Murderbot, in Cinema Daily US

There are a number of cliches baked into MURDERBOT, but the snarky titular android is consistently funny driving the series. He stands tall as the show's main attracttion. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

The Cinema Within: The Film-Editing Doc (sort of)

In film-editing, there are good cuts, like those made by Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch and bad cuts, like those made by Harvey “Scissorhands” Weinstein, made solely to reach a target length. Yet, this film rarely addresses the question of why cuts are made. Instead, Murch and several cognitive psychologists study how those cuts are perceived in Chad Freidrichs’ documentary, The Cinema Within, which releases this Tuesday on VOD.

At first, the act of film-watching is considered something very unnatural, because the experience of seeing two completely unrelated images in immediate succession was impossible before the invention of motion pictures. Yet, our brains did not explode.

Somehow, the accepted language of cinema, still paralleled the way human perception works. At least that is what Murch suggests, while quoting an archival interview with John Huston. Essentially, they argue humans rarely pan and scan from one object to another. Instead, we turn are heads and blink. As they often say in this film: “the blink is the cut.”

So, we as human beings intuitively understand the language of film-editing—unless we don’t. Sermin Ildirar tested the hypothesis finding an aging traditional community living in isolation in the Turkish mountains, who watched films for the first time in their lives as part of her experiments. Their heads did not explode either. However, each cut essentially created a new film for them, because they did not perceive them as part of the same continuity.

American Experience: Mr. Polaroid, on PBS

He made the original selfies possible. His company’s instant photography provided immediate gratification, but their photos were still developed on film, so people generally saved it for moments that meant something. His company gave Kodak a run for its money and remains fondly remembered. The entrepreneurial career of Edwin Land and the rise and fall of the company he created are chronicled in director-writer Gene Tempest’s Mr. Polaroid, which airs this Monday as part of the current season of American Experience on PBS.

Tempest almost immediately likens Land, a Harvard drop-out, to some of the tech titans who followed his example, like Jobs and Gates. The comparison is apt. Land started his company developing a polarization technique to minimize car headlight glare. Detroit was not interested, so he ap[plied his technology to other uses, including gun-sights, which led to major defense contracts during WWII. Of course, he knew (and hoped) the war would not last forever, so he started R&D on his instant photography concept.

Eventually, Land launched Polaroid’s first instant camera at a media event that had serious Steve Jobs vibes. At the time, it was big and bulky, but the news photographers were still dazzled. However, it took years before Polaroid refined the process into a handheld device. He also pioneered the more laidback corporate culture that continues to be associated with the tech sector. Yet, Tempest still found plenty of former employees to complain about Land’s policies.

Ironically, Land was unusually progressive for his time, especially in his efforts to hire and promote women and black recruits. Nevertheless, some employees were apparently resentful that Land did not completely adopt every single one of their political positions. Yet, he clearly had a greater social conscience than many of his contemporaries, while also serving as unofficial technical advisor to the U.S. government on aerial surveillance photography.

E.1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea

This is the third film about architect/designer Eileen Gray—one for each house she completed. In contrast, Louis Sullivan, who built Chicago into the commercial city we still know today, only has two. However, Gray’s interior and furniture design work was considerably more prolific. She also let the exponentially more famous Le Corbusier suck her into a bitter, petty rivalry, which unfolds in Beatrice Minger & Christoph Schaub’s docu-dramatic hybrid E.1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea, which opens today in New York.

As an Irish expat in Paris, Gray achieved acclaim for her interior design. She quickly fell in with the modernist movement, especially her future sort of lover, architect Jean Badovici. Working together, but mostly just Gray, they built the striking seaside modernist house, she dubbed E.1027 in their joint honor: “E” for Eileen,” 10 for “J,” 2 for “B,” and 7 for “G.” In a tragically ill-conceived error, she put the house in Badovici’s name, which led many critics to assume it was his design.

Of course, E.1027 was also influenced by the Bauhaus and Le Corbusier, so many also mistakenly attributed it to the alleged Vichy collaborator (who had also designed Soviet commissions)—a misconception he did little to dissuade. In fact, Le Corbusier tried to assert authorship over the lauded house, when Badovici allowed him to paint frescoes over Gray’s unadorned walls. Obviously, by that time, he had taken full possession and sole residency.

We see this play out in Minger & Schaub’s film—sort of. Their approach incorporates traditionally avant-garde techniques, including minimalist stagings (as well as scenes shot on-location), rendered in a deliberately stilted manner. It is all style and little soul. Additional historical context is also provided by conventional documentary interludes, including footage of the elderly re-discovered Gray, presented as a sort of summation.

The Unholy, Based on a James Herbert Novel

Late horror novelist James Herbert was often dubbed by critics “the British Stephen King,” but his American publishers were never able to translate those comparisons into sales for their editions. Believe me—I was once involved with such efforts. At least the book was good. Six film adaptations did not push him onto U.S. bestseller lists either, even though several were quite well-made. It opened to little fanfare, but the archetypal horrors resonate surprisingly deeply in director-screenwriter Evan Spiliotopouplos’s The Unholy, produced by Sam Raimi and based on Herbert’s Shrine, which airs tomorrow for service personnel on American Forces Network.

Gerald Fenn is a lot like many journalists, but he got caught fabricating his fake news stories. Ten years into his disgrace, Fenn survives by reporting on questionable occult phenomenon for a tabloid. Although a reported cattle mutilation is too bogus even for his standards, he finds a potential consolation prize when he unearths a kern doll on the farmer’s land. Unwisely, he smashes the head to make it look creepier.

The next day, the deaf-mute orphan Alice Pagett is miraculously cured. She claims she heard the Virgin Mary speak to her and then channels her divine power to cure others. Soon, Banfield, MA appears on track to become the next Lourdes. Boston’s Bishop Gyles assumes control of the scene, while Monsignor Delgarde from the Vatican investigates whether the reported healings truly qualify as miracles.

However, her guardian-uncle, Father William Hagen has visions of a demonic figure standing behind Pagett. That would be a very different Mary. Mary Elnor is a witch-turned-demon, who sold her soul to Satan, before the Puritans sealed her into the Kern baby during the prologue. Fenn botched this assignment even worse, but he valiantly fights to make amends.

