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alpacaparkaseok · 3 years

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Spooked

Requested by anon - a picture of your request will be at the bottom of the post! Thanks for sending it in, I had so much fun with it! :)

Pairing: best friend!BTS, maybe some secret crushes going on? 👀

Premise: You + all 7 members of BTS visiting a haunted house. What could go wrong?

So, so much.

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: they are touring a haunted house, so there’s gonna be some scary story/spooky things going on. hopefully there’s enough fun things/fluff to counter it?

a/n: this was longer than I expected it to be...but I was having fun with ot7. hopefully nobody minds lol

It wasn't your fault that Hobi had never seen "A Quiet Place". He had mentioned it as you scrolled through the options on his TV while lounging on his couch like an overgrown cat. Everyone else was in the process of scarfing down their dinner, popping popcorn, and laughing over whatever Jimin and Yoongi were bickering about.

Obviously you had to watch it.

Naturally, the conversation had drifted to a bit more spooky topics. You'd come back from grabbing more popcorn surprised to find Jin talking about his friend that wanted to open up a house they'd inherited for ghost tours.

After nudging Jimin out of the way, you took up your usual spot next to Taehyung. They all watch you with amused eyes, knowing full well that Taehyung is the only one that willingly scratches your back on movie nights.

"Really, like is it the kind of haunted house where people dress up and scare you?" Jungkook asked, his interest piqued.

Jin shook his head. "No, not really. It sounds like they just walk you through the house and tell stories and stuff."

You and Jungkook share a look, already thinking the same thing. A glance at Hobi shows him clutching a blanket to his chest, caught between the events of the film and the conversation taking place.

"We should go," you ventured, immediately earning a startled stare from both Jin and Hobi. The others chuckle in response, Namjoon swatting Jungkook's hand half-heartedly as he tries to steal more popcorn from him.

"...noooo," Jin began. "It's not like it's up and running yet, they're just working on getting it ready for the fall-"

Jungkook picks up where you left off. "Perfect! We can be their test group. That way they'll know what they can do for the general public, get an idea of what works and what doesn't."

You jump in again before Jin can protest more. "C'mon! And besides, this may be your only chance just to go for fun! Otherwise you'd have to find a way to go without running into all of those people, and have to contact management about it..."

Jin sighs, looking at Hobi who stares back at him with an expression of defeat. You grin, Taehyung chuckling beside you.

"Fine."

It was all too easy. Standing here now, you can see just why they want to open this up for ghost tours. Of course you won't admit it, but you already have chills running down your spine.

Or maybe that's just because Jung Hoseok is currently breathing down your neck.

"Alright," Jin's friend, Gina stands at the top of the steps, smiling down at you all. "Everybody ready?"

Jungkook and Taehyung, completely riled up, let out whoops and cheers while everyone else grunts in acknowledgement. Hobi clings to the back of your jacket, whimpering like a lost puppy.

This should be fun.

Jungkook doesn't bother to wait for everyone else, heading straight inside after Gina. Taehyung and Jimin are hot on his heels, joking about something back and forth. You follow after them, glancing back at Hobi with an amused grin.

"Oh," he realizes that he's still clinging to you. "Right." Extracting his hand from your jacket, he lets you move forward. He remains close behind you, Jin at his side.

Namjoon and Yoongi bring up the rear, hardly paying attention to anything that's going on as they chat about a business they saw not far from here.

"We'll begin in the front study here," Gina adopts a spooky tone as she stands in the candlelight. Shadows dance along the walls, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up straight.

Suddenly you wish that Hobi was still holding onto you.

Slowly, so as to not draw the attention (and teasing) of the maknae line, you step back until you're between Namjoon and Yoongi.

The two of them smirk down at you, knowing full well that you're already spooked.

"What are you doing?" Jin whispers back to you, eyes wide while he rubs his arms as though he's cold. "Trying to abandon us to the ghosts?"

You shake your head fervently, hoping that they don't notice the way you're sneaking your hand into the pocket of Yoongi's jacket.

"No, the middle is the safest place," you argue. Yoongi gives a breathy chuckle beside you, his hand finding yours in the warmth of his pocket and giving it a squeeze. Thankfully the house is dark enough that the blush on your cheeks shouldn't be visible.

Absentmindedly you link your other arm through Namjoon's, hardly able to breathe properly when he instinctively moves closer.

What were you even saying?

"A-and now you've got three in front and three in back. You're totally safe."

Hobi and Jin look at each other like they know exactly what you’re up to, but don't push it as they suddenly begin walking again. Gina leads the way toward the dining room, weaving a tale of how the estranged wife of the owner of the house swore she would never leave the property.

"Did she?" Jungkook asks from the front, peeking in closed off rooms along the way. You can't help but marvel at his fearlessness.

Gina's eyes glow with excitement, almost as though she were waiting for someone to ask that. "No. Years later, when the owner sold the house, the new occupants said they found a sealed off room in the basement." You gasp, the sound echoing through the hallway. You miss the look Jimin gives you, too attached to the story.

"What..." you clutch Namjoon's arm, the fabric of his jacket bunching in your hand. "Did they ever open up the room?"

Gina grins. "They did. They hired someone to come and open the sealed door. However, the man they hired only got about halfway before quitting. He was terrified."

Yoongi leans down to whisper in your ear. "Are you trying to cut off my circulation?"

It's only then that you notice you've been squeezing his hand with startling strength. "Whoops." Going to remove your hand from his, he frowns, holding it tighter before you can move.

Well, if this isn't a rollercoaster of emotions.

"Why was he so scared?" Namjoon pipes up beside you, a hint of a smile gracing his features as he reads the expression on your face. Oh, you're so screwed. "Did he find something?"

"It's not so much what he found as what he didn't," Gina replies. "But we'll have to save that for last. For now, the dining room. Come on in, everyone."

Hobi looks back at you, a mixture of horror and overall curiosity on his face. “Oh, she’s good.”

Indeed, Gina definitely seems to have a way with words. You’re just having a hard time understanding them as your heart beats loudly enough to drown out any other noises. Yoongi has taken to tracing circles on the back of your hand, which you think are meant to be soothing.

It only serves to send your heart rate skyrocketing. You stare at the portrait on the far end of the dining room, practically boring holes into the painting of the young woman.

Breathe, don’t do anything stupid.

“...alright?”

You blink, finding yourself to be the sudden center of attention. Jungkook grins widely at you.

“What?”

Jungkook repeats his question. “Are you doing alright?”

“Oh.”

Jimin bursts out laughing. “That’s not an answer, jagiya. Need us to protect you from the ghosts?”

Your wide eyes immediately give you away, and even Gina is offering you a look of pity before deciding to continue on with the tour. Before you embarrass yourself even more, you slip out of Yoongi and Namjoon’s grasp, sneaking up behind Jin and Hobi.

“Hello boys,” you drawl, making Hobi nearly jump out of his skin. You earn a laugh from the group, Jin chuckling at his scared friend. Hobi just glares at you.

“This sucks,” he whispers to you, pulling you up to stand between him and Jin. Immediately they stick to your sides like magnets and you realize that you have indeed done something stupid as Jin’s breath ghosts over the shell of your ear as he goes to whisper something to you.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it would seem. Your heart certainly agrees.

“I’m not scared, you know,” Jin whispers. You take a deep breath, reminded yourself that these idiots are your best friends, not menu items.

You shoot him an incredulous look. “I doubt that.”

He grins at you, eyes lingering a bit longer than usual. “You’ll see.”

Tearing your eyes away from his and hearing his deep chuckle, you wonder if it’s too late to ask Gina where the nearest exit is.

Don’t do anything stupid.

“Shall we head up to the attic?” Gina asks. “It’s a small space, we can only go three at a time. However, there are some really interesting old photographs up there that we should look at.”

In the blink of an eye everyone is paired off, and you find yourself face to face with Jimin. He grins at you like the Cheshire Cat, making you wonder if he isn’t the most dangerous thing in this house.

Jin and Hobi have the glorious opportunity to go up together while Gina leads the way, and several screams accompany their little trip. In the middle of the candlelight in the hallway, you chuckle with the rest of your friends.

“It’s been interesting so far,” Jungkook muses. “I really want to know what they found in that sealed off basement room.”

Taehyung hums in agreement. “Mmm. Or rather, what they didn’t find.”

“What does that even mean?”

Nobody is given a chance to answer Jungkook’s question as Hobi and Jin come scrambling down the ladder, faces pale even as they laugh. Gina chuckles from above, beckoning the next pair to come up.

Jimin looks at you with an arched brow. “Wanna go next?”

“Sure.” You follow him up the ladder, laughing as Jin recounts how he swore the woman in the photograph blinked.

The attic is filled with moonlight, and under other circumstances it might be pretty. However, amongst the old heirlooms sits an ominous scrapbook, filled with black and white photos of less-than-happy people.

Jimin reaches down, grabbing your hand and helping you to your feet as you look around. When he lets go you aren’t sure whether or not to be disappointed.

You’ve hardly made up your mind when he leads you to where Gina stands beside the scrapbook and slips behind you. A moment later his arms encircle your waist, chin propped up on your shoulder.

So there’s that.

Gina points to the first photo, a grim-looking man standing behind a chair where a young woman sits smiling. “This is the estranged wife, before she was estranged, of course. And this is the owner of the house. From what we’ve been able to dig up about his past - no pun intended - he was always deathly serious.”

Jimin hums in acknowledgement, the vibrations going straight into your spine. Unsure of what to do with your arms, you gently place them atop his arms around your middle.

You swear he smiles for a moment before turning pensive again. “Why did they separate?” You manage to ask, applauding yourself for getting a complete sentence out while Park Jimin hugs you from behind.

“Rumor has it she cheated on him with his best friend,” Gina whispers, pointing to another photo where the solemn owner stands beside a smiling man. “He was driven mad with jealousy. Terrible, isn’t it?”

Gina gives you a long look, and suddenly you straighten your spine. “I-uh, yeah. Horrible.”

She shows us another photo, explaining something about it while Jimin mumbles out a couple of questions. You hardly process any of it, staring at Gina and wondering if she thinks that you are somehow cheating.

But on who? Jin, maybe? Since that’s her friend?

“Alright, send up the next pair,” Gina croons. Jimin detaches himself from you, suddenly leaving you cold. You turn to follow him, but stop as Gina places a hand on your arm.

“Yes?” You ask, struggling to keep your tone even. Gina motions for Jimin to keep going, pulling you back to the scrapbook. She tilts her head to one side.

“Forgive me for maybe overstepping a boundary but...” she motions toward the ladder, where everyone waits below. “Don’t tell me you’re flirting with all of them.”

Your eyes widen, and a breathy laugh comes out. “Me? What? N-no. They’re my best friends, why would I-”

Gina laughs, the sound too loud for the small attic. “Well, they’re flirting with you.” She playfully elbows me. “Speaking from girl to girl...enjoy it. For the rest of us.”

Nearly choking, you frown but nod all the same. “...ok?” When she makes no move to say anything else, you head down the ladder. The boys look up at me with confused looks, Jimin waiting at the bottom to make sure you get down safely.

“What was that about?” Jin asks, looking a little nervous. “She didn’t say anything to make you uncomfortable, did she?”

You blink at him, wondering for a moment if the boys have always been like this around you. Surely not. It’s just the haunted house bringing out this protective side, right?

Right?

“No, she just wanted to show me something else. She’s actually really nice.” You think.

The other groups go up, and nothing else happens to pique your interest. Gina comes down last of all, giving you a wink before walking down the hallway.

“I think we’re ready to go down to the basement, everyone!”

Somehow you end up at the front, surrounded on all sides by the maknae line. You crane your neck, looking back to see the older boys all lost in a heated discussion. Hobi catches your eye after a moment, elbowing Namjoon who looks up at you with fake innocence.

You frown, Gina’s words coming back to you. “They’re flirting with you.”

You must have lost your mind. Was the haunted house really that traumatizing as to make you start coming up with such ridiculous things? How silly of you.

The feeling of a hand resting on the small of your back has you yelping, jumping to face forward again. Taehyung gives you a sheepish grin.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, gently pushing you forward to stand in front of him. “Are you really that spooked?”

“I...no.” You fail to come up with a complete sentence, but shrug it off. Taehyung smiles brightly at you, gesturing for you to head down the stairs.

“You seem distracted tonight, are you alright?”

The way your heart had begun palpitating calms down as you notice the obvious concern on Taehyung’s face. You give him a small smile, allowing yourself to relish the feeling of his fingers splayed against your back as you move down the stairs.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Just distracted by the story.”

Taehyung looks at you for a moment longer, not quite believing you but shrugging it off. He brings both hands to your shoulders as you enter the basement, an obvious chill in the air.

You fight off a shiver, Taehyung noticing and beginning to rub at your arms in an attempt to warm you up. Gina immediately notices the action, hiding a smile as she pretends to cough.

“Well,” she says once her ‘coughing fit’ subsides. “We’ve made it to the final leg of the tour. How’s it been so far?”

This time everyone cheers with renewed vigor, although a part of you has a hunch that it’s because Hobi knows he’s nearing the end of this scary experience. The thought makes you grin.

“Earlier, you guys asked me what was found in the sealed off room. It’s easier to show you, rather than explain.” Gina walks backward, motioning for everyone to follow her. It’s darker down here, only a few candles light the way. Despite being surrounded by people you trust, you can’t fight the fear that sneaks inside of you.

Rounding a corner, you see a small hallway with a half-open door. Jin curses behind you, clearly feeling just as freaked out as you.

“Remember how the estranged wife said she’d never leave this place?” Gina nods toward the door and dark entryway. “In that room there’s evidence that she may have had an...extended stay here. It’s very small, and the door only opens to a certain point. Almost as though whoever designed it didn’t want to have an easy escape point.”

Chills run down your spine, and even Taehyung’s ministrations pause for a moment as he takes in this new information.

Jungkook speaks up, ever the curious one. “Wait...her body isn’t still here, right?”

Gina shakes her head. “No, although we think that she may have been buried somewhere on the property. We have yet to find her, though.”

“That...” you shake your head, shuffling from foot to foot. “That sounds so ominous. Like she still walks the property or something.”

The smile Gina sends you is enough to make your blood run cold. “We haven’t ruled anything out.” She gestures toward the door. “Due to fire hazards, we can only have two people at a time in the hallway and in the room. Do I have any volunteers?”

Jungkook’s hand immediately shoots up in the air, and he looks at his hyungs pleadingly. You remain still as a statue, refusing to look up for fear of being called on.

You swear you can almost hear Taehyung sigh before he speaks. “Well, obviously you have to go.” He nudges you forward, and you whirl on him in absolute horror.

“What?!” You shout. “How could you betray me like this?! I- no way!”

The boys can’t help but laugh at you, Namjoon clapping Taehyung on the shoulder. Taehyung gives you an apologetic look, shrugging.

“C’mon, I’ll keep you safe,” Jungkook promises, his big pleading eyes on yours.

You hate how you can never say no to him.

Gina pats your shoulder as you walk past, laughing lightly. “Have fun,” she croons. “Ok everyone, let’s go into the open area just around the corner-”

“You’re leaving us?!” You shout again, stopping in your tracks. “Noooo, no no. Not happening.”

“Jungkook will take care of you,” Yoongi says over his shoulder. “Or do you not trust him?”

Jungkook pauses, looking at you with those big brown eyes. “You don’t trust me?”

Yoongi chuckles darkly before leaving the hallway, and you know he’s aware of what he did. You’ll have to make him pay for it later.

Possibly in the form of food.

“No, I do Kook,” you sigh. He extends his hand out to you, waiting patiently.

You take it a little too quickly.

Gina was right, the door only opens to a certain point, leaving you no choice but to shimmy through. Jungkook inspects the entire area, pointing out what looks to be scratches on the doorframe. You shiver.

“It’s not real,” he reassures you, keeping his hand in yours as he shimmies into the room. You hesitate for a moment, daring to glance at where your hands are connected before following after him.

It’s nearly pitch black in the room, hardly allowing for you to see anything. “Can you even see anything?”

Jungkook laughs, squeezing your hand. “Nope. I think we’ll have to wait for our eyes to adjust. You good?”

You squeeze back. “Yeah, I think-”

The door is shut.

Suddenly delved into complete darkness, your breath hitches in your throat. “Jungkook,” you whimper. “Jungkook, I’m scared-”

“Shhh,” Jungkook hushes you, pulling you closer until you bump into his chest. “You’re fine. They’re just pulling a prank on us.”

Without thinking anything other than, I’m too young to die, you instinctively wrap your arms around his waist, burrowing your head against his chest as he chuckles.

