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Reviews
Lessons in Chemistry (2023)
Change Is Inevitable
This is an opus to love told in an unusual and unpredictable fashion, sometimes moving quickly and at other times, meandering even as it jumps back and forth in time and place. Nothing seems connected until everything is.
Lessons in Chemistry mirrors the unpredictability of science and mires it in hope and faith. Eventually, hopefully, it will teach you to understand that you have to embrace change.
There are parts that are properly painful; lots that is unfair; there are unrequited feelings and yet plenty to be joyful for.
This is a love story with love on the sidelines and almost never there even if it always is. Lovely.
Imawa no Kuni no Arisu (2020)
Season 2 is an 11
Season 2 is a gut punching, soul stirring rollercoaster of a ride down some dystopian rabbit hole. It lets up every now and again only so you can catch your breath and calm down enough to build some affinity with what you realise are just everyday heroes and heroins. What would you do yourself when faced with some extreme scenarios? Everyone comes from behind time and again and from their other lives too to discover what they might not have even been searching for. Love. Friendship. Self-preservation. Dignity. Honour. Its all there written into the plot and infused repeatedly through games without hope. They've really taken this second season and dialled it up to 11. Riveting.
Silverton Siege (2022)
Gripping. Edge of your seat storytelling. Essential watching.
Justice. Freedom. Likely words that do not resonate because we take these privileges for granted. What price would we pay however to attain this? It is not something one can easily fathom. The show does not start out like its about a fight for freedom but it surely gets there. However, it is not at all like how you would expect it.
If you took a long wind up, anyone could see you setting up for a punch. Yet here, there is a frenetic pace that keeps you engaged and riveted and you would not have realised you were about to get hit. It must be misdirection because you just wouldn't be prepared.
But you know you've been got because you will want to root for justice late in this show. Brilliant. Scorching. Gut wrenching.
Don't Look Up (2021)
Great Comedic Juxtaposition
It was a laugh a minute until it was not. The theme that permeated throughout juxtaposes absolute fear against nonchalance with great comedic timing that I am sure bears a second viewing. As things quickly turn and the division widens, you gradually lose hope too and scour every scene for any sign of salvation unless of course you fall into that camp that might not care as much.
It moves at a frenzied pace which is probably why nearly every performance from the large supporting cast hams up their role with singularity of purpose. Jonah Hill and that handbag matches every ridiculous line he delivers. Ron Perlman eschews white supremacy with determined self-sacrifice for contrast. Ariana Grande can sing no matter what the lyrics. 'General' Paul Guilfoyle as a thief you didn't see coming supports the running joke throughout. And talking about not seeing it coming; Meryl Streep and that Bronteroc was such a kicker.
The trio of Leonardo DiCarprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep were flawless as they hurled along sprouting fear and exhibiting ineptitude.
Does Don't Look Up deliver its message however? I think it does. Built as a feel good, hilarious poke at our disregard for a poorer future, it kicks you in the gut.
This movie is as much entertaining as it is important to watch ... at least so you remember to think about our planet.
Shinya shokudô (2009)
Beautiful Storytelling
Midnight Diner is a simple TV series set mostly at a small restaurant in Tokyo that opens from midnight to 7am daily. Every episode has a different person or collection of people and dives into their lives. It is at once moving and intriguing. You just want to know more. Sometimes you root for these characters and sometimes you laugh at them and at other times you might shed a tear. Each episode also starts with a simple dish like a regular patron who just loves potato salad. You come to find out why he loves it so much and must always have seconds. And the episode will finish by sharing with you what makes good potato salad too. Its almost quirky but it is oh so endearing. Just 22 minutes each time but its bursting at the seams with such personal story telling.
Hou lai de wo men (2018)
A Raw and Beautiful Love Story
This tale of love encompasses only the entire world immmediately surrounding Jing Boran and Zhou Dongyu and it is a tale that is raw, honest and so real. Woven around this story however is a Beijing so beautiful it will enrapture you. All its surrounding nature however only emphasises how lonely one can be in a big city. The story flits back and forth over about 8 years and as much as you see the couple as they are currently, their story from a few years ago seems to always have you rooting for them to succeed and embrace the love that so palpable you can reach out and touch it. It is a tough tale to tell and it is both personal and seemingly perpetually painful. There is a line in a letter that is read towards the end that says it is very difficult for two people to live together forever. If only it were not so often true.