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THE DAYS

July 19, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

Rivaling HBO’s CHERNOBYL in terms of raw drama, Netflix’s THE DAYS is a powerful story that cements the adage that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. In 2011, Japan suffered a triple whammy: a devastating earthquake, resulting 14-meter-tall tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster that rivaled Chernobyl in terms of danger. Sticking as close to the facts as possible, THE DAYS presents a gripping tale of the tragedy as experienced by the workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

As for the disaster, it could have been even more devastating. The earthquake and tsunami knocked out power to the nuclear reactors, resulting in the workers being unable to cycle water to manage the reactor temperatures and resulting pressure. They couldn’t even use their instruments to monitor what was going on. As the fuel rods became exposed and melted down, they released radiation and triggered catastrophic explosions. In time, they threatened to spread radiation across Japan, making at least half the country uninhabitable for generations. Luckily for the world, they didn’t, though for days the reactors were almost fully out of control, and important mechanisms to fix the problem weren’t even approachable for humans due to high radiation levels.

The Japanese miniseries follows an ensemble cast of actors playing various workers, managers, and executives at the power company managing the plant, along with politicians and military personnel trying to stave off disaster. The script masterfully portrays people and institutions in crisis, showing them coming to grips with the disaster and working to solve unprecedented problems with ingenuity, only for cascading effects to thwart them and create new, even bigger problems. The politicians and company executives often get in the way, sometimes out of frustration for lack of information and other times for optics, until they realize what all of Japan is facing and pull out all the stops to help.

Similarly, the managers and workers at the plant slowly realize how hopeless their situation is and struggle emotionally to remain on duty and fight to the last possible second despite the odds and growing risks to dying horribly. One of the things that I loved about CHERNOBYL was the incredible heroism involved in preventing an incredible national and global disaster, and this is on full display in THE DAYS. Also the realism in depicting the reverse: the horror and despair, people cracking under the strain. In one scene, a nuclear expert watching an explosion erupt at the plant falls to his knees keening like a dying animal, and I think he was speaking for all of them, what was going on in their heads.

Overall, I loved this one. A disaster miniseries that is gripping, horrifying, inspiring, and true.

Filed Under: Apocalyptic, APOCALYPTIC/HORROR, Film Shorts/TV, HISTORY, MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, Other History, The Blog

BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022)

July 13, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

After watching Colin Farrell chew the scenery in THE NORTH WATER, I was so impressed I figured I owed him another movie, whatever next movie I chanced on next that he was in. That turned out to be THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2022). I liked it, in particular due to the terrific heavy lifting by Farrell, the great Brendan Gleeson, and the rest of the stellar cast, though its themes were lost on me.

The movie has a simple premise, which is during the Irish Civil War in 1923, on a small fictional island off the coast of Ireland, fiddler Colm (Glesson) decides to end his friendship with his bestie and drinking buddy Padraic (Farrell). Colm is getting old and has decided not to waste his time anymore on anything except his music, which he feels will endure. This rejection and resulting conflict leads to extreme repercussions.

The movie is billed as a tragicomedy, though the comedy is in the conceit. Overall, the story is pondering, deep, and resting on the characters and the actors playing them far more than the plot. Most of the delights in this deep film are in the brooding country, quirky villagers, and in the terrific performances. The characters are wonderfully drawn, from Padraic’s voice-of-reason sister to the village clown and the town gossip. As things escalate to the end, I found I’d quite enjoyed the ride, though I’m not sure where I ended up. The theme appears to be the Irish Civil War, but I could be wrong, and in any case it was largely lost on me, though to the Irish of course it still resonates.

Overall, I’m happy to recommend THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, though it’s definitely not for everyone. As for me, I owe Farrell another movie.

Filed Under: MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, The Blog

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES

July 13, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (2023) turned out to be a surprisingly good time. From the source material to comedy to action to finding an emotional core, this movie strikes an almost perfect balance, offering plenty and demanding nothing.

The plot is fairly simple. Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) was once a Harper, an order of peacekeepers, but after arresting disciples of a Red Wizard, the wizards take revenge. Destitute and raising his daughter on his own, he turns to selfishness, thieving with minor magic user Simon (Justice Smith), barbarian warrior Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), and con artist Forge (Hugh Grant). After they’re betrayed, he leaves prison on a mission to recover his daughter and set things right, only the Red Wizards have other plans.

I played some D&D back in the day but didn’t live and breathe it, so I missed a ton of Easter eggs planted throughout the movie for the fans. What really works for the adaptation is it embodies the spirit of the source material–just a good time having quests, exploring dungeons, fighting evil wizards–while making it accessible for everyone.