“I can’t die, Jungkook,” you mumble into his chest. “I’m too young. I have so much to do. I have a test this week to take, and I’ve studied so hard for it, I have to take it. That’d be so stupid to die before taking that dumb test. And I have to yell at Yoongi or something, I don’t know-”

Jungkook’s giddy laughter pulls you out of your daze, and if you weren’t so scared you would be glaring at him. He laces his fingers behind your back, pulling you impossibly closer.

“You’re so cute,” he whispers into the dark, making every last thought eddy out of your brain. “Have I ever told you that before?”

Finding just enough willpower to move, you shake your head. Jungkook harrumphs above you, the sound almost pulling a giggle from you. Then you remember the situation you’re currently in.

Jungkook sighs. “Well, you are. That, and a lot of other things. Would you like me to tell you what else I think you are?”

Hands bunching in the fabric of his clothes, you find your voice. “...yes.”

Jungkook takes a deep breath. “Scary smart. It’s horrifying.” A chuckle bubbles up from your chest. “And inclusive. That’s so underrated these days, you know? But you’re always making sure everyone is involved and enjoying themselves.”

You can tell that he’s holding his breath from the way his chest has stopped moving, and you’re about to ask him if he’s alright when he hesitantly runs his fingers through your hair.

If that wasn’t enough to send you over the edge, he lets out a shaky breath before continuing on. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you those things before.”

You manage a laugh. “I’m sorry that it took us going on a haunted house tour for you to say it.”

Jungkook smiles down at you, your eyes finally adjusted to the dim room. He stares at you for a long moment, and you wonder if he’s going to kiss you.

You wonder if you’d let him.

He must see the question in your eyes, but he gives you a knowing look before heading toward the door, making sure your hand is in his.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” he says, testing the door and giggling at your sigh of relief when the door is unlocked.

“Worry about what?” You feign ignorance. Jungkook sees right through your, tugging you along as you head out the door.

He shrugs, suddenly unable to look you in the eyes as pink no doubt paints his cheeks. “You know...overstepping any boundaries.” He looks down at his feet. “Making a move.”

“Why?” The question comes out before you can stop it, and you inwardly curse yourself. Jungkook smiles softly at your inquiry.

The sound of everyone chatting makes you almost want to cry with relief. They must be just around the corner, waiting for you to return.

Jungkook leans over, whispering to you. “Because we have a pact.”

You turn to question him further, eyes wide. He anticipates this, taking long strides until you find yourselves back in the open area with everyone else.

“We’re back!” Jungkook announces, shooting you a smirk. You can’t help but stare at him, mouth slightly agape.

A pact?

Gina smiles broadly. “How was the room? Did you find anything interesting?”

You shake your head, trying and failing to stop yourself from overanalyzing every glance the boys give you. “...no. I was too freaked out to even look around after the door closed on us.”

“Yeah, who did that? We didn’t even hear you guys,” Jungkook asks.

Everyone looks at the two of you before looking at Gina, clearly just as confused.

Gina, on the other hand, looks absolutely terrified.

“Ummm...” she begins, rubbing her arms in an effort to warm herself up. “Remember how I said that we haven’t ever found the body of the estranged wife?”

You nod your head but stop, the words sinking in. The hairs on the back of your neck rise up, and you find yourself shuffling over to stand next to Jin, clinging to his arm.

“Yeah...” Namjoon says, eyes darting around the room.

Gina sighs. “Alright, everyone, single file line. Head out as quickly and quietly as possible.”

You don’t need to be told twice.

masterlist

this has been turned into a series!

series masterlist ∆∆∆ join the taglist

oooh so spooky ;)

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pynkhues · 4 years

Note

I’m sure you’ve already gotten a bunch of asks since Manny’s Crime King interview! I’m just like confused about him saying he’s enamored by her world but honestly like how is his different (besides his obvious commitment to the game) he lives in a nice loft, takes his kid to baseball, drives a fancy car, and plays tennis at the club. It’s not like he’s living the life of a thug. I guess I’m not getting the exact contrast of their worlds.

(Rest of my ask) I’m probably missing some obvious point here which is why I’m asking you lol helllppp

I do think Rio’s enamoured with Beth’s world, yes! I think that really boils down to the fact that while on paper Beth and Rio aren’t living dissimilar lives in terms of their roles as parents, and while they obviously now share parts of the criminal world, I do think the show is actually pretty specific in how it represents those worlds, particularly in terms of the masculine / feminine, and how a part of the curiosity around each other is in viewing one another as a key that both compliments their own world, while also unlocking the other’s one for them.

The gendering of spaces in storytelling – but particularly films and TV is, hilariously, a topic that I’m incredibly passionate about and have both written it a lot in my original work, and written about it a lot for magazines, journals and media sites (I’m actually writing an essay at the moment for a literary journal about LGBTQI cinema and how lesbian romances are highly domesticised [i.e. Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Handmaiden, The Favourite, The Kids are Alright] while gay romances are usually very pointedly about keeping away from domestic spaces, moving and traveling [i.e. Brokeback Mountain, The Talented Mr Ripley, Moonlight, Midnight Cowboy, even Call Me By Your Name is heavily focused on being Americans abroad aka away from home] but that all feels like a different story, haha).

Luckily for me, Good Girls is actually about as obsessed with the gendering of spaces as I am. It’s a major, major throughline throughout the show for many of the characters, but particularly Beth and Rio, and their intrigue with the other’s spaces – her interest in his powerful, highly masculine one, and his with her deceptively innocent, strongly feminine one – is really central to their intrigue with each other more broadly.

So to talk about this, we probably need a little bit of context.

(Under a cut because this is literally 4,000 words)

Gendering Spaces in Cinema

It’s probably not a surprise to anyone here, but places and spaces in stories are about as gendered – if not more gendered – as they are in daily life. In particular, cinema’s visual and textual language has historically been very clear:

The inside is female. The outside is male.

This concept has really been around since the beginning of cinema but became very popularised through Westerns in the late 1920s onwards, and really underlined by war films particularly during propaganda cinema in WWII. Men are outside, battling the elements and other men, claiming land, building outwards, while women are at home – either literally or figuratively (if they’re actually out at war, like in the utterly fabulous So Proudly We Hail!, they’re at the ‘home base’ as nurses) – building inwards. Men protect the home while women create it.

Westerns feature these images very potently and very literally. Almost every single western dating back to the 1910s will have some combination of these two shots:

a) Woman at home, looking out into the wild:

b) Man leaving home, stepping out into the wild:

(These two stills are from John Ford’s The Searchers which is generally regarded as one of the greatest Westerns of all time. It’s………very racist and misogynistic, as many were and still are, but in terms of technicality and visual language, it’s a very well-made film, albeit not one I enjoyed).

The purpose at the time, of course, was steeped in historic sexism and invested in maintaining that culture, particularly westerns and war films which are heavily devoted to ‘macho’ narratives. Women were passive, men were active, but these images really set the stage for how the ideas of ‘space’ continues to exist in cinema. A fact that’s bolstered by broader social discourses that still exist today – schools, grocery stores, laundromats are inherently ‘female’ spaces because they are seen as an extension of the home, while police stations, car dealerships, warehouses, are inherently ‘male’ spaces because they’re about work, protecting and providing for a home, and being pointedly outside of that domestic space aka ‘the wild’. It’s not an accident that the girls are robbing grocery stores and day spas, but I’ll get back to that, haha.

These ideas of gendered spaces underpin everything we watch, no matter the genre.

Sure, these ideas can be subverted to varying degrees of effectiveness (often it’s steeped in my least favourite trope – the ‘not like other girls’ heroine), but you can’t subvert a trope without actually acknowledging it exists. Sometimes these subversions are done brilliantly too – like in Legally Blonde which was not just about Elle existing in a space that was quintessentially coded as male, but embracing her femininity and womanhood within that space; and often brutally too in films like Winter’s Bone, Room and The Nightingale which all brutalise women in ‘male spaces’ while simultaneously weaponizing female spaces against them – usually the home. The lead character of Winter’s Bone is going to lose her house unless her absent father shows up in court, the lead character of Room creates a home that is simultaneously a sanctuary and a mockery of a sanctuary to try and protect her son from reality and survive, the lead character of The Nightingale has her home invaded, her husband and baby murdered, and is horrifically raped within that home.

Hometown Horror: a divergence

This is a slight aside to where I’m going with this overall, but please indulge me, haha. I’m a big fan of horrors and thrillers, which explore this in a really stark way. In that, the invasion of a home or a domestic space – whether by ghost, demon or serial killer, is, generally speaking, synonymous with the invasion of a woman’s body and the violation of her as a person.

Films that focus on a female survivor or a ‘final girl’ are very generally focused on the invasion of her home as much as it’s focused on the invasion of her body. Think The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, Scream, The Babadook, Hereditary, The Conjuring, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Panic Room. The violation of a woman’s home is the invasion of her, because cinema relies on over 100 years of movies telling us that a house and the woman who lives in it are symbolically the same thing.

Horror films that focus on men are very rarely centred in the home. It’s men travelling, or men visiting a woman’s home, or men who’ve been taken. Think of the first Saw movie which takes place in a mysterious basement, Hostel which is at a hostel, Dawn of the Dead at a shopping mall, An American Werewolf in London while two men are on holiday, The Evil Dead is in a cabin, Get Out is at his girlfriend’s family home.

There are exceptions, of course! Family home invasion films like The Purge, Funny Games and The Strangers are rooted in the violation of that home, but still. You’ll generally find that it manifests differently narratively speaking for men and women. Rear Window too takes place entirely in a man’s apartment – but it’s interesting to note that most of the ‘horror’ comes from him spying on somebody else’s home – notably a woman’s, The Descent too is very much about women and is set during cave diving. Still! These are all exceptions, not the rule.

Good Girls and Gendered Spaces

Every single space in Good Girls is gendered. It’s actually one of the things I seriously love about the show because it’s thoughtfully done, and it is deliberate. We know it is, because they tell us explicitly in the writing multiple times. I mean – hell, think of Ruby telling us (well, telling Rio, haha) way back at the end of 1.04 when they’re selling him on the idea of washing cash through Cloud 9 – “Nobody thinks twice about a woman buying her husband a TV or new tires for the minivan.” A store like that is gendered, and Ruby’s reinforcing it by saying it’s a place women go to build a home. It hasn’t been weaponized yet - - but our girls know how to weaponize it. They’re playing on the fact that people think women’s spaces are effectively impotent, and they’re telling Rio – and us as an audience – that they’re going to exploit it.

This is an idea the show revisits frequently. Women’s spaces are – both in life and in storytelling – spaces that are viewed as passive because they are representative of women, and what the show is – I believe – very invested in, is showing how those spaces are fundamentally active. If you want a house to represent a woman – well, okay. Then you get to see what’s under the rug, y’know?

I’m going to come back to the home thread – because I really do think it’s very important, and I think the way the show depicts people in those spaces (and invading those spaces) is significant – but it’s not just homes that are looked at in this way. The show is very specific about having feminine spaces and masculine spaces, with only a few in between (and usually those in-between spaces are very specifically for Stan and Ruby, showing just how in-sync they are with each other and how much they operate within a shared space). Beyond the women’s homes, there are the kids’ schools, Fine & Frugal (very important here to note that Annie emasculates Boomer in what is an associated female space and that he retaliates by attempting to rape her in her own home aka not only another female space, but a space that is symbolically Annie, something he repeats later with Mary Pat – a violation on essentially every character, narrative and symbolic level, again), the waxing salon, Nancy’s day spa, Jane’s dance recital (and actually the physical object of the dubby – being a highly feminine object lost in a very masculine space), and already what we know of s3, with Ruby being at a nail salon and Beth being at a paper / card store.

The show also has very masculinized places – I’d argue Boland Motors is one of the biggest ones – very much about ‘boys and their toys’, which is why Beth pointedly feminising it when she takes over is so significant and symbolically indicative of Beth’s claiming of that space; but also spaces like the police station, the drug dealer’s house in 2.07, the hotel suite Boomer briefly occupies, even to an extent the church. When the girls are in these spaces, there’s a distinct feeling of encroaching on territory that isn’t theirs, or being in spaces that they don’t belong in. This is often done as a two-hander too – the police station and the church Ruby doesn’t belong in anymore, not necessarily as a woman, but as a criminal.

Nothing though, from a technical standpoint, is more masculine than the spaces that are shown to be Rio’s. From the warehouse spaces to the bar to his loft to his car, Rio’s ‘places’ are distinctly masculine and generally placed in direct contrast with Beth’s femininity. But I’ll come back to that point too.

Home, Identity and Invasion

Almost every female character on this show has a very defined domestic space, from Beth, Ruby and Annie, to Mary Pat, Marion and Nancy. These spaces are representative of not just who they are, but who they are as women, and really comes to routinely represent the interior lives of these characters. This is probably the clearest in 2.09 when Beth is uncharacteristically messy following Dean taking their kids, and in 2.06, when Beth and Dean switch roles, and Dean is incapable of maintaining that domestic space because it’s not his. But let’s not start there.

Let’s start with Annie.

Annie’s apartment is fun, feminine (but not overly so), youthful, sweet, and generally a bit of organized chaos. It’s often underequipped – there are several mentions of the pantry being understocked – but it’ll always do in a pinch. More than anything though, Annie’s apartment comes to life when her son is in it. She’s happiest when he’s there, and when he’s not, her loneliness drives her to pulling people into the space with her, whether that’s the electronics guy, Greg, or Noah.

This is particularly significant when Annie’s forming bonds with people. The show has symbolically relied very heavily on Annie’s moments of vulnerability and connection being grounded in her apartment or an extension of it – usually her car. There was her reconnecting with Greg over YouTube videos in s1, there was Nancy and her talking about pregnancy in 2.02, and there was Noah settling in across season 2. These are all substantial moments in terms of Annie’s interior life that are represented through her home – she lets them all in. Which is why it’s significant what people do when they are in. Particularly the show marrying Noah getting to know Annie while simultaneously rifling through her belongings, trying to know specific things about her.

This is only reiterated by Noah’s scenes with Sadie later in the season – always at home, reiterating just how much Noah’s invaded Annie’s life, how much he’s inside her, how much he’s using everything and everyone who’s important to her, and how much he’s a threat to all of that too.

Ruby and Stan are a little different. Ruby’s house is the only one that’s genuinely shared with somebody, and the show represents this across the board – Ruby and Stan wear similar colours, the house feels like theirs, and the parts of their worlds that are separate are still frequently pretty defined by each other (even when Ruby’s acting away form Stan, the show makes it clear that Stan’s at the forefront of her mind, and vice versa). This indicates their partnership, but the house really still is symbolically tied to Ruby. This is particularly represented by the effect of having Turner in the house, but, more than that, it’s underlined symbolically by Turner arresting Stan at home. If the home symbolically carries the meaning of the woman, Turner arresting Stan there is starkly about Turner taking Stan away from Ruby. That image would not hold the same weight if he was arrested at, say, the park or the police station, because the locations don’t hold the same meaning.

It’s also why there’s significance in Stan and Turner’s showdown narratively speaking happening at the police station. It needs to, because symbolically it should occupy a masculine-coded space, because that showdown isn’t just about who they are as people, but who they are as men.

Beth and Beth’s house is very, very different to Annie and Ruby’s, and holds a more substantial narrative and symbolic function. From the very first episode, the potential of losing her house is key to her arc, and key to her identity as a character.

Beth is a lot of things, but a recurring image with her as a character is that she is invested in projecting a dated idea of ‘perfect womanhood’, and, within that, actually pretty perfectly creates parts of it for herself. For Beth – as somebody who was a housewife for roughly twenty years – her house really is her in every sense of the word. Every threat to that house, every disruption, every wrinkle, every intrusion, every theft, every invitation is personal. Dean might have at least two rooms in the Boland House, but that space is Beth’s on almost every symbolic level. When people pop into it, it’s a direct invasion of her.

This is something that the show has revisited time and time again, particularly when it comes to Beth’s bedroom. When people want to be close to Beth, that’s where they go. Annie slept there across season one when she was vulnerable and lonely, despite Beth telling her to go home, Jane broke into Beth’s closet there when she felt she was being neglected, Dean’s constantly trying to sidle into it (and – pointedly – only really in it when they’re fighting and Beth is revealing something / letting him in on something – that they’re out of money, that she has Rio’s money, that she knows about his affairs). When Beth has been at her most vulnerable, she lets Ruby and Annie into it. That said, the only character who’s been explicitly invited into it has been Rio – significantly both in fantasy, and in the show’s reality.

It’s not just about inviting people in though – when she kicks somebody out of it, the act is loaded.

She’s not just pushing somebody out of a space, she’s pushing them out of her.

It’s not just her bedroom of course (although I do think that’s the most significant space on perhaps the whole show). Rio and Turner between them have regularly invaded Beth’s living room, dining room, her kitchen, her yard. These are often distinctly tied with her doing something domestic and / or distinctly feminine. She’s bringing groceries home, she’s baking, she’s trying on jewellery, she’s mothering her children. Symbolically, this is often when Rio and Turner both are at their most masculine and their most threatening, which just serves to underline the invasion of Beth’s space.