Spiliotopouplos’s adaptation of Herbert’s novel embraces big, cosmic themes of good and evil, taking direct inspiration from the Biblical commandment against worshipping false idols. It also reflects a current split in the Church, represented by the smooth Cardinal Gyles and the more conservative Monsignor Delgarde. Regardless, the good Father Hagan is indeed a good Father, who might have been the most sympathetic priest portrayed in film during the entire year of 2021.

The film’s second great strength is its cast of character actors, very definitely including William Sadler, whose portrayal of Father Hagan is often quite poignant. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is suitably rumpled as Fenn, who perhaps fittingly loses his cynicism when confronting the horrors that unfold. Diogo Morgado (best known for playing Jesus in multiple projects) is a forceful, reassuring presence as Monsignor Delgarde, who demonstrates faith and intellectual rigor are not mutually exclusive. Cary Elwes (playing according to type) is amusingly slick and wily as the shortsighted Bishop.

The Old Woman with the Knife

She is the sort of greybeard you might work with at your company who knows where all the bodies are buried. In her case, it is because she killed them. It is all part of the job when you work for an assassination firm. The founder used to refer to their work as “pest control,” but the new management takes a more mercenary approach. Their clash of corporate cultures turns deadly in Min Kyu-dong’s The Old Woman and the Knife, which opens this Friday in theaters.

Ryu was a hired killer, but he had a keen sense of right and wrong. He and his wife took the woman he would dub “Nails,” which eventually evolved into “Hornclaw,” into their home when they found her near-dead on the street. He subsequently inducted her into his real business when—in self-defense—she shows an aptitude for it.

Over the years, Hornclaw became a folk legend among assassins, even after her mentor’s spectacularly bloody demise. She is still active, but the assignments aren’t what they used to be. From what she can see, the firm now mostly passes on the cases she and Ryu specialized in, opting for better paying but more ethically questionable gigs.

Unfortunately, Hornclaw’s age starts to catch up with her—almost fatally. Frankly, she would not have been a goner had Kang, a widower veterinarian, not taken the unconscious hit-lady back to his animal clinic for emergency treatment. In Hornclaw’s world, no good deed goes unpunished, especially if it leaves witnesses, but she is tired of compromising her principles. She is also already tired of “Bullfight” the reckless, borderline psychotic new assassin her boss recruited.

This is exactly the sort of nifty Korean thriller that Hollywood might option to remake, but would inevitably foul-up. Somehow, it manages to be simultaneously gritty and slick. Most of all, it is terrific showcase for veteran thesp Lee Hye-young as the Eastwoodesque Hornclaw. Her performance serves as a thoughtful contemplation on aging and all the bad karma that accrues over a lifetime.

Tehran Blues, on OVID.tv

Anyone singing in Iran, necessarily sings the blues. Music is strictly forbidden for women and highly discouraged for men. For obvious reasons, busking is a tough business for a poet and musician like Erfan Shafei, but he and his street musician friends carry on as best they can in Spanish filmmaker Javier Tolentino’s documentary, Tehran Blues, which premieres this Thursday on OVID.tv.

Shafei’s get-together with other regional Iranian folk musicians feels more like a support group meeting than a workshop or a jam session. That does not suggest a great cultural state of affairs. Nevertheless, many of them discuss and perform music with tremendous passion, especially Golmehr Alami, whose vocal feature spot is absolutely hypnotic.

You might consider Shafei’s friends and colleagues the Persian or Iranian equivalent of Roots or Americana music. Many of them explore the neglected folk music traditions of their home regions. Often, you can blues-like undertones to their music. In fact, some of the instrumental solos even have a jazz vibe reminiscent of the Eastern-influenced drone-like recordings of artists like Coltrane and Lateef.

Toletino also follows Shafei on an unstructured, slackery tour Iran, in search of authentic regional music. It provides a fascinating reality check, revealing the genuine attitudes and opinions of working-class Iranians. A rugged fisherman completely upends expectations, expressing his intention to defy his country’s misogynistic two-parts-for-men and one-part-for-women inheritance tradition, because all his sons are idiots, while all his daughters have their act together. Indeed, he sounds quite progressive, albeit somewhat cautiously so.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba--The Movie: Mugen Train, in Cinema Daily US

DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA--THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN is a relatively accessible entry point and a massive payoff for franchise fans. It features impressively animated supernatural martial arts and a death scene worthy of Garbo. It was also the #1 global boxoffice champ of 2020, but if you missed it, because it was '20/'21, it reutrns to theaters tomorrow. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

The Darkside of Society, Narrated by Julian Sands

Many horror movies, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre pretend to be “based on a true story.” Brian Yuzna’s Society actually was, but screenwriter Woody Keith, now known as Zeph E. Daniel, did not realize it, even though it was his story. He had just repressed the horrors he endured. It is crazy stranger-than-fiction testimony you might not totally believe, but you will never be bored by Larry Wade Carrell’s documentary, The Darkside of Society, which releases today on VOD.

If you know the cult classic movie, Daniel never claims to have survived the grotesque body-horror conclusion referred to as the “Shunting.” Instead, he explains how his parents, especially his mother groomed him to be the sacrifice of a satanic ritual, much like the lead character, Bill Whitney. That’s right, the much maligned “Satanic Panic” was in fact based in grisly fact.

According to Daniel, his mother was the chief architect of his torment, or at least her satanic witch personalities. She also had nurturing Christian personalities. However, her dark side nearly killed Daniel several times.

If any of this is true, Daniel deserves great sympathy and tremendous credit for overcoming such adversity. Also, his expression of Christian forgiveness sounds genuine and laudable. On the other hand, if this is an extended put-on to create a prequel to Society that is equal parts David Lynch and Andy Kaufman then hats off to Daniel and Carell. Either way, it is an eerily fascinating film that takes the so-called “Satanic Panic” seriously, instead of trying to laugh it away.

Indeed, Darkside is unlike any other horror movie documentary, in which the cast-members prattle on about how gratifying it is to be a part of something that still means so much to the fans. Aside from Daniel, the only major cast or crew members who appear in Darkside are Yuzna and special effects artist Screaming Mad George. However, horror filmmaker Richard Stanley (who is also an abuse survivor) appears to discuss the kind of ritualistic menacing Daniel describes.

