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I Love That for You shows that very little is as it seems < Back I Love That for You shows that very little is as it seems Annapurna Television, 2022 30 minutes Creator: Vanessa Bayer and Jeremy Beiler Reading Time: 6 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Showtime I Love That for You Tell Dem (69KYUSWZ9TT2H6U9) 00:00 / 07:04 Jasmine Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Peach Movies and TV shows with a springtime feel or with images of the season Reba Chaisson 2023-05-04 The 1971 hit song, “Whatcha See is Whatcha Get” is about a man convincing his lover that unlike her past loves, he is for real. The medium tempo, soulful song by The Dramatics consists of lyrics penned by songwriter Anthony Hester, and begin something like this: Some people are made of plastic Some people are made of wood Some people have hearts of stone Some people are up to no good But baby, I’m for real. I’m as real, as real can get While this might be a bit dramatic (pun intended), you get the point. Things are not always as they seem, and the storyline and characters in the television series, I Love That for You , are strong evidence of this hard truth. I Love That for You depicts behind-the-scenes drama at the Special Value Network or SVN, a home shopping network enterprise. The business is headed by Patricia, a sharply dressed and dictatorial 60-something who founded the successful company. Typically, controlling bosses unwittingly work against themselves,alienating their employees with clear-cut directives and leaving no room for discussion. But this is not the case in this brightly lit series full of quirky characters. Put another way, Patricia, played by Jenifer Lewis, is a strong hands-on leader with skills at negotiating lucrative deals that keep SVN competitive and viable. Closest to her are Darcy Leeds, her smart and loyal assistant played by Matt Rogers ( Fire Island, Shrill ), and Jackie, Patricia’s 50-something best friend played by Molly Shannon ( Other People , Scary Movie 4 ), who is the most successful seller at the network for the past 30 years. While containing some funny moments, warm friendships, and lightly competitive workplace relationships, the show still holds some serious, thought-provoking moments that seem aimed at demystifying several long-held ideas about who people are and the range of their talents and capabilities. One example of this is the idea that life is over at 60-something. Though very serious and controlling, 60-something year-old Patricia is far from one-dimensional, as she is sexually active and particularly enjoys the company of younger Black men. In her words, “What are you saving your vagina for?” Indeed, Patricia is reminiscent of Lady Eloise, Eartha Kitt’s character in the 1992 film Boomerang , where she regularly pursued and seduced men much younger than herself. Like Lady Eloise, Patricia is wealthy and independent, even giving parting gifts to her lovers after their one-night rendezvouses. Despite Patricia being a big part of the series, I Love That for You centers on Joanna, an early 30-something who survived childhood leukemia and still lives under the protective wings of her parents. This is evidenced by her limited social skills (stale jokes, clothes and pajamas with characters, animals and fruits), lack of intimate experience with a partner, and living at home with her parents – who, frustratingly for her, still view her as “sick” despite being cancer-free for 20 years. Fascinated by SVN and Jackie in particular since she was a child, Joanna, played by Vanessa Bayer of Saturday Night Live fame who is also creator of the series, auditions for an on-air role and gets the job. When Patricia asks her “What story are you selling?”, during her first team meeting, she gives an emotionally immature response. Annoyed and unamused, Patricia asks experienced sellers the same – all of whom humorously articulate keen awareness of their on-air identities. Posing the question again to her new employee, Joanna, desperate to keep her job, belts out “I have cancer.” This sudden schtick conjures sympathy not only from Joanna’s colleagues, but also her shopping audience, making her a highly successful seller at SVN. But to what degree can Joanna keep up the lie about her fictitious cancer diagnosis? Storytelling is at the center of selling and perhaps I am being cynical, but many if not most of them are lies. This one is a big one though. Unseemly. It can even be viewed as making light of and profiting off the pain and suffering of people whose lives have been turned inside out by a word some find difficult to say aloud, so choosing to abbreviate it instead as “the C word.” The thing about telling lies is it warrants keeping up the facade, usually by telling more and bigger lies to do so. Finally, when the lie is told so much, it risks overshadowing the identity of the person who is lying. I Love That for You is largely light and fun, despite containing an element that does not make sense. For example, Joanna never shows signs of experiencing cancer treatments. Her skin color and body size never change, and she even maintains a full head of hair throughout the series. Yet, her colleagues make no mention of this. Each episode, though, does continue to challenge commonsense ideas. Joanna, for example, is presented as naïve and innocent but she is a big liar. Beth Ann, a self-identified Iranian woman played by Ayden Mayeri, is depicted as competitive, spiteful, and full of lust, when Iranian women are typically represented as covered and wholesome. Perry, another on-air talent played by Johnno Wilson who presents as effeminate, enjoys sex with women as well as men because “f***ing is f***ing.” And while confident and successful, Jackie carries some deep secrets that suggest she is not as okay as she seems. Even Patricia does not escape this, as while controlling, she demonstrates that she is also intensely passionate. Suffice it to say that very little is as it seems in this series, which is likely what creators Vanessa Bayer and Jeremy Beiler intended. In addition to entertaining, the show reveals the depth and breadth of people across race, gender, and age categories, as if to implore the audience to avoid judging a book by its cover. There are scenes in I Love That for You that recall the fun of Boomerang and the poignancy of the television series, How to Get Away with Murder . The diversity and quirkiness of the characters add to the series’ entertainment value and broad appeal. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back HR Representative Apply Now San Francisco, CA, USA Job Type Part Time Workspace Remote About the Role This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Requirements This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. About the Company This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. You can create as many collections as you need. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields. Apply Now