It’s not just the girls though, as I said above. Female domestic spaces on this show are significantly coded as belonging to women, even if they share those spaces. Think about Nancy and Greg’s house – which is Nancy’s space, not Greg’s, and throughout season 1, Annie was pitted as the outsider to that. She’s a smear of hair oil on Nancy’s perfect couch. It’s made all the starker when Nancy kicks Greg out, and when Annie helps Nancy give birth in that house – a distinctly female, intimate act, that not only operates as a significant feminization of that space, but also about Annie fighting for Nancy to let her in again.

These spaces all keep secrets for the women they belong to too – Mary Pat’s husband’s dead body, Boomer’s very much alive one – because, again, symbolically, they are these women.

Rio’s loft is a really interesting one to look at in this context, because not only is it hyper masculine, but the show underlines that it does not hold the same significance that the girls’ places have for them. Beth does not learn Rio by being inside him – something made stark through their game of twenty questions. In fact, being in Rio’s loft, in his space, only serves to point out how much Beth doesn’t know him. Not only that, but Beth’s inability to lose her house (which is really central to her arc) is paralleled exactly with how easily Rio can separate from his.

The domestic space is not male.

Rio exists outside of it.

Beth x Rio and the Feminine x Masculine

Rio and Beth are basically at polar opposites of the masculine / feminine spectrum, and it’s something that this show often casts in a really stark light through dialogue, visual language, character coding and symbolism.

Beth epitomizes the old archetype of femininity and the female world in a way that I don’t think Annie and Ruby do (although I do think Ruby does in some respects). This is coded into almost every part of her character – from her long history of domestic servitude and marital submission (letting Dean control their finances, not working, keeping the house, etc.) to her fertility (four children!) to the way she dresses in floral, bakes, to certain traits, namely her nurturing tendencies, overt empathy and guilt (not being able to kill Boomer). Even in terms of the casting – Christina is somebody who has a very distinctly feminine body.

On the other hand, Rio, in many ways, epitomizes the old idea of masculinity and the masculine world. He’s coded that way almost as much as Beth is coded as feminine – he’s physically strong (beating up Dean, holding Beth up while they were having sex), assertive, dominant, capable and collected. That’s not even touching on the fact that the golden gun is incredibly phallic, haha.

The show loves to place Beth’s femininity in direct contrast with Rio’s masculinity in a way that it doesn’t do with the other girls or – in fact perhaps more notably – with Beth and Dean (if anything, Dean’s frequently emasculated around Beth, but that feels like a whole other thing, haha), and it does this frequently, and often even in the same shot.

Most notably, think of her pearls on the warehouse door handle:

Their cars parked side-by-side:

Her necklace, his gun:

Her light, his darkness:

Her floral, his solid colours:

Interestingly though, these things are very rarely in competition or combative (although occasionally they are – Rio trying to use her femaleness and his maleness / their sexuality to literally bend her over a table in 2.06 being the clearest example of that). Generally speaking, the show’s visual language though shows us how these things compliment each other. They occupy different gendered spaces, so they can ‘crime’ in different ways – Beth using the big box stores, the secret shoppers, robbing the day spa, are all things that are highly feminised, and give Rio by proxy access to a world he ordinarily wouldn’t (albeit it’s not always a world he’s interested in – like it wasn’t with the botox), and the reverse of that is that Rio gives Beth access to spaces that are highly masculinised and that she ordinarily wouldn’t have access to (again, not always a world she’s interested in either). It’s why when they’re working together, and acknowledging they have different departments, they actually become something really whole, comprehensive and effective.

It’s the exploration of this that I find really intriguing generally, and particularly a thread that I think is reiterated where Beth’s usually at her worst and her most ineffective when she’s trying to emulate Rio’s masculinity. We saw that at the end of 1.10 and the start of 2.01, and I think we saw it at the tail end of season 2 too. When Beth’s succeeding, she’s typically doing something that revels in the strength and power and the underestimation of femininity and female spaces, and turns places that are typically viewed as passive into active ones.

The Secret Shoppers (which worked briefly! And fell apart because she couldn’t handle Mary Pat. Notably almost every scene with them was inside Beth’s house):

The day spa heist:

The Boland Motors takeover / reclamation that focused on feminising the place:

Pretending to be somebody’s mum to get into the kids’ space (which would’ve worked if Beth and Ruby hadn’t started fighting):

Breaking into Rio’s loft:

Again, this is something that seems to be being teased out already in s3 with the paper store and the nail salon, and I’m sure we’ll see it coming up again and again beyond that.

But yes! Your question, haha. I think Rio is enamoured with the strong, feminine space and the untapped female world that Beth exists in, and the ways that she is actively capable of utilising her femininity and her womanness in a way that is completely impossible for him. She can manipulate these spaces – either those already female, or those she makes female aka Boland Motors – in ways that he can’t, and in a way that, at the end of the day, lines his pocket, in the same way that giving her access to his powerful, masculine world lines hers. It’s market development, y’know? But it’s also something that could be a true and successful partnership if they could stop, y’know, playing games and trying to kill each other, haha.

I think it’s worth noting here too that the show has shown us explicitly that Beth absolutely gets off on Rio being highly masculine, and while I think Rio absolutely gets off on Beth being a boss bitch too, it’s also important to note how he responds to her when she’s displaying vulnerability in a way often defined as very feminine – namely crying – and how that display of femininity not only affects him, but often makes him want to touch her (and more and more, follow through on touching her).

Basically I think they’re as obsessed with the contrast between the two of them as we are, haha.

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trashboatprince · 5 years

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Got another one-shot for you guys! Super slow day at work (got sent home early), spent the time during those few hours working on an idea I’ve had in mind for a while...

Toon Bendy going to school with his mom!

Inspired by another wonderful one-shot by zanzaflux, School Days, probably my favorite of the Slice of Life series. Go check out these one-shots and the others by this author, they’re such great stories!

On with the fic!

“Okay, thank you for telling me. Yes, I’ll pick up the lesson plan from the front office when I get there. Alright, thank you, have a safe trip.” Linda replied before she hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Henry asked as he worked at the stove, cooking dinner.

“It was Mrs. Margo, she needs someone to fill in for her on Monday, she’ll be out of town for something her husband is going to and she had to go with him.” Linda spoke as she moved back to the counter where she had been working on the salad for their spaghetti dinner.

Henry nodded as he worked on stirring the pasta. “Is it just the one day?”

“Monday, yes. She’ll met me know if I have to fill in for Tuesday.”

“What’s goin’ on on Monday?”

Linda and Henry looked over at the kitchen table, seeing Bendy getting himself up on his chair, looking interested in the conversation. He had only been a toon for a short time now, it was a little surprising to hear him speak so clearly now than just the grumbles and such from before.

“Well,” Linda began as she placed the salad bowl on the table, “I just got a call to substitute for the third grade class on Monday.”

If she didn’t know any better, Linda swore she saw stars in Bendy’s eyes. “Can I come with!?” He loudly asked, nearly bouncing out of his seat.

“Uh, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, bud.” Henry frowned as he moved to drain the pasta. “I know you’re now back to your original design, but some people are still...”

Bendy pouted and slumped in his seat. “B-But Henry, I’m great wit’ kids! An’ I promise I’ll be on mah best behavior! I won’t cause any problems! I just wanna see what dis school nonsense is all about! All mah friends tell me about it. An’ besides, I know what you do for a livin’ since you work from home, but not Linda!”

Henry looked over at his wife, well... it really is up to her.

Linda sighed softly, smiling at Bendy. “Okay, but just this once. And if anyone asks about this, tell them to speak with me. Also, you better promise to be on your best behavior, young man.”

Bendy’s face lit up like the Fourth of July as he made an X over his chest. “Cross mah heart!”

Bendy was practically gonna fly out of his car seat as he sat next to Linda, the grin on his face could rival the one he has in his beast form.

She smiled a little at him as she parked in the faculty parking lot of the school and Bendy shot right out the door the moment she shut off the car. He had gotten himself ready for today, even packing his own school lunch, a notebook and pen, and his Bendy plush into the little book bag he had for trips. He even put on a sweater for this so he looked nice.

“Hey, where’s all da kids?” He asked, looking around.

“Cause it’s early, Bendy.” Linda replied as she took his hands, walking towards the front doors with him. “See, I have to come in early to get the lesson plan and to get things ready. The kids come to school in about thirty minutes or so, but you can help me get things set up.”

“Okay!” He nodded, walking into the building with her. His eyes were wide as he took in the art mural on the wall, welcoming guests to the school. There were portraits of people Bendy never heard of that seemed to be of some importance to the school’s history along a wall of a hall that let to a room.

There was a woman at a desk with big glasses and a bright pink dress that matched her nails. She looked at Bendy, her eyes looked really big in those glasses, and she blinked at him like an owl. “Mrs. Stein?” She asked, looking up at Linda.

“I’m here for Mrs. Margo’s lesson plans.” Linda smiled, still holding Bendy’s hand. “And this is my son, Mrs. Fillmore. He came with me today, don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him.

Mrs. Fillmore looked at Bendy before giving Linda folder. She continued to watch the two as they left the office. Bendy made a face, great, not even three minutes in and already people were gawking. Should have seen that coming.

It didn’t take them long to get to a classroom and Linda entered it, letting Bendy go in first as she turned on the lights. Bendy’s smile was back on his face as he looked at all the interesting things on the walls, the desk all had names on them on bright pieces of paper that were taped to the top, and that he could see a playground from the big windows along another wall.

Linda had him sit at a desk with no name on it while she wrote things on the board. He happily spoke with his mother figure about what he saw in a cartoon the other day when he noticed kids in the playground. Linda saw a blur go from the desk to the window and she blinked, seeing that Bendy was pressed against the glass. “Can I go out an’ play?”

“At recess you can, but class starts in a few minutes.” She replied, watching him pout, before he grinned, waving at a few kids who spotted him and were waving back.

Just as she said, within five minutes, Bendy heard a bell ring loudly and the students all came rushing into the school. He quickly went to the open desk and waited patiently. The door opened and students entered, many of them quickly flocking to Bendy.

“Bendy!” A boy happily announced, giving him a tight hug.

“Hiya, Norman!” Bendy replied. “Guess what! Linda let me come to school wit’ her today!”

“That’s so cool!” Another kid spoke up. “Do ya get to stay with us all day then?”

“Yep! But only if I’m on mah best behavior cause then Henry’s gotta come get me.”

The kids happily chatted with him until Linda got their attention, telling them to take their seats. Bendy grinned as he saw that he sat next to his friend Norman from their neighborhood, giving him a thumbs up. This class had a lot of kids he recognized from the neighborhood and the parks he got to go to! A few faces were new, but the kids didn’t seem scared. In fact, they looked happy and in awe of him.

“Alright, student. I’m Mrs. Stein,” Linda started, “and your teacher wants you to continue what you were doing on Friday. So, let’s start off today with where you left off in your history lesson, take out your books and we’ll get back to that.”

Bendy watched the kids open the desks and pull out books. He looked into his own, not seeing anything but a chewed up pencil. He pouted, until Norman started pushing his desk over, letting the two share his book.

School was a lot more fun than Bendy ever could have imagined. TV made it seem bothering, and some of his friends complained, but Bendy was loving this! First they learned some history about America in the early 1800s, then they did math. Bendy did find that one a little boring, but he did learn a few things!

After math was science! Bendy LOVED this one because the kids showed him the bean plants they were growing and going to see if they could keep growing until the end of the school year. They even let him use an extra bean and planter they had, writing his name on it. Bendy also drew his face on it, which prompted a few other kids to do the same.

After those classes was lunch. Bendy was quite the popular toon at lunch, lots of children came up to him and asked him questions as he ate his sandwich. He was happy to answer questions, like where he came from and how he was alive. He kept the details vague, but he summed it up as ‘ink, a film reel, and a dream!’.

Then came recess, clearly Bendy’s favorite moment of the school day. He was all over the playground, playing with a whole bunch of his friends and new ones he made at lunch! He had seen Linda speak with a few teachers during lunch and recess about him, but no one had called anyone about him, or seemed alarmed. Phew!

Once those were done, it was back to class. English was kind of fun, Bendy got to work on his reading with his ‘classmates’, even though he made it probably more entertaining than what was required for reading out loud.

How was he suppose to know he wasn’t suppose to act like that when reading the Prince and Pauper? He’s a poor entertainer, he has to shine! Luckily, Linda let him do it, and the rest of the class tried to do dramatic readings like his as well, but it was hard when everyone was laughing.

The last class of the day seemed to be a free class. Norman explained that the last class was always different for each day. For Mondays, it was art. Since there was nothing in the lesson plan that was planned for this course, Linda let them draw whatever they wanted.

“Whatcha gonna draw, Bendy?” Lily, the girl who had been sitting in front of him, asked.

“Hmm... I dunno! Sweet potato pie, there’s so many things I could draw!” Bendy shrugged.

“Draw a dragon!” Hugo grinned from his seat. “I’m drawin’ one, you can do one too!”

Harrison, the boy next to him, shook his head. “Don’t force him, I’m sure he’ll figure something out.”

“You’d think it would be easy for a cartoon to know what to draw.” Molly laughed.

“I know!” Bendy blinked, before chuckling. “I’ve got an idea! I’m gonna draw somethin’ for Linda an’ Henry.” He whispered this to the small group around him.

“That sounds cute.” Lily smiled. “What for?”

“I dunno, I guess for lettin’ me do this. I’ve had a heck of a swell day! It’s da least I can do!” Bendy grinned as he picked up his pen and got to work on the sheet of paper that had been passed out.

He had finished his drawing by the time that class was over and stuck around for a few minutes, chatting with his friends about how he’d see them when he got him. The kids departed and Bendy was left with Linda, who finished with cleaning up things around the teacher’s desk.

After they dropped off the lesson plan at the front off, Bendy happily walked with Linda to the car. He told her about what he did at lunch and recess and how he couldn’t wait to tell Henry about his day. When they got him, Bendy bolted inside of the house, loudly yelling Henry’s name in excitement.

Linda chuckled softly to herself before she noticed that Bendy had left his school bag, seeing that it was open. She saw the draw he had done for class and took it out, smiled at the art.

It was of her and Henry, in Bendy’s art style, with the little toon in the middle. In his handwriting, he had written ‘thank you, mom & dad’ at the top of the drawing.

She smiled more as she got out, going to put this on the fridge for Henry to see and for her to tease the little devil about when he saw what she had did with his thank you art.

Cheesy, cute, but I really like the idea of Bendy in school. (and if it was up to him, he’d be a student)

Also, I made a reference to an oc friend of Bendy’s from one of my own fanfics, and a few au name references in this too. :D

#bendy and the ink machine #batim #batim bendy #linda stein #henry x linda #henry stein #john's drabbles

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truemedian · 4 years

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Even a lesser John Mulaney-hosted Saturday Night Live is pretty funny

John MulaneyScreenshot: Saturday Night Live TV ReviewsAll of our TV reviews in one convenient place. “I mean a lot to a small group of people.” If your third SNL hosting gig is your weakest yet and is still consistently funny, well, you’re probably John Mulaney. The former SNL writer turned award-winning stand-up and almost apologetic actor is just funny. That’s perhaps not an enlightening way to describe the guy, but there’s a certain kind of comedian who just is. That’s Mulaney, taking the mic for his third opening monologue since he left the writers room and slaying with habitual, deceptively effortless ease. Joking about his eccentric career path to date, Mulaney explained that he is the host who’d done the least between his second and third hosting stints, his self-effacing shtick both cheeky and spot-on. (A set-ender about a Make-A-Wish girl confessing that her second choice Mulaney introducing her to that week’s guest Lin Manuel Miranda actually made her wish come true struck exactly the Mulaney sweet spot of potentially edgy and hilariously apt.) Mulaney’s always going to be Mulaney (even as a cartoon pig) his specific, knowingly oversized delivery marking him out as the funniest voice in any room. That doesn’t necessarily make for the most versatile Saturday Night Live host, but, with Mulaney’s intimacy with the show to guide things, tonight’s episode made typically fine use of one of its funniest, if most unlikely, superstar alums. But back to funny. With a sketch veteran like Mulaney in house, jokes just work better. He knows the rhythm of a sketch inside out, and slots himself into a role with the confidence of a guy who simply knows how the machine operates. (A little cue card hesitancy notwithstanding.) Which is a good thing, as the sketches tonight weren’t themselves stellar. The big news any time John Mulaney hosts these days is just whichever aspect of New York culinary-mercantile sketchiness will be the subject of a lavishly produced musical number, and, while tonight’s Broadway ode to LaGuardia Airport sushi is third in line behind (in order of undeniable delightfulness) “Diner Lobster” and “Bodega Bathroom,” it follows the overall theme of the night that third-best Mulaney on SNL is still thoroughly enjoyable SNL. Look, nothing’s ever going to capture the surprise victory of that first sketch—just like any recurring bit, there’s an element of giving the audience what they’re there to expect that saps some of the initial live-wire weirdness from the enterprise. But, apart from the central players in the set-up (Chris Redd and Mulaney as the New Yorkers horrified at Pete Davidson’s unwise choice of NYC convenience amenity), there’s a no-doubt inexhaustible well of petty New York gripes and vomit-worthy eccentricities for Mulaney and his fellow Big Apple veterans to plumb for extravagantly silly numbers whose disproportionate response is part of the gag. Here, we get Kenan as a plane-downing goose Phantom, Cecily Strong as an operatically remorseful, long-ago sushi chef (that spicy tuna is from 2018), Kate McKinnon as pretzel-hawking Auntie Orphan Annie blaming everything on de Blasio, Beck Bennett as the somehow unaccompanied baby on your flight, and—capping things off with a double dose of Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch shenanigans—musical guest David Byrne as a “Road To Nowhere”-singing “baggage handler who throws your luggage into Long Island Sound,” and Jake Gyllenhaal, rigged up to fly as the traveler in pajamas who’s creepily enthusiastic about the TSA pat-down. (“You don’t have to use the backs of your hands!”) Taking the whole show into the audience to end the sketch amidst a shower of loose-wire sparks with Byrne singing the way, the whole thing was delightfully, goofily unnecessary.