Batman: Full Moon

He is a superhero with considerable affinity for the horror genre. He fought Dracula and a Lovecraftian evil that came from the Arctic. He is also known to have very “Long Halloweens.” This time around, he faces a werewolf, but you know it is going to get rough, because this limited series was originally published by DC’s more mature Black Label imprint. Regardless, you cannot argue with the bat vs. wolf concept of Rodney Barnes’ Batman: Full Moon, illustrated by Stevan Subic, which releases today in a hardcover bind-up edition.

It is hard dating Bruce Wayne, but Zatanna is unusually understanding, having apparently already had the secret identity talk. That is fortunate for him, because he will need her occult expertise when he tangles with a werewolf. Initially, he assumes it is just another superhuman beast, like Grodd, but it is savage in a mindless way, but also contagious.

Fittingly, the werewolf was once Christian Talbot, an obvious, affectionate reference to Lon Chaney, Jr.’s Larry Talbot. As a soldier, he generated the ill-karma that attracted the werewolf who bit him, while serving on a mission in Romania. He came to Gotham hoping Wayne Pharmaceuticals could devise a cure. The infectious disease specialist certainly empathizes with Talbot’s plight. Formerly a super-villain, Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a.k.a. Man-Bat, has been fully reformed, but he remains a recovering vampire. Slightly disappointed by the lack of results, Talbot trashed the Wayne labs in his lycanthropic form.

Frankly, Talbot is a foe Batman cannot beat-up. Instead, he relies on the aid of Langstrom, Zatanna, and her surly ex, John Constantine. The Hellblazer clearly isn’t over her yet, but that is why comic geeks are crazy for her. Of course, Alfred Pennyworth and his mordant wit are also as dependable as ever.

Barnes serves up an unusually angsty and moody take on werewolves, but that obviously suits the Dark Knight. He also cleverly incorporates the other familiar DC characters, especially Langstrom, into this Elseworlds storyline. Parents should note the 13+ age guideline is apt, mostly for language, but also for some mature references (albeit one that would hopefully be lost on younger readers, but these days, you never know).

Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, on NBC

It is a healthy sign that the entertainment industry can finally pay tribute to Joan Rivers. It only took ten years (and change) after her death. It is obvious why it took so long. Personally, Rivers was a paragon of tolerance, but for her comedy was serious, take-no-prisoners business. Shrewdly, Rivers’ admirers celebrate her “thematic boldness” as well as her genuine stature as a feminist trailblazer in Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute, executive produced by her daughter Melissa, which airs tonight on NBC.

Sadly, Rivers passed away in 2014, but she lived to see the release of Rucki Stern & Annie Sundberg’s Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, which helped put her career resiliency into proper perspective. Of course, nobody in this special mentions her victory on Celebrity Apprentice, but the 2010 documentary made it clear her Trump-related triumph helped reinvigorate her career, once again. However, Joel McHale does a funny bit about all the awful news of the last ten years Rivers was fortunate to miss. He also takes several shots at E!, where he met Rivers, which is suitably subversive, considering the network will rebroadcast this very special on June 5^th.

In fact, most of the presenter/tributer/roasters are rather funny, because they adopt Rivers’ fearless spirit. Nikki Glaser and Rachel Brosnahan pretty much go straight for the crotch (with ample precedent). In addition, Brosnahan notably gives Rivers credit as the model for Miss Maisel. Fittingly, Tiffany Haddish (who discovered her Jewish roots in adulthood) gives Rivers credit for serving as her Jewish role model. Of course, it also makes you wonder how the forceful Rivers would have responded to the current alarming surge of antisemitism, especially on college campuses.

Topakk, from the Philippines

If the gangs chasing the Warriors back to Coney Island blundered into a warehouse guarded by John Rambo, it would have gotten very bloody. This is the movie that proves it. Miguel Vergara witnessed guerrillas beheading the surviving members of his commando unit. He then killed each and everyone of them. Of course, he lives with tremendous guilt and PTSD. It all comes rushing back to him when two desperate siblings barge into the warehouse where he works as a security guard—in a way that will be very bad for the corrupt Filipino drug cops chasing them in Richard V. Somes’ Topakk (a.k.a. Triggered), which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Vergara’s best friend Leon Ramos had the bad judgement to announce his wife’s pregnancy right at the start of their operation, so we all know what will happen. His wife Jane clearly has not forgiven Vergara yet and neither has he. This will be his first night finally employed, at a creaky old warehouse that apparently stores inflammable material and enormous circular saws, so we know what that means.

Bogs Diwata got caught trying to steal from the drug operation his sister used to mule for, so she agrees to make runs with him to work off the debt. During their first pick-up (yep, you got it), the corrupt Mayor sends Romero’s Elite Squad-like unit to wipe out the potential informants who could tie her to the illicit drug trade. Of course, they cannot leave witnesses like the Diwatas, but somehow, they make it to Vergara’s warehouse.

Honestly, Topakk might be the bloodiest action movie of the decade. Somes and company never hold back or water anything down. These are old school no-holds-barred beat-downs. Frankly, there is good reason the stunt performers of Tag Team Stunts get such prominent billing, because they were clearly busy.

For most fans, only Tag Team’s work really matters, but Sid Lucero happens to be terrific as Romero. He is far more complex than the rest of the villains, as a veteran and family man, whose own family will be threatened by the drug kingpins he protects. There are also several flamboyantly nasty henchmen, like the duplicitous Aquinta and sadistic Sarmiento, portrayed with sinister glee by Cholo Barretto and Vin Abrenica.

Last Mile, on Delta

Regrettably, one of the best ways to damage an “Amazon”-like corporate behemoth, especially one that prides itself on its “customer-centric” values, is through those customers. Survivors tend to leave very bad reviews when their packages explode. That has been happening throughout Japan on the worst possible day, Black Friday, in Ayuko Tsukahara’s Last Mile, which is now available on some international Delta flights.

Despite its record high volume Amazon’s Daily Fast’s Kanto warehouse has a troubled reputation, so Japanese expat Erana Funado was dispatched back home from corporate HQ to whip it into shape—on the busiest day of the year. Her chief lieutenant, Ko Nashimoto does not seam to mind being passed over. Yet, he represents the only management team member still employed at Kanto since the incident to be revealed later.

It is safe to assume someone else still remembers and remains upset over it. That tragedy emerges as the prime motive in a string of Amazon Daily Fast shipments that were rigged to explode. Strategically, many of the bombs targeted shipments of Amazon’s Daily Fast’s new proprietary smart phone. Given the season, there are hundreds of temp workers clocking into the Kanto facility, but the security precautions make it nearly impossible to smuggle in explosions. Indeed, the cops are baffled, leaving Funado and Nashimoto the best bets to solve the crime.

