Final Considerations on “Spinning Out”

After two years I’m back with another review of a series that took me almost 2 years two finish it : the Netflix “Spinning Out”.

The series dropped in 2020 during the pandemic and I remember clearly I just wanted to watch it because Kaya Scodelario was the main lead actress and it was about ice skating and just looked intriguing to me.

I was so disappointed when it was cancelled after the very end of the season but that didn’t stop me to starting it and it was the best decision to take: “Spinning Out” addresses some delicate topics that we don’t get to see often in a tv series .

Character’s development is brilliantly carried out during the season not only for the main lead Kat Baker but also for secondary roles : at the beginning you appreciate X , at the very end you just gonna hate him/her (no spoilers intended).

This 10 episode drama deals with the mental health and bipolar disorder affecting Kat Baker and her mother ; the delicate family relationships on the cutting edge and the toxic competition between Kat and her sister .
The competition with her sister , as well as a complicated relationship with her absent mother is exacerbated by PTSD and self-harm .
Through the episode Kat tries to handle and manage her mental issues , at times ignoring them but finally becoming aware of how her bipolar disorder affected her personal life and judgements.

But not only :through Kat’s friend Marcus backstory we experience racism , through her trainer we deal with LGBT and finally ice skating!

All the main characters are involved into skating whether as aspiring professional iceskaters or trainers .
To be honest I’ve always found interesting this discipline and all the sequences and choreography where outstanding ! (Though you could clearly see the stuntmans for Justin and Kat).

Cannot believe this location really exists : ” Blue Montain Village” Ontario , Canada

The tv series is set in Ontario , Canada ; visual and photography are mesmerizing ; you get to see some beautiful snowy locations that I’m going to attach below .

Least but not less important , the soundtrack :
1-The intro “In the water” by Joy Downer is simply effective ; a 1 minute song with vintage retro vibes combined with ice skating sequences of people falling and then get on track again.

2-“Habit” by Gabrielle Shonk : the voice of this singer remebers me a lot of Joss Stone; what I love the most is the increasing tempo of the bridge that combines perfectly with the vocals .

3- “Lover You Should’Have Come Over” by Jeff Buckley : when I heard this song It immediately sounded familiar to me . I felt like :”good music taste!” and then I realized it was the one and only Jeff Buckley

4-“You Would Have To Lose Your Mind” by The Barr Brothers : I haven’t spend more than two days without listening to this song since I heard it on Spinning Out .
Its lyrics , pace and dreamy vibe made it easily one of my favourite song of all the time .
Starting with a slow harp rhythm it grows during its 6 minute duration into an explosion of choir full of awareness and drums .
To be honest for a long time I just enjoyed listening to it without caring about the lyrics or the meaning just because the melody was self fulfilling .Afterwards I read the lyrics and to my surprise there are many metaphores and mythological references (such as Icarus myth) : the images evoked brilliantly a dreamy dimension combining with a crescendo pace of harp and guitar solos.
To me this songs captures the essence of “Spinning Out” , the snowy location and everything .

Woke up in the bed last night
Her features were golden
And the walls, they were crowded with symbols of lust

“You Would Have To Loose Your Mind – The Barr Brothers”

Still cannot believe it got cancelled and Netflix left the audience on a cliffhanger … this show was just so perfect and accurate about mental awareness .

Final consideration on “Sense 8”

I’ve been hearing about this tv show for a long time back in 2017 .Everyone were literally obsessed with it and I remember the media hype when Netflix decided to cancel it.
As soon as I discovered that fans managed to get a finale through petitions I thought :” It should be good …”.

Finally while I was in Erasmus in France (back to 2018) one day I decided to start it (instead of going party omg) and I finished only yesterday …

“Sense 8” was an “up and down” of emotions : I remembered watching the pilot and being frustrated for its duration ! (yes I’m more of a 30 minute ep kind of gal) .. At the same time I was intrigued by the connections between this heterogenous group of seven .

