Cam

I’m very picky with K dramas because some of them can honestly get too cheesy but this show was SO well done! It was wholesome, emotional, and I felt like I cared about the characters and what happened to them. As a therapist, I also really appreciate how sensitively yet vividly it portrays mental illness, and also love that it included the plot point aboout our main character struggling with depression because stereotypes of the perfectly healthy helper and consequent societal stigma need to be over and done with. People who had a problem with this depiction likely feel the need to box mental illness into catgeories they can understand (like one person who said that depression onset cannot be that sudden, which is blatantly false). People are incredibly nuanced and their symptoms can be too. Overall, fantastic job at making the characters realistic and ergo lovable. This show was literally a dose of sunshine. Highly recommend it!!

I did NOT expect to love this movie as much as I did by the end, in fact I expected to hate it. So I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. The premise itself sounded absurd to me, but it’s so masterfully crafted that the premise seemed like something we just ought to accept, the way Maren is meant to accept her identity as an eater. The juxtaposition between the cannibalism, the violence of it, and the mellow scenic views on the road, and the romance between Lee and Maren felt oddly comforting. You are aware throughout of the inevitable tragedy of being an eater; we see it in other characters (Maren’s mom, Sully, Lee and his father), but the way the story is told still convinces you there is some glimmer of hope for Maren. The performances are brilliant, the on-the-road cinematography and accompanying soundtrack feel like a healing salve, and the subtly powerful chemistry between Lee and Maren on screen attach you to their fate in a way few romantic movies are able to accomplish. I think this movie isn’t meant to be taken literally as a glorificiation of violence and cannibalism, and the people who took it that way likely hated it and left one star reviews. It’s an unconventional coming of age movie that is thematicatically and symbolically rich. My intepretation of it being that it is, above all things, a movie about growing comfortable with emotional intimacy and vulnerability, hence the title and concept of consuming or being consumed bones and all. It makes sense that it is only after Lee fully opens up to Maren about his father that she then consumes him completely. To me, cannibalism as a symbol of emotional initimacy and vulnerablity makes a lot of sense. It’s both incredibly painful and cathartic to let someone accept the “bones” of you, especially when you’ve had to live your life in isolation after being rejected by society for being different. The difference here of cannibalism seems purposefully exaggerated to test our limits as viewers. All that said, it’s a movie that is meant to be more felt than understood. And man did it make me feel things.

I must admit, I did not expect to enjoy this show as much as I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed Flanagan's work in the past (particularly Hill House and Midnight Mass) and this was refreshingly different. I certainly would not categorize it as horror, but it was gripping from start to finish. I liked the social commentary but it was a bit lazily executed (still, it seems some of the one star reviewers need to watch things they wholeheartedly agree with in order to enjoy it, which is such a waste of intellect). There is certainly a fair amount of violence and sexual content but it is purposeful because it's meant to display the lives (and the eventual satisfying fall) of the rich. Again, not sure why the prudish one star reviewers are watching a show meant to be a horror and not expecting sexual content. Some specific things I really enjoyed: Verna as an embodiment of the angel of death, and that I utterly despised most of the characters (which was the point, and I must say, it was enjoyable to despise them). All of this said, I did not really feel like Edgar Allan Poe's gothic themes fit with the show at all. The lines from and references to Poe's poems felt forced, and I wish they made more room for morally gray or mysterious characters (Arthur Pym, for example, deserved a little more exploration because he was an interesting character, Auguste Dupin too). The show split characters into very black and white categories (there is good like Annabel Lee and Lenore) and then bad (all the other Ushers). Overall, I think it would have been a more well-rounded show if it left you with some questions at the end (as is characteristic of Flanagan's previous work), but this one spewed all the answers by the end. Still, I was entertained. Not my favorite of Flanagan's work and certainly not his best, but still well done.

Season 5 Review: BM started to become a little forgettable in season 4, with the exception of Hang the DJ which was actually a really thought-provoking episode. If you really are a fan of black mirror, I can’t imagine why you would think much of season 5. The episodes are mediocre at best on their own, but if they were to be compared to other episodes from previous seasons, they would not stand a chance. The first episode was okay, sure it was entertaining...that is really the only positive thing I can say about it. I am not sure what it was trying to say??? we secretly want to sleep with our friends and can only do so in video games?? men secretly want to be more intimate with one another and can only do it via video game characters?? the message came off as sort of daft because it was trying too hard to be figurative. the second episode was fine at first, and then it drags on only to turn into an hour long psa about the dangers of texting and driving...so anticlimactic and underwhelming. the last episode isn’t even worth mentioning. I wouldn’t recommend watching this season, but if you’re a fan, you may want to check this season out for yourself. I’d give it a 4/10