It makes sense Delta chose Last Mile for their in-flight entertainment, because nothing is more fun than a thriller about concealed bombs while you are sealed in an airliner flying over the ocean. This one is just okay, but it is extremely zeitgeisty. Quickly, the investigation focuses on the Sheep shipping company, from which Amazon Daily Fast has extorted huge discounts, thanks to their monopsonistic buying power. Of course, those concessions naturally come out of driver compensation.

So, Last Mile (a reference to the final leg before a package reaches its recipient) might not turn up on Prime anytime soon. The two-hour plus running time is also excessive. Yet, Akiko Nogi’s screenplay clearly reflects the abiding Japanese interest in corporate culture and teams, as exemplified by kezai shosetsu Japanese business novels.

Fittingly, Funado is the most intriguing character, because her corporate loyalty is often open to interpretation. Her resourcefulness is also impressive. Hikari Mitsushima brings a lot of screen charisma to the lead role, without overplaying the cloying pluckiness. It is easy to believe the more laidback (but comparatively underdeveloped) Nashimoto could work with her.

Constantine: City of Demons—The Movie

In the DC Universes, nobody inspires more confidence than Superman, but magic represents his second greatest weakness after Kryptonite. Occult detective John Constantine is far less reliable or trustworthy, but he is still your better bet to exorcize a demonic possession. Unfortunately, his oldest long-suffering friend Chas Chandler must ask his help for exactly that reason in Doug Murphy’s DCanimated feature, Constantine: City of Demons—The Movie, which would make appropriate viewing today, even though it feels a little awkward to celebrate Constantine’s birthday if you know the sad circumstances of his birth.

Indeed, Constantine endured his share of trauma, which made him the miserable sod fans know and love. Having survived his tragic family life, Constantine embraced his magical lineage, but his first foray into dark magic ended in disaster. As a result, he was admitted to Ravenscar Mental Hospital, where loyal Chandler still regularly visited him.

Eventually Constantine’s swagger returned and his mastery of the occult arts grew. Consequently, Chandler understands his old friend will be more help than modern medicine when his daughter Trish falls into a supernaturally induced coma. Given their shared history, Constantine cannot deny him. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the responsible demon was counting on, as he explains when he lures Constantine to Los Angeles.

City of Demons might be the goriest DC movie ever (and it is hard to think of anything from Marvel that comes remotely close). Regardless, if you enjoy demonic horror, this film delivers. At least it is a film now. City of Demons was compiled and expanded from an original CW Seed series, but it never feels episodic.

Absolute Dominion: The Kumite of World Religions

Athletes talk about God all the time, but it is weird when Sagan Bruno does it. That is because he is sponsored by the Institute of Humanism and Science (IHS). He represents secular humanism in the global kumite to determine which faith will rule the world. Yet, lately, he has heard God speaking to him. Of course, he is the first to agree he maybe just took a few too many to the head. Regardless, he must keep fighting to save the world from all the rival theocracies vying for global supremacy in director-screenwriter Lexi Alexander’s Absolute Dominion, which releases today in theaters and on digital.

Fix Huntley (a very shticky Patton Oswalt) was just another loud-mouth influencer, until he jokingly suggested an MMA battle royale featuring each faith’s standard-bearer settle the religious wars devastating the planet. The idea caught on like wild fire. The “Absolute Dominion” treaties were codified, fighters were trained, and Huntley grew to prophet-like status. Through a loop-hole, the IHS had a sufficient ethical framework to submit their own fighter. Lacking an inventory of holy warriors, they genetically engineered Sagan (in honor of Carl?) Bruno.

His father, Dr. Yehuda Bruno, is a scientist and his coach. His mother is an Olympic gymnast and Rhodes scholar, but she and Sagan aren’t close. Arguably, Bruno’s trainer Anton Moskovitz is like a second parent. However, Bruno will quickly develop a close rapport with Naya Olinga, his bodyguard during the wild card tournament. Weirdly, she volunteered, even though Bruno is considered the longest of long shots.

Nevertheless, Bruno quickly emerges as a bracket-buster, breaking multiple Absolute Dominion records. Naturally, all the media attention concerns the Absolute Dominion organizers, who fear a victorious atheist would launch fresh waves of sectarian violence, so they leak surveillance video in which Bruno talks about the possibly divine voice that speaks to him (unheard by the audience). Frankly, that makes many people even more intrigued, which means Olinga will be very busy during this assignment.

First of all and perhaps most importantly, Absolute Dominion works pretty well as a no-holds-barred beatdown. Lead actor Desire Ma is clearly a natural athlete and he broods with considerable screen presence. He also gets terrific martial arts support from Junes Zahdi and Fabiano Viett as Bruno’s greatest rivals (who want to beat him fair and square in the ring).

The Jazz Television of Robert Herridge

There was a time jazz and classical musicians, even including opera singers, regularly performed on The Tonight Show. That was when Johnny Carson hosted—and it certainly helped that he idolized Buddy Rich. Yet, the idea all music deserves representation goes back to Robert Herridge, who produced many arts-focused anthology and variety programs for CBS. In fact, Herridge oversaw some of the most important jazz programs to ever air on American television. His close jazz advisor, the late, great Nat Hentoff explains how and why they came to be in John Sorensen’s documentary, The Jazz Television of Robert Herridge, which screens this Sunday at Anthology Film Archives, to celebrate the publication of The Herridge Style (edited by Sorensen).

When Herridge decided to produce a jazz showcase, he first sought the counsel of critic Whitney Balliet, who connected the producer with the younger Hentoff, who became his jazz guru. Together they assembled an amazing, but not obviously commercial line-up for The Sound of Jazz, which is now considered a pivotal moment in jazz history and spawned a perennially popular companion album.

You might have heard about these sessions in Ken Burns’ Jazz and other documentaries, because they captured Billie Holiday’s final performance with her indefinably close friend, Lester Young. It also documented one of the first TV appearances for Thelonius Monk, who many critics and fans dismissed at the time as too outré. Hentoff and Herridge were way ahead of the curve recognizing his genius. Yet, they also programmed traditional Dixieland artists, like Peewee Russell, whom many considered too passé.

