The Internet Personified: All the movies I watched in 2019 (ii)
I also threw some TV shows I liked in there
My friend,
It is the end of the year (which you don’t need me to tell you, unless you’re living on a tropical island somewhere, on the beach, in a tent, your only clue that the days are passing are the incredible sunsets, your stomach is your clock, and the years passing by are meaningless to you. If you exist, I would very much like to know how you’re getting the data signal to read this email. And also where you poop.) But for the rest of us, who are bound to calendars and the time and so on, it is the end of the year, the end of a decade, and for me, personally, a chance to live in the '20s without actually time-travelling. [I hope that we’ll be roaring in this set of the 20s too. But minus the sexism and prohibition. Just cute outfits and plenty of good cocktails and I call being the New Fitzgerald or even better the New Dorothy Parker (like them, but happier!), but the rest of you can pick whoever else you like.] (Did you know The Great Gatsby saw only modest press when it first came out and only skyrocketed to popularity, Great American Classic etc, once old Scott was dead? Hope for us yet.)
Anyway, unusually for me, I watched several movies this year. You can see part one of this list over here on an older newsletter. I decided to mark them all down in an old notebook, just so I could keep track.
Some of these are on Amazon or Netflix, some of these you will have to acquire elsewhere. A handy website I use to check where something is streaming is this one. Let’s get started, it’s already the middle of the afternoon and K and I have been spring cleaning all morning, so this might only get to you by tonight.
Movies that made me literally weep:
The Hate U Give: Oof. I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting. The book itself was sad enough. Have you read the book? You should, it’s amazing. The movie, about a young black girl whose friend gets shot in front of her, is equally incredible. My mother and I watched it together and both wept buckets. If that is the sort of thing that appeals to you, I’d recommend it highly.
Movies that star a man but are actually about the women:
Dangal: I got a lot of pushback for saying this on Twitter, but Bollywood, if you are going to make a movie about two teenage female wrestlers, perhaps keep the focus on the sisters and not their dad, ffs. Otherwise enjoyable, I guess?
Movies that star women but they could have gone one step further and done age-appropriate casting, but let’s not start pulling at all these threads:
Saand Ki Aankh: I was invited to the PREMIERE of this movie by Reliance who made it, and that was an amazing experience, because the two young stars were right outside and we could say “Congratulations!” when it was done and they were pleased. But, this is supposed to be a film about two grannies that take up shooting late in life and become Olympic champions and it starred two twenty something women aged up with make-up and saggy tits, but every now and then, they’d forget they were supposed to be old and go skipping off merrily with straight backs, which [extreme side-eye] but okay. I enjoyed it for at least making it about the women and not like their nephew or coach or whatever.
Movies that I couldn’t believe I was watching for the first time because I knew all the catchphrases thanks to internet memes:
The Silence of the Lambs: Ever since I read this book, age seventeen, up in a remote cottage in the Himalayas, ALL ALONE, I have refused to watch it, but now I’m like, “The news is so bad, how much can scare me?” I seriously think we have all grown scar tissue over our souls, we are unscareable. When it comes to human on human violence anyway. I still cannot bear to watch cruelty to animals on screen. Anyway, FAVA BEANSSSS and HELLO CLARICEEEE, all very satisfying.
![Image result for the silence of the lambs .gif" Image result for the silence of the lambs .gif"](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd95878c0-f0ae-4953-86cf-220abf424ae4_500x266.gif)
Movies about cops fighting the caste system that could’ve had a lower caste person in a starring role but now I am tired of debating with Bollywood so let’s just be thankful for what we get, I suppose?
Article 15: What I liked most about this movie was the way it was shot, very True Detective, Instagram/VSCO filtered, no music, just a cop drama about a rich, upper caste, upper class sort of cop who goes to a small town and three Dalit girls are gang-raped and two are killed and one is missing. There’s a happy ending, unlike the story it was based on in Badaun.
Movies that seemed like just a way for the filmmakers to show off and didn’t really have much in terms of substance, but which were oddly enjoyable for all that:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Lots of gun fighting, lots of the Wild Wild West in this, the Coen Brothers’ anthology film for Netflix. I mean, it was nice, but would I choose to watch this over something else? Probably not.
Super low budget movies with incredible premises that also made me go “ohhhh” when I finally figured it out:
Predestination: A time travel loop movie which will seriously blow your mind. I mean, I have three movies in this category and I can’t describe any of them to you in detail because spoiler—so just watch them if you want intelligent science-fiction.
Coherence: Literally set around one dining table mostly. Sometimes the characters move within the house or the neighbourhood BUT THEY’RE ALSO MOVING THROUGH DIMENSIONS. Gosh, I sat in silence for a while when this was done, just trying to piece everything together.
The Interview: Not science-fiction, but set in just one police interview room. The cops are trying to get a confession out of a suspect and you’ll be amazed by your own shifting loyalties. This is an Australian movie, and moves quite quickly.
Movies that I did not enjoy even though I thought I would:
A Star Is Born: I mean, instead of watching Bradley Cooper devolve into man-baby while Lady Gaga picks up the pieces, read this profile of him being a man-baby instead.