Otherwise, everything just works, rolling out like a fantasy version of a Marvel movie but reining in the cuteness and showing remarkable restraint and balance. The actors all do a great job with their parts, particularly Pine who brings a lot of depth to the lead, Rodriguez who really looks like she’s kicking ass in the fight scenes, and Smith who makes you root for him. In terms of storytelling, all the right notes are played, making this kind of like a live-action SHREK but with a lot more action. While nominally light fare, there’s an emotional core to the story, though it is accomplished again with a solid balance and without pandering or trying to make me feel anything.

Overall, I loved D&D. From what I hear, there are no plans to make it a franchise–though there may be a TV spinoff in the works–but I hope they do. It might just get me back into the theater. Barring that, I’d like to see more movies like it.

Filed Under: MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, The Blog

YELLOWFACE by R. F. Kuang

July 13, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

R.F. Kuang’s YELLOWFACE is a weird atom bomb of a book, one that’s difficult to talk about because its themes are both convoluted and incendiary. I… liked it? I think. For its provocative themes alone, I found it a powerful work of literature.

The story is told by unreliable narrator June, a struggling novelist who happens to be best friends with Athena, a very successful Chinese-American writer. When Athena dies, June steals her latest manuscript and passes it off as her own, realizing all her dreams and leading to a writer’s worst nightmare.

As a professional writer, I was curious about the book, as it touches on so many things relevant in the publishing world. Writer’s block, getting published, expectations meeting reality in terms of what publishers do for you, internet witch burning complete with bandwagon virtue signaling, and sensitivity readers. This constant thread in YELLOWFACE was for me a lot of fun to read.

June rationalizes everything she does, and she’s fairly despicable if at times sympathetic–if she hadn’t stolen the manuscript, after all, it’s an entirely different book with different themes. Thematically, reviewers have found cultural appropriation and white privilege, though I personally didn’t get that out of it. There is certainly privilege here, one shared by both Athena and June, which is money. Both go to an ivy league school with plenty of connections, and while Athena’s career takes off to the stars, June’s doesn’t suffer as much as she thinks. Her first novel gets a $20,000 advance from a medium-sized press with a book tour, which had me laughing–there are hardworking and hungry writers who, how do I put this, WOULD NUKE ENTIRE CITIES FOR THAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITY.

Another theme I found in the book, which one reviewer nailed, is people being publicly performative. It’s speculated that Athena’s privilege is in part due to a hyperfocus on diversity, resulting in tokenization. Her legacy is attacked by other Chinese-Americans as not being authentically Chinese enough. When someone speculates June stole the manuscript from Athena, June is thoroughly roasted in the kind of bandwagon witch hunt that occupies writers’ nightmares. (I was once accused of being racist on Facebook for the crime of writing a review of BLACK PANTHER in which I called the movie kind of boring.) One might argue that even some of the reviews on the back cover of YELLOWFACE are performative, which would weirdly prove Kuang’s point if that is indeed what she intended. Then there are the bizarre negative reviews, full of kneejerk accusations that Kuang is a Chinese supremacist and the true racist! Either way, arguably, book publishing is more diverse than it’s ever been, which I personally think is wonderful–but is that itself performative (by readers and publishers alike) or simply the result of creating a fair playing field that recognizes good work? Personally, I’m optimistic rather than cynical; in the end, I think the latter is true.

So holy crap, yes, there is a lot to admire about YELLOWFACE in how explosive and layered it is thematically, how it makes you think, and how that easy, simple point you think it’s making is not easy or simple at all, making you think and then think again. It hits a lot of buttons glowing red in today’s internet age, and for that alone, there’s much to admire, even if the story itself often dragged for me. If you’re a writer, I highly recommend giving it a read.

(On a final side note, a word about sensitivity readers: If you’re a writer and the publisher offers one, I suggest taking it. I feel like addressing this because I see a lot of posts on social media about how they’re censorship or something. First off, any time your book is published by a company, that company will edit your work for market, which is “censorship.” If you can’t abide a single word of your work being changed, then you should self-publish. Me, I see value in a good editor. All the sensitivity reading does is employ an additional informed editing resource to ensure you represent other races and so on accurately and without negative stereotyping. As they cost money, they typically aren’t offered unless your editor feels there is a risk of you ruining your own success by stepping in a cowpie and unintentionally offending a portion of your readers (and their company’s customers). For my books, I’ve never needed a sensitivity reading, though my normal editing process does include sensitivity edits. Some made me go huh, a few were very helpful, and none of them harmed my work and in fact either had no artistic effect or improved it. Maybe other authors have horror stories about sensitivity readings, I don’t know, but speaking from my own experience, it’s nothing to be afraid of and can in fact help you.)

Back to YELLOWFACE to wrap up, I didn’t quite love it as a story, but I certainly enjoyed its themes, which offered plenty to think about. I did find the author intriguing enough I picked up her novel BABEL, which I’m quite enjoying.