Best/Worst Sketch Of The Night

So, apart from that one, I thought Mulaney’s stand-up persona found its truest home in the Sound Of Music sketch, a musical dissection of just how creepy that whole “I am 16, going on 17" romance subplot is. With Cecily’s Liesl (in ridiculously fine voice as ever) beginning to question her beloved sort-of Nazi suitor Kurt’s blond, Aryan suitability, Mulaney keeps slipping in the sort of wise-ass asides his comedy is built around, as Kurt keeps confessing to being more like “17, going on 47" as the song goes on. (Oh, and he’s planning to move them into an apartment with a lot of suspiciously Aryan roommates, including one named Goebbels.) With Mulaney’s Kurt alternating between snarking about his beloved’s growing number of reservations (“Wow, she’s got a list.”), and smoothly crooning away her reservations about the whole Nazi thing (“Focus on the age stuff.”), the piece was a perfect use of Mulaney. Him assuring Liesl, “This is Austria, nineteen-thirty-bad: In a few weeks this will be the least of your worries,” was the ideal synthesis of host, delivery, and premise. Any sketch matching Kate and Aidy at its center is an automatic contender, and the return of their melodramatically feuding 1950s sisters in the classic Say, These Two Don’t Seem To Like Each Other gave the ever-delightful duo a chance to outdo each other with bitchy period skullduggery in advance of their shared suitor’s arrival. The joke is, once again, that their Davis-Crawford (pretty much literal) back-stabbing proves helpless against the unwitting charms of a much more conventionally attractive family member (here, Mulaney’s returning sailor and “pass-around party bottom”). Having the joke that Beck Bennett’s Admiral (somehow being promoted from Corporal last time) is in a closeted frenzy at Mulaney’s oblivious nautical sexiness (shades of Kimmy Schmidt’s “Daddy’s Boy” and Hail, Caesar!’s “No Dames”) is hacky but funny, with Beck, Kate, and Aidy all doing absurdly over-the-top mugging (including a straight-up “Ha-ga-goo-ga-goo-ga-gaaa!”) while maintaining their 1950s film noir demeanor, and I laughed at pretty much all of it. Mulaney’s gift for straight-manning (as opposed to party-bottoming) was used to fine effect again in the meme sketch, where his suburban uncle angrily whips up a slide show of college-age nephew Pete Davidson’s reddit jokes at his expense. Mulaney makes the uncle’s outrage at being the internet’s #whitecollarvirgin simultaneously righteous and comically out-of-touch, as the memes keep coming. (His awkwardly grinning Facebook profile picture overlaid with “When ya’ll kissing and she say, ‘That’ll be $200'” is introduced with Mulaney’s hilariously perplexed, “This next one was tweeted by rapper Ice-T!”) There’s not much more to the sketch but watching Mulaney flesh out a portrait of out-of-touch suburban dudgeon, but’s just so great at it. Like more than a few sketches tonight, there were some pacing/timing issues, here mainly at the expense of an ending. Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney got to do their behind-the-scenes thing with a filmed sketch about Mooney—tired of all the “geek” roles coming his way—deciding to turn their shared office into a gym in order to get cast in Mulaney’s proposed male stripper sketch. The pair’s signature self-parody here clanks alongside the admirable monstrousness of Mooney’s post-transformation prosthetics, as he immediately becomes a smugly buff, absurdly pumped-up dudebro (thanks to, among other things, the absurdist delight that is guest trainer Justin Theroux as himself), scooping a muscles-smitten Chloe Fineman into an offhand sex-date and allowing a bashful Lorne Michaels to pet his newfound bulges. Good Neighbor pals Mooney and Bennett’s humor traffics in such light cringe comedy, as clueless strivers inevitably find their lowest level, as, here, the horrifying, gravel-voiced, ’roid-gremlin version of Kyle, having made himself “less interesting” for glory, is summarily fired from the show by an unimpressed Mulaney. Lurking at the heart of most of these sketches is a mingled affection/contempt for the bottom-dwellers of the entertainment industry, pitiable losers whose lifelong consumption of TV and movies has left them convinced that they are just one big break (or Tupperware full of lean, broiled chicken breasts and a 5 p.m. bedtime) away from the stardom they just know is their birthright, and Mooney, especially, is most comfortable playing around there. (Also, filming schedules being what they are, it’s unlikely this sketch is in response to Pete Davidson’s off-weeks’ interview about being typecast on the show, but there’s a harsh but essential truth about living or dying on SNL that’s resonant throughout the bit.)

Weekend Update update

Che continues to successfully play around with his role on Update, here breaking from a joke about the growing coronavirus threat to muse about his fears that they’ll play an Update clip of him mocking the typically lame and self-serving Trump administration response to the crisis at his funeral. In what former SNL-er Al Franken would call “kidding on the square,” Che confessed to “sitting here pretending to care about politics,” before whipping off his clip-on tie, whipping out a tumbler of something brown (“Why am I hiding my drinking problem?”), and, finally, donning a crooked baseball cap as he essayed the role of a Michael Che who’s finally been broken by all the world’s unrelenting horseshit. It’s a blessedly funny move, carried out through the rest of Update (“You know, I just found out I might have a kid?,” he’s heard mumbling after the camera cuts back to the straight-faced Colin Jost), and it adds a frisson of reckless abandon to his side of the proceedings that’s sloppily energizing. “I feel free,” he exclaims at one point, and his story about his beloved grandma telling him, “We are living in our last days,” lands satisfyingly, before Che rambles on to rebut granny’s “no white girls” rule. (“I work in show business, that’s unrealistic.”) Joining in on the cold open’s queasy mockery of the prospect of noted fundamentalist and science skeptic Mike Pence leading the uninspiring cadre of sycophants, yes-men, and non-doctors Trump put in charge of fighting a potentially deadly outbreak of disease, Che did resort to yet another SNL “Mike Pence is secretly gay” joke. And I could have done without the “Chinese people eating dogs” joke when supposedly defending the virus hotspot, too, although, for Che, loosening up seems to come yoked to being sort of an asshole. Otherwise, Update’s cracks at the news of the day went as usual. Jost let Trump hang himself with his own slurred nonsense (Thank god we have “different elements of medical” on the coronavirus front), and—echoing Trump’s rhetorical gambit of using supposedly overheard chatter to disseminate patently absurd nonsense to the world—deftly managed to get the hashtag #TrumpSlump trending during the show when talking about what he’s definitely heard people calling the precipitous stock market losses since Trump started babbling incoherently about the “hoax” outbreak of a rapidly accelerating infectious disease outbreak. Hey, if that’s the world of public discourse we live in at this point, then fighting hashtag with hashtag is fair game, so good on you, Jost. Chris Redd, taking the well-known SNL path of making yourself a showcase on Update when you’re being underused elsewhere, put together a solid few minutes as himself, commenting on the just-concluding Black History Month. As with most such pieces, the jokes sprayed all over the place, although nominally anchored to the central premise that, as Redd put it, black people “took too many Ls” for Black History Month this year. Straying into politics while keeping his eyes on the joke, he ably described SC primary winner Joe Biden as Joe “I have a black friend” Biden, and noted how watching the garrulously long-winded Biden give a speech is like “watching an old man parallel park his thoughts for 20 minutes.” On Trump’s hastily disseminated photo of himself surrounded by the handful of black Trump supporters he could get to pray over him, Redd, in his best turn of phrase, described the gathered worshipful as “White House negroes,” and ran down some of the more egregiously misguided corporate appropriations of Black History Month, including that credit card that makes it look like Harriet Tubman is either saluting Wakanda or “she got recaptured.” Weekend Update has long been a place for cast members to present their own, individualized versions of the newsreader gig, and, should Jost follow through on his suggested post-election departure, this is about as good a tryout as Redd could give.

“What do you call that act?” “The Californians!”—Recurring sketch report

The John Mulaney “I hate New York” Musical Showcase; the Kate-and-Aidy 1940s Femmes Fatale Extravaganza.

“It was my understanding there would be no math”—Political comedy report

Hey, everyone’s going to get super-sick! So that’s funny. Or it could be, I suppose, if the cold open didn’t shy away from the aforementioned flop-sweat generator that is Mike (“condoms don’t work, pray away AIDS, smoking doesn’t kill, climate change is a myth, intelligent design”) Pence is in charge of mustering the nation’s medical defenses to wheeze into another underwhelming Democratic slate sketch. Again, the joke that noted frothing gay-basher Pence is in the closet is (whatever the truth may be) beyond played out at this point, although at least Beck Bennett’s strident Pence nodding toward his willful disregard of scientific truth by calling the coronavirus a test of his faith “like dinosaur bones, or Timothée Chalamet” was half-smart. And Kenan Thompson coming out as Ben Carson (“the brain surgeon that they put in charge of house development”) was the usual hoot, with Kenan’s approximation of Carson’s singsong cadence making his dire predictions about the toll of the virus extra alarming, especially to Pence, who hurriedly shoves Carson aside for straying from the administration’s sweaty “All is well!” public stance on the topic. That things veered suddenly into a another stealth Dem candidate sketch could have served to hammer on the theme, I suppose (although simply following through on the premise might have been an idea, too.) But things quickly turned into the same unsatisfying quick-hit impressions and internecine sniping among the candidates, an exercise that’s seeming more and more like a slightly unimpressive audition process for who’s going to be the eventual nominee. (Sort of like the much of the actual remaining Democratic field, but I digress.) Honestly, only the (increasingly unlikely looking) prospect of a four-year Elizabeth Warren-Kate McKinnon reign holds any interest for me at this point, McKinnon’s spot-on impression the only one to go much beyond the surface into something more substantive. (You know, like the actual Warren, but I digress.) As for the rest, we have ringers like Larry David’s Bernie Sanders and Fred Armisen’s Mike Bloomberg. And while who doesn’t like David’s gabbling, kvetchy Sanders, there are some issues. Namely that SNL can’t think of much to do besides grumpy old candidate jokes with the surging potential nominee (although a passing reference to Bernie’s “Castro wasn’t all bad” remarks this week at least nodded toward actual engagement). Also, as much fun as Larry seems to be having coming back to 30 Rock every other week, it’s unclear if he’s on board for a theoretical Alec Baldwin-style regular gig should Sanders win. As for Bloomberg—meh. He’s not going anywhere politically, and, as primly humorous as is Armisen’s shrugging rich guy approach to this whole “let the poor people decide” thing is, it’s yet another role whose farming out to a higher profile outsider continues to signal the show’s lack of confidence in its in-house talent. Same goes for Rachel Dratch’s Amy Klobuchar, whose best hope at this point is a Vice Presidential gig (on both fronts). There’s nothing wrong with any of these funny people or what they’re doing per se. It’s more that there’s no reason for them to be there, and that these sketches remain irritatingly shallow. On the in-house side, that seeming lack of confidence appears not so much borne out in these openers as untested. Sure, Colin Jost barely tries to conceal how unsuited he is to play college chum Pete Buttigieg, and the absence of other ringer (and other Dem impersonation I could stand to see more of) Jason Sudeikis saw the Joe Biden spot going to Mulaney (who would likely be the first to admit that celebrity impressions aren’t in his wheelhouse). But, what with SNL’s proven disregard for gender-appropriate political casting of late, the fact that able mimics Melissa Villaseñor and Chloe Fineman and nimble actresses Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim remain on the bench is increasingly vexing. As for the actual sketch, it was the same too-glib drive-by, with only Warren’s gloating over her debate trouncing of Bloomberg registering, in McKinnon’s lived-in performance, with any juice. Meh.

I am hip to the musics of today

Goddamn, that was great, as David Byrne (late of the aforementioned Sack Lunch Bunch), joined Mulaney and delivered a pair of electric live performances. He did “One In A Lifetime” first, and it’s striking just how Byrne keeps that well-trod Talking Heads song from receding into classic hits predictability in performance. That song is as weird and satirically biting as ever, as much as its ubiquity threatens to turn it into just another toothless oldie, and, with his identically grey-suited backup musicians all channeling that old Stop Making Sense spirit with their non-stop individualized choreography and musicianship, the song—with the 67-year-old Byrne holding center stage, as deceptively limber as ever—was a showstopper. So, too, the rousing second number, the Byrne-penned “Toe Jam,” where Byrne ceded even more time for each member of his expansive musical team to shake their stuff in the individual spotlight. Easily one of the most enjoyable musical guests in years, Byrne remains a one-man show unafraid to let others steal the show. Just bottomless fun.

Most/Least Valuable Not Ready For Prime Time Player

Not building sketches around the proven talents of performers like Nwodim, Fineman, Villaseñor, and Gardner just seems perverse at this point. SNL’s second line looks thin in the talent department because nobody’s making use of them. The LaGuardia extravaganza gave Cecily, Kenan, Kate, and Beck plenty to sink their teeth into, but Cecily’s second singing showcase of the night puts her on top.

“What the hell is that thing?”—The Ten-To-Oneland Report

Well, at least we got Chris Redd’s welcome and funny comic tribute to Black History Month on Update, so the muddled mush of the Jackie Robinson sketch can stay the ten-to-one oddity it is. Kenan is delightful, don’t get me wrong. As the lone black man to boo color-line-busting legend Robinson, his Dodgers fan Terrence “The Enlarged Heart” Washington was a funny construction, his petty jealousies trumping any sense of racial pride or loyalty. As the 1940s white fans around him look on puzzled at Washington’s animosity toward the first black MLB player, Kenan makes his frustrated non-ballplayer’s grudge almost but never quite hilarious, although the way his bewildering heckling keeps igniting pockets of revealing racism beneath the white fans’ sporting loyalties is fairly pointed. Beck Bennett’s loudmouth fan immediately starts an “Oh, so it’s all right to boo white guys?!” side-argument that ultimately and inevitably sees him getting carried away by telling Robinson to go back to the Negro Leagues where he belongs. Still, the funniest joke is when Kenan, berated by bleacher-mate Mulaney for talking that way in front of his kid, notices the young black child sitting next to him and exclaims, “I don’t know this kid!” Stray observations Kate, as The Sound Of Music’s Maria, sings her own reassurance concerning her relationship with the Captain, “I’m old enough, but it’s still kind of dicey.” Jost, on Joe Biden’s resurgent Democratic primary win in South Carolina: “But, in keeping with South Carolina tradition, the losers will get the statues.” (In front of photo of a Confederate monument.) Mulaney’s monologue has me scanning the internet to see if he’s scored another Netflix special yet. (Not yet, apparently.) From going as close to the edge as he gets with jokes about Jesus forgetting to do magic on the one occasion he could really have used it, to that Make-A-Wish anecdote, to a great run about how crappy the Founding Fathers really were, to a straight-up joke about Trump being stabbed to death Caesar-style by some senators, it was tight and focused and very, very funny. On that assassination joke, Mulaney reassured everyone, “I asked my lawyer if I could make that joke, and he said, ‘Let me call another lawyer,’ and that lawyer said yes.” Mulaney’s Kurt, to Liesl: “Oh, age is just a number that the government keeps track of.” Redd kids on the square that the withdrawal of all black candidates for president has meant less airtime for him. After Che—still in booze-swilling carefree mode—jokes that Ash Wednesday is the one day a year when Catholics can indulge in “a little bit of blackface,” Jost signs off, laughing, “For Weekend Update, I’m Catholic . . .” All welcome Che’s proposed new Houston Astros mascot, Cheatie the Camera. Before Davidson’s customer makes his ill-gated sushi purchase, he and Redd buy “a Chobani yogurt with no spoon to eat it with” and “a $15 dollar Dasani, extra plastic.” Once more the show ended awfully abruptly, so here are the full goodnights again. Good night! Daniel Craig and The Weeknd next week! Read More Read the full article

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titankaempfer · 7 years

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Changes from Death Note (Manga) to Death Note (Netflix)

As I watched the Death Note Netflix yesterday, I wanted to share every big change and movie mistake if noticed so far. Feel free to add more if you noticed any more.

