Streaming Diaries: "1899", "Friend of the Family" and more
Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 12:30PM by Nathaniel R
I didn't see you there.
I had a short-lived second round with COVID over Thanksgiving week (all better now, "negative", and out and about). While sick the hot ginger tea was flowing and the streaming entertainment was constant. The great f***-over moment of the timing of all this (first world problem incoming!) was that the FYC screeners went to my old address and the new Apple TV that could download the studio FYC streaming apps didn't arrive until after the holiday. This means I did not have access to Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio so naturally that's the movie I felt like watching at every moment. But you should know (if you don't already from social media) that Netflix is really pouring money into that Oscar campaign; they sent a massive box of stuff!
Okay, we'll do a few of these streaming diaries posts to catch up and they'll be very random as to what's discussed from Oscar bait to trashy TV...
1899 (Netflix)
Only four episodes into this new series that is maybe about a group of multinational passengers heading from the old country to the the new world in the late 19th century. They get lost in the ocean while attempting to rescue another lost ship. "Maybe" is the important word in that sentence because the series is withholding enough that they could just as easily be 21st century people with period avatars in some wild VR game OR mental patients in an aslyum fantasizing about being on a ship OR even just who they seem to be but dead and in some sort of role-play purgatory OR who they seem to be but being manipulated into looping scenaries by space aliens. WHO KNOWS?!? In general I am not a fan of withholding convoluted mysteries. It's too easy to be "mysterious" or get away with just making shit up to fit whichever scene you're in. But the characters and especially the multi-national approach is interesting enough to make it through the season. British TV/film actress Emily Beecham as mysterious Maura Franklin and German TV mainstay Andreas Pietschmann (Dark) as the grief-strick drunk captain are the leads -- we keep screaming "Kiss!" at the TV however inappropriate that would be for these two characters. All the supporting characters are interesting thus far. If you're watching do you have a fav? Grade TBD
P.S. This probably goes without saying for our amazing international readership here at TFE but make sure your defaults are not set to "English dubs" on Netflix. The multi-lingual approach of the show and the confusion of the characters who often can't understand each other is essential to the drama.
Nyiragongo, which seemed so benign, emptied out in a few minutes like a bathtub with a hole in it, sowing death all around.
FIRE OF LOVE (Disney+)
Finally caught up with this popular National Geographic doc about married French volcanologists. It's surely going to make the finalist list for the Oscars though nothing is ever a lock for a nomination in that category given their tendency to include a shocking snub or two annually. Fire of Love was the second highest grossing doc of 2022 (after Moonage Daydream) and it's easy to see why. It's stunning to look at, family friendly (like a trip to a science museum), and uniquely engaging. Under the 'truth is stranger than fiction' umbrella, who would have ever dreamt of conjoining a true love story with the study of volcanos?! Some of its hypnotic visual setpieces of molten lava spewing and flowing might be closer to longeuers for easily distractable audiences watching at home on a small screen (oh to have seen this on IMAX!) but it's certainly worth a watch.
Read Glenn's full review here. He also loved it though I'm a bigger fan of Miranda July's narration; I find her voice so weirdly disarming. B+
-It's a portable TV! I saw one just like this in a magazine.
-Now you can watch The Bionic Woman, Charlie's Angels and all of that. But you gotta keep it a secret. Watch it when you're lonely and think of me... The Six Million Dollar Man.
FRIEND OF THE FAMILY (Peacock)
Tell me if you've also experienced this: your willingness to watch things you're not particularly interested in exponentially increases when you're under the weather. I tried the first episode of this true crime limited series right when it premiered in early October and disliked and discarded it. I had tuned in for Jake Lacy who I always love and Anna Paquin whom I always want to love but usually end up mixed on (please relax your face, Anna!). Whilst immobile, I randomly returned to it and watched the whole thing.
The series is a true crime story about the grooming and abduction of Jan Broberg, a young girl (Hendrix Yancey/McKenna Grace) in the 1970s, by "Brother B" (Jake Lacy), a close friend of her parents (Colin Hanks & Anna Paquin). Too close that is! Eliza Hittman (Beach Rats) and Jamie Travis (a genius short film director, look him up) are among the directors of the various episodes and you can see the skill -- there are moments here and there that really unnerve particularly through their eery belief in the very obvious lies "B" is selling and Jan's increasingly disassociated vacant stare. But Friend of the Family is a bit too caught up in its period settings and its hyper specific milieus (Mormon families) to the point where it sometimes feels like cosplay. This is not to say that those things aren't enjoyable. It definitely improves as it goes along but, like many limited series in our current moment, it's quite repetitive. C though it definitely has a B+ in it somewhere. Maybe in a 5 hour version as opposed to its current 9 hours?
I'm just suggesting you lower the guns long enough for us to sort this out and get on with it.
THE 355 (Amazon Prime)
Like most broadly drawn "team" entertainments from Scooby Doo through to The Avengers, each member can be reduced to just one adjective and role: Lupita Nyong'o is the smart techie. Jessica Chastain the heartbroken leader. Diane Kruger the chilly professional. Fan Bingbing the enigmatic...? Well, they haven't given Bingbing anything to play in this spy family dynamic so much as the third act embodiment of the film's need to have as many twists as guns. And there are a lot of guns. Though The 355 is derivative and generic it's still a diverting entertainment thanks to steady pacing and the quintupled glamour of its actresses. Or maybe -- okay quite probably, I was just absolutely in the right mood for it. Penelope Cruz is the MVP, walking away with the picture as a reluctant therapist who doesn't know about this nonsensical business of constantly throwing yourself at danger. She's good enough that it's easy to imagine a whole superior funnier version of this same material from her POV, because The 355 is far too broad to be taking itself this seriously! C
Reader Comments (4)
Re 1899, I am SO OVER dark (color not theme) sequences. At least with foreign or mumbled dialogue, you can usually rely on subtitles, but MY GAWD, just stop with the darkly lit sets because at this point it might as well be a RADIO drama. I'm struggling with this show; in terms of time loopy-ness, I preferred The Devil's Hour on Prime.
Weird side note: White Noise was supposed to be streaming starting today and not only did that not happen, it's now nowhere to be found on Netflix's up and coming section. I'm wondering if they pushed it to 2023?
@eurocheese - WHITE NOISE doesn't hit Netflix until December 30. It's playing at a few NY/LA theaters right now though.
Thanks Sarah. Weird that they totally removed it...