Russian Doll: Inside the Mind Behind the Mystery
“What, if some day or night, a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life, as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh… must return to you—all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over again and again—and you with it, speck of dust!’
Friedrich NietzscheIf you’ve ever stumbled on the stairs and thought ‘that’s me dead in a parallel universe’, then Russian Doll is the show for you! Flame haired genius Natasha Lyonne has created one of the most inventive and intelligent Netflix shows of all time. It’s Groundhog Day with a twist – instead of just waking up to the same situation every day, main character Nadia dies (in various ways) and ends up at her 36th birthday party again, and again, and again. Through this deadly samsara she learns something more about her personal trauma each time, and eventually finds a way out of the death loop. A self-confessed commitment-phobe and misanthropist, Nadia realises she can’t solve this problem alone.
Men: Alex Garland Takes a Shot at the Patriarchy
Can’t live with them, can’t live without them?
Between March 2021 and March 2022, 198 women were killed in the UK. Ninety-five percent of the suspects charged were male. In his latest film, Alex Garland explores the horror of misogyny, in a quintessentially English setting. Jessie Buckley plays Harper, a woman who sees the gruesome aftermath of her husband’s suicide after she suggests they divorce. Escaping to a manor house in the countryside, she experiences a sort of purgatory where all of the residents are men and their abusive behaviour escalates from unsettling to threatening and finally, violent.
Quelle Surprise! Emily in Paris is Quite… Good???
A lifelong sceptic of anything popular, I had avoided watching Emily in Paris like the plague. I finally cracked after seeing season 3 advertised and actually, it’s not that bad!
It’s cheesy, camp, and the definition of light entertainment, but it’s knowingly so, wincing along with us at the world of vacuous social media influencers and the materialistic lives they pursue.
Paris is the real star of the show though and it’s worth watching for this alone. It’s beautifully made with lots of external shots featuring the spots we all know and love.
Are We the Bad Guys? Alex Garland Takes Eco Horror In a New Direction with Annihilation
Those of a certain age might remember Alex Garland from The Beach and 28 Days Later. Since then he’s been on a sci-fi/horror hot streak with Ex Machina, Annihilation and his most recent film ‘Men’.
Despite the star power of Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac and Tessa Thompson, Annihilation was a commercial flop, flying under the radar with a limited release in cinemas. It’s now a cult favourite, with fans attesting that it follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest sci-fi films ever made, with echoes of 2001, Blade Runner, Alien and Under the Skin.
Olivier Assayas Looks Beyond the Male Gaze
French director Olivier Assayas has been associated with the New French Extremity movement, known for transgressive films such as Demonlover (2002). He began his career as a more rebellious, anti-establishment figure working with alternative, underground bands such as Sonic Youth. Now, as a veteran of the industry, he has perhaps reluctantly joined the mainstream, collaborating with Twilight star Kristen Stewart on his recent films Personal Shopper and Clouds of Sils Maria.
While Assayas may have mellowed since the quirky days of Irma Vep, his focus on the feminine continues. In many of his films, he looks at the inner, private life of women – their hopes, fears and desires. Some might find this disconcerting and even offensive, as how can a man really understand what women experience? Somehow, Assayas sees more than we might expect, focusing on themes of women’s relationships, anxiety over the ageing process and societal expectations of femininity.
REVIEW: A Portrait of the Witch – Taschen’s New Art History of Witchcraft
To most people, the word ‘witch’ conjures images of old crones with pointy hats flying into the moonlight on broomsticks. Outsiders in league with malevolent forces, they cast spells on those who wrong them. Our current perceptions of witches and witchcraft are still largely shaped by the propaganda cooked up by King James I in the 1590s, memorialised by Shakespeare in the witches of Macbeth.
With ‘Witchcraft,’ a new coffee table tome published by Taschen, co-editors Jessica Hundley and Pam Grossman have gone a long way towards changing this perception. From the origins of the word ‘witch’ to the practices of witches today, they chart the history of witchcraft across the world through over 400 artworks, as well as essays and interviews with historians, artists and modern practitioners.
Saint Maud: A damning indictment of societal collapse
Saint Maud from debut director Rose Glass might be advertised as another jump-scare horror film, but in reality it’s a complex allegory and at its core, a damning indictment of our society. (Warning – spoilers ahead!)
Maud (whose real name is Katie) is a young woman who started her a career as a palliative care nurse at St Afra’s hospital. We later find out she lived a promiscuous lifestyle during this time, using sex as a temporary outlet for her stressful job and loneliness. After a traumatic incident, which it’s inferred is the result of overwork and lack of support, she loses her job and starts working for a rich private client (Amanda) who is dying from cancer.