Perhaps Miles Davis was most notable jazz musician of the era not represented in The Sound of Jazz, so Herridge and Hentoff convinced him to appear in The Sound of Miles Davis, featuring his So What quintet and a big band conducted by Gil Evans. Unfortunately, it is much harder to find, in toto, than The Sound of Jazz. A third program, Jazz from Studio 61, followed featuring the very modern Ahmad Jamal (whose popularity at the time approached that of Davis) with an all-star ensemble of swing and traditional musicians, including Buck Clayton and Ben Webster.

Herridge and Hentoff also collaborated on two showcases for blues and folk, which also arguably had a lasting impact. Indeed, according to Bob Dylan, he first heard Joan Baez when she performed on one of these broadcasts, so you could make a case Timothee Chalamet owes his second Oscar nomination to Herridge.

Camera Three: Moby-Dick (Part 5)

This was the era before high def. Frankly, in 1954, they hardly had any def whatsoever. Consequently, it is difficult to appreciate early television as it was experienced by the original audience (whose TV’s were small black-and-white screens on enormous consoles). However, the classy minimalist aesthetic of Robert Herridge’s Camera Three anthology series still holds up. Long considered lost, the fifth concluding installment of Camera Three’s Moby-Dick, directed by Frank Moriarty, screens as part of Anthology Film Archive’s Herridge program this Sunday.

As viewers ought to know, nearly the entire crew of the Pequod is doomed. They all realize it too by the start of the fifth episode. Starbuck just missed his chance to essentially “frag” Captain Ahab, whose obsession with the white whale will obviously end in disaster. Starbuck still tries to persuade Ahab to return to Nantucket, but the die is cast.

Moriarty and Herridge (the producer and screenwriter) never resort to plastic whales or drenching the cast with buckets of water. This is a Spartan set, consisting of little more than masts. The small ensemble relates most of the action in monologues, faithfully distilled (by Herridge) from Melville’s text. Yet, the stark use of light and shadow, as well as the cast’s powerful deliveries remain eerily powerful.

One of the saddest aspects of Camera Three’s adaptation of Moby-Dick is the hauntingly good performance of Gerald Sarracini as Starbuck.  At the time, he was an emerging star on TV and Broadway, but a street fight cut his life tragically short. Had he lived, he might have been considered in the company of John Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara.

It is also quite a revelation to watch Earle Hyman, who is truly magnetic as Ismail. While Hyman did indeed enjoy a long career, he is unfortunately best known for playing Cliff Huxtable’s father on The Cosby Show (which has fallen out of favor, for reasons beyond his control), while his early prestigious work on Moby-Dick remains largely missing and/or unavailable.

Furthermore, Peter Mark Richman (who was a staple on 1950s-1970s TV, including The Twilight Zone) might contribute one of the best portrayals of Stubb, of any adaptation. Of course, the Ahab makes or breaks every Moby-Dick, but the now little-known A. Winfield Hoeny (who recorded several spoken-word 78s) completely looks and sounds the part.

Fortunately (since this is all we have), the fifth installment of Moby-Dick stands on its own quite well, but it is shame the entire adaptation remains essentially lost. It still represents some terrific television, featuring a number of recognizable character actors, at their finest. Very highly recommended (and not just as a novelty), Moby-Dick Part 5 screens this Sunday (5/11) at Anthology Film Archives.

Jana, Marked for Life, on Viaplay

In the late Eighteenth Century, Norrkoping was one of three Swedish cities where Jews were allowed to live (along with Stockholm and Gothenburg). In recent years, there has been a dark side to the harbor city’s openness, as the authorities have struggled with illegal immigration and human trafficking. Perhaps something like that happened to Jana Berzelius, who has recently followed in the footsteps of her adoptive father, into the prosecutorial service. However, her first case might be her last, when she participates in an investigation involving child assassins who literally bear the same markings she still carries on he back of her neck in co-creators Felix Herngren & Henrik Bjorn’s six-episode Jana, Marked for Life, which premieres tomorrow on Viaplay.

Hans Juhlen was the director of the local government migrant agency, who was known to get a little “hands on” with some of his cases. As fate would have it, he helped facilitate Karl and Margarethe Berzelius’s adoption of Jana, after she mysteriously washed up in the harbor. However, she was so prone to rage, paranoia, and violence, they sent her to a psychiatrist privy to questionable trauma research, who basically drugged Jana’s bad memories away.

Of course, they were not really gone. They always returned in dreams and now start surfacing in sudden flashes prompted by Berzelius’s first case: Juhlen’s murder, apparently committed by a child. Even though Juhlen approached Berzelius at her father’s retirement party, on the night of his death, she minimizes her connection, so she can still work the case. To put it bluntly, she lies to Peer Bruckner, the senior prosecutor assigned to the case (and perhaps her potential love-interest) and she keeps deceiving him as she gets pulled more deeply into her dangerous past.

It is hard to say who makes worse decisions, the erratic, half-cocked Berzelius, or her law enforcement rival, police officer Mia Bolander, whose class-conscious resentment of the new prosecutor also acts like an antidote to her common sense. However, their horrendous decision-making at least earns credit for advancing the plot. Without them blundering into crime scenes, most of the series would probably consist of Bruckner filling out forms in triplicate.

Gaea-Tima: The Gigantis, Manga

King Kong had Ann Darrow and Mothra had the singing Shobijin fairies, so if this kaiju takes an active interest in Miyako, you could argue he is only following in tradition. However, they might share a disturbingly close connection that rather alarms the sensitive teen. Yet, that “relationship” might help Miyako save her seaside village of Sukuba from future kaiju attacks in artist-writer KENT’s manga, Gaea-Tima: The Gigantis (vol. 1), which is now on-sale at comic retailers.

Ten years ago, Sukuba barely survived Gaea-Tima’s rampage. However, the aftermath was strangely profitable. Although Gaea-Tima turned the offshore waters black, it produced famously tasty seafood. The community also benefited from a wave of kaiju tourism. Since Miyako still suffers from PTSD, she finds the Gaea-Tima fascination perverse and even insulting. Nevertheless, she profits from it more than anyone, having found modest fame for her handcrafted vinyl Gaea-Tima figurines. She also works in her mother’s seafood restaurant—and resignedly expects to remain stuck there the rest of her life.

