It got me again.The 2nd season of “Damages” has begun.This TV show on the FX channel, stars Glenn Close, as lawyer Patty Hewes, Rose Byrne, as her protégé Ellen Parsons, and a group of other excellent actors, looks like it will be as terrific and full of plot twists as its 1st season.
The show will again highlight violent conspiracy amongst ambitious, “A” personality types. All the major characters are so smart, so devious, so manipulative and so dishonest, – all done with a half smile. It sort of undercuts your faith in your fellow human beings (who said, “If you’re looking for loyalty, get a dog”). Meanness and intrigue can be so addictive. It’s like watching a bunch of snakes in a barrel.Like seeing an accident and not being able to turn away, no matter how gory.
Season 1 is available online and as cable loves to do, there will probably be repeats of all season 2 episodes in some sort of weekend marathon event and I will probably watch the reruns just as I did last year.
“Damages” is not “fun, family” TV, but it is excellent TV.
During the holidays “Slumdog Millionaire” was given national distribution, which means that I finally got to see it. I, like many others, endured the lines to get into the multiplex but most people were there to see the new Clint Eastwood film, Gran Torinoor the many other Hollywood Christmas releases. Slumdog is a special film and I hope more people get to see it. It certainly has all the 2009 award buzz. There is lots to like about this movie, from the colorful scenes, the use of subtitles and the way the story is told. It is a world, unfamiliar to me, trapped inside a love story that is both entertaining and beautiful. It explores some of the history of this part of the world which has dominated the news recently. Made me curious and thankful for my own blessing. This is a big screen movie so don’t wait until DVD.
For what ever reason, Ms. Streep has been willing to have herself cast in a variety of roles that have broadened, universally, the possibilities for an “On Screen” actor.
Film has become such a Directors’ medium that actors are mostly seen as their creations – like animated furniture that only comes to life under the direction of the interior designer.
Meryl in Angels in America
Both Ms. Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman shatter this belief because you can always find them, their personalities, in the roles that they are playing. Sometimes, as in the case of Meryl, her roles are declared great and Oscar worthy, even before anyone has seen them.
This movie, from the play of the same name, is a difficult and different type of film and requires that the viewer look past Meryl and Phillip’s personal brillance, otherwise you can lose the point of the film.
The movie with a lot of buzz is “Milk” directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. I’ve not had the chance to see this film yet and wanted take a look back at some of the work of Gus Van Sant. This photo of Van Sant is reportedly a mug shot and unlike most celebrity mug photos there is nothing menacing in this face. There is the complexity and hint of thoughtfulness. This guy knows a lot about human beings.
Until now I had not looked back at his body of work. With the films that I’ve seen
maybe with one exception of “Hunting” there is hint of delirium in his characters. The delirium show as self focused and self gratification and I wonder if this is really how we are? That our conversation with ourselves and others about how generous and caring we are is the act we use to suppress our own self infatuation.
“Milk” looks to be about a flawed transformational hero. Someone who was not at his end only fascinated with his own reflection in the mirror.
Suzan-Lori Parks is an author, award winning playwright and screenwriter. I was going to categorize her as an “over achiever”. But, that’s probably a disservice – she is just doing what she has to do. Doing what matters to her – with excellence.
She won her 2002 Pultitzer Prize for the play “Topdog/Underdog”. I saw this in San Francisco a few years ago and enjoyed this clever, funny and explosive story about 2 brothers – “Lincoln” and “Booth”. You might imagine how it ends, but, it will still shock you.
Like in the Akira Kurosawa’s film “Rashomon” , where the same scenario is told from different points of view, this play illustrates how 2 boys in the same family can remember differently and be affected differently by the same traumatic event. Their perceptions colored their actions and attributed to the way they chose to lead their lives.
(The NYC Public Theater production had Jeffrey Wright and Don Cheadle as the siblings – you can just imagine the power of that duo.)
Ms Parks had an idea to write a play for every day of the year, the result is “365 Days, 365 Plays“ which she wrote between 2002 – 2003. Starting in 2006, they were presented at theaters, coffee houses and auditoriums across the country. Some venues could do a few of the plays, some as short as one page , and other locations could only stage one. However, all were seen before the end of 2007, just as she envisioned.
It got me again. The 2nd season of “Damages” has begun. This TV show on the FX channel, stars Glenn Close, as lawyer Patty Hewes, Rose Byrne, as her protégé Ellen Parsons, and a group of other excellent actors, looks like it will be as terrific and full of plot twists as its 1st season.