The After highlights children’s intuition < Back The After highlights children’s intuition Neon Films, 2023 18 minutes Director/Writer: Misan Harriman / John Julius Schwabach and Misan Harriman Reading Time: 4 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix The After A Dark Past (WYJRMRUKNMDQSZB1) 00:00 / 04:01 Dandelion Movies/shows with heavy subjects Chris Chaisson 2024-02-06 Many of us believe that when we lose one of our senses, the others grow stronger. In the same way, younger children, due to their underdeveloped verbal communication skills, possess stronger nonverbal abilities and even an intuition of how others feel. As adults, we are frequently too distracted with our own problems and responsibilities to recognize a grieving person in front of us. Just the same, we can often be too desensitized or callous to care even when we do. In this sense, adolescents have an advantage over us, still having empathy and observational skills that have not dulled or hardened from life experience. Misan Harriman’s Oscar-nominated short film, The After , hints at this reality over the course of its 18 minutes. David Oyelowo ( Selma ) plays Dayo, a loving husband and father whose world is turned upside down after a stabbing attack that cost him his family. A year later, his career as a businessman is a distant memory, and he works as a rideshare driver while still grieving the sudden, tragic loss he’s endured. Dayo is not without a support system, as many friends call to check up on him, but he has trouble responding and keeping up with his grief counseling appointments. Over the course of a typical day, he provides rides to numerous strangers in London and becomes numb to the conversations occurring in his backseat. Most of his customers are adults who are either conversing with each other, arguing, or on their phones. Though unspoken, it is clear from Dayo’s demeanor that he is repressing a lot of his still unprocessed emotions in order to put on a face for his job. One day, a bickering couple and their silent child pile into his backseat for a ride home. The child sits in the middle, clearly affected by her parents arguing. However, she observes Dayo’s body language and facial expressions as he drives. When they arrive, the parents exit the car and head up their front steps, but the child remains in the car. Dayo asks her if she’d like to get out and go inside, to which she reluctantly obliges. However, before heading up the steps, she turns around and hugs him from behind. The parents, still wrapped up in their own argument, suddenly turn and run down to pry their child off Dayo as he falls to the ground sobbing. They leave him on the sidewalk, where he continues crying before pulling himself together and driving off. The After ’s opening sequence is jarring and tragic enough to make Dayo a sympathetic character for the rest of its duration. However, the interesting aspect of the short film is its display of children’s intuition. Despite all of the adult passengers Dayo has in his car, none seem to acknowledge or read him at all; to them, he is somewhat invisible. The first pair of passengers make this reality evident, as the father brags about his son’s soccer accomplishments while the son tells his dad that Dayo probably does not want to hear it. Being polite, Dayo denies any disinterest, even though deep down the conversation is white noise to him. What eventually cracks him open is the child of the bickering parents, who very clearly resembles his own deceased daughter. Often, films depicting a grieving parent begin after the death has already occurred. Witnessing the sudden and violent nature of his family’s death puts the rest of The After into perspective. In particular, it is easy to become detached from the grieving of other adults, as we not only hear about so much bad in the world but witness it for ourselves. Sometimes, it takes the innocence of a young, attentive soul to recognize another person’s hurt and reach out. The After reminds its audience that although we do not typically think of children as the teachers, sometimes it is good to follow their example. Available on Netflix Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Win by Two uses heavy symbolism to highlight a heavy topic < Back Win by Two uses heavy symbolism to highlight a heavy topic Flightsuit Productions, 2020 13 minutes Director/Writer: Abraham Felix / Milo Daemgen and Abraham Felix Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Abraham Felix Win by Two Power (RQDBWUHFLURJQJZK) 00:00 / 03:46 Masala Chai Movies/shows about toughness and athletic competition Ginger Thought-provoking movies/shows Chris Chaisson 2022-10-09 In recent years, culture critics and advocacy groups have traced many social issues back to toxic masculinity. It remains a controversial topic due to conflicting opinions about which behaviors fall under this umbrella, but the concept affects men and women from seemingly every community. Feelings on the topic often vary by generation or political leanings. Nonetheless, toxic masculinity manifests itself most blatantly in athletic competition. Coaches, parents and teammates pressure young athletes to not show pain, weakness or sometimes even basic sportsmanship. This phenomenon is the central theme of Abraham Felix’s powerful short, Win by Two . Win by Two opens with Jalil, the lanky protagonist, practicing jump shots in an empty gym while we hear voice-overs of his mother Sylvia, providing advice and well wishes. Her reassurance immediately tells the audience that Jalil is preparing for something important and also has a support system. Soon after, Frank, an intimidating basketball scout, walks in with Kevin, Jalil’s competition. Frank is gracious in his introduction, as is Kevin, but he then pivots to analytical mode as he sizes Jalil up. We can clearly see that Kevin is bigger and stronger, so Jalil will have to rely on his quickness and skill. Frank states the terms of the one-on-one game and lets Jalil and Kevin go at it. After Jalil gets off to a good start, Kevin gets physical, causing Jalil to appeal to Frank. We see a drastic shift in Frank’s demeanor, as he relies on old-school, tough-nosed coaching tactics. Frank speaks of separating boys from men, challenging and even insulting Jalil until he backs Kevin down and throws an elbow to score a bucket. Frank looks appeased while Kevin examines the blood seeping from his face. Though surrounding a simple one-on-one game of hoops, Win by Two is chock full of symbolism, largely seeking to highlight the effects of toxic masculinity on the mindsets of young men. While athletic competition requires having an edge to excel, many coaches and authority figures use bullying tactics to rile up their players. The short illustrates this through the contrasting instructions of Sylvia and Frank. With the nurturing advice of his mother, Jalil works strictly on his skill and remains cordial to both Frank and Kevin. Once challenged to “be a man,” he becomes more aggressive, culminating in a somewhat dirty move that injures his opponent. The blood running down Kevin’s face signifies the common and overwhelming result of toxic masculinity: violence. Win by Two also echoes the ambiguity around how to properly tackle toxic masculinity, as it is rooted in a very primal instinct. No matter how much we evolve, human beings hold on to behaviors and biases deeply ingrained over generations that, frankly, lead to success in certain areas of life. However, these same behaviors can leave young men lacking empathy for one another, paving the way for catastrophic results. Win by Two serves as a reminder to authority figures to motivate adolescents, but always leave room for compassion. Available on Film Shortage Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Soft and Quiet, Along With 6 Other Movies Shot in One Take A Brief List of Movies Shot in One Continuous Take -- er, Supposedly Chris Chaisson 1/27/23 Reading Time: 9 minutes 📸: Used with Permission, Snollygoster Productions (hello@snollygoster.productions ) I recently watched the Blumhouse indie film Soft and Quiet , which premiered last spring at the SXSW Festival. While the film has too many twists and turns to discuss without spoiling, one noteworthy aspect about the project is how director Beth de Araújo chose to shoot it: all in one take. “Whenever there’s a cut in a film, there’s a sort of inherent exhale where you give the audience a second to catch their breath,” Arajuo said in an interview with SXSW. “And so if you never give them that, they’re feeling the tension a little bit more effectively.” The style of shooting with no cuts or breaks originated over 70 years ago (more on that later), but we rarely see directors incorporate this technique for a variety of reasons. For starters, this approach completely changes the story that the writer crafts. Writers traditionally follow a rule of thumb with their scenes: “Get in late, get out early.” In other words, start the scene at the latest moment possible when the audience can still understand everything, convey the important plot points, then move on to the next scene once all exposition has been delivered. Scripts usually cut anything mundane, even if it is true to real life, to avoid losing the audience’s attention. When directors shoot a film in one take however, they do not have this luxury of compressed time. Additionally, shooting a feature-length film in a single take requires precision with camera and lighting setups, set design, and dialogue memorization that are very difficult to pull off with no break in the action. Thus, what many filmmakers shooting in one take have to do is rehearse ad nauseam before shooting the entire film a handful of times, ideally becoming more comfortable with each rep. The post-production crew will take the best run-through and, if needed, incorporate bits and pieces from other takes before smoothing it over to make it look uninterrupted. Which genres does this style attract? Horror movies and crime thrillers choose the shooting style more so than other genres. Its immersive nature builds more suspense and anxiety in the audience, making it an asset to thrillers and horror. For instance, a hostage or home invasion movie, where you want the audience to experience arrested development, would be movies that may utilize this technique. Here are a handful of such movies spanning several decades that embraced the challenge of presenting a story in one take: Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Best Picture-winner Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) follows washed-up actor Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) attempting to revive his career by creating and starring in his own stage play. Its use of the one-take method conveys the dizzying state of being a live performer, especially one with a troublesome personal life. In no scene is this more apparent than when Riggan is forced to run through Times Square donning only a pair of whitey-tighties in order to re-enter the theater and continue his performance. While many one-take films attempt a very grounded feel, Birdman dabbles in the surreal, using voiceover narration, pulsating non-diegetic jazz music, and the occasional telekinesis. Oh yeah, and Michael Keaton flying over Manhattan streets in a bird costume. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu stuck to a very rigorous and meticulous schedule, including both the lines and the blocking of the actors. He stuck mainly to one location and both rehearsed and shot the film in sequence, with very strict lines of dialogue and choreography (McKittrick, Creative Screenwriting ). 1917 1917 surrounds a pair of British lance corporals (Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay) during WWI sent into enemy territory to deliver a message that would halt a planned ambush. Winning multiple Oscars for sound mixing, visual effects and cinematography, the Sam Mendes picture uses its continuous take style to illustrate the very sudden nature of life-and-death situations in a war zone. It is not as graphic and gory as many other war films but nonetheless effectively illustrates that soldiers are never really safe, even in quiet moments. The project was quite a commitment for all actors involved, as they spent 6 months in rehearsal prior to shooting. While the film appears to be one continuous take, Mendes concealed many edits through camera movements behind objects and the occasional black screen (i.e. dirt being kicked up in front of the lens, etc.). Rope Who better to take on a herculean filmmaking task than Alfred Hitchcock? Nicknamed the Master of Suspense, Hitchcock applied the one-take filmmaking aspect to his 1948 project, adapted from a Patrick Hamilton stage play by the same name of nearly 20 years prior. In the adaptation, two students, Brandon and Philip (John Dall and Farley Granger respectively), murder their classmate and hide the body in the same location of their dinner party later that evening. The point of their daredevil tactic is to test the precision for executing the crime. As Brandon’s guilt weighs on him Telltale Heart style, one of their guests, Rupert (Jimmy Stewart) grows suspicious. Shot on 35mm film, Hitchcock had to resort to shooting a series of 10-minute takes and stringing them together due to the technological limitations at that time. As in Soft and Quiet , the camera heightens the effect of big revelations by panning around, zooming in and resting on particular props, such as a gun in one’s pocket, a message on a piece of stationary or a design inside a bowler hat. Silent House Silent House is adapted from an Argentinian horror film titled La Casa Muda . It revolves around Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), a young woman trapped in her family’s lakeside retreat with an intruder and no way out. Without spoiling the ending, Silent House utilizes the “unreliable narrator” trope and places the audience in Sarah‘s limited perspective, leading to a dark and shocking plot twist. The film doesn’t shy away from the jump scare method through lighting effects (or lack thereof), tight shots and sound mixing. Similar to Rope , Silent House was shot as a series of 10-minute takes edited to appear continuous. Timecode Like the other films on this list, Mike Figgis’ Timecode filmed multiple run-throughs using the one-take style. Unlike the others, this particular selection incorporated a split-screen to show four takes at once. While this sounds like a battle of attrition for one’s attention span, the film foregrounds the audio of the screen that it wants the audience to focus on at any particular point. Timecode tells the story of a jilted lover (Jeanne Tripplehorn) discovering her partner’s (Salma Hayek) infidelity and listening in to a Hollywood production company’s casting call, located in the same place her partner was heading. The initially separate characters eventually intertwine, culminating in a tragic ending. Rather than containing meticulous dialogue and action as the other films on this list chose to do, Timecode consists largely of improvisation, with each actor and actress responsible for their own clothes, hair and makeup. Figgis shot the film fifteen times over the course of two weeks, always as a continuous take. Victoria Sometimes, tourists who trust strangers can get more than they bargained for. Such is the case for the titular character, a twenty-something Spanish woman (Laia Costa) who leaves Madrid for Berlin and runs into a group of friends