An Attempt At Structure - Comfort
My posting on this blog has been nothing short of pathetic, I really wanted to make this a regular discipline but with everything happening right now, I feel exhausted and have been focusing on actually finishing my first year rather than wasting time writing about trivial stuff here. But I really enjoy this platform, I think it is so rewarding to be able to put into words, formally, some sort of thoughts and communicate perspectives in a way that is often much easier than actually talking in real life. Its been an interesting few months, there's a glaring feeling of feeling like we are back at this time last year and that generally nothing has changed. Its weird this phenomenon of 'pandemic time' because it simultaneously feels so integrated in my life that I feel like we have been in it for decades, I look back at what I've done in the past year and it is surprisingly jam packed. But for some reason none of it feels that tangible, I think the lack of normality and signifying events has just made this last year a blur, I've come out of my first year of Uni without ever really feeling like I was there at all. Perhaps the overwhelming extremity of the last year has almost resulted in a numbness, talking to people and the unanimous feeling is that everyone feels like they are still in limbo. I could very well be projecting, I certainly feel in limbo and this slow release back to normalcy feels incredibly familiar to this time last year (and look how well that went). Anyway, this muffled complaining about as situation that everybody has had enough complaining about is just leading up to me admitting that I am not a very good Film Student, in fact I have barely watched anything in the last few months.
Last week was the Academy Awards, a ceremony that for the last few years I have been absolutely glued to, it is a nightmare event where Hollywood pats itself on the back and panders to the most profitable audience. But when you strip away the cynicism, it is the biggest event for film fans in the year and that is something always highly entertaining. Yet this year, I looked at the nominees and realised I haven't seem 90 percent of these films and the overall slate of nominees just didn't really appeal to me at all. Weirdly there was nothing absolutely drawing me to any of these, this year has been miserable and the slate looks unappealingly melancholic, with Nomadland being the big winner and looking like a film that am nowhere near wanting to touch. One thing I've always tried to make clear with this blog and my relationship with film, is how instinctual and emotional my opinions are, Thought processes are important when discussing subjectivity and this year I have found myself only really striving to watch comforting content, stuff that appeals to the core. The whole 'films that you appreciate more than enjoy' is a very complex and messy discussion but when looking back at films I've have been forced to study this year, there are several that fall into that category and I don't really have the spirit in me to strive to watch stuff on appreciation terms. Of course there is an essence that I am striving to watch stuff that is rewarding as a Film fan, but sometimes I just want to laugh and cry a little at something that isn't really reality. Escapism is a valid and beautiful thing, I don't want to watch a Ken Loach film because I can walk down the street and see it in person, I'd rather something that feels unique and creative.
Don't get me wrong, this 'comfort content' isn't purely happy go lucky films, I hate the distinction that real art is art that is miserable, because I consider a lot of my comfort watches to be pure art and I love good art, I love when art surprises me and I'm sure the nominees this year are full of films I would fall in love with, I'm just a bad Film Student right now and always returning to the same comforting things I already know I am going to love. I suppose I have a tendency to cheat sometimes, there are things that my subjective opinion probably is biased towards because I go into them thinking of them as comfort shows/films. A few of the new things I have watched recently are almost completely won over by me going in expecting brilliance, but there's nothing wrong with that. Speaking of that, here is my recommendations for the last month! Mostly Comfort!
Why are You Like This?
A few months ago I became heavily invested in the world of Aunty Donna, a Absurdist Australian Comedy Group who recently released a Netflix Sketch series that was one of my favourite things from the last year. You can imagine my excitement when one of the performing members had co-written a sitcom revelling in the millennial absurdity of modern culture. The series revolves around three horrendous human beings, functioning as basically selfish and vain performative idiots that consistently butt heads with the world they are so heavily invested in. Incredibly relevant, absolutely hilarious and insanely endearing, has that Its Always Sunny joy of watching terrible people do terrible things but with an eye on the social media obsession with performative activism and modern culture without ever feeling like the show is punching down.
The Mitchells Vs the Machines
I try to always outline and draw attention to bias within my writing, subjective opinion is only valuable when you fully explain where you're coming from. Hence why this post has been trying to explain why I've found myself turning to stuff that is comforting. In this case, I went into The Mitchells Vs the Machines knowing full when it is completely my kind of thing and I would fall in love, however I did not expect to be this enamoured with this film. From the writers of Gravity Falls (!!) this is purely one of the best kids films of recent memory, it is a film that made me cry multiple times without ever feeling forced or soulless. It is a film that appeals to a younger audience then me but has comedy that, perhaps due to my own childishness, I found myself crying with laughter. There is such a beautiful amount of passion throughout this film and it really pays off. Go watch it! Don't dismiss it because it is a kids film, nobody important cares if you enjoy stupid stuff!
Starstruck
This is another one I went into with a lot of bias, Rose Matafeo is one of my favourite comedians working right now, her special Horndog is brilliant and the inevitable sitcom was something I was cautiously excited about. A weird thing within British Comedy is that whenever an up and coming comic reaches a certain calibre they get given a six part sitcom that often just devolves into their stand-up routines performed through narrative. This usually comes with mixed results, however Matafeo's approach is writing a genuinely incredible romance that is much more concentrated in the drama and characters than the actual situational comedy. I can not recommend Starstruck enough, I'm not much of a romantic but as far as rom-coms go, you don't really get better than this, with this amount of delicacy, passion and joy embedded throughout. It is currently streaming all episodes on BBC iPlayer and coming out every Sunday Night, please give it a go!
Mr Robot
Back in 2015 I remember being at the perfect age of angst and being super excited for this new show Mr Robot about an edgelord hacker who hates people. But I somehow never got around to it, probably because it looks kind of dumb and it feels like the kind of show that would take itself so seriously and be so edgy to a comical effect. However, one of my lockdown shows had been giving Mr Robot another go and I can not believe how much I have absolutely fallen head over heels for this show. That pitch does not sound appealing to me usually, but what I didn't realise was that this show rides off adrenaline, entertainment and highly interesting audience engagement. It is one of those shows that you feed off plot developments and then slowly realise you've fallen in love with these characters and the insanely level of technical beauty behind every episode. I found myself almost chuckling a long at first, the show can feel silly dethatched from context, but when everything builds you completely fall in love. I've nearly got to the end now, so will probably do a big write up later on as it has been one of the most surprising joys of the last few months.
True Stories
I've sort of tried and hopefully somewhat managed to cohesively talk about the idea of 'comfort watches' and the fact there really isn't that much shame behind the idea. My big two recent 'comfort watches' have been Stop Making Sense and American Utopia and if you cant tell, Talking Heads have basically formed the last few months for me. S it will probably surprise you to know that I'd never seen True Stories before, but I finally got around to it after realising that it probably fits that comfort spot I was looking for. I was not wrong, in fact I couldn't have been more right, this concept is very personal and I think one essence of these 'comfort watches' has been genuinely passionate filmmaking. Byrne is an absolutely fascinating person, with a perspective on life I find so endearing and so mesmerising, which will probably explain why everything he has done feels perfect to me. The film is bizarre, disorientating yet highly entertaining and excelled by a beautiful performance by the one and only John Goodman. I finished knowing I'm going to be coming back to this film a lot through my life, which is an optimistic and rewarding feeling.
And that about does it! Once again, I'm sorry for the lack of posts here, I think fortnightly might be my aim now I am free of University work but commitment is so difficult with everything being in flux. Thanks for sticking with me, I hope you're all okay.