Things start to change when a fan pays a visit. That would be the kaiju-crazy oceanographer, Tatsukuni-san. He should resent kaiju more than anyone, since his formerly wealthy family was financially ruined by a kaiju attack.  Instead, he is quite philosophic when it comes to the great behemoths. He also might be handy to have around when a new, completely different kaiju attacks Sukuba. Fortunately, a kaiju resembling Gaea-Tima rises out of the water to fight it off, like the kinder, gentler Godzilla of the later films. Of course, that prompts the question of why, which seems to involve Miyako.

In a way, Gaea-Tima: The Gigantis channels the angst and existential dread of the very first Godzilla, in its original Japanese cut. Indeed, for Miyako, there is absolutely nothing campy about a kaiju attack. Arguably, that emotional realism sets KENT’s manga apart from other kaiju films and comics.

The Moogai, from Australia

It is sort of like a supernatural dingo, who is out to steal Sarah’s baby, Jacob. Unfortunately, few people believe in that folky monster, much like Meryl Streep’s cradle-snatching dingoes in A Cry in the Dark. Sadly, that even includes Sarah herself (at least for most of the film). Of course, her long-absent birth-mother, Ruth knows only too well the creature exists, because she only barely survived an encounter with it during her childhood. She is the best hope to save Jacob, but Sarah’s skepticism (and the “dominant” white culture she is responding to) make Ruth’s mission even more difficult in director-screenwriter Jon Bell’s The Moogai, which opens in theaters this Friday.

Sarah is actually crushing it brokering M&A deals for her firm. Arguably, she is sort of having it all, balancing her career in finance with motherhood. That luck ran out when she went into labor with Jacob. Technically, the difficult delivery killed her for several seconds, but somehow the insensitive Anglo-Aussie doctor revived her.

Of course, he prescribes plenty of rest, but Sarah starts to fear sleep, because of the freaky nightmares, featuring an eerie looking little girl and a nasty monster with long taloned fingers. Ruth would know that is the Moogai, because it left the scars that still mark her face. However, Sarah remains rejects all the old superstition. Believing her mother abandoned her, she instinctively distanced herself from aboriginal culture. Her blokey husband Fergus is more receptive to tradition, but he still assumes she suffers from an acute form of post-partum psychosis.

To suggest Bell’s use of the Moogai as a metaphor for racist Australian policies towards the Aboriginal population is heavy-handed would be an understatement. Alas, The Moogai is definitely the sort of film where the message comes first and everything else is secondary.

That is a shame, because the Moogai is creepy monster that taps into universal fears of childhood boogeymen, regardless of viewers’ cultural backgrounds. Indeed, Bell displays sound instincts when it comes to deciding how much of the monster to show throughout the film.

The Woman in the Yard, Opening in Brazil

Garden gnomes will not look like such eye-sores after a day of staring at her. Unfortunately, there is nothing kitschy about the veiled woman regally sitting in her chair, who appeared in front of Ramona’s house one morning. Ominously, she seems to get closer and closer without visibly moving. Understandably, she quite alarms Ramona’s two children, especially since the grieving widow might have a pretty good notion as to why she is there—and it isn’t good. Regardless, the figure in black won’t be leaving anytime soon in Jaume Collet-Serra’s Blumhouse produced The Woman in the Yard, which opens in its final major international market, Brazil (or rather Brasil), this Thursday.

Ramona has not been coping well with  her husband David’s death, for especially painful reasons that will be revealed later, but astute viewers will have already guessed. Arguably, her teen son Tay (for Taylor) has largely been taking care of her and his little sister Annie, but inconveniently, that did not include paying the electric bill. With the power out, neither he nor his mother can recharge their phones, so the family finds themselves stuck in their isolated fixer-upper farmhouse, to face the woman alone.

For a while, she just gives cryptic, but spooky and vaguely threatening answers to Ramona’s questions. However, around late afternoon, she “reaching into” the house through the sunlight, to torment the family in a more “hands on” manner.

In fact, the first two acts are quite effective at establishing the atmosphere of mystery and dread. Collet-Serra and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski literally just filmed shadowy woman sitting on a chair, but they make her truly scary. Even though she remains chairbound nearly the entire film, Okwui Okpokwasili also hits the perfect note of eerie but hard-to-pin-down supernatural menace.

Yet, to the film’s great detriment, the ending has been widely considered both a considerable disappointment and highly divisive—with justifiable reason. Frankly, it is easy to imagine Sam Stefanak’s screenplay originally had a darker, edgier conclusion that was toned down with meat cleaver edits. As it currently stands (or rather sits), the film ends quite abruptly, leaving the audience with [perhaps unintended] unresolved ambiguities.

Dalia and the Red Book, an Argentinian Animated Sleeper

They are sort of like animated versions of Pirandello’s six characters in search of an author, but their Argentinian author, Adolfo is gone. They do not really want someone to write their ending for them anyway. They would prefer it if someone would simply take their dictation. That someone would be their author’s daughter, Dalia. However, her favorite character encourages her to write her own story in screenwriter-director David Bisbano’s Dalia and the Red Book, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Dalia keeps insisting to her mother she does not want to be a writer. However, her mom can recognize talent. After all, she was Adolfo’s editor. Unfortunately, it was not full-time work, because her dad took his sweet time with every short story he released and he never finished what would have been his first novel.

That is where Dalia comes in. When she discovers the notebook in which Adolfo wrote his unfinished narrative, it reawakens the fictional, but very real otherworld. Wolf and her accomplices want an ending, wherein they emerge triumphant. However, Goat arrives just in time to rescue her. He happened to be the character Dalia created, but he has taken on new traits over time, like his aviator goggles.

The now stylish Goat must escort her back to her world before time runs out on Adolfo’s old pocket watch. It would be helpful towards that goal if she could finally write an ending, but Dalia has always struggled to conclude her stories.

It is odd that this film largely flew under the festival radar, because the hybrid 3D/2D/stop-motion animation is impressively immersive and the story celebrates the power of creativity in ways that should resonate with animation fans. There are also several revelations that hold a good deal of psychological and archetypal meaning, so they seem fitting and appropriate in the context of the film.

Daydreamers: Vampires in Vietnam

The rules for these vampires will sound familiar. Sunlight and fire are sure ways to kill them. They are also vulnerable to silver, but its best to aim for the heart. Of course, once you are a vampire there is no going back—except Nhat’s faction believes they can change back, through sheer discipline and alternate blood sources. However, his brother Marco’s clan thinks differently and hunts accordingly. They also happen to be the better looking vampires in Timothy Linh Bui’s Daydreamers, which is now playing in very limited theaters.