at a nightclub. After a fun and flirtatious start to the evening, Victoria finds herself coerced into a bank robbery with dire stakes and consequences. As is common in one-take movies, Victoria takes place in real time over one evening. The film contains many emotional swings, as the protagonist goes from guarded to trusting, euphoric to depressed and back multiple times. As Victoria is in every scene, we see the events unfold through her viewpoint. The limited perspective also drives home how loneliness can compromise anyone’s judgment. Like Timecode , Victoria leaned heavily on its actors to improvise, with the original screenplay being just 12 pages long. While other one-take movies use clever editing to smooth out cuts, Victoria was shot as one continuous take three different times during the early morning hours in Berlin. Director Sebastian Schipper watched them all and picked the best run-through. What are the takeaways? For starters, a lot of one-take movies are not actually one take. Editors tend to weave together clips in a way that appears continuous by using black screen, extreme close-ups and stagnant frames as in and out points. Movies meant to appear as one continuous take tend to require a lot of preparation, even relative to other detailed shoots. Some of the movies on this list performed well at the box office while others didn’t. Some received critical acclaim while others did not. The reality is that this style can be a turnoff for moviegoers who see it as a gimmick used to distract from a script’s gaping plot holes. Despite viewers' complaints, one-take movies can be done very well, as evidenced by the critical acclaim and accolades of Birdman , 1917 , and others not on this list. It is yet another cinematic tool that provides directors, crews and cast one of the best things about art: an opportunity to challenge themselves. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

The Waltz shows the importance of time spent with loved ones < Back The Waltz shows the importance of time spent with loved ones Coffee Ring Films, 2015 11 minutes Director/Writer: Trevor Zhou Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Trevor Zhou The Waltz Storyteller (X7JIUSHW6XB99CDH) 00:00 / 03:45 Jasmine Movies/shows with heart, positive vibes, warm message Chamomile Family dramas Chris Chaisson 2022-10-29 “ Remember to stay light .” Many people have become fond of the phrase “invest in experiences, not things.” The platitude suggests that fulfilling experiences will bring more long-term happiness than prized possessions, which quickly bore us. Such emotional journeys as learning a new skill or traveling to another country also make for better stories to share. Less often stated is the importance of sharing these experiences with people you love the most. The Waltz , Trevor Zhou’s touching short film, encapsulates both of these sentiments through the eyes of one affectionate couple. The Waltz follows Ling, an immigrant mother and wife who takes up dance lessons in order to shake up her routine. She becomes invested in her new hobby to the point of shutting out her husband Jian, who wants to support her despite his busy work schedule. Several weeks into the class, Ling’s teacher confesses that he must end lessons in order to return to his home country and take care of his sick mother. He mentions that his family must take priority over anything else, prompting Ling to reflect on her relationship with Jian. As her class is coming to an end, she greets Jian coming home from work and, much to his delight, teaches him the waltz. Ling’s desire to take dance classes stems from the loneliness she feels, largely due to the absence of her son. Combined with Jian’s work schedule, the fact that her son never visits makes her feel neglected. Her interactions, even with complete strangers, amplify these feelings. For instance, at the grocery store, she gets a nasty attitude from the cashier and the man behind her in line while trying to redeem multiple coupons. These experiences are consistent with those of many immigrants, who are subject to the impatience or irritability of others not comfortable interacting with them. When she spots the flier for waltz lessons, she sees an opportunity to not only take up a new pastime but join a community. The Waltz brings to mind a recent Academy Award Best Picture winner, CODA . CODA ’s protagonist, Ruby, struggles to balance her newfound passion for singing with her efforts to be supportive of her family. Ling in The Waltz experiences a similar struggle. While Ruby’s family is dependent on her communication skills and labor, Jian simply needs Ling’s companionship. The film’s theme can be summed up in just a couple of moments. The first moment comes when Ling admonishes Jian about moving her things out of the garage to make space for a dance floor. The other occurs when she tosses some of her own things to recreate the same open space. Her dance teacher’s words ring in her ear during the latter of these two moments: “Remember to stay light.” While he is referring to footwork in the midst of the waltz, Ling applies this advice to her familial situation. She makes the conscious decision to choose experiences over things and, furthermore, shared experiences over isolated ones. The waltz itself is a dance for companions, yet in her haste to learn, she shuts out her most loyal one. As they reconcile at the end, we see that Ling has learned to balance her newfound interest with her love for Jian. Available on YouTube Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

A Good Day Will Come sheds light on a real-life tragedy < Back A Good Day Will Come sheds light on a real-life tragedy Zargara Productions, 2024 25 minutes Director/Writer: Amir Zargara Reading Time: 4 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Amir Zargara A Good Day Will Come Just A Dream 00:00 / 04:24 Dandelion Movies/shows with heavy subjects Honeybush Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Chris Chaisson 2024-10-19 If you follow sports even in the slightest, you are probably aware of the times that they have notoriously intersected with politics. From a historical standpoint, incidents like John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their fists on the Olympic podium or Muhammad Ali refusing to fight in the Vietnam War stand out. More recently, we’ve seen Colin Kaepernick and numerous others protest against police violence. A less well-known example is decorated WNBA player Maya Moore abruptly retiring to focus on reform in the justice system. The most common pushback is to point out the privilege of famous athletes and suggest that they stick to what they know best. One political commentator famously told LeBron James to “shut up and dribble.” Though reductive and dismissive, the statement does highlight the quandary that gifted public figures find themselves in. Do they put everything they’ve worked for their entire life on the line for a just cause? Or do they decide that activism is best left to others? Inspired by the true story of Navid Afkari, A Good Day Will Come examines this quandary in the setting of an even more tumultuous political climate. Sia Alipour plays Arash, a talented wrestler with hopes of competing in the Olympics. However, in his home country of Iran, turbulent protests against the human rights violations by the current regime persist. While his wrestling coach initially dissuades him from getting involved or speaking on the matter, the issue becomes more personal for Arash