Review: Anne with an E Brings Green Gables into the 21st Century
This nostalgic drama tells the coming of age story of the flame-haired Anne of Green Gables (played by Amybeth McNulty), an orphan embraced by a small farming community living on Prince Edward Island off the coast of Canada. Based on the novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, the series is set in the 1890’s, when attitudes to a range of social issues were beginning to change. Despite her traumatic start in a nightmarish orphanage, Anne is a bright, incessantly talkative and adventurous child who breathes life into the home of her elderly adopted parents and the wider community. It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but the series has a lot to offer, including the beautiful scenery of Prince Edward Island, its appreciation of nature inherent in the source material, and some deeply emotional story lines. Thanks to the brilliant writing, Anne with an E is much more than just cosy nostalgia, taking on some weighty social and cultural issues.
Anne with an E has PTSD
In the first season, Anne is taken in by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, elderly siblings who are buttoned up, starched and set in their ways. After experiencing many previous rejections, Anne is rejected yet again by Marilla who had requested a boy to help out on the farm. Eventually the Cuthberts reconsider and bring Anne back to Green Gables, but by this time she has experienced so much harsh treatment and bullying during her time in the orphanage it is unsurprising that she has PTSD. Her experience of the condition is treated sensitively and realistically. Many seemingly insignificant situations give rise to painful flashbacks of her time in the orphanage. As the Cuthberts and the wider community begin to accept Anne as their own, these flashbacks begin to subside. At the same time, Anne’s passion and joie de vivre help to soften the hearts of Matthew and Marilla.
Gender Inequality, Gay Rights and Freedom of Expression
Anne proclaims that her destiny is to be the ‘Bride of Adventure,’ while her best friend Diana is destined to simply learn how to be a good wife. Despite this, one of the most gripping aspects of the show is Anne’s rocky road to romance with her love interest Gilbert. She keeps him at arms-length throughout however, rather than romanticising about their love and possible marriage. Through Anne’s influence, Diana also rejects what is expected of her as a young woman in high society and opts to go to the local university rather than the finishing school in Paris her parents had planned for.
Anne rejects the cultural norm in many ways and speaks out against the injustices she sees. One of her close friends, Cole, confides in Anne that he is gay after being severely bullied at school. Anne is fiercely protective of Cole and eventually arranges for him to live with Diana’s rich aunt, who holds fabulous parties and is revealed to be a lesbian herself. While this is a satisfying conclusion for Cole’s character, most gay people in that era wouldn’t have been so lucky.
Racism and the Dark History of Native American Residential Schools
New characters have been added that weren’t in the original material, but bring so much to the story. Gilbert goes away to work on a ship after his father’s death. There he meets his eventual best friend and business partner Bash, a warm-hearted Trinidadian. Gilbert takes Bash home to his farm in Avonlea, where he starts a family. While they face severe prejudice at first, Bash and his family become a key part of the community. I can’t say how realistic this portrayal would have been for this time, but Prince Edward Island did have a history of slavery, and was the only place in Canada (then British North America) to ever enact its own law enforcing the institution of slavery. It also went on to repeal that law and abolish slavery nearly a full decade before Britain’s Imperial Act of 1833, which did the same throughout the Empire. Reverend James MacGregor, a key figure in Canada’s abolition movement, was influential in bringing this about. For anyone interested in the history of PEI, I would recommend the PEI History Guy.
Another new character introduced is Ka’kwet, a Native American girl from the Mi’kmaq tribe who Anne befriends. At first this story seems unlikely, but it goes on to uncover an important point in history that many will be unaware of. Ka’kwet’s parents are told of a nearby missionary boarding school, where she can learn to read and write in English. The grim reality of the school is later shown – Ka’kwet has been forced to cut her beautiful long hair short, she is given an English name (Hannah) and all of the children are treated cruelly. Reading into this further, it turns out these schools did the same to hundreds of children. Known as Indian Residential Schools, they aimed to ‘assimilate’ children into ‘Euro-American’ ways. The Government paid religious orders to run them and the last schools closed as late as 1973. Very young children were forcibly removed from their families, and forced to abandon their native identity and culture. Investigations have since revealed that there were many cases of mistreatment and abuse. Unfortunately, we never learn Ka’kwet’s fate and whether she is able to escape this prison.
After three seasons, Anne with an E was cancelled but you can still catch it on Netflix now. While it might not be entirely faithful to the original work, Anne with an E tells important stories that still need to be told today.