

Well ... [spoilers follow]

Tonight's episode 1.5 of Big Sky provided a winter finale indeed.  A kind of rhyme with the end of the first episode, in which Cody was shockingly killed -- as in, out of the clear big blue sky.  And at the end of tonight's episode, Big Rick is killed, with a bullet to the head, by Cassie.

Ok, it was completely of out of the clear blue as Cody's demise.  Everything had been building up to this, including, especially, Cassie's suspicion and loathing of Rick, and her cool steel nerves.  And there was no way she was going to let Rick gun her down.  But it was still a big surprise, to see a major evil character, in fact, THE villain, shot down dead like that in the middle of a season.

Of course, the three kidnap victims, not to mention Cassie, are by no means out of the woods yet.  The helpful human flesh-dealers from up north are just a few minutes away from the kidnap victims, Cassie, and Rick's body.  And Cassie doesn't know they're close by.  The victims know, but will they have time to alert Cassie?

Barely.  And though Cassie is armed, she'll no doubt be outgunned by the human-traffickers.  There's definitely more than one of them.  So, we should be in for an exciting resumption of action in January.

Ronald will of course play a bigger role.  Has he managed to get his impulses, as his mother calls them, under control?  Will he show up at the scene before the Canadians arrive?  No, not likely.  Before they leave?  Possibly.  And if he doesn't, what will he do when he finds Rick dead and everyone missing?  Will he think the Canadians killed Rick?

Lots of questions which can only be answered by watching the second part of the season, which I'll definitely be doing, and talking about it right here.

 See also Big Sky 1.1: A Pretty Big Deal ... Big Sky 1.2: The "Goods" and the Ruined Plan ... Big Sky 1.3: "You Kidnapped the Wrong Girl" ... Big Sky 1.4: Controls on Psychos

 
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

His Dark Materials 2.5: Daughter and Mother

The powers of good did well tonight in His Dark Materials 2.5, to the point that Lyra's daemon gave Mrs. Coulter's daemon quite a thrashing, which means the daughter thrashed the mother.

But that's not all.  Will mastered the subtle knife, and used it to his and Lyra's advantage.  And while Will and Lyra were at this, they managed to recover Lyra's alethiometer, too.   What more could you ask for?

Well --  and again, I haven't read the novels, so all of this is new (and narratively exciting) to me -- I think Mrs. Coulter is increasingly beginning to work on the side of the good.  This comes from the genuine love she has for her daughter.  It's not clear if she knows the extent of the deadly hostility the Magisterium has for Lyra, but there's no doubt that Coulter will kill anyone who wants to hurt her daughter.   Period.

Not that this an undilutedly good thing, either, however.  The last thing that Coulter tells Lyra tonight is to stay away from Will.  Is this solely because of his knife, which Coulter sees as dangerous to anyone around Will, or is there something more?   Whatever Coulter's motives, Lyra and Will are clearly drawing closer, which means that Coulter and Lyra are still on a collision course.

There wasn't much in furthering our understanding of dust aka dark matter tonight, but it was good to see Mary on the case, and she's our best bet for discovering more about dark matter and explaining it in terms we can understand.  In effect, Mary is our the audience's surrogate in this story, and that's one of the reasons she's become one of my favorite characters.  (Good job Simone Kirby.)

Only two episodes remaining in this excellent short season -- like a human and a daemon? --  and I'm looking forward to both of them.

See also His Dark Materials 2.1-3: Dust, Dark Matter, and Multiple Universes ... His Dark Materials 2.4: Chosen by the Knife

And see also His Dark Materials 1.1: Radiation Punk ...  His Dark Materials 1.3: Coulter's Daemons ... His Dark Materials 1.4: The Bears ... His Dark Materials 1.5:  Sleepers and Questions ... His Dark Materials 1.6: His Fast Materials

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Your Honor 1.2: "Today Is Yesterday"

Just saw the second episode of Your Honor, courtesy of Showtime On Demand.  It's about as powerful a chess game with life and death consequences as ever I've seen on television.

As part of his opening move, Judge Desiato tells his son Adam that they have to work to reset the pieces so that "today is yesterday".  No, there's no time travel involved,  but a well-thought out plan to set up a series of plausible alibis today for what happened yesterday, when Adam killed Jimmy Baxter's son in a hit-and-run.  This involves getting someone to steal the car Adam was driving.   And make it appear that the car was stolen yesterday.   The result, if all worked well, would be that Adam would look like he was nowhere near the scene of the hit-and-run, and there would be another plausible candidate to take the rap if that was needed.

