Good evening all! I’m coming to you after a busy week of work and watching, reporting back with my due promised thoughts and opinions. Let’s just get into it.
Edit from Monday Evening Leah: Apparently this didn’t send out as scheduled! Weird! Anyway, let’s hope Substack pulls itself together by next Sunday.
Downton Abbey: A New Era
If you know me, you know this household has me in a firm grip. For the last decade, I’ve been kind of continually amazed at the longevity and widespread popularity of this franchise, and I’ve tuned in at every turn. I went to go see this movie sequel with my mom, which was my first trip to see the big screen since Thanksgiving of 2020! We also saw the first movie together over two years ago, so reprising old traditions felt really fun.
As for the film itself: I left pleasantly surprised! I wondered if this sequel would once again follow the “Times are changing, whatever will we do” sentiment, or create new inventions of plot to keep audiences’ relationships to the characters fresh. The burning question on my mind was “What will happen to the Granthams during the Great War,” but it seems Julian Fellowes was unprepared to answer it. We did, however, get delightful romps through southern France, a heavy helping of sentimentality and a score that was never not going to elevate the entire production.
There is a heartwarming thread of cyclical relationships throughout this film; it begins with a wedding, and ends with a death and a birth. It manages to weave relevant plot lines for each and every character between one another and tie them all up by the end. I didn’t feel there was too much going on, because with an ensemble of like 30 people to pay attention to for 2 hours, you’ve gotta do something with them!
As for the aesthetics of the movie, I was a little put off by the gratuitous slow mo shots that just seemed to … happen every so often. Besides those, the sweeping shots of the estate and delicious views of the French villa were immersive and immediately familiar. The use of the score and main theme I could clock from 1 second in (where is the Downton Heardle when you need it?) pulled the movie together, and cemented my opinion of the franchise in that it is very self aware, while being simultaneously aware of the needs of its fanbase. Nobody felt terribly unrecognizable (save for Mary and Tom who seem to have been morphed into one chaste high strung entity rid of personality and life, which makes me a little sad) and the same themes and patterns I’ve come to know and love made themselves known in fresh narrative conventions. In conclusion, this is the film of the silver fox and also a wonderful ending to a flourishing, fulfilling story. I suppose a third movie could be in the works, but I’m not really wanting for it. Don’t mess with success!
simple shapes by slenderbodies
I received an advance copy of this album for review back in April, which was a pleasant surprise and welcome opportunity. I’ve been on the receiving end of digital ARCs for upcoming books for about a year, but taking a new chance at advance reviewing music is fresh and just that: new! I’ve had time to let the project marinate, and observe a rollout with new insights, and I’m in love with the process. Shameless plug: if you wanna send me stuff to discuss coverage, hmu at literateleah@gmail.com or commission me!
I wasn’t familiar with the Cali based duo before hearing this album, and probably would have otherwise written them off as bedroom pop to the nth power. By the time I finished the project, I was comforted by the smooth, classic feel of the production (very Urban Flora for the readers who know their herstory) and ready to let this summer vibe take over my playlists. Who knows, maybe windows down driving music is the genre the people need in this season. That’s how Harry’s House is achieving its longevity, anyway!
To address the elephant in the room for this album (and cover): the mannequins. I don’t think there has ever been a more consistent motif in imagery and marketing that my friends have laughed harder at. Knowing that there’s a meta, auteur entity behind those plastic faces crafting this entire thing makes it even funnier, and I appreciate the dedication down to the materials provided to me (a transcribed conversation between Mox and Bonji themselves). I’m hoping that they rest in peace, given that they were just smashed. Track highlights are the following: tiger balm (magenta), miracle, husky brown, smilin and simple shapes!
Physical on Apple TV - Season Two, Episodes 1 & 2
I am so glad this show is back. I know I got on the hype train a little late, but I’m here for attendance right now. I don’t think this season is starting as strong as the first, but it is certainly full on. I think the most well done component of these episodes is how explicitly the audience sees Sheila’s transfer from one addiction to another, and the fact that we’re led to recognize the cues of the toxic patterns she sets for herself. Also, Breem family lore! Danny still being kinda sleazy but also possibly trying to be radically not-sleazy in the home anymore! Greta’s evening purse! There are a lot of fun tidbits that inform the plot, but I’ll be interested how the “up and out” growth style suits Sheila’s personal storyline. We will be tuning in every Friday, don’t fear.
#murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil
I don’t wanna spend too long on this book because it is probably one of the worst I’ve read in some time, but I figured I’d give it a nod.
If we as a nation are to supersede past legacies of “dystopia that makes people compete to kill each other” media, we’re certainly not gonna do so with caricatures, plot holes and two dimensional narratives. We simply can’t. And yet, this book tried not so valiantly and fell flat miles short of anything that sticks in the brain or even conjures an evocative picture to begin with.
The premise of capital punishment being bought out by a Hollywood producer who just happens to be also POTUS, and being turned into a reality tv show on an ubiquitous phone app in which trained executors with names like “Hannah Ball” and “Gucci Hangman” hunt down falsely accused convicts…is so mind boggling one just has to laugh. I think that stands for itself, but also want to note that the allusions to The Breakfast Club and horror canon in this novel are so thinly veiled that they might as well not exist. Every “twist” and “subversion” of a commonly held stereotype just revealed the fluff of nothingness underneath the references. This book is literally unreadable, but it got me through a closing shift, so that’s that.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Another deep sigh. I know y’all know how I feel about booktok and the general hype cycle around popular books for online readers. I promise that I really do try my best to not be contrarian and just take things at face value, in order to determine for myself if something is “worth” the buzz. But at this point, I’m about to become a hipster just for the sake of doing so. As of now, I’ve vowed that everything popular must be awful, and this book is evidence for my case, sadly.
This book was one of many that made its way on and off my radar for like a year before I finally buckled down and read it. The plot centers a black babysitter, her affluent white momfluencer boss and also white-but-wishes-he-wasn’t boyfriend. The twist is that the boyfriend and boss used to date in high school, but blew up in an explosive fight over the boss being racist and the boyfriend also being racist, turns out. In another sphere of the multiverse, this plot is compelling and interesting and complex. This is not that universe.
The rest of the novel is a doubting dance of “who knows, will they, did she, is he” that just circles around Emira, the babysitting protagonist. The distant third person voice of the novel ensures that we never actually get inside of Emira’s mind, but keeps us at a voyeuristic distance from her employer’s eyes, her boyfriend’s eyes, and anyone other than herself. Her actual personality, dreams and aspirations are so veiled by others’ perceptions of her that the reader never gets to actualize the black protagonist in front of them.
On the flip side, we spend so much time with the increasingly ridiculous, goofy, corny and unserious white antagonists of this book. Each painful flirty conversation between Kelley and Emira made me want to skip the chapter, and every obsessive monologue from Alex built upon its predecessors to paint a really demented image of this supposed yin to Emira’s yang. If the book was meant to center around both women, it definitely didn’t succeed.
On top of my complaints about character and voice in this novel, its pacing was a mess. The first chapter depicts the jacket-billed incident that sets off a catalyst of actions throughout the plot, but simultaneously reveals all suspense and transports readers back to the past with extensive flashbacks. Like 100 pages could have been chopped off both the front and back of this book, and I wouldn't be mad. Summarily, let’s not play and waste my time with these recs, y’all. The bestsellers aren’t bestselling!
Thanks for tuning in this week! May the spirit of Elizabeth McGovern’s wardrobe be with you, and I’ll see you next week for an inquiry into what on earth has happened to the beach read.