Lost In Translation

Watchmen

HBO has recently aired Watchmen, a production based on a graphic novle of the same name-however, it is not a straight adaptation. It seems to have many of the same elements of Amazon Prime's big production-The Man in the High Castle-alternate realities-including the major one of the show's pov, historical deviations (here the Vietnam War was won and it became the 51st state), and there are elements of travel between time and dimensions as well as a racist enemy element. The police officers wear masks to protect their identities. Anyway, I enjoyed this series more than the Amazon Prime version. Perhaps, because there was some humor to balance out the drama throughout.

The Man In The High Castle

The Amazon series The Man In The High Castle is an adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel for the screen. It takes an intriguing premise, post WWII America that has lost to the Axis powers who share ruling of the USA-The Greater Nazi Reich spans form the east coast to the Rocky Mountains where a "neutral zone" is located. The Japanese has the Japanese Pacific States which span from the neutral zone to the coast. There are resistance movements in both occupied areas and a sci-fi twist related to alternative worlds where the Axis did not win. It's an intriguing set up that doesn't always equate to spellbinding TV, but there's enough that kept me going through the four seasons-but it could have been better.

Barry

I recently started watching HBO's Barry - a dark comedy about a hitman, Barry (Bill Hader) who finds fulfillment in an acting class in LA. There's some great support from Henry Winkler as the acting teacher and Stephen Root as Barry's manager so to speak. It's only a half hour but they usually end as cliff hangers. I was suspect about the premise but it works.

The Crown

A freind suggested that I watch Netflix's drama The Crown and since it was getting good reviews I decided to give it a chance despite my misgivings about monarchy and royalty in contemporary society. However, I found it to be extremely engaging: well-written with a great ensemble cast and superior production values given its great operating budget. I am also fascinated by the nods to history that was being played out in Great Britain and the world as the personal lives of the crown are being played out. There are three seasons and it could go no for several more seasons before it catches up with real time.

Succession

Sometimes HBO is the home of sleeper hits like The Wire which didn't get it due until it had finished its run, and that might be the fate of a recent HBO comedy-drama, Succession, which was created by Jess Armstrong known for in the Loop among other films and TV shows. It is the story of a media conglomerate owned by a controversial and feared mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox). When Logan gets sick his children, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kiernan Caulkin), and Shiobhan (Sarah Snook)  begin a fight over control of the empire. There are some great jokes, dialogue, but also realistic drama about the family that lives with the 1%. Some of the ensemble characters steal the show such as Connor (Alan Ruck), Kevin McFadden as Tom, Shiobhan's insecure husband, and his whipping boy, unpredictable cousin Greg (Nicolas Braun). It's a wickedly funny look at a dysfunctional family and somewhat underappreciated.

Hache

I was intrigued by the new Netflix Spanish produced crime series, Hache, which takes place in the 60s in Barcelona and involves drug smuggling to the port city. Hache (aka Hlenea-Adrian Ugarte) is an intriguing femme fatale that isn't your typical girl who reacts to the situation around her-she is a prime mover of the action int his feminist conceived drama. I was won over by the production values and hip, jazz-infused atmosphere where much of the action takes place in the swank club Albatross owned by the heroin kingpin complete with a black American torch singer. However, the writing is often too on the nose, but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. 

2019 New TV Documentaries

Recently I have seen a number of interesting TV programs.

I was a fan of David Chang's Ugly Delicious on Netflix and this year there was a new show where he would travel to designated cities and eat three meals with a celebrity-this was called Ugly Delicious-Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Chang visited Seth Rogen in Vancouver, Chrissy Teigen in Morocco, Lena Waithe in Los Angeles, and Kate McKinnon in Cambodia. Seems like he was taking a page out of Anthony Bourdain's book now that he's off the air.

There was one other Netflix documentary worthy of mention-The Devil Next Door-the story of an Ukrainian expat grandfather from Cleveland extradited to Jerusalem to go under trial to discover whether or not he was the infamous concentration camp guard, Ivan the Terrible.

There were two great PBS documentaries that I saw recently as well.

Prosecuting Evil: The Extraordinary World of Ben Ferencz,  which is a look at pioneering human rights lawyer Ferencz and especially his pioneering work at the Nuremberg Trials following WWII. It's a fascinating portrait of a remarkable man who left a big imprint on the world.

The other documentary was Chisholm '72: Unbossed & Unbought which chronicles the unlikely presidential election campaign of a Caribbean woman who was the first black female congresswomen form the Bronx challenging Nixon and the liberal elites such as George McGovern.

The Naked Director

I had high expectations for Neflix's Japanese produced TV series The Naked Director, which unfortunately were not met. Much like the earlier Netflix produced Hibana-there was some promise and the series was semi-succssful in that some aspects of the production were satisfying. It managed to capture the cultural zeitgeist of the 80s but much of the acting and action was over the top-as per Japanese TV. I'm not sure what I think of the star Takayuki Yamada as Toru Muranashi-a real life porn director. Many of the supporting characters were defined by one characteristic and were largely over the top in their performances. Misato Morita was more successful as Kaoru Kuoiki-also base d on a real-life porn star. The early episodes that took place in Hokkaido were among the best. The Hawaii episodes were too fantastical and unrealistic as most of the episodes at the end.

Jonestown: Terror In The Jungle

Jonestown: Terror In The Jungle (2018) was made to coincide with the 40th anniversary of that infamous mass suicide/murder. It is unclear how much new information was intended to be exposed in the four part documentary series, but I learned some things that I didn't know despite having seen several previous documentaries. There's also a lesson to be learned from following an egomaniac, narcissistic leader who abuses the truth.

Losers

A friend recently recommended the new Nextflix documentary series Losers (2019) and I was impressed by the concept. It looked at the stories of athletes who failed to become champions in their field but found satisfying roles in life after said failures. The series combines interview footage with cartoon imaginings of events discusses previously filmed archive footage. It's hard not to think that director Mickey Duzyj got his idea from Mike Judge's music documentary series Tales from the Tour Bus Vol. 1 & 2, since I haven't seen this approach anywhere else. However, these stories are fascinating. The first episode is about former world heavyweight boxing champion Michael Bentt who finds his true calling after his final defeat that leaves him unable to continue as a boxer. The series is full of redemptive stories such as how street ball legend Jack Ryan found his true calling as an entertainer with the Harlem Wizards. I was also really moved by the story about the limits psuhing career of French figure skating star Surya Bonaly, who was ahead of her time. Other episode focus on a French golfer who suffered a mletdown after leading a major tournament and a female musher in the Iditarod, but all of the stories were interesting and compelling.