Slowly I kept watching and finally the “click” happened with that “iconic scene” brilliantly featuring “What’s Up” !
This song has been one of my favourite for ages and seeing all of them being present and distant at the same time , singing along this masterpiece was unexplainable !
Rethinking about the series I watched this is surely one of the most brilliant “musical scene” I’ve ever watched alongside with “Wild World” for the finale of Skins season one .

Cannot lie , there are some points I didn’t understand as the role of Jonas and others sensates but that was probably because sometimes I kept watching even If I was a little bit distracted …

But what I realized after finishing the 2 hour and a half finale is that I grew deep and sincere attachment to every character ; I started feeling part of the group …

Probably is this period of uncertainty we’re living in but watching “Sense 8” in the midst of the pandemic gave me a sense of relief : it was like travelling for real ; getting to know a bit about Sun’s Korea or Kala’s India and so on …

Anyway in my opinion when a novel or movie deals with so many characters I think it’s quite challenging to give every one the fair amount of screen time ; the same applies to the several themes approached by screenwriters : sometimes I had the feeling that they tried too much to squeeze all the possible evils of the society but at the same time never really get an insight of each of them .

This doesn’t change the love I feel for the series : Sense 8 is about inclusivity and strong connection overcoming physical boundaries it was a blast and forever be a great comfort serie for me .

One of my fav scene was when Sun had her period and each Sensate got to experience in his/her own way this discomfort : that was an epic sequence that I will never forget!

ps: kinda wrote this review in a rush , it took me sometime because I started during my exam session and I had to study so… don’t take it too seriously

On the radar : 2020’s discoveries

Leaving 2020 behind with the pandemic and all that’s been going on I would like to devote this post to the worthwhile things I discovered in this turbolent year : on a personal and artistic level .

2020 was a year of filling days of quarantine with movies, tv series, books and all the resolutions we never had the time to accomplish . 2020 was also the year of my graduation and the post-graduation depression that followed suit

Before dealing with my personal little achievements I would like to briefly recap some good jems I stumbled upon :

Album : I’m going to drop some tunes and album which I consider as fundamentally lifesaver :

1) Dreamland (2020) by Glass Animals : not gonna lie during the first listenings I was quite disappointed because the record detaches in a great way from the previous works . It has a completely different vibe and sound but day by day I started appreciating the more intimate and personal dimension of songs like “Domestic Bliss” and as for today “Heat Waves” and “Tangerine” are my favourite songs for summertime quarantine (?).

2) Feeding Seahorses by hand (2019) by Billie Marteen
This record has been my safe place for cozy autumn/winter days . Billie’s angelic voice and the acoustic melodies always put me in a good mood . Listening to these songs (especially “Cartoon People” and “Boxes” ) taught to embrace solitude and take the best from these time of uncertainty and find something positive even in the darkest times .

3) Kiwanuka : the latest self-titled album is the living proof of Kiwanuka’s eclectic art. As usual the first listen didn’t convince me at all except for few tracks . But slowly the record grew more and more in me and as today I think that it shows Kiwanuka’s multidimensional artistic profile . This album is a mix of nostalgia featuring psychedelic sounds and choirs

New Artists :
Joji : casually listened to his song “YEAH RIGHT” on the Netflix movie “All the bright places” ! That movie is … mmh meh .. well I think it had good premises but Theodore mental illness could have been explore more in depth as I think it is in the novel (which I’m looking forward to read!). Anyway despite I didn’t enjoy the movie as much as I wanted to it has a great soundtrack and introduced me to Joji’s universe !
He mostly makes lo fi , trip hop music … since I discovered him I don’t spend a day without listening to “Run” , “YEAH RIGHT” or “Slow Dancing in the Dark” ( his tracks are super suitable to work out!!)

Tv series :
Six Feet Under : I actually devoted an entire post to this discovery so I’ll keep it short : I just finished the first season but by now what I love is how this series depicts death in all its different facets ; how characters are well-written and developed with their strenghts , weaknesses and fantasies. (Six Feet Under is the living proof that you don’t need special effects or whatever to make a good product ) .

Dickinson : well I’m probably gonna wrote a post for this one but let me just say that this show provided entertainment, insights (even if slightly romanced) of one of the most famous American poet . It’s not a period drama because it doesn’t stick strictly to historical facts but it is revisited to suit a young and demanding audience .

