There's a lot of dross on "Netflix". On more occasions than I can calculate, I have begun watching films via "Netflix" only to give up after ten minutes or so.. Too predictable. Too amateurish. Too bloody boring.
Nonetheless, having also had some really good viewing experiences courtesy of the viewing platform, I knew that it contained some gems. It was surely just a question of rooting them out - like picking over a skip filled with rubbish (American: dumpster).
Rather than going straight to "Netflix" on our television, I decided to do a bit of googling - seeing if I could find a bunch of independently recommended films that might appeal to me.
That's how I chased down "The Lost Daughter" (2021) and "The Master" (2012).
"The Lost Daughter", directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal is set in an Italian summer and stars Olivia Colman as Leda. There are psychological undercurrents linked to past events and the air is heavy with "if only's" and "what might have beens", guilt and uncertainty. Things are not spelt out. You have to make assumptions and your own conclusions. What did it all mean? Olivia Colman was as brilliant as she always is, again demonstrating her incredible range as a film actress.
"The Master" focuses upon two men. There's Freddie played by Joaquin Phoenix and Lancaster Dodd played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Freddie is an alcoholic and troubled World War II veteran. He has demons to battle. Dodd is a clever charlatan and pseudo-intellectual who has harnessed the power of his personality to lead a semi-religious cult that is often referred to as "The Cause". There may be deliberate echoes of the growth of Scientology. He gathers people around him, including Freddie. Perhaps typical of cult leaders, Dodd often seems to believe in his own fiction.
Both films held my attention throughout. Neither was made for easy entertainment. They were well-crafted and clever and they were not filled with the sound of guns or the sight of gratuitous murders as many films are. They were both about imperfect people and how they relate to one another, what they learn and where their journeys lead. I like films like that.
I often struggle to find something good to watch on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club!
DeleteThanks for the recommendations.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome.
DeleteI do the same thing. I lose interest in so many programs and films because they're so poorly written or acted.
ReplyDeleteWhy create something bad when you could make something good?
DeleteAlthough not a fan of Phoenix, I do miss Hoffman.
ReplyDeleteYes. Hoffman went far too early. Bloody drugs!
DeleteI can't remember when I last watched a film. Even allowing for my terrible memory it was years rather than months ago.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they'll make a film about you Graham... "The Laird of Eagleton" starring Rowan Atkinson as your good self.
DeleteThe Master was, well, masterly.
ReplyDeleteImagine the writer's pitch.
*L Ron Hubbard, if he had been more like Jimmy Stewart, has a latent homosexual crush on a simple shell-shocked veteran of the War in the Pacific. It is like a lost Truman Capote novel spliced with Norman Mailer.*
The Phoenix character never suspected the Master's orientation, not even when the latter sings *I'd like to get you, on a slow boat to China*.
A very droll scene.
In reality Hubbard was a sinister sociopath and his cult fleeces its sad suckers of their money.
How do you deprogram your son or daughter from Scientology's evil clutches?
Hoffman played filthy-rich Hubbard like Jimmy Stewart back on the ranch in Shenandoah, a dazzling bit of alchemy.
He and Phoenix gave the performances of their lives.
The DVD has great scenes which ended on the cutting room floor.
In one scene the Hubbard character persuades Phoenix that he will erase all his bad memories, a conversation that takes place on the Master's sumptuous yacht.
Film schools have fooled their alumni into making too tight movies: every scene must advance the central narrative + theme, or it is edited out.
That was not the way Rene Clair worked or Vittorio De Sica, Rossellini, Visconti, Robert Bresson, Truffaut, Goddard, Bergman.
Some of their best moments strayed from the central idea - think of De Sica's Bicycle Thieves.
What a tragedy that Hoffman left us so soon.
He was still a relatively young man. Perhaps his best years were ahead of him.
DeleteHoffman's best years were ahead of him.
DeleteHe had a lead role in The Talented Mr Ripley and was brilliant as Truman Capote who, as Norman Mailer said, wrote the best sentences of his generation.
I am not a blubber, but I mourned Hoffman's death as I did Amy Winehouse's, Heath Ledger's and Charlotte Coleman's (1968-2001) who had a strong part in Four Weddings and A Funeral.
There's a touching moment in Michael Shnayerson's biography of Irwin Shaw.
Shaw is having a drink after the funeral of his friend James Jones, and for a moment he holds his hand to his face and weeps.
Those writers all drank heavily but it was just the booze with them.
Kerouac smoked hashish (as did Mailer and Paul Bowles) but he disapproved of hard drugs and LSD.
I am reading Anne Theroux's account of her life with Paul, *The Year of the End*.
She liked her dope: I have too much respect for my lungs to go back to it.
Why I have never seen The Master is beyond me but I must remedy that. I'll also give The Lost Daughter a try.
ReplyDeleteThough the endings are not tied up with ribbons, both films are worth the effort in my opinion.
DeleteAre you open to suggestions for movies and series to try? I know of several things you'd probably enjoy on Netflix if you're interested. How are you and Mrs. Pudding doing? Feeling better, I hope. :)
ReplyDeleteWell we are doing fine Jennifer. Still not 100% but getting there. I would welcome any Netflix suggestions from you.
DeleteI arrived home to find Tim deep into The Last Kingdom. He was well into the second season, but I am caught up in it as well. I watch it and Google like crazy, teasing apart fact and fiction.
ReplyDeleteI've seen The Master and enjoyed it, and I'll watch anything with Olivia Colman in it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the recommendations and well-written reviews, without giving away too much. Olivia Colman has been brilliant in everything I have seen her so far.
ReplyDeleteI experience pretty much the same on Netflix as you, but as you say, there are some gems.
These days, I have not been watching Netflix but rather been browsing the vast library of series, films and documentaries of our state-owned TV channels - with surprising results. It is by no means all aimed at the 70+ section of the German population (and even if it were - nought wrong with that).
Two Norwegian series stand out for me at the moment: Beforeigners (highly, highly recommended!) and Twin (still watching and not yet half way through).
I think we are spoilt for choice these days. But we need to make some effort to pin down stuff we might actually enjoy.
DeleteI spent a lot of years burying emotions, so I'm not comfortable with movies that make me think and feel too much. I prefer the crash boom bang action stuff that doesn't require deep thoughts or even much attention. And comedies that make me laugh, whether movies or sitcoms doesn't matter as long as I'm laughing.
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued by your opening remark River.
DeleteNot being a film fan these days - so many are at best mediocre, I've never bothered with Netflix. Occasionally I'll start to watch a film on one of the channels I can access through Freesat, but don't always stay with it to the end.
ReplyDeleteDespite the dross, great films are still made but if you are not in the mood for them then that is that.
DeleteI also liked both of these movies a lot. Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed "The Master," is one of my favorite directors. (He also directed "Licorice Pizza" which I saw a couple of months ago.)
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen "Licorice Pizza" but I have heard good things about it. I believe that Hoffman's son appears in it.
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