This post may include spoilers, so becareful.

Characters: Light Yamagi

Light's surname is changed to Turner.

Light became actually pretty dumb.

Light is never dening being Kira. He even goes far enough to instantly tell Mia that he has a death note with the ability to kill people and shows her the power.

Light is really loving Mia, instead of using her for his purpose.

Light's mother was killed by a mob boss and also has no sister.

Misa Amane

Misa is renamed to Mia Sutton.

Mia is not a goth lolita but a cheerleader.

Mia is more Light Yagami than Light himself is.

L. was changed from a pale white guy to a black guy.

L. is clothed like one of those hacker movie hacker guys.

L. actually shows himself on a live TV broadcast, telling Kira to kill him if he can, instead of using someone else to portrait as him. (This was also a pretty dumb move, because if Kira would have been able to kill him, he wouldn't have reached anything, as he couldn't even help in investigation)

Watari seems to act like a father figure to L.

While L. still has some of his quirks like his "addiction" to sweets and the way he sits, he loses some others like the way he holds a phone.

After Wataris death, L. wants to kill Light.

Soichiro Yagami

His name is changed to James Turner.

He eventually finds out about Light being Kira, but instead of being disappointed of his actions or seeing him as the bad guy, he is only asking him how he had done it.

Events:

Light meets Ryuk before writing his first victim into the notebook. While in anime and manga he was prepared for his appearance, Netflix Light is freaking out and screaming out of fear.

The first victim of the death note is not a real criminal but a bully called “Kenny Doyle", who gets beheaded by a ladder.

After killing the first victim and the murderer of his mother, Light shows the death note to Mia and even kills a person via a live crime scene broadcast to show her it's real, just to impress her (which works).

Mia and Light starting a Sex & Kill-Session.

Light uses the death note to let different cell inmates in different countries write a message in perfect japanese on the walls, saying it was the justice of Kira.

L. is first seen investigating a night club in Tokyo. He later reappears in Seattle having a live broadcast, showing himself.

The FBI agents getting killed by Mia, using a taser on the first FBI-Agent, writting down his name in the death note and also adding to add the other FBI-Agents names in the book.

Light tries using Watari to find out the name of L., but wants to spare him, by burning the page before his death will take place.

Mia writes down Lights name, so he is not able to spare Watari.

Mia is killed by the death note, falling from the ferris wheel, removing the page with Lights name and the page falling into a burning barrel, while Light falls into the water were he is later saved by a medic and put into a artifical coma that lasts 2 days. (This however is the only time Light planned something, as the medic was someone controlled by the death note as well as the other old man that retrieves the death note from the water, to fill in more names of criminals, while Light is in coma, returning the death note to him and later kills himself.)

Other:

The whole scenario gets americanized, with the whole film playing in Seattle and all characters becoming american people.

The movies takes places around 2016/2017 (as ISIS is mentioned, while Light and Mia scrolls trough the list of criminals).

The death note was already filled with a bunch of names (mostly french names and names of important historical persons), instead of being empty.

Some deaths are actually pretty Final Destination like.

The shinigami can only be seen by the owner of the death note instead of everyone that touches the death note.

Mia and Light share the same death note instead of each having one themself.

The shinigami eyes are not used or maybe don't even exist.

Some rules in the death note seems to be changed. The rule telling that if "the death leads to the death of more than the intended, the person will simply die of a heart attack.", does not exist in the movie, as he was able to let "Abdul-adl Aswad" eating a grenade, letting himself and other terrorists die in an explosion, as well as having a whole train crashed possibly killing more than the criminial he wanted. It is also really unlikely that every person in the Tokyo night club was on the death notes list.

Another rule changed: You lose ownership of the death note if you're not owning it for 7 days instead of the 490 days in the original.

Another rule changed: The death note only operates within 2 days instead of the 23 days of the original.

Another rule changed: The death note also seems to allow for "if" entries, as one was to kill Mia IF she is taking the death note away.

A new rule is added: It is possible for a death to be canceled if the page is destroyed by the one writing down the name. However, it is only possible one time.

Mistakes:

Light tells Mia not to freak out when she sees Ryuk, as she touches the notebook. However, as the rule for everyone touching the notebook seeing Ryuk doesn't exist in this world, it is unknown where Light even gets the idea of telling Mia to do so from.

There is no reason for Jin Hwang (a korean officer) to be listed in a wanted list of the police, as his crimes were never commited in America, but in Korea.

Jin Hwang gets killed by Mia and Light, as they write "electrocution" in their book. However his head is being blown up by this and this is no the way electrocution works.

Light uses the word "Kira" as his nickname and says it means "Light" in russian and "Killer" in japanese. Both facts are actually wrong. The russian word for light would be "Svet" and "Kira" is just the japanese pronunciation of the english word "Killer".

L.'s conclusion that Kira needs a name and a face to kill, was right, but there was nothing that would prove his point. Kira could have simply not seen the news broadcast or not even have been in Seattle. His only evidence is that he himself still lived (as his name and face was unknown to Kira).

L. says that Kira must be in Seattle, as the case of the criminal “James Brode” was only shown in local news. However, Light just searched for “Live Crime Scene” in the internet, which would mean that anyone world wide could have seen this.

All FBI Agents die by jumping of the same buildings roof, but except for the first FBI Agent, there were no causes of death written down. This means that every agent except for the first one should have died of heart attacks instead of suicides.

When Light says he will put Ryuk's name in the death note to kill him, Ryuk says that his name is 4 letters long, but nobody has ever found out more than 2, while is name was already written in the death note in form of a warning (which wouldn't even matter, as if it was possible to kill a shinigami with a death note, it would have already taken place, as his name was actually written in the death note, by someone knowing him)

The death note was able to effect Watari by just writing down "Watari". However this is neither his full name nor his real name nor does Light even know what Watari looks like. Therefore it should not have taken any effects.

When L. wanted to kill Light, he was stopped by some guy believing in Kira’s justice. However there would be no reason for the man to only knock out L. if he was a true Kira believer, as L. was the man who tried to stop and in this case even kill Kira. He didn't even knock him out as part of self defence, making the man commiting a crime no matter how you look at it.

#Death Note (Netflix)#Movie Mistakes #Changes #spoiler #spoilers

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angelofberlin2000 · 7 years

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Keanu Reeves, Crispin Glover, Roxana Zal, Josh Richman, Daniel Roebuck and Ione Skye. (Photo by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty Images)

An Oral History of 'River's Edge,' 1987's Most Polarizing Teen Film

Matt Gilligan

May 9 2017, 6:00pm

From Keanu's first big role to Crispin Glover's weirdest wigs, a look back at the making of the indie thriller.

The 1987 film River's Edge was a film that shocked audiences and critics alike with its depiction of aimless teenagers in a dead-end town. Roger Ebert called the film "an exercise in despair" and "the best analytical film about a crime since The Onion Field and In Cold Blood." "Bleak" is the word that sums up Tim Hunter's groundbreaking film.

River's Edge is a fictionalized account of a 1981 murder case in Milpitas, California, in which 16-year-old Anthony Jacques Broussard strangled 14-year-old Marcy Conrad and dumped her body near the foothills outside of town. For two days, Conrad's murder went unreported, as Broussard brought classmates from Milpitas High School to view Conrad's dead body. The story received widespread media attention as parents grappled with tough questions: Were America's children completely amoral? What did they believe in? Did they believe in anything?

Working from a script by Neal Jimenez, Hunter's film offered a dark, intense portrait of troubled teenagers. The kids in River's Edge stood in direct contrast to the shiny, plastic teenagers that movie audiences were accustomed to seeing in the mid-to-late 1980s. These young people were the anti-Brat Pack: They drank, smoked weed, popped pills, and seemingly had no moral compass and no role models.

The film's characters also looked different than the polished mallrats of other 80s films; they perfected the "grunge" look years before the American mainstream had even heard of the term. The film's soundtrack also strayed from most contemporary films, featuring metal and punk bands such as Slayer, Hallow's Eve, Agent Orange, and the Wipers—the perfect soundtrack for a story about alienated young people with no hope and no direction. The cast featured a combination of young, dynamic actors, and one legendary Hollywood hellraiser in the midst of a monumental comeback after a public downfall with booze and drugs.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of River's Edge, I spoke with six people involved in making the film to get their thoughts, stories, and opinions about its backstory and legacy.

BEFORE River's Edge

Daniel Roebuck (Actor): My career before River's Edge was the black void of space—not unlike what was here before the Big Bang. I got the lead role in a movie called Cavegirl, and that [was it].

Tim Hunter (Director): My father was a screen and TV writer, so I was a movie brat. I always knew I wanted to [make movies] from an early age. I made a bunch of woeful student films, and I was included in the first class at the American Film Institute in 1970.

Ione Skye (Actor): I grew up in LA and my brother [Donovan Leitch] was auditioning for things, but I didn't want to be an actor. I had modeled for friends, and that was the extent of my involvement in the industry because I was in high school.

Midge Sanford (Producer): My partner Sarah Pillsbury won an Academy Award for a short film she produced but she couldn't get a job in the business. She decided to start a production company. We met, and she told me about her company. I felt ready to jump into it. Sarah was able to raise $450,000 to get us started, so we had money to option scripts and books. if we didn't have that development fund, it would've been difficult for anybody to pay attention to us. Having a little bit of money helped us option material that we really liked.

THE SCRIPT

Neal Jimenez (Screenwriter): There was a news story about a kid who dumped a body and took his friends to see it. I was in a screenplay class at UCLA, and I wrote it for the class. Most of the characters were based on people I had gone to high school with. I thought it spoke to a mood that young people were feeling at the time—feeling detached from things and wanting to zone out. I entered a screenplay contest that was judged by fellow students. One of them was doing an internship with a production company that [producer] Amy Pascal was involved with. He gave it to her and she gave it to the person who became my agent, who gave it to Midge and Sarah.

Sanford: We thought the script was really good. If somebody had pitched us this idea in our office or at a lunch, I don't think either one of us would have responded so positively to it because it was so dark. But it was already written, so we could see it on the page and imagine it as a movie. We were fans of Tim's, so we sent him the script.

Hunter: I was dubious. I didn't want to do another teen picture. But the script was so incredibly good. I called them back instantly and told them I had to do it.

Sanford: Tim said, "My agent's gonna kill me, but I want to do it."

Hunter: There was another director in the running, and I really lobbied hard for it. Midge and Sarah had been showing the script to studios in the $5 million range—nobody would touch it because it was so dark.

Sanford: I remember somebody saying, "I read the script and I think it's really good, but it's very disturbing and I couldn't get it out of my mind." My thought was, that's why you make a movie.

Hunter: As part of my lobbying campaign, I said I'd make it for a million dollars. All of the sudden, it was possible to submit it to a number of young indie companies that were popping up at the time.

Sanford: Hemdale were a small company that made some very good movies, like Salvador and Hoosiers. They really responded to the script and said they would finance it with Tim as the director.

Hunter: It was in pre-production four months later. We were trying to make it as inexpensively as possible. The final budget, I think, was $1.7 million.

Carrie Frazier (Casting Director): They had to hire someone like me who needed the job but wasn't looking for a big paycheck. The first time I read the script, I loved it. I thought it was powerful and weirdly funny, and it had a darkness that was rooted in reality in a way that I hadn't seen before.

Director Tim Hunter with cast and crew on the banks of the American River in Sacramento (credit Daniel Roebuck)

ASSEMBLING THE TEAM

Hunter: We set up shop in an old film production building on Victory Boulevard in the Valley. We didn't have money to offer it to any of John Hughes' Brat Pack crowd, so we auditioned dozens of young actors.

Skye: Every teenager in town who was acting was excited about [auditioning]. My mom's friend took a picture of me for LA Weekly, and the casting director saw it. My brother came home from school and said, "You want to audition for this movie? The casting director asked about you." I read the scenes they had us audition for, and I was like, "Wow, this is good." I thought it was dark—I admired it. I never did well in school—I was in Hollywood High, I was ditching classes. I didn't want to go [audition] because I was terrified, but I pushed myself to audition and I got it.

Roebuck: I put on a costume, and KY jelly in my hair to make it look greasy. On the way to the audition, I stopped by a 7-11 by my house in Hollywood, bought two beers, and put them in my coat pocket. When I walked into the room, I sat in the corner and popped open the beer, and Tim grabbed his camera and started shooting. I think he was seeing something in that moment that was unique, different, and real.

Frazier: When [Keanu Reeves] came in, he hadn't done anything and wasn't being represented by anybody. He was what's called a hip-pocket client, meaning they didn't know if they wanted to sign him—they were just testing him out. He walked in the door, and I went, "Oh my god, this is my guy!" It was just because of the way he held his body—his shoes were untied, and what he was wearing looked like a young person growing into being a man. I was over the moon about him.

Sanford: For Dennis Hopper's role ['Feck'], we sent the script to Harry Dean Stanton, who passed. Apparently, Harry Dean Stanton passed on a lot of scripts and gave them to Dennis.

Hunter: I initially hoped that John Lithgow would play it, but it was too dark for John—he wanted no part of it. We had some reluctance that it might be typecasting for Dennis, but ultimately we wanted him very badly and we needed Hemdale to come up with a little extra money for him. I threatened to cast Timothy Carey, who was in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing and John Cassavetes's The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. He was brilliant, but also a well-known wild man who never stuck to a script—he'd ad lib and be quite disruptive. The thought of having Timothy Carey in the picture finally convinced Hemdale to come up with that small amount of money to pay Dennis to do it.

Roebuck: When they said it was Dennis Hopper, I almost shit myself.

Sanford: I think Crispin Glover came in [to audition] with a wig and an outrageous take on the part. He was so out there that Sarah and I were a little nervous about what he was doing. But we trusted him and felt like it would work out in the end.

Frazier: There was one part that was surprisingly tricky to cast: the dead body, Jamie. [We were like,] "Oh shit, who's gonna play that part?" I started to meet people who were young and could be comfortable naked. We had this wonderful young actress come in, Danyi Deats. She had to lie there cold and naked for days and really look dead, with all this makeup all over her. She's an unsung hero.

Corey Haim on set as "Tim" before he was replaced by Joshua Miller because of an illness (Credit: Jane O'Neal)

THE PRODUCTION

Hunter: We originally cast Corey Haim, but he got sick after the first day of production—pneumonia or something—and we had to let him go.

Hunter: The big challenge was nature. Neal Jimenez grew up in Sacramento, so we went there to shoot on the American River. There was a huge storm and flood when we started shooting, so the company that was bonding the picture didn't want us anywhere near Sacramento.

Sanford: We tried to find a river in LA. The LA River was pretty dry. There were creeks in Malibu—nothing that looked like a river.

Hunter: At the very last minute, before we were scheduled to go up to Sacramento, the waters ebbed and everybody made it up there. Coming off the heels of the storm and flood, the water had that wild, raging, marvelous quality that it didn't have before.

Hunter: I settled on Tujunga for the major locations—a community up in the foothills above Burbank that was originally settled in the first part of the century. It was an area where people with tuberculosis could come to sanatoriums for the clean air. By the time we shot River's Edge, it had become a smog pocket—but it was full of river rock houses that gave it a "land that time forgot" feeling.

Josh Richman, director Tim Hunter, Daniel Roebuck, and Crispin Glover on set (Credit: Jane O'Neal)

THE CAST

Sanford: We were doing a table read and Dennis Hopper walks in wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. It was such a funny image, because you think of Dennis Hopper as this kind of outlaw. When we were making the movie, the only thing that he hadn't quit was smoking, and he was trying to stop.

Hunter: Hopper was wonderful. He'd just cleaned up his act and was very proud of it. He made himself available to all of those kids—who idolized him—and he rehearsed with them extensively. It was a really good experience.

Roebuck: We'd be sitting in a school gymnasium where we were having dinner late, and [the Apocalypse Now documentary] Hearts of Darkness hadn't come out yet, so he'd enlighten me with great stories about that. He'd take his shots at me, too. I'd miss a mark and he'd say, "A better actor could hit his mark," and he'd miss his mark and I'd say, "A younger actor could hit his mark." We laughed a lot. Anything Dennis Hopper said was about 10,000 times more interesting than anything I could have ever conceived of. He'd lived such an extraordinary life.