in the blink of an eye. After brief comments to the press and the donning of a T-shirt, he decides to put his own safety on the line and attend a protest. Seeing the tide turning towards potential violence, he must decide whether to hang back or step to the forefront and use his celebrity to save lives. A Good Day Will Come brings us a very heavy re-telling of a recent tragedy, but it also shows us what change and activism looks like through a character arc. Arash is not just soft-spoken on the current political issues; he is generally very bashful for the first half of the short film. His skill for wrestling stands out immediately through the depiction of his matches, but he does not initially come off as brash as Muhammad Ali or as open as Arthur Ashe. Rather, he is tunnel-visioned and keeps his head low, looking to his coach for guidance. As the short progresses, he speaks more, initiates more and makes decisions without looking for someone else’s instructions. Short film protagonists may not always display the character arc that Arash does, but being forced into such precarious positions causes one to either change very quickly or pass the buck. The short film also shows the initial pushback to Arash’s decision to get involved. At one point, a group of agitators at a protest try to shoo him away when he discourages their behavior. They say, “All you’ve done is wear a T-shirt!” Their words echo the frustration of many activists at what they perceive to be performative measures. Often, public figures gain praise for what are symbolic gestures that do not necessarily contribute to a cause in any practical way. This allows them to gain adoration without any sacrifice. The exchange forces Arash to go a step further and put his safety even more on the line. Driven people with sky-high personal goals do not tend to put their own happiness aside quickly. It is often a gradual process as they learn the severity of many social issues. The timeline can often shrink significantly when they are personally affected. Nonetheless, it is a lot to ask of anyone to halt the pursuit of the one thing they’ve aspired to be all their life. What differentiates “real” activism from performative shtick? The answer is very subjective. A Good Day Will Come may make you reflect on your own perspective. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

A Brush of Violence makes us consider how we handle disappointments < Back A Brush of Violence makes us consider how we handle disappointments DLW, 2023 40 minutes Director/Writer: Daniel Lawrence Wilson Reading Time: 5 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Daniel Lawrence Wilson A Brush of Violence Echo Mountain (T4UAWDOFDJONIQJD) 00:00 / 05:26 Ginseng Suspenseful and intense thrillers Dandelion Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Reba Chaisson 2023-08-21 “Always remember why you started in the first place.” Popular wisdom on adversity contends that how we respond to disappointments and setbacks reveal a lot about our inner strength and focus. Do we persist when things initially don’t go our way, or do we cut and run in a different direction? I think the thinking here is simplistic since it considers neither the context of our lives nor our complexity as individuals. In other words, we neither cope with nor respond to happenings in the same ways. A Brush of Violence highlights this issue, but also leads us to consider our own fragility as it relates to our passions and disappointments. A Brush of Violence centers Vio, a reclusive artist who is famous for his provocative and violent paintings. After years of anonymity and being isolated in his home, he requests that Akila, a photographer, come to his home to take pictures of him that would amount to an unveiling of the man behind the paintings. Played by Mia Krystyna ( Solitude , A Letter on Loss ), the sedate and unflappable Akila is initially hesitant, though also curious why he chose her. She accepts Vio’s invitation, realizing it as a rare opportunity to boost her career ambitions. Darren Streibrig’s cinematography for the film is dark, fitting for the subject matter about a man who rarely ventures beyond the brick masonry and stone walls of his vast, eerie, and isolated estate. Joseph Holiday and Snakes of Russia’s soundtrack of low notes and shrieking violins add an ominous tone that hangs throughout the presentation. When combined with the minimal though profound dialog, it completes the film’s doomy feel. So, when Vio, played by Yavor Vesselinov ( The Bridge , Adultery ), asks Akila how far she will go to be remembered, we get the sense that something dark and unimaginable might happen during her visit. The 40-minute film contains some unexplained symbolism with flashes of color and masks. This may be frustrating for some of us since we’re not keen to Vio’s experiences, motivations, and what brought him to his life as a recluse. But films of all genres and lengths contain elements that are annoying and off-putting. I am reminded of several Spike Lee films that are laden with symbolism and special effects forced into the productions, disrupting an otherwise seamless movie-watching experience. The 2006 film Inside Man and the 1991 hit Jungle Fever come to mind. Both were, nonetheless, engaging films with strong lessons. In A Brush of Violence , the annoyance of the symbols is dampened by writer/director Daniel Lawrence Wilson’s use of multiple locations and the large cast of extras appearing in scenes at a bar and an art gallery, for example. Unusual for short films, these elements seem to make the movie come up for air after what feels like a dark and suffocating visit with Vio. Over an eerie silence, Vio and Akila engage in a conversation that gently stirs our emotions with light fingertips as the two use few words to talk about passion, aspiration, and ego. At one point, Vio, in his light, monotone voice advises Akila to “Always remember why you started in the first place” and later asking rhetorically, “What if there was never a day you were forgotten?” Vio’s musings hint that he lost himself sometime during his career, and that the passionate painting he once relished was somehow derailed. Despite his famed accomplishments, he is deeply saddened by not having fulfilled his ambitions and is now concerned about his legacy. In this sense, A Brush of Violence is similar to the passion exhibited in the 2008 tearjerker, The Wrestler . Mickey Rourke received an Oscar nomination for his role as Randy “The Ram,” a retired wrestler who has settled into a life outside the ring. While he works to make amends for his past failings as a father and husband, he longs for the fame and popularity he once reaped from the sport. He seizes the opportunity to get back into the ring, telling his fans that they are the only people to tell him when he’s through “doing his thing.” Passionate but not as brazen and vocal, Vio in A Brush of Violence is similarly concerned about his legacy and wants to solidify it on his own terms. I think many of us, especially those over 40, can relate to this. We begin our work lives with every intention of doing what we love, but we abandon it for practical reasons, or we are forced to leave it because of a life event. Also, sometimes, crap just happens! Our response to these disappointments varies, for instance dabbling in our passions on the weekends or returning to them after the dust has settled in our lives — to restore the essence of ourselves. I’m hoping Vio’s response to his disappointments is the exception. Check out this intriguing film and you’ll see what I mean. 