Mind-blowing movies #1 Nocturnal Animals

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During the lockdown and postlockdown period I’ve watched maybe five movies in total and after a long time I feel the need to put my thoughts in order to get a whole understanding of how actually I got of the movie .
“Nocturnal Animals” is a breath-taking thriller movie which relies on two storylines : the main one and the “novel” received by the protagonist from her ex-husband who dedicates it to “her” calling Nocturnal Animal .
Personally I found this device brilliant : actually at first I thought that the whole car trip was Susan’s flashback and Tony was her dad…. god I was so wrong , this is why after finishing it I drowned myself in articles of possible explanations of the ending .
Where shall I start ? Like with “Parasite” this movie left me with a feeling of bewilderment and daze , I asked myself :” What the heck did I just watch (in a positive way of course) , what was Tom Ford purpose ?

First I cannot help but praise the acting of the main cast : this movie had been on my “watchlist” for a long time … *ehm ehm* I have to admit mainly for Jake Gyllenhaal (who I love since Donnie Darko) but also for Amy Adams … Anyway Aaron Johnson and Michael Shannon delivered such a great performance with their respective characters.

Nocturnal Animals has a mesmerizing storytelling which relies on multiple strengths : on one side the viewer is initially introduced in the present time where Susan lives her material existence surrounded by meaningless art and a less significant relationship with his husband or daughter.
The story itself is set off by a novel received from her estranged ex-husband in which she drowns herself eagerly : the reading awakens her past relationship with Edward from the blossom of their romance to their abrupt separation .
On the other side Edward’s novel has also a relevant role if not maybe the most crucial one in the story : the harshness ,the violence and the hatred which characterized it are nothing but the manifestation of Tony’s feelings for being humiliated and deprived of its daughter/son .
Revenge is the key word : through flashbacks the general feeling of disillusionment unravels while Susan slowly becomes aware of what has lost , finally Edward’s revenge takes a concrete form .
I was strongly fascinated by how the revenge theme was developed : in the novel Edward manages to find a solid partner who helps him seeking the murderers even going against the law . But the subtle revenge that Edward causes to Susan …. that was poetic cinema !! The final scene where she waits in a luxurious restaurant hoping to repair their relationship hit me hard : as time passes and the glass gets empty she realizes that Tony is not “weak” anymore and has finally moved forward . Her expression of placid disillusionment puts an end to a great visual and emotional masterpiece, Amy Adams ‘s bitter smile turns into a wide awareness of what has lost and her mask of “fake merriness” breaks a little as her eyes wink for a second .
The more I keep writing this sort-of review (which it isn’t because I’m not good at it ) the more I have more topics to discuss about !

I recently embarked on a MsC in Economic and International Management focusing on Luxury Goods,Made in Italy and Emerging Markets and one of the compulsory courses is called “Luxury and fashion management” : I ‘ve been introduced to many interesting themes which make me constantly reflect one of these are “hedonism” and “aesthetics” .
Returning to the movie the cinematography and the visual were absolutely mesmerizing : Tom Ford’s use of close ups to show the character’s gaze and the long shots of the scenery weren’t just aesthetically driven but they had a symbolic function.
Despite having the privilege to work in a art gallery Susan seems to not see the privilege she has , to not see the beauty within . In the sequence set in the art gallery Tom Ford actually provides a major spoiler (which I didn’t notice ahah) showing a big installation with a writing saying “REVENGE” … I mean … I was blind wtf!
Susan passes by observing the piece of art but without showing any considerable reaction … personally I found Amy Adams expressiveness
stunning : if we focus for a moment on her gaze in the flashback scenes her eyes are glowing , her look is passionate and cheerful while in the present scenes her look is kind of disconnected and absent as if her eyes are lacking of vitality , to me in the final sequence she finally realizes that she has been living in a fake bubble and finally take off her mask made of shallowness and appearances .
The final two topics I would like to discuss are related to the captivating soundtrack and why I truly enjoyed this little masterpiece : the score of the motion picture was just breathless , for some reason It reminded me of “Melancholia’s” soundtrack with Wagners leit motive occuring every once in a while :Abel Korneziowski translated into music the pain , the struggle ,the anxiety characterizing the movie, If I close my eyes I can clearly see the endless road trip narrated in Tony’s novel !
If there’s anyone who actually managed to get to the end of this post you made it !
Last remark : I haven’t felt that anxious for a while , few movies made me feel uncomfortable like “Psycho” or the more recent “Midsommar” but while I was watching the road trip … Lord I had a feeling of what was about to happen and I thought even if there’s a brilliant cast I will never watch “Nocturnal Animals” agains . Now I would watch it over and over again even if means going through that “long scene” .
I was disappointed of the humble box-office results …. this movie depicts the aftermath of a relationship with an original device delivering great acting performance with stunning photography , soundtrack and the perfect amount of suspence .

