Week Seven
11th – 17th February 2019
A short and late post this week because I am in Dublin prepping for my sister’s wedding on the 23rd of February.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Director: Marielle Heller
Writers: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitby
Moviehouse Dublin Road
The cinema started out empty for this 9.30pm screening but thankfully a few more people joined me to watched this delightful film.
Writing female protagonists you often come up against the idea that they should be “likeable” in order to be watchable - and this really puts paid to that idea. Lee Israel is a crabby, alcoholic, forger who likes cats more than people and has a massive sense of entitlement AND she is completely engaging. I found myself taking real pleasure at her flexing her writing skills and creating believable forgeries. The last scene of the movie is particular amusing. And her emotional journey is very satisfying without her changing herself to be palatable.
She is not usually the kind of person who gets to have a movie made about her - mainly because she’s female - there are plenty of grouchy, alcoholic, misanthropic male protagonists. There was a point where she was on a date with a female bookseller and I thought - wow, if someone had come up with this idea fictionally Lee would have been a man.
And I’m so glad she was real - she sounds like a hoot.
Actually, I really liked how her sexuality is neither centred nor ignored. Almost like it’s just one aspect of her personality rather than her defining characteristic.
It’s hard to believe that this is only Marielle Heller’s 2nd Feature. The direction is so assured. Her previous film, Diary of a Teenage Girl, was really visually stunning and this film isn’t quite as showy but the subject matter doesn’t call for that.
This film is so much fun - a really enjoyable and grown-up film about great characters doing interesting and unusual things. I hope Holofcener and Whitby win the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay - and it’s shame Heller was snubbed for a directing Oscar.
Catastrophe (Series 4)
Co-Creators/Writers: Sharon Horgan & Rob Delaney
Director: Ben Taylor
How I watched it: All4
So the final series of Catastrophe – and one of those endings that has people asking each other – well, what do you think is going to happen?
For me, the ending is symbolic of Rob and Sharon’s relationship and so, I think they’ll be fine, because they have been so far.
Otherwise it’s pretty friggin’ dark.
This series was similar quality to 1 and 3 – much better than Series 2 and I think it’s a satisfying ending for these characters if nothing particularly ground-breaking or surprising. I don’t think I knew anything more about Sharon and Rob’s relationship at the end of the series then I did at the end of Series 3.
But I also had to pause on multiple occasions because I could see what was coming and I cringing so hard for the characters.
I never truly loved this series despite loving both the writer/performers and laughing out loud on a regular basis – and I’m not entirely sure why that is, it just never fired me up.
I can definitely appreciate its quality – but loving a show or a book or an album isn’t just about quality and skill – it’s as much about that x-factor as falling in love with a person.