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< Back Getting Up Close and Personal with Crawdads and Vengeance A look at how film informs our perspective Reba Chaisson 11/4/22 Reading Time: 11 minutes 📸: Licensed from Shutterstock I don’t think we consider enough what film teaches us about ourselves and the circumstances of people with whom we have little sustained contact. Vengeance and Where the Crawdads Sing ( Crawdads ) are two films that accomplish this, taking us out of our comfort zones and bringing the unfamiliar up-close and personal. Crawdads follows Kya, a girl who is abandoned by her family in the 1950s and grows up alone on their land in a North Carolina marsh. When the restless 8-year-old ventures into nearby Barkley Cove for school, the town’s privileged adults hurl names at her like “Marsh Girl” while the children tease her for lacking shoes and suitable outfits for school. Traumatized by the treatment, Kya withdraws to shield herself from the sting, minimizing even casual encounters with anyone but her shadow. Destitute, she makes a life for herself in the marsh without the help of formal schooling, family, or even neighbors. She trusts less than a handful of people, two of them being Jumpin’ and Mabel. Played by Sterling Macer Jr. ( Double Take , BAB ) and Michael Hyatt ( The Little Things , Snowfall ), respectively, the congenial Black couple own the General Store in town and support the young girl with clothing and food. Kya also comes to trust Tom Milton, a kindly older lawyer, played by David Strathairn ( The Bourne Ultimatum , Godzilla ). In her seemingly endless days, weeks, months, and years of solitude, Kya, played by Daisy Edgar-Jones ( Normal People , Under the Banner of Heaven ), evolves into a naturalist, making beautifully detailed drawings of shells, and documenting the different species of birds and insects along with their habits. As she grows into a young adult and yearns for intimate relationships, she opens her heart to Tate, played by Taylor John Smith ( Cruel Intentions , You Get Me ) and slowly begins to discover what it feels like to be connected to people beyond her tiny circle, to learn what it feels like to love, be loved, and all that it means. But when a popular guy in town is found dead in a well-known hangout in the marsh, Kya is conveniently accused of his murder and the people in town unhesitatingly accept that “the Marsh Girl did it.” While Crawdads focuses on the life and travails of a young woman, Vengeance centers on Ben, a 30-something budding journalist from New York City. The inciting incident occurs when Ben receives news of the sudden death of Abilene Shaw, a woman from rural Texas with whom he had a one-night stand during her visit to the Big Apple. When her distraught brother, Ty, calls with the news, Ben initially struggles to remember her, and even when he does, he expresses only obligatory condolences rather than the genuine sense of sadness expected by her brother. Confused as to why he received a call at all, Ben, played by B.J. Novak ( The Office , Inglourious ), quickly learns that Abilene led her family to believe he was her fiancée. When Ty, played by Boyd Holbrook ( In the Shadow of the Moon , The Predator ), coerces him into coming to Texas for the funeral, Ben stays and writes a story about southern rural life, under the guise of helping the family find the person responsible for Abilene’s death and getting “retribution.” In his half-hearted effort to get answers from authorities, Ben becomes flabbergasted and exhausted as none appear committed to investigating Abilene’s death, let alone finding out who is responsible for dumping her body in an oil field where, conveniently, jurisdiction is unclear. Resigning himself to the reality that the case will never be solved, Ben returns to what was always his priority—writing his story. Crawdads and Vengeance are released at an interesting time in the U.S., when the states are segmented into red or blue and the language used to assess and even describe the phenomenon is largely negative (i.e. separate, divided). Like labeling, the consequences for this are prejudgments and deepening antagonisms about the people in each segment, affecting our ability to view them as residents of the same country or even as situated in a culture that is unique to each state. Perhaps the stories in these films will blur the lines a bit, encourage us to see what we have in common and still appreciate the uniqueness of our lived experiences. It is also interesting that these two independent films landed in mainstream theaters. If released at all, films centering Whites in rural areas of the South typically feature characters who are passively ridiculed in a short-lived cut or portrayed one-dimensionally as villainous because something went quite awry in their lives. Ironically, Ben is presented as the oddity in Vengeance, as he missteps the culture of a rodeo event and later has a meltdown because he cannot get the answers to what he views as simple questions for his story. In stark contrast, for the Shaw family, it ain’t that serious; it just is. Sociology teaches that you cannot understand a person without engaging him or her. In the case of a community, you cannot understand it without becoming a part of it. Some of the best research is conducted by engaging people and becoming a part of communities (Read Nickel and Dimed by the late Barbara Ehrenreich.). The engagement—questions, conversations, immersion in the culture—is meant to learn about people given their everyday circumstances, not as tools for manipulating and shaping their world views. This learning takes more than a minute, an hour, or even a day. Rather, it takes weeks, months, and sometimes even years. Ben’s effort to exploit the Shaws for a story and shape them into viewing the world through his eyes (i.e. expressing themselves in ways he understands them, and believing they are missing out by not being connected to urban life as he is) speaks volumes about how our biases shape who we are. They also speak to how, at times, we consciously or unconsciously view ourselves as more accepted, normal, or in some way better than others. From this vantage point, we (intentionally or not) impose constraints on others, stripping away their humanity and treating them as outsiders. We also see this in Crawdads , when Kya is indicted for murder and the other citizens are convinced, without evidence, that “the Marsh girl” did it. This label and Kya’s lack of connection to the influential people in town who had effectively relegated her to the marsh, allows for objectifying and dehumanizing her. This influences the attitudes and actions of authorities and other townspeople toward Kya, making it seem perfectly logical to believe she committed the crime. At the risk of being redundant, it fascinates me that these two films that do a wonderful job humanizing Whites in rural areas of the South landed in mainstream theaters. Classified as a comedy/mystery, Vengeance falls on some obvious stereotypes of Whites in rural areas. But the development of the characters over the 107 minutes allows us to see the Shaws as people rather than the typical cinematic caricatures of Whites in the Deep South. Crawdads , a drama/mystery film, provides a singular laser-focused glimpse into the life of a girl abandoned by her family at a very young age and forced to grow up alone, living off the land. In presenting these circumstances