Towns that Make It
The combination of a winter cold and a long holiday meant I had to have the television on. You want to be inspired when you’re battling aches, pains, and congestion. Me? I like to look at beautiful landscapes.
I’ll get into the shows in a minute, but can you name a female writer/director of a western or a woman that has been able to helm a western? Did your mind just drift to the Downton Abbey actress and her series that I never watched? Other than that, anything? I think Kathryn Bigelow isn’t interested in period pieces. Okay, what’s on television now?
Lawmen: Bass Reeves
Taylor Sheridan has given us another winner. It’s not just a show about a bounty hunter, it goes into the psyche of the people. Regardless of what side of the law they’re on, they had a path that got them there and they’re unapologetic for it, though they all understand the gray area they inhabit.
To open the series with black men fighting on the side of the confederacy is something only Sheridan would be bold enough to do. It sets up a show where there aren’t good guys and bad guys. It’s about what everyone had to do to survive.
Bass is pragmatic, just, and intelligent. We follow him because we want to see him succeed and we fear what would happen if he doesn’t win. The season one finale was the epitome of gray area where he did the right thing by breaking the law a bit.
Esau Pierce was a crazy SOB that you couldn’t stop watching. When we first meet him he says something along the lines to Bass about them both being wolves. He repeats the same line when they meet again years later. This man was evil and he was fascinated with dinosaurs. I enjoyed Berry Pepper in this role and I think he should play more psychopaths in the future.
Onibaba
While lying in bed scrolling through my phone I watched a short Criterion Collection clip with Willem Dafoe. He talked about how he wanted to remake Onibaba for years but it just never came to fruition.
It’s on HBO, so I rewatched it. Two women, outside Kyoto, that feed themselves by robbing soldiers that cross through their fields. It delves into the themes of humanity, survival, and starvation.
The supernatural element was used in a way that it didn’t shape the story, but layered the meaning. A demon can be an actual entity or just a way to describe things you’re dealing with. Is there a difference between a masked stranger out in a field of nefarious origin and those across enemy lines? It painted a picture of how being destitute can lead people down paths they didn’t know possible.
Every so often I like to watch a classic film. I spend way too much time on social media and it’s shortening our synapses. Through the simplicity of a film like Onibaba that was shot so beautifully in black and white, it forces you to concentrate on the longer scene, the activities being done in real time, and things moving without editing to speed it up. Classics help put perspective on slowing down for a moment.
Django
I’ll watch Mathias in anything. I have no background on this show. It’s on Netflix playing in the background right now while I write this.
The gist of it is there is a town post Civil War where everyone that enters is free. It’s at war with a town run by a religious zealot played by Noomi Rapace. The cast is made up of Europeans and Brits. I think this might have been filmed in Europe as well. I want to see how it ends. I’m not rooting for anyone in particular right now, but I’d like to see where they all end up.
I’m still invested three episodes in because the female characters are given control of their own lives and Mathias is on a mission. The flashback scenes lead me to believe they all knew each other before arriving at this town but the bits and pieces are cut in a way that keeps you guessing. Fine, you want me to figure it out closer to episode 10 than now.
