Things I loved in 2019 on Big screen/TV/Streaming, Podcasts and Music.
Sights 2019
The Guilty (Danish) is a beautifully acted, taut thriller. A demoted police officer assigned to call-dispatch gets an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. The call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the kidnapper begins. Of course, there is more to the story. You are well into the movie — no spoilers, here — before you realize the extraordinary acting range of Jacob Cedergren: The beads of sweat, pained patience, panic, and anguish. Available on Amazon streaming.
Weathering with You (Japanese). Anime is a fantastic genre for exploration of ideas. Makato Shinkai is a genius who explores teenage angst with sensitivity, very much like John Hughes. The film backed by an intricately gorgeous depiction of Tokyo – dew drops, sun beams, drenched shoulders, whispering pathways and cozy spaces.
American Factory. A searing study of work culture and supply chains in the globalized economy. What does in-sourcing mean? What do we need to do to keep the jobs we want in the US? Through a deep study of Fuyao Glass America setting up a factory in Ohio, the movie examines the incompatibility of process and labor in two different countries that make the exact same product. Streaming on Netflix.
Fleabag (Season 1). I shouldn’t like Fleabag. I hate myself for loving Fleabag so much. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s side-eye glaring, fourth-wall breaking, eye-rolling histrionics in her tour-de-force performance of a self-hating and selfish, adorably despicable character is a person that resides in all of us. (I haven’t seen Season 2). Available on Prime.
Last Black Man in San Francisco. When I last walked through the neighborhoods of SF in November, I thought that SF felt very different from Philadelphia, but also the SF that I used to know. It was not just the hills and the fog. It was the uniformity of the culture, shops and brands that I spotted around. The historical preference for weirdness that defined and grew the city seems gone. The disappearance of black folks from SF is an indelible chapter in that saga. Told with love and heartache by Joe Talbot. Available on Prime.
I also liked Aladdin. Gods forgive me. Unlike the damp squib live-action adaptation of Lion King, I think the new Aladdin is an amply entertaining retelling of an often-told tale, hampered only by having to stay within the parameters of Disney’s constraints (Anglicized accents, American pop-culture references and the general lack of edginess). I believe that people are awfully enamored by the over-rated 1992 version which was rescued by the sole grace of Robin Williams, who in his elastic effervescent brilliance, gave his everything to us. In the new version, Naomi Scott hits it out of the park with her rendition of Speechless, a modern feminist anthem for young girls. I predict that it will (and it should) win the Academy award for the Best Song.
I enjoyed Maxine Peake — one of my favorite actors — in a complex role and her mesmerizing northern accent in Silk (Season 1), also starring Rupert Penry-Jones.
During the holidays, I would like to watch Knives Out, Parasite, One Child Nation, and No Time to Die. (Post holiday Update: Did not watch any of them).
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Sounds 2019
(Podcasts & Music)
As a follower of Amazon’s operations, I think a podcast series that may be worth your time: Land of Giants. Its 6-7 episodes of various topics (Alexa, Warehouse, Prime). I think it covered mostly familiar territory, with the interesting additions of human element and character studies.
Alice Evans talks to Daron Acemoglu on Nations and Norms. The infectious laughter followed by mellow, agreeably-voiced slicing inquiries. Probably the best new podcast on the horizon.
Tyler Cowen talks to Emily Wilson on Odyssey. My kids and I are both loving reading the translation of Odyssey by “NOT the first woman to publish a translation of the Odyssey.”
Ezra Klein talks to Daniel Markovits on the Meritocracy Trap. A dissection of the self-conceited and false modesty in Higher Education.
Billie Eilish’s Everything I wanted. Listening to the whole album. She is a prodigious talent, I think, slyly marketed in synthesized staccato huskiness, wrapped in baggy androgynous rule-breaking attire and mildly disturbing lyrics to an evanescent teenage appeal.
Postscript:
I limit my TV and media consumption every year to a certain number of hours (X). I kept well within X this year. This probably means that I didn’t set my constraints properly or did not maximize my utility 🙂
This constraint allows me to be choosy about what I should watch, what I can binge, and what to watch with family. It is also a decent mechanism to discontinue watching those shows that I do not enjoy or find meaningful. (Goodbye, Black Mirror!). I am less worried about missing out on viral content. I can always consume good content in future, and there is more in the universe than we can all watch.