and her ostracism by the people in town, the film humanizes her and even tugs at the audience’s heart strings. I wonder, though, if these are still viewed as one-off portrayals. Much has been written on the power of film representations in shaping our perspective. In a 2017 interview with the Huffington Post , Dr. Ana-Christina Ramón who now heads the Entertainment and Media Research Initiative at UCLA states, “What you see [on film] often becomes a part of your memory and thus a part of your life experience.” Will audience members come away from these stories with an informed perspective about people in rural areas of the South, or will they soon dismiss the depictions as atypical and not representative of Whites in the Deep South? In films where White characters from rural areas are ridiculed or portrayed as criminally defective (i.e. Deliverance , Winter’s Bone , Mud ), we don’t typically walk away viewing Whites as a group in these ways. This is largely due to the preponderance of “normal” middle-class Whites in the film and television images we see. Thus, White representations that deviate from these depictions are dismissed as one-offs—oddities, expendables, a glimpse of people who just “don’t fit,” “don’t matter,” and “aren’t relevant.” I still wonder, hope maybe, that the representations in Crawdads and Vengeance will take up space in our memories, even if just a little, to influence the way we think about people in these regions. I also wonder if viewers’ ideas about racial identity will begin to turn over in their heads. If Vengeance and Crawdads did not center Whites, one might think the subjects in the films were people of color in the U.S. Had they been, I wonder if we would have exited the theaters with our biases confirmed or challenged about these groups. Author Florentine Bakkenes writes in her 2022 Diggit Magazine article , that “The media people consume, the movies they watch, and the television series they follow, are not just entertainment, it also has an impact on the way people think and view other people.” In her 2018 New York Times article on what film teaches her about being a woman, film critic Manohla Dargis writes, “There isn’t a causal relationship between viewer behavior and the screen. There doesn’t have to be. Because movies get into our bodies, making us howl and weep, while their narrative and visual patterns, their ideas and ideologies leave their imprint.” In Crawdads and Vengeance , the characters are normal and/or heroic ones that display the depths of their humanity. They are loving, caring, funny, rude, smart, not-so-smart, good, bad, and all the gray areas in between. If the Shaws were Black and Kya was Latina, would this tickle viewers' sensibilities about the depth and breadth of the humanity of Blacks and Hispanics as a whole? I love these films and my eyes watered as I left the theaters (particularly for Vengeance ), because these were stories that needed to be told. Whites in rural areas are rarely centered and humanized in film, but Crawdads and Vengeance do a wonderful job of changing this trend. Having said this, I look forward to seeing similar cinematic presentations centering underrepresented people of color. Vengeance brings to mind the film, Wind River , which is about the death of a Native American woman on a reservation in Wyoming and the reluctance of federal authorities in working the case. As in Vengeance , law enforcement was not interested in investigating the death of a woman of poor background in a rural area. Where the Crawdads Sing is reminiscent of the 1972 film, Sounder , starring Kevin Hooks as David Lee and the late and great Cicely Tyson as Rebecca. Set in the Deep South in the 1930s, the film is about Nathan Lee (played by Paul Winfield), a Black sharecropper who is wrongfully jailed for a crime he did not commit. I still remember the poignant scene where a sheriff’s deputy used a knife to cut holes into the beautifully frosted chocolate cake meant for Nathan, as his 10-year-old son David helplessly watched a symbol of his mother’s love for her husband be destroyed. My recollection of the details of these films reinforces the point that film “imprints” itself, teaching us something about who we are and the circumstances of people with whom we have little if any sustained contact. While what we glean from the lessons vary depending upon our vantage point, experiences, and knowledge of the past, the depictions of people and circumstances have the power to inform, thus shaping our perspective. Sometimes film confirms our views and other times, its stories and depictions challenge them. In either case, good or bad, welcome or not, we are learning something. References Bakkenes, F. (2022). Diversity and Representation in TV and Movies and Why it Matters. Diggit Magazine . https://www.diggitmagazine.com/papers/diversity-and-representation-tv-and-movies-and-why-it-matters Boboltz, S and Yam, K. Why On-Screen Representation Actually Matters. The Huffington Post . https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-on-screen-representation-matters_n_58aeae96e4b01406012fe49d Boorman, J. (Director). (1972). Deliverance [Film]. Elmer Enterprises. Dargis, M. (2018). What the Movies Taught Me About Being a Woman. The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/30/movies/women-in-movies.html Ehrenreich, B. (2001). Nickel and Dimed . Metropolitan Books. Granik, D. (Director). (2010). Winter’s Bone [Film]. Anonymous Content. Newman, O. (Director). (2022). Where the Crawdads Sing [Film]. Columbia Pictures. Nichols, J. (Director). (2012). Mud [Film]. Everest Entertainment. Novak, B. J. (Director). (2022). Vengeance [Film]. Blumhouse Productions. Ritt, M. (Director). (1972). Sounder [Film]. Radnitz/Mattel Productions. Sheridan, T. (Director). (2017). Wind River [Film]. Acacia Filmed Entertainment. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Pachinko chronicles a Korean family through multiple generations that leaves their native land for Japan in order to survive. < Back Pachinko chronicles a Korean family through multiple generations that leaves their native land for Japan in order to survive. Media Res, 2022 55 minutes Creator: Soo Hugh Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Apple Studios Pachinko Warmth and Wonder (MDMO3SB9CXXSAPYB) 00:00 / 04:16 Chamomile Family dramas Ginger Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Chris Chaisson 2022-06-07 For most fictional television shows, it can be a challenge to span multiple time periods without some elements of fantasy. We see programs like Westworld and Doctor Who incorporate time travel, but rarely do dramas that exist in a more realistic universe risk pulling the viewer out of the established temporal setting. Much of a show’s appeal to its audience is giving them a sense of comfort with the setting and familiarity with the characters. Therefore, covering multiple generations across an entire century, sink or swim, is quite the experiment. Enter Pachinko , a historical drama focused on how a major world event influenced the life paths of many citizens and their offspring. Created by Soo Hugh and adapted from a 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko chronicles a Korean family through multiple generations that leaves their native land for Japan in order to survive. The trilingual story (unfolding in Japanese, Korean and English dialogue) weaves between separate timelines, highlighting characters in a different culture than their predecessors as well as the same