Nhat “lives” cooperatively with the “House Boat” vampires, led by Vy, who aspires to follow the example of a folkloric monk, who cured his vampirism with a diet of rat blood and will power. According to the legend, it took him more than a few centuries, which leaves plenty of time for Nhat’s fellow vampires to succumb to their hunger.

Marco is the lover of Trieu, the Vampire queen of Ho Chi Minh City. They are definitely vampires in the hedonistic Anne Rice tradition. Nhat’s vampires scrupulously observe the ancient vampire rule: “kill no human,” which Trieu’s vampires corrupted into “leave no witnesses.” Despite their differences, Nhat is initially happy to reconnect with Marco. However, he inadvertently reveals himself to the mortal Ha, during their celebratory clubbing. For Marco and Trieu, this problem is easily solved. However, Nhat becomes Ha’s protector instead.

The basic story, credited to Bui and Doan Si Nguuyen, incorporates a lot of familiar vampire terrain, with amble precedent in the Lestat and Underworld franchises. However, Daydreamers’ vampire backstory, including the undead flight from Europe to Indochina and the legend of the monk, gives it a richer texture. The exotic Vietnamese setting also helps distinguish the film from its legion of competitors. In fact, the tone shares a kinship with some of Joko Anwar’s creepier Indonesian horror films.

Two to One: Economic Lessons for the Old GDR

This based on-fact caper was undeniably inflationary and it necessarily involved stealing from the government. Yet, the perpetrators consider it a victimless crime. In fact, these Est Germans think of themselves as victims of Germany’s reunification. In some sense they are not wrong, but they might be blaming the wrong villains in director-screenwriter Natja Brunckhorst’s Two to One, which just opened in the UK.

All the Reunification agreements have been negotiated, including the former East Germany’s adoption of the Western Mark. The deadline for former East Germans to convert their financial holdings is fast approaching, but Maren and her neighbors converted their funds almost immediately. Of course, she and her partner Robert are fascinated by his uncle Markowski’s description of the resulting mountains of old obsolete money piled in the underground vaults where he works as a security guard. On a lark, the three pull off what they consider a pointless caper, making off with several duffle bags full of useless cash—or so they thought.

The next day, they are stunned to hear one of the opportunistic traveling salesmen from the West assures Maren and Robert he would be delighted to accept any unused East German Marks they might have lying around—so, sure they will buy a microwave. In fact, they will take whatever his has in his car and they might buy even more if he comes back tomorrow.

Obviously, every West German salesman quickly descends on their apartment complex. With the help of Volker, Maren’s recently returned ex, they organize the entire building into an army of small appliance consumers. They even include cranky old Lunkewitz, so everyone is involved and nobody snitches. Volker becomes their chief operations officer, despite the awkwardness of their shared history—especially since Volker wants a relationship with Dini, the biological daughter Robert raised as his own.

Brunckhorst maintains a distinctively bittersweet vibe throughout Two to One. There is a good deal of humor, but it also expresses the sadness experienced by a community forced to confront the deception and corruption of the system they bought into. Eventually, Robert and Volker start recruiting returning GDR diplomats to convert old currency on their behalf, because they were granted extended deadlines. Yet, they are disgusted by the Commuunists’ grotesque venality. Most of their neighbors swapped 500 East German Marks, but the slimy Ambassador Kulitzka believes he can safely exchange 500,000 without attracting suspicion.

Indeed, the ethics of Two to One grow increasingly complex. While it starts out lampooning Western commercialism, it ultimately indicts the hypocrisy and the exploitation of the supposedly “good old” Socialist system.

Words of War: The Anna Politkovskaya Story

October 7^th might be the most evil date in the calendar. Obviously, it has become infamous for the Hamas’s horrific 2023 terror attacks. Furthermore, in 2006, independent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was ruthlessly gunned down, in a blatantly politically motivated assassination, on October 7^th—a date possibly selected as a “birthday gift” for Putin, who was indeed born on that very date. It was a tragedy, an outrage, and a precursor of worse atrocities to come. Politskaya’s idea of journalism was telling the truth, without fear or favor. Not surprisingly, that incurred the Putin regime’s wrath, as viewers witness in James Strong’s biographical drama, Words of War, which opens today in New York.

Politkovskaya wrote for Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s only editorially independent newspaper, edited by Dmitry Muratov, a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Muratov is a muckraker at heart, but even he worries about the risks Politkovskaya takes. Frequently reporting from the battlefields of Russia’s dirty war in Chechnya, she earns the Chechens’ trust revealing Russian war crimes. She also earns Russian military’s hostility and several beatings.

Her family is not necessarily thrilled with her new notoriety, especially her son Ilya. Her semi-estranged husband Alexander somewhat resents seeing her journalistic prestige eclipsing his own. Yet, he makes a point of recording the death threats she receives, which becomes almost a full-time job. Thanks to the credibility she established, the Chechen militia hostage-takers requested her as a mediator during the Moscow Theater Siege, so she saw first-hand how the Russian police killed 132 innocent civilians through their use of an opioid-derived chemical agent.

The film begins with the first attempt on Politkovskaya’s life, an airliner poisoning that eerily parallels the 2020 attempted assassination of Alexei Navalny, and then rewinds to show the why’s and how’s. Frankly, it really starts with a bang, because her escape from the compromised hospital, engineered by Muratov and her grown children, Ilya and Vera, is a true white-knuckle sequence.

It is also worth noting Words of War never indulges in hagiography. As portrayed by the aptly cast Maxine Peake, Politkovskaya is often difficult, but always acutely human. She is also more right than wrong, at least on the big-picture issues.

If you don’t know how it ends, then the Kremlin would like to commend you on your choice of news sources. For the rest of us who understand what is coming, it still lands as a gut-punch, because it is so cold and cruel. We can’t say we weren’t warned. What happened to Politkovskaya happened to Navalny and the war crimes committed in Chechnya were repeated in Ukraine.

Holy Night: Demon Hunters, Starring Don Lee

He is an exorcist who relies on his bare fists. When the devil needs a good butt-kicking, who you gonna call? Don Lee (Ma Dong-seok), that’s who. Technically, Bow’s associate Sharon does all the spiritual casting out of demons, but he is the one who holds off the hordes of satanic mortal followers. Frighteningly, business is brisk in Lim Dae-hee’s Holy Night: Demon Hunters, which opens Friday in theaters.

