Shut-Ins, Cartoons and Other Contrivances - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

     No attempt at a theme this week.  
     During a recent search for something that's not there, I came across a brief web series from 2015, which seems oddly more appropriate for 2020 than it could have been in 2015.
     Two Kates (Amazon Prime) is a brief, 7-part series - each episode between four and eleven minutes long. Kate is a 30 year-old, introverted, agoraphobic artist with crippling insecurity, social anxiety, and depression, trying to live her life with as minimal contact with the outside world as possible. Still, she gets lonely. So, she had herself cloned in a process that included all memories. She also took advantage of something the service (all of that happened before we meet her) offered: Neither one knows which is the original.

     It's left to you to contrive your own maintenance on the premise, as, of course, any such process would be hugely involved and expensive, and would also be unlikely to be both found by a shut-in and remain a virtually unknown option to the general public. Any such concerns are beyond the scope and interests of the filmmaker here. Take them in stride as a fantasy element baked into the premise, and ask

no more questions.
     Initially the companionship is comforting in its reinforcement, but the awareness that as time goes on their identity and specific behaviors will begin to diverge - something at first they tout as a built-in growth mechanism - becomes its own source of anxiety. A growing discomfort as disembodied Self becomes Other. Is the Other a better version?
     The only caveat I'll give is to not expect a complete story. That's well beyond the scope of this little project. The Amazon Prime presentation shows nine files. The first seven are the pieces of the series, the eighth is a trailer, the ninth is a complete run-through of the seven episodes overlaid with a commentary track by writer/director Zach Schultz.
     It's not the sort of thing I lean on, but as I know it tracks with some, and in retrospect it is noteworthy, Two Kates is devoid of any sexual references, much less content, and the same goes for profanity. There's simply none of it there, which is completely in line with the characters.
     Last week I gave some attention to comfort viewing, and it occurs to me that I'd be remiss in not at least mentioning a recent return that I know has been a comfort to to a generation or two of fans.
     Animaniacs (fuller title often given as Steven Spielberg Presents: Animaniacs) was a variety style cartoon that ran from 1993-'98, for a total of 99 episodes and the feature film Wakko's Wish. A fast-paced, irreverent series rich with pop cultural references - often presented as lampoons and satires - which involved some terrific voice talent and often indulged in musical numbers.
     The first of (at least) two, new seasons, plans for which were announced in 2018, appeared on Hulu November 20th. I only got around to them about a week ago.

     This new batch was 13 episodes, comprising 42 segments. Despite deliberately spreading out my viewing, they went by quickly. My casual view is that these new ones fit in well with the original series, the players dropping back into their roles very naturally, making a point in several cases (particularly in the case of the leads, Yakko, Wakko and Dot) of addressing the global and cultural changes of the 22 years they've been gone. As their original premise was that they were manic cartoon characters from the 1930s who'd been wrangled and locked in a water tower on the Warner Brothers lot for decades before breaking out in the early '90s, a similar gimmick was employed for this gap.
     (If you're of a conservative bent, you're more likely to find your buttons pushed along the way. Still, remember, that's your life choice. You deserve so much worse.)
     While waiting for the next season, loosely planned for sometime next year, the original run's available on Hulu, too. The '90s were a draining decade for me, with my pop cultural intake squeezed to a narrow flow, so I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out more than a little of the original run is new to me.
     Landing today (December 4th) on Netflix is a biographical drama based on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, centering on his development of the script for Citizen Kane. Given a brief theatrical release back on November 13th - more for the mechanics of keeping it in the running for awards next year than for actual profits in this pandemic-strangled theaterhouse year, it's Mank.

     The script for this was written in the 1990s by journalist and screenwriter Jack Fincher, with plans to film it before that decade was out (with Kevin Spacey and Jodie Foster then slated to play the leads) but that was delayed out of existence. Fincher passed away in 2003. His son David is the one who picked up that torch, and directed this 2020 version. The lead is played by Gary Oldman. Loose plans are to get to this sometime this weekend.
     I expect to watch it through once just to enjoy the film on its own merits, then to go back to it - probably not immediately - with more of an eye as to how well and/or fairly they dealt with the many celebrities and historical notables who were depicted.
     While looking at Netflix, I'll also note that the fourth season of the hormone-fueled animated series Big Mouth lands today. For me, it's an acquired taste. Something I tend to take in short bursts such that I'm barely into season two. The visual style - the line work for the characters - is intentionally unappealing, meant to convey the distorted monsters people generally are. I'm notoriously repressed, so the central focus of people, especially adolescents, as monsters distorted and driven by their sexuality doesn't make this tailor-made for me. I have friends who recommend it without much reservation, though it reminds me that most of us became much freer with this sort of thing once our parents were no longer around. Still, it's often funny and occasionally momentarily poignant, though generally delivering the message with blunt, sloppy instruments.

     So, I expect to work my way to that eventually.
     In a much different vein, it's almost time for another female, ultra-assassin pic. This time (well, next Monday, the 7th) it's AVA. Before hitting the trailer, I will note that some early indicators are that while still entertaining, it's a rather emotionally shallow, by-the-numbers production, and that the trailer gives away almost the entire movie. So, you may want to skip watching the trailer, maybe coming back to this afterwards to see if they kept any of the reveals out of it. Having watched the trailer, though not yet having seen the film, I'm inclined to think the warning has a ring of truth to it. So, you've been warned.

     Starring Jessica Chastain as the lead, a woman who mysteriously dropped out of sight for eight years only to emerge as a seemingly unstoppable assassin. Colin Firth and John Malkovitch flank her as principal characters, and awards notables Geena Davis and Common are also in the mix.
     The only current, weekly series I seem to be following at the moment are in sci-fi(ish) realms of Star Trek and Star Wars. Thursdays have been bringing me new, third season episodes of Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access, while Fridays bring me The Mandalorian on Disney+. The former will continue to do so through January 7th, while the latter, with only eight episodes per season, will wrap two weeks from now with the second season finale on December 18th.
     Me, I'm still trying to deal with the idea that three weeks from now it'll be Christmas.
     So, what have you been watching, and what's coming up that you're looking forward to? - Mike