characters in different stages of their lives. Despite its drastic timespan, Pachinko remains a story driven more by character than setting. Solomon (Jin Ha, Devs ) seeks a promotion at his sales associate job but he is wrongfully denied. In order to receive his bump, he vows to close an account back in his native land that he has personal ties to. In doing so, he must travel back and convince the current landowner to sell her property, despite her emotional attachment to the real estate. Meanwhile, in Sunja’s youth, she enters a romance with a prominent married businessman, Hansu (Lee Minho, Heirs ), who impregnates her but will not raise the child. A nomad, Isak (Steve Sang-Hyun Noh, Sense8) , who Sunja’s family nurses back to health, vows to step in and act as a surrogate father. In adept fashion, Pachinko highlights class and generational differences. Solomon, of a younger generation and Western cultural influence, embodies individualist ideals. He wants to close a deal to progress his own career and is not concerned with the sentimental value of the property he is trying to acquire. Sunja, on the other hand, values family and community over personal gain, as articulated in her very first onscreen exchange with Solomon. Despite being each other’s flesh and blood, their priorities and mindsets diverge in a drastic manner. Though Solomon remains defensive about having different cultural influences, he opens his eyes to different perspectives as the series progresses. While displaying the macro-level influences of age, class and culture, Pachinko also shows how individual experiences manipulate the way its characters see the world. For instance, part of Sunja’s devotion to family stems from the pain she feels at Hansu’s rejection of her after she discloses her pregnancy to him. Just the same, an episode late in the first season reveals the origin of Hansu’s pain where he experiences the crushing and sudden loss of a close family member during his adolescence. Pachinko brings to mind another critically acclaimed period drama that highlighted classism and cultural differences, Downton Abbey . Family and loyalty are major themes of both series, and they astutely display the clash between those seeking social mobility and those always willing to sacrifice for others. Interestingly enough, the series is executive produced and directed by the creator of another project about family and loyalty, Justin Chon and his film, Blue Bayou . We will be looking forward to more projects to come from the talented Chon and hope to see more AAPI creatives welcomed into the producer space. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Marketing Associate Apply Now San Francisco, CA, USA Job Type Part Time Workspace Remote About the Role This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Requirements This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. About the Company This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. You can create as many collections as you need. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields. Apply Now

Borgen provides an international perspective through political drama < Back Borgen provides an international perspective through political drama Dansmark Radio, 2010-13 58 minutes Creator: Adam Price Reading Time: 4 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Borgen Sliced Bread (PMGPOVFPRLWGTPW0) 00:00 / 04:30 Barley Movies and TV shows with a lot of dialog Honeybush Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Reba Chaisson 2021-07-25 For years, I have contended that there is no better way to understand the system you are in and your degree of socialization to it, without an international perspective. Insight into how other countries operate—politically, economically, and socially—is a good way to appreciate the privileges of your own and to acknowledge its constraints. That the lessons are accompanied with intrigue, tension, crises, and poignant moments is a bonus. Borgen is a present-day series about politics in Denmark and the rise of its first female prime minister. Starring Sidse Babett Knudsen ( Westworld , A Hologram for the King ) as Birgitte Nyborg Christensen, the series depicts a convergence of the different interests that make the Danish government work. Through portrayals of power‑sharing across political parties and even the process of selecting a prime minister, the show presents what it means to serve and be accountable to the electorate. Unlike the United States, Denmark consists of more than ten political parties , five of which occupy approximately three-quarters of its 179 elected parliamentary seats. The system still holds firm after more than 170 years and yields the intentional effect of forcing cooperation, negotiation, and compromise with groups that have distinct and sometimes opposing political ideas and priorities. This against the backdrop of the centuries-old buildings, small living quarters, cozy cafes, and cool temperatures gives us a feel for the culture of the North European country. A wife and mother of two, Christensen is overwhelmed by parental demands, as are most protagonists in stories about career women. Also, predictably, she is saddled with a loving but unfaithful husband, portrayed by Mikael Bikkjaer. A wise senior adviser, played by Lars Knutzon, helps her realize her power and to grasp a more complete view of the Danish political landscape. This proves to be epiphanous for the leader of the newly elected majority party in Parliament. Much like The West Wing , the series takes viewers inside the room where negotiations are conducted, tensions and ambitions are revealed, and wills are tested. Indeed, the efforts to undercut Christensen’s power are continuous. A CEO threatens to relocate his billion-dollar company if a measure passes mandating that women comprise half of all private sector board members. In a private, late-night meeting with Christensen, the man calmly sips his coffee from the fine china and states with strong self‑assurance, “… we cannot risk having incompetent leadership in our companies due to state intervention.” Politics are around the clock in this series where there is no rest for the weary prime minister. The constant wrangling for attention, power, and control are ever-present, and each has to be weighed against the country’s social-democratic values. When a cabinet minister discloses the cease-and-desist order he took against a group of journalists because he could not find a mole, the prime minister admonishes him and squashes the action, referring to it as out of line with their principles. When political tensions arise with a former colony, she dismisses the leader with niceties because of “more important matters” she needs to attend to at home. Realizing the need to recalibrate, she learns about the damage of colonization, triggering for us the experiences of Indigenous people in the U.S. What is most interesting about this series is it allows us to see up close how multiple interests can be served at the national level. The show, then, forces us to reckon with the constraints of a system that drives and cajoles us into bifurcated camps and often antagonistic political identities as Democrats or Republicans. If you like pondering political matters like these, you might want to give Borgen a try. It’s also pretty cool to see the virtues of only two people debating at a time, standing at a small round table with the moderator between them! Yeah—different. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!