A very clever plan. But maybe not that well thought out, because real life has a mind of its own, and before the hour is over Desiato's plan leads to the guy who "stole" the car pleading guilty to the hit-and-run.  This is not quite what Deiasto had foreseen. Certainly not so quickly.  Kofi, who takes the fall, could be snuffed out in a minute by Baxter, with all those cops and who knows how many prison guards on his payroll.  The best that Desiato can do is convince his lawyer to take Kofi's case.  Not all that hard to do, since they have a romantic chemistry and an impending date, but dangerous insofar as she seems to be a pretty sharp cookie, and could well figure out at some point that Desiato is far more involved in this hit-and-run that just someone stole his car.

So what we have here is an edgy, on the edge of unraveling, story of the best laid plans.  Stirred by top-notch acting and surprises popping out of the woodwork.  My only regret at this point is that I can't binge-watch all the remaining episodes.

See also Your Honor 1.1: Taut Set-Up

 
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

I'm Your Woman: This Is Your Movie

I'm Your Woman, a movie up on Amazon Prime since just yesterday, is a real treat.  A superb, different kind of take on a well-worn subject, brought to life on the screen by Rachel Brosnahan.

The set-up: Jean, played by Brosnahan, is surprised by a baby her husband Eddie brings home to her one day.  She can't have children, and he wants them to have the joy of a family.  He's some kind of mobster killer, though, and shortly disappears.  People presumably on his side show up to help  Jean and Harry the baby survive.

So, we've seen this kind of thing before, as I said, but not with the lead role and baby in Brosnahan's hands.  She starts being clueless about everything, from how to fry an egg to how to take care of a baby, let alone defend herself and him, but gradually draws on awesome instincts that get her out of all sorts of perilous situations, and learns from them and the people who want to help her.   The best part of those helpers are Cal, Teri, and Cal's father Art, who teach Jean everything from how to take care of a baby to how to shoot a gun.

I don't want to say more about the plot, because this is the kind of narrative in which a surprise will jump out and point a gun at you every couple of scenes.  I will say that not everyone survives, and not everyone escapes unscathed.  I'll also say again how good the acting is.  Arinzé Kene as Cal, Marsha Stephanie Blake (See You Yesterday) as Teri, and the ever-effective Frankie Faison as Art are just right for their savvy, homespun, ruthless when-need-be parts.  And when you consider that you last saw Brosnahan on Amazon Prime as Mrs. Maisel, about as different a character from Jean as you can imagine, you can get a good idea of what a first-class actor she is.

Well, actually, Midge Maisel and Jean do have one big thing in common.  A lot of heart.  And that's what makes both stories such a pleasure to see.

 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Dylan's Rough and Rowdy Ways: Well Worth the Wait

I reviewed Dylan's "Murder Most Foul" a few weeks ago.  It's a haunting, soul-adjusting masterpiece that's right up there or even better than "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and "Desolation Row" and his very best from the 1960s.  That song is one entire side of Dylan's Rough and Rowdy album released this past March.  I thought it time that I listened to the rest, on the other side.

It was time well spent.  All of the songs are bursting with lyrics and allusions we haven't heard from Dylan in years.   Like "Murder Most Foul," they're painted with icons of the past half-century, and Dylan's wry commentary.  Here are my favorites:

"Key West (Philosopher Pirate)": I've long loved Key West, even though I've never been there.  It reminds me, and is probably even better than, Cape Cod, where I've been going with my family since 1982, except this past summer of Covid and its lockdowns.   I thought Bloodlines was excellent, in part because it took place in Key West.  I really like Dylan's rendition of that place in this song.  It's one of the ends of America, and the end of the rainbow.  It's the "place to find immortality".  Dylan already has that, he doesn't need to go to Key West to get it, but it's a tonic and a thrill to hear him sing about it, and tell his "story".

"My Own Version of You":  Dylan writing and singing science fiction?  Who'd have thunk it?  But that's what this song, Dylan's own Frankenstein story (as in, he's Dr. Frankenstein), is.  I added this to my Science Fiction and Fantasy song playlist, right between "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" and "Monster Mash" (there's also something about a "robot commando" in "My Own Version of You").

"I Contain Multitudes": It's fair to say just about all of Dylan's songs are autobiographical, but this little gem is especially so.  He has something of Poe in him, he paints nudes, has something of "those British bad boys, The Rolling Stones" in him, too, and he makes all of that rhyme.  With dudes, foods, and classical preludes.

