Vacation Mode
I took a week off from work because I am fortunate enough to have a stockpile of PTO and wanted a break for myself. It lined up with a bunch of things so here we are. While on vacation I have been reading and doing a few long pushed aside chores, and of course, watching movies.
I just finished watching Blackberry, Mat Johnson’s take on the tech rise and fall of the one time leader in the smart phone world. Jay Baruchel and Johnson play founders of Research in Motion, which becomes Blackberry once they strike a deal with Jim Balsillie, played to horrible CEO bad guy perfection by Glenn Howerton. Blackberry goes up, then Blackberry goes way way WAY down. This film is a time capsule (just like my dear old Blackberry Curve, RIP), and a really well down tale of the evils of capitalism. It even happens in Canada. I borrowed this DVD from the library, but I think you can rent & stream on various platforms.
Dr. C and I finished the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and I am now starting to think of myself as a… Trekkie. Yes, I said it. This show has got me hooked. I have tried to watch many other Star Treks but this Star Trek is for me. Now perhaps I will try Discovery. Oh wait, I did enjoy DS9, but not enough to keep going with it past the first season. Maybe it’s Capt. Chris Pike and his perfect hair. Maybe its Cadet Nyota Uhura just being awesome. Maybe it’s the humor and how the show lets us see the cast spending time together while Pike makes dinner and Spock washes dishes. Or La’an Noonien-Singh goes to therapy to deal with the trauma from being captured and held prisoner by the Gorn. You know, its probably all of this. And Ortegas’ sharp haircut and sly smile.
Sunday there was a early afternoon showing of Oldboy and since I am something of an “old boy” myself, I took advantage. That 9pm show is past my bedtime, but seeing this movie on a big screen is worth it. Park Chan-wook changed cinema with this movie, at least for me. It is very darkly comedic, twisted, and pulls the rug out from beneath the viewer more times than I can count. I had not seen it in close to 20 years, and while I remembered much of it, there was so much I had forgotten. This movie has left scenes imprinted in my brain. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) waking from the steamer trunk in a field of the greenest grass atop a building. Opening a “gift” from Lee Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae) at a showdown in his penthouse apartment. The twists, the turns, the gorgeous cinematography of Jeong Jeong-hun. This movie is violent and grotesque and beautiful all at the same time and its a fucking masterpiece.
Speaking of a masterpiece, I also saw Bottoms this week. Maybe not the same kind of masterpiece as Oldboy, but this movie is everything I love about seeing cinema evolve in front of my eyes. Also violent- in fact this was way more violent than we were expecting, but that was welcome. High school lesbian losers (Rachel Sennott & Ayo Edibiri) start a Fight Club for girls as a way to get closer to their cheerleader crushes. Of course, that happens but it also helps these young women bond, build friendships and self-confidence. Someone asked me when I thought this movie went off the rails, and I told them it was already way off the track. Its bananas. Its smart, very funny, and empowering.
Theater Camp, (also stars Ayo Edibiri), and is very funny. Both of these movies about misfits could be such a fun double feature. Shot mockumentary style, Theater Camp is the tale of a struggling camp for teens who want to act, sing, dance, and be on Broadway. The owner is in a coma, so her instagram influencer son Troy (Jimmy Tatro) steps in to help run things. Clueless about theater culture (and life in general), he comes in with flashy strategies and butts heads with the other instructors but eventually they realize, they are all misfits and they need to save the camp! It’s a feel good story with a lot of fast funny jokes that come at you one after the other.
Last, I watched the documentary Every Body, a documentary focused on three intersex individuals (the I in LGBTQIA) who are telling their stories of overcoming the secrecy and shame of choices made for them as children, and are now living their lives out loud, and fighting for the rights of intersex folks so they don’t have to go through the same things they did. I found this doc eye opening, sad, but very hopeful. Now that it’s streaming on Peacock, I really hope more people will see it.