Skye: We were all fascinated with Crispin Glover. I was so impressed with his boldness, because I was very interested in not being a fool. Over the years, I've loosened up, and I was very influenced by Crispin. He's just one of those great actors who seemed very real but also could be just completely out there. I'll be honest with you, I love Crispin Glover. I think he is one of the most unique and interesting people I've ever met in my life.

RECEPTION

Roebuck: I had this private screening at a screening room on Sunset Boulevard one night. I invited my closest friends to see it. I met this guy Duane Whitaker when we were extras on General Hospital—he went on to be in Pulp Fiction—and he was the only one who said, "This is a great movie, and they're gonna be talking about it in 30 years." And he was 100% right.

Skye: The first time I saw it was a small screening, and it was very surreal—like I was on acid or something. I saw it later with a bigger screening with the whole cast. We saw a lot of dark humor in it, and had a good time. The audience didn't know how to take it—they were just shocked by the whole thing.

Jimenez: I remember being surprised by Crispin Glover's performance, which took me a while to warm up to. But as years went by, I really grew to like it.

Sanford: Some executives from a small distribution company wouldn't look at us [after a festival screening]. People either embraced it or were very put off by it. It didn't get picked up right away.

Hunter: I went to every goddamn festival screening I could. The reactions were good, but it didn't really take off until Sundance.

Sanford: The head of marketing at Island Pictures, Russell Schwartz, loved the movie and said, "I don't know how I'm gonna sell this movie, but I'm gonna figure it out." He was relentless.

Hunter: The screening I remember most before the film opened was in San Jose, near Milpitas, where the actual murder had taken place. A lot of the audience was up in arms, saying, "Why are you raking us over the coals again? Why are you bringing this all back? We've had enough notoriety with this murder case." But the principal of the local high school and people from the police department came up to us afterward and said that we'd really gotten it right—that's what those kids were like.

Dennis Hopper with director Tim Hunter (Credit: Jane O'Neal)

LEGACY

Sanford: It's held up. Teenagers take themselves very seriously, and this movie was a morality play. What would you do? And it's not just about kids. What if you found out your husband had killed somebody? What's your moral stance? People are still murdered, and people still don't tell. Kids can still feel alienated from society, too. If having a legacy means will it continue to have meaning to people years later, then it feels to me like it will.

Roebuck: It was so evocative of that moment in time. There were other movies about teenage angst, but because [River's Edge] was based on something real, it immediately shocked people.

Skye: It had a certain quality to it that was above and beyond certain indies. It was the beginning of my career, too. I thought it would be a one-off thing—"I was once in a movie"— but when I was approached by agents at a screening, I thought, "I can do this."

Frazier: I saw the movie recently and I was impressed by how well it held up. It's a cautionary tale. I don't think it's far away from where a lot of kids function these days.

Hunter: The fact that the film is still shown and that people still come up to me and say that it meant something to them means a lot to me. My legacy is that I made one film that made a difference to some people. It's not necessarily an auteur's career, but I'm not so unhappy about it, either. After River's Edge, I turned a lot of stuff down that I probably shouldn't have turned down. The features that I made weren't successful, and I went largely into television, as many directors do. The main thing for me is that I just love directing, so I've enjoyed [working in television] more than I would've if I'd had to wait four years between features. For me, the legacy of River's Edge is that I got to make it. I had such admiration for Neal's script that I remember thinking, "Please God, just one more in my career as good as this one." It hasn't happened yet, but gee, it was a good script.

(x)

_____

Thanks to Ayako Ueda for finding and sharing !

#keanu reeves #river's edge

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cinematicbydigrazia-en · 7 years

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Welcome to the Oscars 2017: who will win, who should win. My analysis and guide into the most important night of Hollywood.

We are back for another year of surprises, snubs and, at times, predictable awards. Tonight will be full of fancy dresses, brand new memes and political undertones in every speech of the night. But, in between a beautiful dress and an A-lister falling gracefully in the red carpet, a film will be crowned as the best of 2016 or, at least, Hollywood’s favourite.

I usually make several posts analysing the most important categories with a couple weeks to go before the big awards. But as this year I’ve been busy with some creative work of my own, I am going to try to summarise my usual rant in a single post. So prepare for a long, and hopefully interesting, look into tonight’s show. And if you need tips to fill your ballot, you can always count on me!

Actor in a Supporting Role

After the surprising turn it took last year when Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) took the coveted award over clear favourite Sylvester Stallone (Creed), it seems this year this may be one of the most predictable categories in this year’s Oscars.

This year, we have three first timers in this category, one of them as young as 20. Alongside them are veterans Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals, one previous nomination) and Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water, 1 Oscar, 5 previous nominations). The awards season has been pretty divided (the Golden Globe went to an actor who wasn’t even nominated to the Oscars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals), but there seems to be a clear winner.

Who will win: Marhershala Ali (Moonlight) is the obvious frontrunner. He has won the Critics’ Choice Award and the Actors Guild. And although Dev Patel (Lion) snitched the BAFTA just two weeks ago, it seems Ali is a locked deal for every ballot around the net.

Who should win: Marheshala Ali isn’t only the favourite but, in my opinion, the best out of a bunch of really talented actors. His performance in Moonlight, although brief, was intense, powerful and moving. His character also drove the main character’s growth into the different stages of life.

Among the other nominees, it is worth to mention Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea). Although only 20 years old, newcomer Hedges’ performance was incredible and touching, a great portrait of growing up and dealing with grief.

Actress in a Supporting Role

A year after the Academy was called out for not nominating any people of colour in the acting categories for two years in a row, it seems it has finally reacted to the heavy criticism. And this is the category with the most diversity this year.

Everyone except Naomie Harris (Moonlight) has already been nominated at least once before. This includes two actresses who have already been winners: Nicole Kidman (nominated this year for Lion) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures). Viola Davis (Fences) is a third time nominee and Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea), a four timer.

Who will win: Viola Davis has this award in the bag. She has won big during the whole season: Golden Globe, BAFTA, Actors’ Guild, Critics’ Choice. It’d be a real upset if anyone else won. No one is even considering another possibility.

Who should win: Viola Davis has been playing incredible roles for years, both on TV and on film. After not winning for The Help in 2012 (film for which her category buddy Octavia Spencer did win), it is only right she wins for her amazing performance in Fences. Her portrayal is emotional and raw, difficult to find in cinema nowadays.

My personal favourite, though, had to be the incredible Naomie Harris in Moonlight. Her performance was, as Viola’s, raw and deep. However, Michelle Williams’ intensity was probably, and regrettably, the thing I liked the least about an otherwise beautiful film.

Actor in a Leading Role

This may be the closest race of the night. Once a clear win for Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Denzel Washington (Fences) has sneaked into the predictions in the last few weeks and seems to be ready to win.

Although the race is clearly a 50/50 in between those two actors, months ago it seemed like nominee Ryan Gosling (La La Land) also had a chance. Unfortunately, his Golden Globe winning in January deflated and it seems it will be the film that takes the awards, not him. First time nominee Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) is a long shot, but it is easy to see this has been his best year yet (also starring in Scorsese’s Silence) and we will probably see him back in the Oscars in many years to come. Finally, Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) comes to his second nomination in a little known but highly praised role that both critics and audience have acclaimed since the film premiered in Sundance last year.

Who will win: It is such a 50/50 that I have been struggling for weeks and still struggle to call a final choice. Although the maths clearly point to Casey Affleck (a 49.5% according to Ben Zauzmer’s Maths Predictions on The Hollywood Reporter), Denzel Washington is said to be the favourite by most experts (at least since he won the Actors’ Guild a few weeks ago). Affleck did win the Golden Globe, the BAFTA and the Critics’ Choice (an almost complete sweep), but scandal has been following him the whole race for a sexual harassment suit filed against him in 2010.

I wouldn’t say for sure, but the development in the last few weeks seem to give Denzel Washington a small lead. But don’t be surprised if Casey Affleck manages to win tonight.

Who should win: When all is said and done and if we leave out anything that isn’t just performances, I would have to say Casey Affleck should win. His performance was really good and he he carried the enormous emotional weight of this film almost sorely on his shoulders. Although Denzel Washington was great, Fences was a bit too theatrical to me, seeming to forget cinema doesn’t have the same rules, even for its actors.

Actress in a Leading Role

This is a category that has had me thinking a lot this season. Not because the winner is a tough call (it hasn’t been for the past few weeks), but because of how it is decided who is leading and who is supporting. Because, honestly, wouldn’t you say Viola Davis was a main character in Fences? I’m also conflicted by the wonderful Amy Adams not being nominated for any of her performances this year (Arrival, Nocturnal Animals).

But going back to the race, it is a pretty easy call. Natalie Portman (Jackie) may have had a possibility back in January, but the road to the Oscar has been pretty clear for Emma Stone (La La Land) ever since.E

In this category, we also see legend Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) achieving her 20th acting nomination. French actress Isabelle Huppert (Elle) gets a consolation nomination after the film was forgotten in the Foreign Film category. Finally, Ruth Negga (Loving) gets her first nomination in a year in which she starred in both an incredible film (Loving, 89% on RottenTomatoes) and in a poorly received blockbuster (Warcraft, 28%).

Who will win: Emma Stone seems to have no competitors this year. After being nominated two years ago for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), she has won almost everything this year. The only exception is the Critics’ Choice, which went to Natalie Portman. But Stone has her award pretty secured, a 67.8% according to maths.

Who should win: Hard call. There were many amazing performances this year, all of them earning high praise. Personally, I loved Portman’s Jackie, but I have to say Emma Stone was my favourite. Although it isn’t a difficult role, she shined in La La Land. Particularly, her performance during the audition scene was one for the books. I already rooted for her two years ago (when, for me, she unfairly lost against an only decent Patricia Arquette), so she is my pick this year.

Best Picture

Nine films will fight tonight for the biggest award of the night. All of them have been praised by the critics and, honestly, I think we have had one of the strongest years in the past few years. Also, it has been one of the most low-key. Many of the films weren’t very popular before awards season, and only raised to be well known once award season chatter started.

From sci-fi Arrival to the masterpiece that is Moonlight, these are all stories about humanity, finding oneself and, well, surviving in life when everything seems against you.

Who will win: It would be a surprise if La La Land didn’t win the night. It has tied Titanic and All About Eve at 14 nominations. It has won awards all over the globe. It has been highly praised by both critics and audience. It has even suffered the Frozen effect, meaning it had so much praise and hype around it, that people (even those who haven’t even seen it) are so tired of hearing about it, they seem to hate the film now. And although films like Moonlight may have a slight chance, it’d be a real showstopper if La La Land didn’t win.

Who should win: Although I really liked La La Land (artistically it was a masterpiece, script-wise it was good enough. As an homage to musicals it was wonderful), in a year so full of talent, it wasn’t my favourite. I think Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea were the greatest achievements this year. They are both masterpieces: amazing screenplays, outstanding performances, great cinematography and editing, perfect pacing… a long list of praise for both of them. They are very emotional and human pieces that really touch their audience in a way that films often aren’t able to reach.

Others nominees not mentioned before include Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures and Lion. Although I didn’t quite love Fences (too dialogue heavy for my taste), they are all incredible films worthy of being in this category. Also, praise to the Academy for nomination a sci-fi (Arrival) that surprises being so human when it is dealing with aliens.

Animated Feature Film

For the past few years, the Academy has decided to mix more popular all-American-industry films (Zootopia and Moana this year) with less known, usually foreign, underdogs (The Red Turtle, My Life as a Zucchini). This year is no exception, although it is remarkable to point out Disney earned two nominations, whereas Pixar (a usual contender, only three of its films before this hasn’t been nominated), even though it did release a film in 2016, got zero.

The five nominees are rounded up by the highly praised Kubo and the Two Strings, which took home the BAFTA only weeks ago. Kubo has been a surprise in the race, from being a not very well known film to being the second favourite tonight.

Who will win: From early on, Disney’s Zootopia has been the frontrunner. In the last few weeks, though, Kubo and the Two Strings has been coming closer and closer. Ben Zauzmer’s maths call a close 50.9% - 41.8% race in favour of Zootopia. And it is true no BAFTA animated winner nominated to the Oscars has ever lost the Oscar. But Zootopia long string of wins (including the Annie), plus the message of the film, will probably make it the winner. Be open to a surprise, anyway.

Who should win: Although all of the nominees are incredibly creative and Disney’s Moana has wonderful animation and sountrack (script a bit lacking), my vote would go for Zootopia. It is a beautiful and creative story that reflects today’s society while also telling the tale of an extraordinary friendship between unusual companions.

Writing: Adapted Screenplay + Original Screenplay

The writing categories haven’t been without controversy this year. The Academy has a different point of view of what qualifies as original and what qualifies as an adaptation. Surprisingly, Moonlight has been considered an adaptation when it was determined it was an original script in the Writers Guild Awards. It is true is was based on a play, but as they play was never producer, it is tricky to determine who is right. The Academy is very strict in this sense, though, Whiplash was considered an adaptation of Damien Chazelle’s own short film (which he made to get the opportunity to do the feature). Any sequel is considered an adaptation because it uses characters of a previous film.

Anyway, back to the race.

Who will win in Adapted Screenplay: It would have had tougher competition in Original, so Moonlight could actually be lucky to be in this category. It also won for original screenplay in the Writers Guild. Other nominees (Lion, Arrival) have gotten some awards, but highly praised Moonlight seems the frontrunner.

Who should win in Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight is one of a kind. The storytelling is sweet and moving, poignant and simply incredible. It is a simple tale told beautifully. Every person I talk to has been blown away by it. I have to say I also find Arrival was a great adaptation, and Hidden Figures has been incredibly praised. My only pet peeve here is Fences, as I wouldn’t count it as an adaptation because, according to all sources, director Denzel Washington didn’t want to change a single word of the play, so they didn’t. Is that adapting? Is just taking a script and performing it in another media worthy of this nomination?

Who will win in Original Screenplay: Tougher race, one may say one of the toughest alongside Actor in a Leading Role. Because of the previously mentioned confusion with which film goes in which category, looking at other awards isn’t really useful. Moonlight won the Writers Guild, La La Land got the Golden Globe, Manchester by the Sea, the BAFTA. It should be a close call between Manchester and La La Land, but I feel like this is usually an award that is given to great films which wouldn’t get any recognition otherwise, so my bet is on Manchester by the Sea.

Who should win in Original Screenplay: Although I really enjoyed La La Land, I don’t think its screenplay is its best quality. It is good, but it isn’t outstanding. The Lobster was a very original film that really surprised me, so it is a close second, but my favourite was Manchester by the Sea, because it felt true and raw in the best of senses. I also went in with the feeling it’d just depress me, and it was actually the perfect measure of melancholic and sweet.

Directing

This is a category usually tied to Best Picture, and this year seems no exception.

Who will win: Damien Chazelle is clearly the favourite with La La Land. He won the Directors Guild, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, the Critics’ Choice… So he is here on a landslide. Also, he is Hollywood’s golden boy, so it would be difficult for him not to win.

Who should win: I think many of these films are a big achievement, but I consider directing a musical is always a challenge, so my choice would be Damien Chazelle. I also have to confess I have a soft spot for him after Whiplash, which I honestly preferred to La La Land and thought was underrated.

Cinematography

For me, one of the most interesting categories of the night. Usually overlooked, cinematography is what gives a film its tone, its personality. This year, there are some great contenders.

Who will win: La La Land seems to be going to sweep all the technical awards it can. In true Mad Max: Fury Road fashion, La La Land is a frontrunner because honestly, like it or not, it is technically great. As Ben Zauzmer points out, in the past seven years only Birdman has won without a production design nomination. That would only leave La La Land and Arrival on the run. And there has been a lot of buzz around the prettiness of La La Land and, of course, that wonderful last sequence.

Who should win: I was honestly surprised by how beautiful Moonlight was. Although the shots were kind of too harsh at the beginning for me, the beach scene completely made me fall head over heels. Although I think La La Land is a true beauty, Moonlight is my favourite.

Production Design

It also blows my mind how they create such wonderful worlds in film. Production Design is an underrated art that is able to create from spaceships (Passengers) to magical worlds (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and make us believe for two hours they are actually possible.

Who will win: As I said, it seems like La La Land is going to win everything technical. It won on the Art Directors Guild (although Passengers did too, in the Fantasy genre) and it has been praised, particularly on that already mentioned last sequence. Fantastic Beasts did win the BAFTA, but I tend to think that might have been British voting for the British (although its production design was truly wonderful). All things considered, there could be a surprise in this category.

