Hello, people of the bloggy sphere. How are you? I hope the week ahead is edifying for you.
Here is my weekly list of things that made me happy.
There are as many crime series as there are crimes committed. Within the mystery genre is a sub-category, "cozy murders". Apparently, violently snuffing out a human life is synonymous with nestling in front of a fireplace in your favourite knitwear, fat novel in hand, a plate of delicate canapes by your side. It would be disingenuous for me to be indignant about this however as, murder mysteries, rife with Machiavellian machinations and labyrinthian plot twists, induce in me a panoply of emotions, most of them not entirely unpleasant.
Vera (Britbox) is, perhaps, my favourite exemplar of the cozy mystery. Each episode unfolds along windswept stretches of rugged coastline. The skies above are a perennial shade of grey. Murder is, after all, a shady business, unsuitable for turquoise skies. Many scenes involve characters walking along lonely moors. Every facet of the series is unrelentingly British. What is obvious to the viewer from the beginning. is that Vera would be nothing without, well, VERA. Actor Brenda Blethyn embodies the character of D.C.I. Stanhope wholly, without reserve. While the series contains hallmarks of the crime drama genre, Vera, as a character is different in pleasing ways. She is without guile and devoid of personal demons. She is gruff but she possesses deep reserves of empathy. Vera refers to people as "pet" and "love", even as she brings them in to the station for interrogation. Not many actors can pull off shambolic make it effective, but Blethyn can do it with a single penetrating glance from beneath her signature bucket hat.
Plot points on Vera are of the neat and tidy, box-ticking variety. The motivations and resentments of the characters swirling around the cases are consistently compelling. The series wisely steers away from the exploitive. In all but one of the episodes, the murders, take place off camera.
If this has piqued your interest, and you are planning to seek out Vera, and I hope you will, there is one caveat. Avoid the first season, which has shoddy camera work and poor production values. It is clear that in the beginning the show had no yet found its footing. Begin with season 2, where things improve exponentially, and continue on from there.
BONUS: If you do happen to get hooked on the series, and, if you are already a mystery buff, I do not see how you could not, there are LOTS of seasons! Happy watching.
On to music:
SuperOrganism beguile with the kind of songs, that, at the outset, appear as afterthoughts. As one listens more deeply, it becomes clear that a lot of care and attention goes into each and every detail of crafting these songs. Wind chimes, toy cars, and a myriad of percussive noises amalgamate, magpie style, to form a whole that is surprisingly cohesive and, for this listener, enchanting.
Orono Noguchi, a deadpan, self-described "average 17-year old Japanese girl living in Maine" is the center piece of a tight ensemble of young performers.
I will be following this promising young band to see whatever it is they do next. In the meantime, I will enjoy their unique and playful collaborations:
Oh the horror:
We are a few episodes into Archive 81 (Netflix),a slow-burn horror series that, tonally, intrigues more than it terrifies. If you like horror movies, but you are not a fan of jump scares and protracted scenes of onscreen torture, tropes fairly ubiquitous in contemporary horror movies/series, this may pique your interest. As I have not watched the series in its entirety, I cannot vouch for the quality overall. I have noted some flaws. Periodically, the pacing is sluggish and the plot revolves around the "found footage" trope. However, the acting is solid and, if you happen to be a fan of the sort of old school witchy coven movies that played on TV throughout the 1970s, this might just be your jam.
Movie of the Week:
We watched Joachim Trier's film The Worst Person in the World (Norway), the dark horse contender for a best picture Oscar in 2022. The title is rather misnomer as the characters in this film are richly observed and engender the viewer's empathy. Worth seeing. Here is the trailer:
That is all for the week. Thanks so much for reading this bloggy b.s. Take care all. Until next time. xx
It has been such a pleasure watching Vera that I must admit that I am feeling anxious about only having two episodes to go. What will Sunday mornings be like without her! Just have to start re-watching from Season 2 on until (please, please, please) another season appears.
ReplyDeleteI was pretty stunned by the Superorganism performance. That is sooo much harder to pull off than it looks. Wonderful to see them having such a great time. Reminds me of the early days of Show Business Giants, though I don't recall hugging Tom after each song, though in hindsight if I had the fun may have lasted longer.
Thanks to your perpetual culture sleuthing I've had the pleasure of experience much art that I would have almost certainly never come across. "The Worst Person In The World" is a perfect example. Because of the title and the early scenes of the movie I thought it was going to be a kind of black comedy with the lead being someone we could all gleefully role our eyes and snicker at as we watched her blow up everything in her world, but it turned out to be something so much more and so much better. The complexity of the characters, and dare I say their "journey", is a pleasurable and at times painful experience, as is real life. The intergenerational relationships are handled beautifully and for anyone "of a certain age" the explanation of the comic book artists deep connection to cultural objects (records, books, etc.) is a beautiful reflection on what many of us feel is lost in translation when ported into the purely digital domain. From an environmental standpoint (not to mention a practical standpoint on moving day) the new way is better, I still love art I can touch and all the memories that are invoked. No NFT's for me thanks.