Thanks for the time (now I go back studying Economics :’). )

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A parallel between novel and movie adaptation #2

Astonishment , bewilderment , nostalgia of something I’ve never experienced …these are only few of the feelings which this novel triggered in me .  
Even though it’s a typical “summer reading”  Call me be your name  provides a deep insight of a universal affection without being too much cheesy or cliché . Once you read it you’ll never be the same.  
As you go through the pages you get a 360° experience delivered by a mesmerizing writing : description of B. are filled with vivid olfactory sensations and cultural references while characters are genuinely developed by their conversations and actions without revealing too much and leaving the reader explore their psychology . 
Right after finishing the novel I watched the award-winning adaptation (yes more than two years later after its release) and now I understand why it received such a massive critical acclaim .

The movie didn’t simply bring justice to its counterpart but it enhances its strenghts : from the first cryptic conversations between Elio and Oliver to the key episodes of their unparallel bond . The novel is narrated through Elio’s stream of consciousness who brings back to life his memories of a special summer . As a grown man he relives his most hidden feelings for Oliver , from its earliest interest to the final discolosure of its own sexual identity .  
Well even if In the adaptation we don’t get to know what’s going on on Elio’s mind as much as we would by reading the novel I found Timothée Chalamet’s performance fascinating : he delivered such a powerful performance with the right amount of naivety and wisdom . 

He portrayed majestically Elio’s contrasting emotions in such a mature way for a youg actor !  
Overall I felt like the movie captured the whole essence of the novel :  aesthetically and visually speaking and finally by an accurate choice of the soundtrack . 
Well the adaptation was a pleasure to watch : the color palette is prevailed by summer colors such as yellow , blue and green .  
In addition to the characters I had the impression that the location played a major role in their relationship’s development : it’s like if when Elio leads Oliver through the tiny city of Crema , through the lake or through the fields he kind of sees those familiar places to him  with a different eye .  
Maybe I may be biased because I’m Italian but I guess that the movie owes part of his attractiveness to the locations chosen ( I read somewhere that many fan literally visited these places , I would do the same after all) . 
If I had to choose between the novel and the adaptation I guess it would be a hard challenge : the novel provides a deep insight of the character’s inner feelings while the adaptation is just …perfect : it makes you experience the most divergent sensations from the excitement of something forbidden, of doing something secretly to the final stab .  
 
PS: as a linguistics graduate student I couldn’t help noticing the massive use of codeswitching among all the characters . I understand that they wanted to be as much loyal as possible to the novel as Elio is supposed to have mixed roots (Italian,Hebreu and French) but I found it a little disturbing : let me explain I watched the movie in English of course and Timothée’sItalian pronunciation was awful ( I appreciate the effort : he plays the guitar , the piano … I mean almost perfect human being) ,but I don’t know maybe in the dubbed version It’s not a big deal … but to me was just unneccessary.  
 
Finally a little review about the soundtrack :  I loved it before even watching the movie  ! Sufjans Stevens ‘s sounds suits perfectly the summer vibe and the fleeting idyll , sweet and sad at the same time.  
 