"Black Rider":  Ok, one more.  This is the tougher Dylan.  "One of these days, I'll forget to be kind," he says to the rider who's been "visiting" the singer's wife.  And then he becomes much more graphic about what he might do to this masked marauder who's breaking into his life.  Don't mess with this wordsmith who can easily become a swordsmith in his songs.

Dylan took a long time to get back to this level of erudition and power.  Rough and Rowdy Ways was well worth the wait.

Further reading: Simon Vozick-Levinson's review of this album in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2020 (Dylan's album is #4).

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Why Republicans Continue to Support Trump

Here's my best explanation/theory about why those 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives, and 17 Republican state attorneys general, signed amicus curiae briefs in support of the attempt by Texas to get the U. S. Supreme Court to disallow the votes in swing states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia that went for Biden in the Presidential election.

Republicans were traumatically horrified when Obama won not once, but twice, and against two mainstream, highly regarded, mainstream candidates. When Trump beat Hillary, even more loathed by Republicans than Obama, Trump won the inchoate love of many otherwise sane Republicans. They support Trump now because they want, against all odds, to somehow hold on to that evil magic.  To keep that sick hope alive.

The Supreme Court wisely threw out the Texas attempt to overthrow the election.   Biden will take the oath of office on January 20, 2020.  But it will take a lot more than one Supreme Court decision to put the fascist, racist rage back in the hole from which it emerged.

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Ava: Believable Assassin

Checking in with a review of Ava, a relatively new movie (September 20) about a female assassin which just went up on Netflix last week.

First of all, it has some real star power: Jessica Chastain as the assassin, John Malkovich, Common, and Colin Farrell in her supporting cast.  Now, they've been any number of atrocious movies with big stars over the years.  But Ava isn't among them.  It's a pretty good movie, lifted by the likes of just hearing Malkovich talk.

And the fight scenes are good.  I don't know, are there assassins of either gender in real life who can take on and out 20 people coming at you?  Probably not.  But Ava was convincing.

And so was the worn narrative of your own organization turning against you, because you some sort of weak spot (in Ava's case, talking to the mark about why he or she thought Ava was about to kill them).  This narrative was convincing as soon as it got to the point where you couldn't tell who was going to survive or not, and when.  This included the effective question mark at the very end.

So, if you're up for a somewhat offbeat assassin movie, with characters who manage to be believable because of acting more than the script, give Ava a shot.   And make sure no one like her gets too close to you in real life.

 
Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

His Dark Materials 2.4: Chosen by the Knife

Lots of nice touches in His Dark Materials 1.4, though maybe cuts would be a better word, since this episode was all about "the subtle knife," the title of the second book in the original Pullman trilogy.

Haven't read the books, but on TV the knife is able to cut "spirit" as well flesh, a talent that also enables the Bearer of the knife -- capitalized because that's an official title -- to cut between worlds, by cutting a slit between them, in the nearly invisible curtain which serves as a membrane between them.  You can tell, just in that description, how fine a line His Dark Materials cuts between science fiction and fantasy, as I went on about a bit more last week.

We also see a lot more of the Spectres in this episodes, and, as a character observes, I don't like them. I also feel a little bad for SPECTRE of James Bond infamy.  They're no bargain, either, to be sure, but a lot less chilling than these soul-sucking monsters.   Same for Phil Spector, while we're at it.  I didn't like what he did to the Beatles Let It Be, and he's serving time in prison now for murder, but his work with the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers was top notch, and in any case he's not in the same evil league as the Spectres in His Dark Materials.

Carlo is becoming a more interesting character.  We can understand why he wants the knife.  But if what Lyra and Will and we learned tonight is true, the knife chooses its owner, not vice versa.  And that owner now is Will, with two shortened fingers on his hand to prove it.  But Carlo is at least passingly allied now with Mrs. Coulter, and the two will make a formidable pair.

As a parting point, with the witches on their way to Cittàgazze, we may get a confrontation between them and the Spectres.   Who will survive?

See also His Dark Materials 2.1-3: Dust, Dark Matter, and Multiple Universes

And see also His Dark Materials 1.1: Radiation Punk ...  His Dark Materials 1.3: Coulter's Daemons ... His Dark Materials 1.4: The Bears ... His Dark Materials 1.5:  Sleepers and Questions ... His Dark Materials 1.6: His Fast Materials

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music