Who should win: It is a tough choice. All of these films have created such wonderful worlds. I particularly loved Passengers design of the spaceship and Fantastic Beasts take on the American magical world. Hail, Caesar! had a great look, but didn’t quite impress me. And Arrival was great, too, but once again it didn’t stay with me in the same way. But if I had to think of a film in which the production design really took my breath away, I’d have to go with La La Land because, above it, that film is pretty.

Costume Design

Another close call, and there aren’t even only two frontrunners.

Who will win: Difficult to say. La La Land did get a Costume Designers Guild Award in its Contemporary category (unlike Jackie which lost to Hidden Figures, not even nominated in the Oscars; and Fantastic Beasts, that lost to Doctor Strange, also not nominated). But it is certainly difficult for a contemporary film to win this award. If we look into the BAFTAs, we see Jackie won. It also won the Critics’ Choice. So, relying on numbers and Oscars tendencies, I’d say Jackie is my (uncertain) bet.

Who should win: Jackie may have wonderful clothes (it is Jackie O after all), and La La Land is pretty but not extraordinary. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was for me the most outstanding in this category.

Makeup and Hairstyling

I am always surprised there are only three nominees in this category. Also, they have nothing to do with the rest of categories, so it is hard to predict in relation to the others.

Who will win: There is not much to consider, not that many awards consider Make Up and Hairstyling. I’d opt out A Man Called Ove, because The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared didn’t do that good last year and I consider they were nominated for similar reasons. Between Star Trek Beyond and Suicide Squad, they have both won some awards for their makeup. I’d say it also depends on the effort the voters see in the creations, so this would be a matter of Killer Croc (Suicide Squad) against Star Trek’s aliens. As I think Star Trek Beyond was an all-around better film and it did better with critics and audience, that is my bet.

Who should win: I honestly have no preference.

Film Editing

Who will win: Musicals always seem to be favourites in this category. Also, La La Land did win both an Eddie (Arrival also got one) and the Critics’ Choice. The race is also joined by BAFTA winner Hacksaw Ridge. As I think voters usually start voting on technical awards in group (they give them all to someone, look at Mad Max last year), I think La La Land will be it.

Who should win: I don’t really have a clear favourite here, but I did think Moonlight did a great job in pace, rhythm and structure. Its editing was really good, so that is my pick.

Sound Editing & Sound Mixing

Two categories not even the voters know how to differentiate, so it is tough to know what would win which. It is true musicals usually win Sound Mixing, whereas war/action films usually win Sound Editing. Also, I don’t know enough about sound to have a favourite, so I won’t make a personal judgement on who should win.

Who will win Sound Mixing: La La Land seems the favourite. It is a musical, which means there is a lot of work into the sound. It also has won a handful of sound awards already. Its fellow nominees are Arrival, Hacksaw Ridge, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. I can only think of Hacksaw Ridge as a competitor.

Who will win Sound Editing: As I said, bet for the war film, which in this case is Hacksaw Ridge. It doesn’t hurt it won a bunch of Golden Reel Awards. Its fellow nominees are Arrival, Deepwater Horizon, La La Land and Sully.

Visual Effects

Who will win: The Jungle Book is the big favourite for this category. Its creation of all the animals is truly remarkable, so it isn’t that difficult of a choice. It also won on the BAFTAs and the Visual Effects Society.

Who should win: Although I enjoyed The Jungle Book and always love a Star Wars film, I found outstanding the visual effects behind Doctor Strange. It is probably one of the most creative things I have seen in a while.

Original Score

Who will win: It seems La La Land is also the favourite here. Although it isn’t that common for a musical to win original score (surprising, huh?), its wins on the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice give it advantage over the BAFTA winner (Lion) and fellow nominees Moonlight, Jackie and Passengers.

Who should win: I loved La La Land’s music and couldn’t stop humming its soundtrack for weeks, so it is my pick, too.

Original Song

Choosing a song is always a difficult thing. Do you have to consider the song by itself? In relation to what it does to the film, how it contributes to its storytelling? It is lucky when it’s a musical, but otherwise, it is tough to vote.

Who will win: La La Land’s City of Stars is the frontrunner. Everyone hums it everywhere. It is a memorable and lovely song. And although there could always be a surprise if the La La Land lovers divide in between its two nominated songs, I think it is mostly a safe bet.

Who should win: I love some of these songs, so it if tough. Although Trolls’ Can’t Stop the Feeling is cute, I don’t find it worthy of an Oscar (also happened with Happy). I really love Moana’s How Far I’ll Go, an instant Disney classic written by the one and only Lin-Manuel Miranda. The La La Land soundtrack made me fall in love and, although City of Stars is wonderful, I find the originality and sincerity of Audition (The Fools Who Dream) to be my favourite.

Foreign Language Film

Here come the few categories which nominees I haven’t had the chance of seeing. So no personal opinions, just facts and predictions.

Who will win: It seemed Germany’s Toni Erdmann was the frontrunner, and Sweden’s A Man Called Ove was also well considered. But after Trump’s travel ban and controversy, I’d say Iran’s The Salesman seems like the probable winner. But don’t count the highly acclaimed Toni Erdmann out.

Documentary Feature

Who will win: O.J.: Made in America has been so praised it seems difficult it won’t win. It won the Critics’ Choice, the Directors Guild, the National Board of Review, the PGA… only thing it didn’t win was the BAFTA (13th won), but it wasn’t nominated. Consider Ava DuVernay’s 13th a true contender (after all, is has been highly acclaimed and it talks about a very relevant topic right now), but O.J. seems to have the lead.

Documentary (Short Subject)

Who will win: Not even the experts predict the shorts accurately. It is very difficult to know and these all talk about sensitive current topics. My pick, though, is The White Helmets.

Animated Short Film

Who will win: Again, difficult choice, but a bit easier. Pear Cider and Cigarettes has been highly praised, but it also has a more adult theme, and voters usually associate animation with a topic suitable for their kids. Also, as Pixar was absent from the big animated category this year, I’m inclined to think they will give them the award here as a consolation price, so Piper it is.

Live Action Short Film

Who will win: Silent Night’s director has already won on this category twice. Timecode won in Cannes, but that doesn’t really mean that much. Sing seems to be one of the favourites, alongside Ennemis Intérieurs, a thriller that deals with immigration and terrorism in the 90s. The latter seems to be slightly on the lead, but only barely.

Final thoughts

So these are my predictions. Who do you think will win? Who should win? Tune in to watch the biggest night in Hollywood and have fun!

PS: Am I going to be struggling in between Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington until the awards start? Probably.

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renepmartineztravels-blog · 7 years

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A NIGHT TO TRANSGENDER - PART II (Scare-BNB) I woke up early this morning to get my 'Dear John' letter ready to write to Kaska so I could make my escape. I woke up the two of them and said they could take the bed as I saw they were shivering on the floor with the window open. I hurried my packing, got clean, and even placed the note in a somewhat hidden spot behind the TV. I could hear Kaska rustling about and she came out of the room 15 minutes later and said, "We were off our tits last night weren't we?. Did you sleep ok?" I was nervous and must had that guilty look on my face when I responded, "Nah, it was great". Her eyes immediately started staring in the direction of the TV, "What's this?", she asked. Christ! She picks up the letter and begins reading it: " Dear Kaska, thank you for this amazing time, I feel like I have been an inconveinence and so I think it's best that I go and explore the city on my own. I thank you for everythng you've done and wish you and your art career the best. Signed, Rene". She looks up at me and says, "Were you going to pull a runner on me?". For a second, I thought this is where she snaps and mystery exposes itself; fattened for the kill, I was ruining her plan to sell me into that Polish sex ring. "Oh no...." I nervously responded, " I just didn't want to take your bed, and doesn't seem like you really have the space...". "Nonsense", she replied, "You're staying", we were going to make art like we said." Just then, Jezebel tears through the room, "Has anyone seen my bloody skirt and bra, I have to get to my electronics class!" I was defeated and told Kaska that I would stay another night but I'm going to go out for a bit and then meet her at the studio. I left thinking that I just ruined the whole thing and this may cause a new awkward energy. Who knew that a girl that had been drinking since the morning before would have the wits to detect a 5x7 notecard from across the room. Her senses were impeccable. I met Kaska at the studio around 4pm where she had already been working on her newest piece. It was nice to know this place was actually real and that it wasn't another hang out for the dead end boys or a sex hostel. My mood was apprenhensive and a bit annoyed at this point. I went under the rolled top door into the studio thinking I would just stay for a short time. It was cold and debris was everywhere, it felt like a squat, and I shouted to see exactly where she was. She yelled from up the stairs and that is where I found her painting and smoking. There was loud dancehall music coming from one of the studio spaces below, but for the most part the place was empty. She said, "Do you want to meet my favorite person?" We went downstairs towards the dancehall music and past the huge clouds of marijuana smoke which were hiding a thin Scottish man in his 50's working on editing photographs. This was Stephen, and he was an artist and a very nice man. We had a great talk about art and Los Angeles and New York. We even discussed Francis Bacon's studio which Kaska had never seen. He quoted Picasso and mused about how dumb it is for artists to be fearful of modern tools like Photoshop to help them make their pieces. I agreed and this talk settled me; I was feeling inspired now. We went back upstairs and Kaska says, "So you want to paint?" "Yes", I replied. Originally Kaska and I were going to colaborate on a portrait but I was more inspired by Jezebel - she was such a character. Kaska gave me an old canvas that had a dumb bird that Liam painted on it and I began working. We painted in the cold air of the room with only one dim light and some ambient glow that came in from the overscast outside. We painted for about two hours and I finished my piece. Kaska was nice enough to let me use all of her paints and materials to do this piece. This was good. I had paint on me and I was smelling linseed oil....and I was happy. We decided to take a cab back to her place and on the ride we started to talk. Sober, Kaska and I had more in common and were able to discuss things like showing our work and the inspirations of artists. It felt more like a give and take between us and the madness of yesterday had washed away. On our way home she asked if I wanted to see the Necropolis (cemetary) and I said "Sure". We strolled through the cemetary as the clouds and sun sunk into the dark. It was raining in the distance and the gravestones looked amazing. I had not been inspired to paint anything with Kaska until we were in this cemetary. I started getting ideas and was upset that I hadn't bring my gear. It started to rain, and so we left for food. She asked if I Jezebel could join us and I told her i can't really do another night of debauchery. She said, "Don't worry, I feel sick, and I know Jezebel has Jury Duty on Monday." Jury Duty?! She is a busy one isn't she? Jezebel joins us and despite having a her third hair of the dog, she was quite tame. We sat and talked about the differences of living in Glasgow vs London; Jezebel says, "I love London, but there are far too many immigrants" Kaska goes, "You're a tranny and you have issues with accepting immigrants?" At this point, I was glad that I stayed. There were both present and I felt connected to them. I even said, "Wow guys, this has been great to meet the two of you, how long have you know each other?". Laughing, Jezebel says, " I only met this b**tch a week ago. I started going out to pubs after my girlfriend commited suicide." Kaska and I were shocked. Me, because I thought they were old friends, and Kaska because she thought he liked dudes, and they'd been spooning all night. Let alone, the fact that he girlfriend recently died and he seemed as normal as anyone you'd meet. Kaska goes,"I'm sorry, wow you seem not affected, are you ok?" Jezebel responded with telling us it had been hard and started to pull up a picture of his girlfriend, the first one of her face, and then the second one of the gaping slice to her wrist. Kaska jumped back and said, "Why the hell do you have that?" "Because she sent it to me before they found her." Kaska and I couldn't speak. Right there, In that moment, I saw a relfective side of Jezebel; a deep sadness was on her face as she stared at the picture. I could tell she drank to cover the pain she'd endured in life and that the picture she carried around, while morbid, was somehow comforting to her and the last intimate connection with her ex of 3 years. I think we were all exhausted at this point. We went back to Kaska's and they decided to watch some TV while Jezebel talked about how she advertises for Johns and how it's a lot of straight men who request her. Kaska put on Taggart for me, a famous Scottish detective show like our Columbo. They both told me how popular it was and i was happy that it was unintentionnaly hilarious. The acting and the people were so bad in it. The plot line was about a bunch of murders happening in the gay community. The show runners obviously took these episodes as a chance to comment on homosexuality. Everyone in the show seemed to come out of the closet, the policemen, the old businessman and his lover, the kid stealing boy porn in the shop, and the erotic way the dead bodies were arranged. We kept making jokes that there was no actual plot and they just wanted to show gay things. They both started falling asleep, and so they went to bed, leaving me to find out who the gay killer was - I was entranced. The killer was revealed to be the one American they put into the show. Of course, that is perfect, the American dude hates the gays because he fears he may be gay. Was this all planned? Kaska said if I don't watch out, I may turn gay. Then the friends, Jezebel, and this? Even thoughGlasgow didn't turn me gay, it did surprise me. We woke up that next morning and did some filming back at the Necropolis. I hugged both Kaska and Jezebel goodbye and told Jezebel she could keep the painting I did of her - she was elated. As I walked away, I thought how amazing this whole experience had been. Will Kaska become a big artist, will Jezebel convict whomever she has on her jury, and will I ever seen Tranny Nun Bangers? No one knows, that's what makes life worth living. Next stop, Edinburgh.

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jessicakehoe · 4 years

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Caitlin Cronenberg Shares the Backstory Behind Some of Her Most Famous Celebrity Portraits

The Endings, a photo series by Toronto-born photographer Caitlin Cronenberg and art director Jessica Ennis, was shot over the course of seven years, culminating in a 2018 book by the same name. That series, which features Hollywood A-listers like Keira Knightley and Julianne Moore as characters caught up in the emotional tumult of heartbreak, is now being developed into a TV show by Sony Pictures Television. Select photographs from that series are now a part of the Broadview Hotel’s permanent collection, greeting guests at the elevator banks on each floor, and peering down from the walls of the Toronto hotel’s bar and restaurant. We caught up with Cronenberg as she walked us through the hotel’s acquisition of her work, and then sat down with her to get the lowdown on some of the most iconic celebrity portraits she’s shot in recent years.

Sarah Gadon

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Walking away from 2017 like… #burnitdown #2017 #2018 #happynewyear #newyearnewyou @sarahgadon @jessicamennis

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Dec 31, 2017 at 9:27pm PST

This is Sarah’s “story” in The Endings, and we shot it out by Jess [Ennis]’s parents’s place in Thornhill, which was very fun. The story was that she’s going through her boyfriend’s breakup box and smashing and burning things. And it was actually pieces from Jess’s actual ex-boyfriend’s box, like letters they had written her and CDs, that we used. So it was like a catharsis in a way for her, which was kind of amazing. But the story was that she runs into the woods and sets this thing on fire. So we took our little team and went down into the wooded area in Thornhill on a warm summer night, and had her set this box on fire and this is the final image of her walking away from it. She’s the greatest subject of all time, flinging herself down hills and letting us put fake blood all over her and shooting into the wee hours of the night, smoking terrible clove cigarettes as props and smashing CDs in the middle of this cul de sac in Thornhill. It was really fun. And since then we’ve done so many shoots together and I’ve done stills on a bunch of films that she’s been in. Every time we shoot her, it’s like a totally new experience.

Robert Pattinson

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Let’s have another! Robert Pattinson for @luomovogue styled by @rushkabergman #outtakemonday #robertpattinson #rushkabergman #desert #la #rpatz #outtake #fashion #eyepatches

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Dec 4, 2017 at 3:14pm PST

This was one of my favourite shoots. This was when Rob was really at the beginning of his breakaway from the Twilight situation. I had done three or four films with him, doing stills—so we knew each other pretty well by this point. But you know, he’s a shy person… I find that a lot of actors are actually quite shy when it comes to photo shoots because it’s a very different experience. They don’t have a character to play. So what I like to do when I shoot actors, even if it’s for an editorial, like this one for L’Uomo Vogue, I like to give them a backstory. This was styled by Rushka Bergman, who is the most creative stylist I’ve ever worked with. We drove out to Joshua Tree to do sort of this Mad Max in the desert. All of the over-the-top jewellery and the spikes and the eye patches was all Rushka, she’s the only person who’d say, ‘You’ve got one eye patch on, let’s put on a second eye patch.’ And Rob was pretty open [to it]. He was kind of laughing as he put on the leather pants and saying to himself, ‘do I look ridiculous?’ But then as I showed him the images as we were shooting, he got really comfortable. I mean, he was hot in it, because we were in a desert and it was a very hot day in the desert. But he did so well. I was very impressed by him.

