Team Experience is giving thanks. Here's Lynn Lee...
Between the scourge of COVID-19 and the utterly dysfunctional American response, 2020 is looking more and more like a lost year for public health, good governance, and the arts and entertainment industry in this country. Still, as tantalizing hopes of a return to normalcy glimmer on the horizon (three potential vaccines! A responsible, expertise-driven presidential administration!), Thanksgiving provides a much-needed reminder to appreciate the things that helped get us through the past several months. Here are some of the movie and TV-related moments and discoveries that brought me joy this year:
• Parasite making history as the first Korean movie to win the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Foreign Film.
• The huge, unblinking gimlet eyes of Anya Taylor-Joy (which bring to mind a cross between Emma Stone and Alita): sometimes challenging, sometimes disquieting, always riveting.
• The ironic curtsy by the protagonist of And Then We Danced at the end of his final dance – the most inspired “fuck you” gesture of the year.
• Getting to see my first drive-in movie ever (even if the movie itself, Tenet, was a letdown).
• The beautifully tender, improbable human friendship that transcends both greed and death in First Cow.
• The perfect timing of Palm Springs – not in terms of its box office, obviously, but as a comedic metaphor for pandemic life, married life, and/or life in general for the confirmed agnostic. (N.B: Yes, Groundhog Day got there first and may be the better movie, but Palm Springs is the better rom-com.)
• The haunting production and sound design of Alex Garland’s miniseries Devs.
• Ethan Hawke’s balls-to-the-wall performance as the half-cracked but oddly magnetic John Brown in The Good Lord Bird.
• Everything and everyone in Mrs. America, but in particular Margo Martindale’s wisecracking, weary yet unbowed demeanor as Bella Abzug, the activist perpetually striving to balance pragmatism and principle.
• The trailer for Minari
And, as always, Nathaniel and The Film Experience for continuing to make this a safe and welcome space to share my thoughts on movies with you all. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!