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Quaran-TV, part 3
Jun. 30th, 2020 12:06 pmAnother month, another batch of TV shows watched. I think my viewing and reading was down in the second half of June, certainly compared to May. In any case, in this past month I finished watching (or watched in their entirety) the following:
Jane the Virgin: I had been trying to finish watching this for about a year, and the pandemic finally gave me the uninterrupted time I needed. I really, really love this show: it's such a celebration of the relationships between mothers, daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, and of the parts of life that are viewed as unremarkable and unimportant because they happen to women (work inside the home, caregiving work, parenting), as well as of genres of fiction that are viewed as frivolous (telenovelas, romance novels, soap operas). Obviously the premise is inherently, and deliberately ridiculous, but at its heart, no matter what outlandish things are going on, this is a story about family, mothers and daughters, immigration, and home. I loved it so much.
Diablero: this is a Mexican show on Netflix about a team of demon hunters. These include an Indigenous brother and sister duo, a priest, and a young woman who can be possessed at will by demons and use their powers. The tone is deliberately silly (I feel it's what Supernatural could have been if it hadn't taken itself so seriously) and a lot of the mythology is extremely hand-wavy, but I love the core four characters, as well as the secondary characters, and found it delightful.
McMillions: this is a documentary about the McDonald's Monopoly scam in the 1990s-2000s. It's got a similar vibe to the Tiger King documentary that everyone was watching earlier, in terms of outlandish characters, exploitation, and that particularly American kind of scam that I find hard to define, but which involves bizarre attempts to get rich quick. It's possibly too long — I think it could have done with being two episodes shorter — but interesting if you like this kind of thing.
Glow: Matthias and I finished off the third season, which takes place in Las Vegas. I found it a lot bleaker than the preceding two seasons — it's as well written and acted as ever, I just felt it had an even darker edge of hopelessness than the seasons that came before it.
I also watched three films/film-length documentaries:
The Vast of Night: this is an alien invasion film set in 1950s New Mexico, shot in the style of films of that genre of that era. I found this really impressive — it's a very talk-y film (it's no coicidence that the two main characters are a telephone exchange operator and a late-night radio DJ), and relies heavily on the dialogue and atmosphere to do the talking. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Becoming: this is a Netflix documentary about Michelle Obama's tour promoting her memoir of the same name. I have read the memoir, and the documentary didn't really tell me anything new about her (it follows the same beats as the book), but what it brought home once again was not just how incredibly clever and kind she is, and what a good public speaker, but also how incredibly polite a person she is. No matter who she's speaking to, she gives the impression of her full attention, and she never forgets to thank every person she encounters (catering staff, security guards, etc). This shouldn't be remarkable in a public figure, but given the current state of the world, it made a huge impression on me.
Mad Max: Fury Road: Matthias and I couldn't figure out what to do on Saturday night, so we rewatched this. This is still a flawless film, it's still my favourite film, and I don't really think anything more needs to be said.
What have people been watching this month?
Jane the Virgin: I had been trying to finish watching this for about a year, and the pandemic finally gave me the uninterrupted time I needed. I really, really love this show: it's such a celebration of the relationships between mothers, daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, and of the parts of life that are viewed as unremarkable and unimportant because they happen to women (work inside the home, caregiving work, parenting), as well as of genres of fiction that are viewed as frivolous (telenovelas, romance novels, soap operas). Obviously the premise is inherently, and deliberately ridiculous, but at its heart, no matter what outlandish things are going on, this is a story about family, mothers and daughters, immigration, and home. I loved it so much.
Diablero: this is a Mexican show on Netflix about a team of demon hunters. These include an Indigenous brother and sister duo, a priest, and a young woman who can be possessed at will by demons and use their powers. The tone is deliberately silly (I feel it's what Supernatural could have been if it hadn't taken itself so seriously) and a lot of the mythology is extremely hand-wavy, but I love the core four characters, as well as the secondary characters, and found it delightful.
McMillions: this is a documentary about the McDonald's Monopoly scam in the 1990s-2000s. It's got a similar vibe to the Tiger King documentary that everyone was watching earlier, in terms of outlandish characters, exploitation, and that particularly American kind of scam that I find hard to define, but which involves bizarre attempts to get rich quick. It's possibly too long — I think it could have done with being two episodes shorter — but interesting if you like this kind of thing.
Glow: Matthias and I finished off the third season, which takes place in Las Vegas. I found it a lot bleaker than the preceding two seasons — it's as well written and acted as ever, I just felt it had an even darker edge of hopelessness than the seasons that came before it.
I also watched three films/film-length documentaries:
The Vast of Night: this is an alien invasion film set in 1950s New Mexico, shot in the style of films of that genre of that era. I found this really impressive — it's a very talk-y film (it's no coicidence that the two main characters are a telephone exchange operator and a late-night radio DJ), and relies heavily on the dialogue and atmosphere to do the talking. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Becoming: this is a Netflix documentary about Michelle Obama's tour promoting her memoir of the same name. I have read the memoir, and the documentary didn't really tell me anything new about her (it follows the same beats as the book), but what it brought home once again was not just how incredibly clever and kind she is, and what a good public speaker, but also how incredibly polite a person she is. No matter who she's speaking to, she gives the impression of her full attention, and she never forgets to thank every person she encounters (catering staff, security guards, etc). This shouldn't be remarkable in a public figure, but given the current state of the world, it made a huge impression on me.
Mad Max: Fury Road: Matthias and I couldn't figure out what to do on Saturday night, so we rewatched this. This is still a flawless film, it's still my favourite film, and I don't really think anything more needs to be said.
What have people been watching this month?