Filed Under: Books, MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, WRITING LIFE, Writing/Publishing

YELLOWJACKETS, Season 2

June 28, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

The second season of YELLOWJACKETS proved a disappointing departure from the incredible heights the first season achieved. The second season ate its potential by mostly treading familiar waters.

First, let me gush again about that incredible first season. In the 90s, a high school all-girl soccer team flies to a national competition only for their plane to crash in the wilderness, forcing them to survive on their own for more than a year. Now it’s years later, and we follow several women (strong veteran actors) from among the few who survived. The story unfolds in two storylines, one where we see what happened in the wilderness, and the other where we see the adults struggling to live normal lives, messed up in the conventional sense but somewhat fearless and capable of anything when it comes to surviving. The result teased this is a modern grrl version of THE LORD OF THE FLIES, revealed slowly through the lens of the girls now all grown up. If you’ve read my novel THE CHILDREN OF RED PEAK, you know this is my kind of story, and I was happily surprised at how subtle, nuanced, and compelling they told it.

The second season continues the story, and I think most viewers started the season anticipating seeing the girls devolve into savagery in the wilderness, as the end of the first season brought us to the edge of it. Unfortunately, the second season feels far different than the first. They strongly introduce a paranormal element, which would work but ends up a deus ex machina for every weird or bad thing that happens. The adult storyline treads water, endlessly seeming to try to tie off the first season, and even the compelling wilderness storyline meanders. Otherwise, we get the sudden car collision trope, the I wake up and did bad things while I was blanked out trope, a lot of cuteness, and other service tropes. Solid opportunities are squandered, like Coach’s role in the group and a natural devolution into savagery to survive.

Unfortunately, the result is that despite some salient great dramatic moments, there is a general lack of focus, where most of the episodes feel like filler, and contrived and phoned-in conflict, particularly the atrocious police storyline. I really hate coming down on this show. As a writer, I know how much hard work goes into producing something you think people will like, and the result is always heavily subjective. But I was bitterly disappointed with this. I really, really hope they turn things around with the third season and get back to that sharp, compelling, intriguing storytelling that made the first season such a surprisingly great watch.

Filed Under: APOCALYPTIC/HORROR, Film Shorts/TV, MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, The Blog

BARRY, Season 4

June 28, 2023 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

BARRY (HBO) is one of my favorite shows. Piloted by and starring Bill Hader, the series takes its conventional, almost silly premise to lofty heights and sometimes the darkest depths. The fourth season is the darkest yet. With its pronounced tonal shift, it wasn’t my favorite season, but it did not disappoint as a final season. In fact, it ended the series beautifully.

The show is about a Marine Afghanistan War veteran who came home with problems stemming from the war, and winds up manipulated by a family friend into becoming a hitman. He’s done with that life now, is looking for a path to redemption, and stumbles into an acting class taught by Gene Cousineau (the great Henry Winkler, chewing the scenery). Firmly believing that no matter what evil you’ve done you can still make things right and be a good person, Barry finds love with Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and tries to become a professional actor. His past won’t let him go, however, no matter how hard he tries, drawing him back into various jobs, most of them related to the Chechen mafia, where he does a lot of interacting with Noho Hank (the hilarious Anthony Carrigan).

The result is surprisingly funny, pitching quirky criminals next to extreme violence, sort of like PULP FICTION but not trying so hard. Hader said he wanted the subtle comedy to always be there but for the violence to always be real. That’s all good, and the result is fantastic. But what makes Hader truly brave as an artist how the show evolves naturally across its four seasons from mostly comedy to become a dark tragedy. At the end of every season, he and the other writers paint BARRY into a corner, and then the next season they keep it going in a way that totally makes sense. Unfortunately, for these characters, this means always trying to do better but due to their flaws failing and gradually becoming by the end their worst selves. Denial is a major theme of the show, how we can fake being something else but if we don’t confront our flaws we are who we are, and some in BARRY’s season 4 find something like redemption, while others fall way short.

Every plotline and character is tied off beautifully, and this last season has an almost Shakespearean feel to it. Hader directed most of the episodes himself, and it shows in his particular style–a lot of wide shots, soft colors, people walking off into darkness, big closeups, overall composition. The result was far less intimate than the previous seasons, but I think this was intentional, particularly in the second half of the season, where we have a surprising change in the narrative and we start focusing on these people being in denial. There aren’t as many laughs and much less violence compared to prior seasons, but the ones we get pack a solid punch.

Overall, I applaud Hader for what he accomplished with BARRY. It’s an amazing show, and by the end you realize you got so, so much more than the premise promised, a show that isn’t just about a hitman trying to be an actor but a darkly comic Shakespearean tale of the search for redemption.

Filed Under: MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, The Blog

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