Roma: Did not finish. So sloooooow and I know the black-and-white was some artistic STATEMENT or whatever, but I felt like it hides a multitude of sins, like the fact that someone took pace and plot and shot them behind the garage.
Laundromat: Only bearable because Meryl Streep is in it and I want us to be best friends, where I will go over and she’ll be wearing a beige cardigan and she’ll pour us each a generous glass of wine and I’ll tell her my problems or I’ll buy her the perfect present and she’ll throw up her hands in wonder at my amazing taste and her house will always smell of lemongrass in the summer and cinnamon in the winter. And sometimes I’ll be helping her with dinner and I’ll say, “Say it, Meryl!” and she’ll sigh and say, “Must I? It’s so demeaning” but I’ll be looking at her eagerly, so she’ll say, “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me” and I’ll be clapping my hands, and she’ll smirk in my direction and say, “That’s all.”
![Image result for please continue to move at a glacial pace" Image result for please continue to move at a glacial pace"](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5ffe1f74-3b67-40a1-9f23-833ae96bf9bd_250x150.gif)
Late Night: So many things to recommend this movie, not least that the two starring actors were Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson and it’s about a late night network show, but I couldn’t get into it. Derivative plot, no real surprises or pleasures.
Movies about TV that were kind of great:
Network: So fun, so random. But not the sort of random that has you reaching for your Instagram feed halfway through.
![Image result for network movie gif" Image result for network movie gif"](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_lossy/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6afced3b-37ca-49a3-9961-5962b170a266_500x233.gif)
Movies that were a surprising pleasure even though I wasn’t sure I was going to like them:
Kumbalangi Nights: A gentle, unfolding Malayalam film that revealed so many different layers that you kept wondering at the genius of the script. Unfortunately, the subtitles (on Amazon Prime) were crap, badly edited, badly spelled, so I had to spend the movie looking more at the actors’ faces than reading the stilted English words underneath them, but even then, it was beautiful.
Zombieland: A blockbuster zombie film, and my first in this genre. Funny, and smart and sharp. I liked it all.
Movies recommended to me:
Hearts Beat Loud: Sweet. Not the best thing I’ve ever seen, but I thought it was cute. Is that damning with faint praise? I’m not sure.
Movies that I have been using as a reference point in my conversations:
Ingrid Goes West: A social media stalker successfully stalks an influencer and makes her way into said influencer’s life. Creepy, but also cool and you might recognise yourself in any or all of the characters.
Movies that I may not have one hundred per cent ENJOYED but I did learn something through them:
Gully Boy: A look at Mumbai’s underground rap scene, which was a revelation to me. I liked all of it, not as much as I would have with about 20% less movie (why say it in 2.5 hours when you can do it in 2?) but nice music and I’ve been seeing the “apna time aayega” slogan on many different t-shirts and backpacks on young men across the city since I watched it so I guess it was zeitgeist-y.
Movies that K did not like but I managed to enjoy even though he was complaining about them the whole time next to me:
Yesterday: A struggling musician wakes up one day and realises he is the only one who can remember The Beatles, so he sings a bunch of their songs and becomes a hit. No surprises that I liked it, my Spotify Wrapped infographic informs me that The Beatles are the band I listened to most this year. (Tweet and tell them, Spotify suggested, but unless John Lennon has an afterlife Twitter account, I’m not interested.)
Movies I expected to enjoy and did as well, always pleasant when that happens:
Knives Out: Actually watched this in a theatre, and it was this old fashioned Agatha Christie-esque locked room murder mystery, set in America in the 21st century. Best is Toni Collette channeling Gwyneth Paltrow for her role.
And movies that defy classification but are the only two left on my list so I’m going to bung them in together:
Private Life: A couple struggles with infertility in New York. I liked it, but did not love it.
The Intouchables: Badly dubbed French film about a reclusive millionaire who hires a street smart man to care for him and the friendship that ensues. Ditto in the like not love.
And a few TV show recommendations:
Derry Girls
Bojack Horseman (new season is glorious)
The Crown
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (if Lorelei Gilmore was Jewish and lived in the ‘50s)
Workin’ Moms
Unbelievable
Sense8 (just got past the very slow episodes 1 & 2 and binged almost to the end of season one)
The Last Kingdom
Terrace House
The West Wing (which is like a period piece now)
Fleabag
This Is Us
Victoria
The Magicians (just bloody watch it already)
A truncated link list for you this week, because otherwise we’ll be here forever:
An excellent, creepy short story about a “woke” man.
An old but still mostly valid list of the best Mumbai restaurants. (both of these via Joanna Lobo, whose newsletter is invaluable for freelance writing.)
And, linking to a newsletter I just discovered about writing and agents, here’s a great post on how book publicity works.
Have a great week!
xx
m
Where am I?The Internet Personified! A mostly weekly collection of things I did/thought/read/saw that week.
Who are you?Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, writer of internet words (and other things) author of seven books (support me by buying a book!) and general city-potter-er.
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