Definitely a worth-watching view , it would be really difficult to find a weakness in it. 9.5/10 

A first glimpse “Westworld “ #2

Beeing Done with one of the six exams I have to do this semester so I decided to give myself a little treat and tick off a tv series from my watchlist.

Westworld Pilot

This is truly a little gem . And you can guess it from the opening , where you’re beamed in a strange dimension in the making of an android.
This pilot starts in media-res as a narrating voice interviews or brainwashes a “girl” , apparently a common girl living in the Far West. So what is the bond between the Far East and androids ?
That her life ,her family , her beliefs are fictional , that she is  programmed to entertain visitors who want to have a virtual experience in the Far East.
Theoretically androids shouldn’t have any remembrance of their past lives because they have to deliver their lines without any improvising and this is the aim of the “upper” levels. An huge system which constantly controls that androids are doing their tasks , that stranger have a good experience .

But what happens if you believe that controlling technology is given for granted ? What is the consequence of a little crack in the hardware ? What if the  androids are not merely mechanically creatures but are capable of understanding how they ‘re beeing exploited ?  So these are the questions arised in my mind after watching this pilot .

As you watch Dolores day rewinds as one of  those older tapes you get the feeling that she is slowly realizing what she can do ,that she’s living in a bubble .
Anyway the contrast between Western location and the ultra-modern labs is great , it kinda reflect that androids are supposed to be manipulated by the smarter ones: the human race but actually is not like that. As the creators find out that something is not working in the theme park they start resetting the androids programme especially Dolores’s one …

In this pilote I appreciated the subtle symbolism : on Dolores and Teddy’s face we often see a mosquito , howeverthey don’t seem to care about it , in the final sequence  as Dolores wakes up she smiles innocently and then kills a mosquito on her face showing that she actually could harm someone .Definitely can’t wait to see what comes next!
What appealed to me other than the soundtrack (loved the distorted version of “Black Hole Sun”) was the terrific acting ! Couldn’t have asked more than finding actors from my favourite movies (“Ed Harris” from “The Hours” and “Truman Show” ; a villain from Walking Dead whom name I don’t remember ) , but the most remarkable performances goes to Rachel Wood end the actor who plays her father : I mean they do look like androids with those mind-absent expressions .

vote 5/5

 

Downton Abbey 1×04- 1×05

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Due to university deadlines I’m really slowing down with tv series and movies , but I’m trying to keep watching Downton Abbey !
The more I go forward the more I love this drama! Dynamics are slowly being developed , we see how history makes its way through the open-minded character of Sybil : by now she is my favourite Crawley , she kinda reminds me of Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s classic novel , she’s smart and keen on women empowerment as she helps her maid to get a new job and change her life . I pretty enjoy Mary too : on the first episodes I thought she was quite silly , especially because she seemed indifferent to Matthew Crawley , but now I’m actually shipping those two because they balance each other so well : one so impulsive , the other one quiet and thoughtful !
Apparently jealousy is crawling through as Edith overhears a conversation between Mary and her mother , hit in her pride she seems to drop a bomb trying to ruin her sister’s dignity ! Thing are getting interesting!
And how sweet is John Bates worrying for Anna and bringing her breakfast? One thing I noticed in these last episodes was how women are strongly developed : Anna declaring her love for Bates , I wasn’t expecting that! Surely that takes lots of braveness!Finally I pretty much enjoyed the fair location as meeting place of two unexpected lovers : Mrs Hughes and her long-time lover , another strong woman in this show that I’m slowly discovering it !