Ominously, the mortal “Worshippers” have recently sacrificed quite a few innocents under the direction of the shadowy “Archbishop.” Clearly, they are preparing something big. Bow fears it involves the unseen Joseph (seriously guys?), his fellow orphan, who was also “blessed” with elevated mojo, but gave himself over to the evil one.

Determined to avenge the nuns and orphans Joseph murdered, Bow dedicated his life to demon-fighting, with the help of his associates, Sharon and Kim Gun, two intended sacrifices he rescued. Sharon has the ability to operate on higher spiritual planes, but each exorcism takes a painful toll on her, physically and emotionally.

Young Eun-soo is an especially difficult case. She does not lack for good medical care, since her guardian older sister Jung-won is a neuro-psychiatrist. However, being a sensitive orphan makes Eun-soo particularly vulnerable to possession. In fact, the demon has dug in so deeply, Bow’s team must return to the scene of the crime, the sisters’ new home, where something very sinister is going on.

It could very well be that Lim and Lee learned an important lesson from Schwarzenegger’s only horror movie, End of Days. It is not a film that has a lot of haters, but by the same token, few really embraced it either. For his fans, it just doesn’t feel like a Schwarzenegger movie. In contrast, Holy Night is a Don Lee movie, through and through. We often see him hitting Worshippers so hard they literally fly through the air. He dishes out to the satanists like they are gangsters in his Beast Cop/Roundup franchise.

I Know Catherine, the Log Lady—Obviously from Twin Peaks

She was the Oracle of Twin Peaks. The show wouldn’t be the same without her or David Lynch. Sadly and strangely, the 2015 return almost happened without either of them. Wisely, Showtime came to their senses and brought Lynch back on-board after previously deciding to proceed without him. There is no way Lynch would have left out his old friend Catherine Coulson, a.k.a. the Log Lady, but accommodations had to be made for her failing health. Friends and fellow cast-members pay tribute to Coulson in Richard Green’s documentary, I Know Catherine, the Log Lady, which has several special screenings starting today in New York.

Eraserhead started her long, close association with Lynch, even though her scenes were cut from the film. Instead, she played key roles behind the camera, which turned into an unlikely career for the academically trained thesp, who notably served as Eraserhead cinematographer Frederick Elmes’ focus puller on Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.

Coulson also happened to be married to Jack Nance, the lead on Eraserhead, but that marriage would not last. Perhaps ill-advisedly, Green (who played the Magician in Mulholland Drive) spends a lot of time on Coulson’s hippy early days in the 1960s, perhaps not realizing the extent to which he alienates the children of Vietnam vets and Vietnamese “Boat People” refugees, but the Twin Peaks sequences are redemptive.

There is indeed extensive footage of Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, and Michael Horse. The latter might not have had the most PR at the height of the show’s success, his character had a special rapport with the Log Lady, so his presence is quite fitting. However, the three cast-members who graced the cover of Rolling Stone are absent and unaccounted for.

Of course, Nance (Pete Martell in Twin Peaks) only appears in archival footage, since he passed away in 1996. Green also documented his life in the film I Don’t Know Jack. Regardless, colleagues and fans all explain how Coulson was the glue that held the Twin Peaks community together during the wilderness years. Consequently, even casual fans will get choked up when the second unit crew describes Coulson’s grit and grace filming her scenes for the revival series, shortly before her death.

The Children of October 7, in The Epoch Times

THE CHILDREN OF OCTOBER 7 is a short but devastating documentary that collects the testimony of shockingly young survivors of the Hamas terror attacks. Intended for the tiktok generation, it is hosted by influencer Montana Tucker, who show tremendous sensitivity helping the traumatized youths bear witness to the horrors they want the world to recognize. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

Carême, on Apple TV+

Marie-Antoine Careme is considered the first celebrity chef, who greatly shaped French cuisine as we still know it with his recipes for the so-called “mother sauces.” During the aftermath of the French Revolution, Careme was also one of the first chefs who had to worry about getting “chopped.” Whether he likes it or not, the culinary prodigy caters to some of France’s most powerful leaders, even including Emperor Shorty, in co-creators Ian Kelly & Davide Serino’s eight-episode Carême, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Careme was never particularly political, but his mentor and adopted father Sylvain Bailly was a little too free with his ant-Bonaparte sentiments. As the cops drag Bailly off, he urges Careme to seek out Prince Talleyrand, the Machiavellian foreign minister and sleazy Clark Clifford-like behind-the-scenes power broker.

Unfortunately, seeking Talleyrand’s help is like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Reluctantly agreeing to be Talleyrand’s spy in the Tuilieries, Careme steals Napoleon’s itinerary, which the old schemer uses the stage a false flag assassination attempt that he conveniently foils. Consequently, the deeply compromised Careme finds himself at Talleyrand’s mercy, especially with Minister of Police Joseph Fouche connecting the dots.

Fouche represents a dangerous choice of enemies. He is an unrepentant Jacobin, who literally sent thousands of his countrymen to their death. Fouche’s political allegiance might have switched to Napoleon (ostensibly, much like Talleyrand in that respect), but his true loyalty is to the guillotine. Indeed, it is important to remember the Jacobin’s blood-thirsty authoritarianism laid the foundation on which modern socialism was built.

Careme would rather just cook, but he must navigate Talleyrand’s feud with Fouche. Of course, he cannot trust either, as he quickly figures out. At least Henrietta, the maid serving Talleyrand’s consort, Catherine Grand. has her charms. Agathe, Careme’s chief deputy in the kitchen, also finds him quite interesting too, but it is not clear whether the brilliant but distracted chef notices.

Although based on Kelly’s nonfiction book, the series appears to use a healthy amount of artistic license. Fortunately, it results in some intriguing drama. The bounteous secret alliances and double-crosses are all quite entertaining. Indeed, it is all quite French—as in the France of boudoirs, but not excessively so. In terms of explicitness, Careme probably lands somewhere between NY Blue and vintage HBO.

Maybe Careme’s food really was delicious, but we’re all beater off eating in an era when chefs never double-dip their tasting spoons. Regardless, Benjamin Voisin’s Careme really isn’t the star, even though he is the title character and has the most screentime. Instead, Jeremie Renier takes complete ownership of the series with his wonderfully sly and devilishly charismatic performance as slippery old Talleyrand.