Schitt’s Creek

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Congratulations to the cast and crew of @schittscreek for your Best Comedy Series win at the CSAs last night! And congratulations on day one of filming your last season! @thecdnacademy @instadanjlevy @annefrances #schittscreek #danlevy #anniemurphy #ewdavid #bestcomedy #csa #canadian

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Apr 1, 2019 at 3:09am PDT

I have been lucky enough to work with these guys every year since season one, doing their gallery shoots, which is their character shots and promo shots. Watching it blow up… I’m so proud of Dan and Eugene. It’s just an incredible thing, the fact that they’ve been recognized internationally and the response that they’re getting. The show itself is so special. It’s so funny. It’s so inclusive. It’s all of these things that we really desperately need. I didn’t know them [before working with them]. I think I had probably crossed paths with Dan when he was at MTV, but not in any serious way. And I hadn’t met Eugene or Catherine, who I consider to be Canada’s parents. I didn’t know Annie either. But they’re such a creative bunch. We’d just be laughing all day long—they are so funny and so brilliant. And they’re like a family, they’re very welcoming. So even though I was only in there for a few days each season, I always felt so welcomed by them. You get to feel like you’re a small part of something that they’ve built that’s so impressive and so wonderful.

Jennifer Lopez

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This happened. Then I died. And I am posting this from beyond the grave. The majestic @jlo for @variety! Go see @hustlersmovie! #jlo #jenniferlopez #jennyfromtheblock #tiff #tiff2019 #tiff19 #portraits #portrait #idol #hustlers #hustlersmovie @tiff_net @att @arthouseagency

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Sep 9, 2019 at 12:36pm PDT

I don’t even remember [shooting her] because I blanked out and then when I looked at the photos later I was like, ‘Oh good.’ JLo is the most magnificent creature I’ve ever seen in my entire life. She’s just so stunning. You look at her face and you’re like, ‘How? How? I don’t understand.’ My baby started kicking while I was shooting her, for the very first time. It’s like he knew that it was JLo. I was so nervous. But she’s very professional. When you’re shooting during the film festival [TIFF], everybody is really business. I had the whole cast of Hustlers in there, doing singles one at a time. They come in, they get fixed up, just quick touch-ups, and then you have five minutes and then their publicists yell at you and you bring in the next person. I was just thrilled that I got time with each of them because they’re an amazing, fun cast. But there’s sort of nothing like her, she exceeds all expectations.

Billie Eilish

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Congratulations @billieeilish for making history with your Grammy nominations! The youngest person to ever be nominated for the top four @recordingacademy awards! ⁣ Production Design @jackrflanagan ⁣ Styling @samanthaburkhartstylist⁣ Hair @tammyyi⁣ Makeup @robrumseymua⁣ ⁣ Special thanks @vesper_filmandimage⁣ @northsixproductions⁣ @interscope⁣ @milk⁣ ⁣ #billieeilish #photography #photo #photographer #setlife #momlife #billie #grammyawards

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Nov 21, 2019 at 6:40pm PST

What can you say about Billie Eilish? She is the 17-year-old that I wish I had been. Just her talent, the way that she is working so hard and I’m seeing this because I’ve shot her twice. Once for this Spanish clothing company, Bershka, and I just shot her again for Beats. She’s so hardworking. She’s so focused and she has such good ideas. Even just walking on to set, she knows what she wants, she knows how she wants to be styled, she knows how she wants her outward persona to be and she knows how to protect herself. And I think that’s so important when you’re that young and when you’re blowing up the way that she is. She won’t do anything that feels not like her true self. And I respect that. It’s rare to find people who are like that. I think she’s a great role model for young women. She is showing [them] that there’s no one way to be. And she’s humble and down to earth, the kind of person who’ll blush when you tell her you love her work. There’s just something so real about her but also intimidating ’cause I’m like ‘I can’t believe what you’ve accomplished already.’

Meghan Markle

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From Kensington Market to Kensington Palace! Congratulations Meghan and Harry! #royalwedding #meghanmarkle #meghanandharry #harryandmeghan #kensington #toronto #kensingtonmarket Shot by me for @holtrenfrew

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on May 19, 2018 at 4:45am PDT

We did ‘A Day in the Life with Meghan Markle’ for Holt Renfrew about seven years ago. It was a one-day shoot in which we just kind of hit her favourite spots in the city to highlight where she would spend her days off [from filming Suits]. She’s another very down to earth person—someone who you could be very chill with and, like, hang out with every day. Very fun, very funny. People on the street recognized her, because Suits has always been huge. Everyone knows that it shoots here and I think everyone’s always excited to see someone who’s kind of made Toronto their home. She stopped and took photos which was really nice and not everybody will do that. I think people really appreciate little gestures like that, that make their day and are not that big of a deal for her. It was a great experience, really fun.

Drake

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Happy birthday to October’s very own, @champagnepapi! It’s Scorpio season and y’all better watch out! Photo by me for the Views album! #drake #happybirthday #ovo #october #octobersveryown #scorpio #scorpioseason #views #six #6ix #raptors #toronto #torontoproud

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Oct 24, 2019 at 5:45am PDT

The Drake shoot was awesome. It was 2016; I did the cover of Views and the interior booklet over a three-day shoot in April. My kid was four months old and on set with us, it was totally insane. It was intense because they wanted so many setups and had all these great ideas. We had a PDF of 11 different locations and sets that they wanted us to find and build in like, two and a half weeks. But we made it work. Everything turned out so well. Drake’s a total pro—he shows up on set, knows exactly what to do. I mean, he was an actor, so he’s easy to direct. And he’s another person who really has a strong sense of self and knows how he wants to project himself, which was really great. And also as a fellow Torontonian, born and raised, it was fun to explore the city with him and really celebrate the city. For this shot, he wanted kind of like a ‘King of Toronto overlooking the city’ vibe. It was so moody that day because of the snow and because of the sky; it’s very reminiscent of Toronto winters and gives you that real city grit. There’s a great mood to it and it’s a mood that we all know so well from so many months in a year. I really loved that. It’s beautiful.

Carrie Fisher

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Happy birthday to the late great Carrie Fisher. You were my favourite dog-lover and an all around amazing woman. #rip #carriefisher #happybirthday

A post shared by Caitlin Cronenberg (@caitcronenberg) on Oct 21, 2019 at 4:11pm PDT

This was a great day. Carrie Fisher had us over and I did portraits of her and her dog for a project that I’ve been working on for a while about celebrities and their pets. I had an amazing time with Carrie and it’s just devastating what happened. It’s sort of unthinkable. She was an incredibly intelligent woman, like mind-blowingly brilliant. So quick, so witty. And the way that she interacts with you is like that—it’s like the combination of the best of all of her characters. I really felt connected to her. Her love of dogs rivals my own love of dogs. That’s Gary Fisher, her dog, who was her prize possession, her love. She’d go for a massage and he’d get up on the table with her, he walked all the red carpets with her. Her home was so eclectic—she has a Christmas tree up all year round and crazy Star Wars props. It was an amazing little bit of insight into her life. She was a super, super special person.

The post Caitlin Cronenberg Shares the Backstory Behind Some of Her Most Famous Celebrity Portraits appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

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tomaklimaraphotography · 7 years

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Guest Lecture on 21/2/17 with Jarek Kotomski

Jarek Kotomski is a London based professional high end retoucher and fashion photographer.

Jarek currently works for Studio RM which is a prestige creative post production studio in London.

Their clients are world famous celebrities and big fashion brands .

Here is the link to their website http://www.studiorm.co.uk/

Jarek’s lecture was mainly concentrated on the ways and techniques of creative post production , high end retouching , ways of recognizing bad and good examples of retouching . He also talked about his crowd funded project Children of Zanskar .

I was rather fascinated by his talk , he displayed various examples of retouching techniques and ways how to recognize fakeness in the images we can see everywhere around like f.e billboards , magazines, tv commercials and other visual media.He mentioned how important is it not to be fake as there are too many fake images everywhere. Many fashion photographers these days are coming back to shooting film and they don’t want their images to be fake or plastic , although it doesn't mean there is no post production. There are various ways of tweaking images in the darkroom as well.

Very important for me as a photographer was to hear how long it takes to prepare the image for a client and also what are the prices.

Jarek also talked about his crowd funded project Children of Zanskar in which he travelled all the way to Nepal with the he met in the piano shop in Camden Town. In this project he photographed poor children from a remote village in Nepalese mountains.

‘With international fundraising efforts rightly focused on the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, it’s important to remember that there are worthy projects in the north of India that always need extra money. Children of Zanskar is a Kickstarter campaign that’s been set up by a pair of London creatives to raise money for schoolchildren in a remote valley of the Kashmir region, and there’s not long left to help get the project over the finishing line.

Here is the fragment of an article from We-heart.com

source https://www.we-heart.com/2015/05/20/children-zanskar-photo-book-kickstarter/

Jarek Kotomski and Joanna Niklas, aka Between Friends, are looking to support the youth of the idyllic but isolated village of Zanskar in the Lingshed valley. Around 115 children from the village use the local school, but they are in need of everything from a wooden floor for the classrooms to winter clothing to keep the savage Himalayan winter at bay; nearby Dras has been designated the second coldest place on earth. Although they face a hard childhood and a challenging future, the kids of Zanskar are an irrepressibly happy bunch, as illustrated by the many joyous portraits in Between Friends’ book. Pledging for the campaign finishes on 1 June, with options ranging from the knowledge that you’ve done a good thing to copies of the book with limited edition archival prints of its emotive photography. Head here to back the project.’

I think his project shows something very important , that we can help peolple through photography , art and education. It is also good to know that anybody can raise money for their project through the crowd funding. link to Jarek Kotomski website

http://betweenfriends.co.uk/kotomski

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movietvtechgeeks · 7 years

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Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/hollywood-continues-la-la-land-lovefest-14-oscar-nominations/

Hollywood continues its 'La La Land' lovefest with 14 Oscar nominations

The 89th Academy Awards surprised everyone on Tuesday morning, and not from the usual shocks and surprises with nominees. It was how they performed the ceremony.

Rather than the usual crack of dawn announcements in Los Angeles, ABC aired what seemed more like an infomercial with Marcia Gay Harden and Dustin Lance Black as the announcers.

You can see the full list of the 89th Academy Award nominations here.

No matter how many old veterans leave the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and how many new recruits arrive, the nature of the choices the membership makes rarely varies: The voters like what they’ve always liked.

They may want it in different packages, they may try to mix and match, but certain kinds of satisfactions are bred in the bone and will not be denied.

This dynamic was visible all across the 2017 Oscar nominations, starting with a record-tying 14 nominations for Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land.”

That film hit the jackpot by combining the traditional form of the musical with modern plotting and charismatic, up-to-the-minute stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. And the fact that the whole thing was set on Hollywood’s home turf certainly didn’t hurt.

The candy-colored love letter to musicals “La La Land” landed a record-tying 14 Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, while a notably more diverse field of nominees brushed off two straight years of “OscarsSoWhite” backlash.

“La La Land” matched “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for most nominations ever, earning nods for best picture, stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, its jazz-infused songs and its 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle.

“I’m in Beijing right now. This only adds to the disorientation,” Chazelle said by phone Tuesday. “All that I have in my head is ‘thank you’ a million times over.”

In stark contrast to the last two years of all-white acting nominees, seven actors of color were nominated out of the 20 actors. A record six black actors were nominated (“Fences” stars Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris of “Moonlight,” Ruth Negga of “Loving” and Octavia Spencer of “Hidden Figures”), as was Dev Patel, the British-Indian star of “Lion.”

A trio of acclaimed films led the overhaul, foremost among them Barry Jenkins’ luminous coming-of-age portrait “Moonlight.” Its eight nominations, including best picture, tied for the second most nods. Denzel Washington’s fiery August Wilson adaptation “Fences” and Theodore Melfi’s crowd-pleasing African American mathematician drama, “Hidden Figures,” were also showered with nominations, including best picture.

Jenkins, who was nominated for directing and adapted screenplay, said the nominations for “Moonlight” and other films showed that people were eager to put themselves in the shoes of others.

“I love the American film industry and to see it this year, I feel, really reflect the world that we all live and work in, it gives me hope,” Jenkins said by phone from Amsterdam. “It heartens me. There’s a lot of work being done to make this year not be an anomaly.”

Nine films out of a possible ten were nominated for best picture. The others were: Denis Villeneuve’s cerebral alien thriller “Arrival,” Kenneth Lonergan’s New England family drama “Manchester by the Sea,” the West Texas heist thriller “Hell or High Water,” the “Lion,” and Mel Gibson’s World War II drama “Hacksaw Ridge.”

The biggest surprise of the morning was the strong boost of support for Gibson, who had long been shunned in Hollywood since an anti-Semitic tirade while being arrested for drunk driving in 2006 and a 2011 conviction for domestic violence. Along with the best picture nod, Gibson scored an unexpected best director nomination. Gibson, whose ninth child was born Friday, said in a statement that nothing was more exciting than hearing the nominations read while holding my newborn son.”

Andrew Garfield, who was nominated for best actor for his performance in “Hacksaw Ridge,” said Gibson deserved the moment.

“I think finally people are remembering who Mel actually is, not what the tabloids (said),” said Garfield by phone. “I’m so, so proud of him.”

“Arrival” tied “Moonlight” for the second most nominees with eight nods. Yet its five-time nominated star, Amy Adams, was left out of the competitive best actress category.

Instead, Meryl Streep, whom President Donald Trump recently derided as “overrated,” landed her 20th nomination. Her performance in “Florence Foster Jenkins” was among the best actress nominees that included Stone, Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”). Also left out was Annette Bening for “20th Century Women.”

Best actor favorites Washington, Gosling and Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) were joined by Garfield and Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”). Along with Ali and Patel, the best-supporting actor nominees are Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”), Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”) and Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”).

Viola Davis, the supporting actress front-runner for her performance in “Fences,” notched the expected nomination. Also up for the category are Harris, Spencer, Nicole Kidman (“Lion”) and Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”).

Whether fairly or not, the nominations were measured as a test for the revamped film academy. It’s the first Oscars voted on since academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs ushered in new membership rules and added 683 new members as a way to diversify a predominantly white, male and elderly group, which now numbers 6,687.

The inclusion influx Tuesday wasn’t driven by any kind of response to the last two Oscars; most of the nominated films have been in development for years. And the awards still left many groups unrepresented. No female filmmakers were nominated for best director and outside of Lin-Manuel Miranda (up for his song to “Moana”), Latinos were nearly absent.

Four black directors dominated the documentary category: Ava DuVernay (“The 13th”), Raoul Peck’s (“I Am Not Your Negro”), Ezra Edelman (the seven-plus hours “O.J.: Made in America”) and Roger Ross Williams (“Life, Animated”). The other nominee was “Fire at Sea.”

History was marked in other categories. Joi McMillon, who edited “Moonlight” with Nat Sanders, became the first African-American woman nominated for best editing. Bradford Young of “Arrival” was just the second black cinematographer nominated.

Instead of announcing nominees live in Los Angeles, the Oscars streamed pre-produced videos of previous winners introduced each category – an innovation that drew mixed reviews.

Though “La La Land,” ”Arrival” and “Hidden Figures” are knocking on the door of $100 million at the North American box office, none of the best picture nominees has yet grossed more than $100 million, making this year’s best picture nominees one of the lowest grossing bunch ever.

But the regular business of today’s corporate-driven Hollywood is increasingly set apart from the industry’s awards season, where smaller, critically adored films like “12 Years a Slave,” ”Birdman,” ”Boyhood” and “Spotlight” have recently dominated. Only one major studio – Paramount, which distributed “Arrival” and “Fences” – scored a best-picture nomination.

Amazon, however, landed its first best-picture nod for Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea,” which the streaming retailer partnered with Roadside Attractions to distribute. Netflix also scored three nominations, including two for documentary short and one for feature documentary (“The 13th”).

The dearth of blockbusters will pose a test for host Jimmy Kimmel, who’ll be presiding over the Feb. 26 Oscarcast for the first time. While the Academy Awards are still among the most-watched TV programs of the year, ratings have been in decline the last two years. Last year’s broadcast, which host Chris Rock introduced as “the White People’s Choice Awards,” drew 34.4 million viewers, an eight-year-low.

Like others, Viggo Mortensen expects this year’s broadcast to have a strong political undercurrent. “The Trump White House,” he said Tuesday, “is about, to some degree, shutting people up who you don’t like or who don’t agree with you, and I think the Oscars will probably be the opposite of that.”

Nominees for best-animated film split between big and small films: “Kubo and the Two Strings,” ”Moana,” ”My Life as a Zucchini,” ”The Red Turtle” and “Zootopia.” The year’s second-biggest box-office hit, “Finding Dory,” was surprisingly shut out.

In the foreign language film category, Maren Ade’s Cannes sensation “Toni Erdmann,” from Germany, was nominated alongside Denmark’s “Land of Mine,” Sweden’s “A Man Called Ove,” Australia’s “Tanna” and Iran’s “The Salesman,” from Asghar Farhadi, whose “A Separation” won the award in 2012.

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