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“This is us” review

Today I watched the last episode of the family drama “this is us” and I’d love to share my impression about what I consider the tv show of the year .
I’m not really keen on family dramas : the only ones I’ve ever watched are “Gilmore Girls” and “Everwood” (both of them part of my childhood) but this one really impressed me .
I have to admit I first started it just because I have a huge crush for Milo Ventimiglia but I ended loving every character and every SINGLE episode.
This show is great in many ways : because it deals with themes to which everyone can easily relate ,the cast is amazing (from the young actors performing the young “big trees” to Milo,Mandy Moore and Justin Hartley.. I loved him since Smallville when he portrayed Oliver Queen!)and the soundtrack includes tracks from the ‘90s and some indie-folk songs that perfectly fits with the tv show (I might include a playlist below) .
There are no lacks in “This is us” , no “filling characters” every single scene is the product or simply the reflection of the past : each episode usually starts with a fragment of the past and then shifts to the present showing how Rebecca and Jack’s teaching shaped “the Big Three” ‘s lives.
My favourite character is definitely Randall ! He’s a well-developed character with his humour but also weaknesses : I relate to him a lot especially about the anxiety he feels regarding other people’s expectations and his own that makes him pushing harder and overcome his physical and psychological limits .
Anyone reading I strongly recommend This is Us . Why? It’s the living proof that a tv show doesn’t need special effects or to deal with supernatural themes to be interesting ,the authenticity of this modern drama ,how joy but also anger is portrayed hits everyone from the bottom of our soul awakening something hidden .
This is us playlist

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Death with dignity – Sufjans Stevens
-this song was featured in the very first scene with the parallel past and present when the viewer gets familiar with the characters and in the one of the last episode when Jack half drunk decides to drive where Rebecca is singing … “but every road leads to an end”..  I love this song because it kinda sums the fact that Jack is going to die so that “we all know how this will end” but we cannot avoid watching the show lol

-Time After Time (originally by Cindy Lauper but covered by Chrissy Metz)

-Blues Run The Game  – Jackson C. Frank
-this song was featured in the scene where William’s youth is revealed , where we find out about how he met Randall’s mother

-We Can Always Come Back To This – Bryan Tyree

Springtime update ‘17

The blossom weather has finally arrived and so the amount of exams I have to prepare for !
Anyway here’s a little uupdate of movies and books I read in the past few months!

On the 1st of

May I manage to go to the Eastern Festival which is held every year between April and may . It has become a habit to attend it because in a day time you are completely drowned in a parallel exotic world inebriated with perfumes; spices and explosion of colors from every corner of the world!
I enjoy walking through the stalls , admiring pieces of tradition embodied by small statues, buddhas of various dimensions , lamps and what I loved the most : trinkets ! If you’re lucky and patient you can manage to find affordable ring and earrings (I bought a buddha ring that I wore every day since and two pair of earrings! )
Every country has its own small pavillion , with pictures exhibit and local food stalls! (Unfortunately I didn’t taste any of them because I was on a budget but god damn they looked delicious!)

Exploring sadness “Melancholia “

Sometimes on a cloudy day you may feel like watching a dramatic movie , if you do I highly recommend “Melancholia” directed by Lars Von Trier .
I watched it after a year for the second time and I still was impressed by the visual effects and the atmosphere as I was when I watched it for the first time ..

This movie opens with a media-res sequence that foretells the main theme : apocalypse , a collision between Earth and a massive planet called “Melancholia”. What makes this sequence magnificient is Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde Prelude :the leitmotif of the movie which is repeated many times until the very last scene . The very beginning conveys the imminent disaster and you are forced to watch how the plot develops with this omniscient but charming burden .

Evidently this is not a movie for anyone : the rhythm is slowly stressed to allow a deep-focus on each character. The camera’s shifts show everyone’s reaction towards the catastrophe through their expressions and their gestures . Apocalypse has never been so frighteningly beautiful .
We should definitely give the location his own credits : the exterior scenes were shot in a Swedish castle  isolated from the village which exasperates the imminent collision .

What I loved is that there are lots of reference to art and literature , which are put merely for their own sake or maybe for the viewer’s pleasure ?!
The garden and the rows of trees clearly remeber the surrealistic setting of the movie “Last year of Marienbad” , then in the opening sequence there are a few parallelism to some famous paintings such the Pre-Raphaelite “Ophelia” .

Finally , I think that “Melancholia” explorences feelings such sadness and depression in a expressionistic way , I love how lights are used , not in a realistic way but as to suggest danger , something mysterious . Like in the “lantern scene” : after the wedding ceremony , all the guests head in the garden to light some lanterns , apparently a joyful moment , but the lighting permeates the scene in a sinister way . That’s melancholia .