It starts when Rachel's therapist challenges her to set boundaries with her mother – no communication for 90 days – her mother who shaped her own view of her body and fatness; nudged her over the years into a life defined by calorie restriction
It essentially skirts around this orthorexia without calling it an eating disorder, but fittingly the story embraces queerness and a delight in the female body. Rachel's initial self-loathing evolves into rejoicing in eating and food: there is a lovely dinner scene with lush descriptions of Jewish home cooking.
Lots of themes of family, faith and romance/lust
ymmv, but I found the sexual fantasies quite heavy-handed
bittersweet ending. No tragic lesbians here, but it's not a happy ever after either.
Once again I've moved @cityexplorerbot around. First it wa the Twitter API kicking all the bots out, then it was botsin.space becoming too unwieldy to run. On hindsight, I guess it wasn't surprising that an instance populated by mostly bots was going to take up loads of server space.
Nonetheless, it is fitting that a bot about explorations should move around from time to time.
In which Olivia Colman gets to swear colourfully and fluently.
It's respectability politics. It's slightly romanticised small-town politics and malignant gossip. It's white woman tears, weaponised, and a whole “cycle of abuse” storyline.
This was quite fun to watch, and had a decently satisfying ending.
I didn't initially realise that this was part of a series of Branagh-directed Poirot films. It's an atmospheric, creepy murder mystery. Set mostly in a country house, like locked-room-style Poirot stories, it almost feels claustrophobic, and it could probably be set anywhere, not specific to Venice. The story is interesting enough though: a murder in the framing of a ghost story; post-war memories; strong characters.
Speaking of aesthetic, Branagh's moustache is impressive.
Heartwarming, warm fuzzy story about a white man helicoptered in to save the struggling football team of American Samoa.
It's basically a found family narrative, but we don't really get much development on anyone beyond the captain, Jaiyah (Kaimana), and the aforementioned white coach, Thomas Jongen (Michael Fassbender).
The general gist is: Sports as a way to unite a scrappy team, and finding redemption in family/community. Although, yes, the team was already quite tight-knit and devoted to each other, it was more a matter of letting this stranger in. The religiosity of the tight-knit community is sometimes played for laughs, but is actually generally sincere.
The captain, Jaiyah Saelua, is fa'afafine/third gender [1], and her storyline reads like a trans story for cishet comfort in some senses, although there is some good about it. Bearing in mind that I'm writing this being cis:
* the film discusses medical and surgical transition openly, mostly in a positive to neutral way
* her team is consistently supportive and never misgenders her
* Jaiyah is valued as a independent, beloved leader in her team and community – this is explicitly said by the coach
* the coach does, initially, as a way of exerting control
* Jaiyah stops taking HRT temporarily in preparation for a big match, and dysphoria gives her a crisis of confidence. She is... successfully hyped up by the coach, and it's never mentioned after that.
* some ambiguous talk about “still qualifying for the men's team” which I think is referring to surgical transition as “the last step”?
* of course the story is more focused on the “white man with issues” storyline
I would definitely refer to the linked interview with Jaiyah for more – it's well worth reading/watching.
My first real audiobook experience (not quite counting Good Omens, because at that point I'd read the book several times, watched the TV adaptation and circled round to the audiobook to listen more to David Tennant and Michael Sheen's narration).
Cosmic horror in Jim Crow-era America.
Horror-level stakes (fate of the universe, and so on) mixed with the real-life stakes of racist institutions and police.
Cutting commentary.
Also, good fantasy. Enjoyed it.
As I work my way through Michael Sheen's filmography...
football management is up there in Things That Fundamentally Do Not Interest Me, but because this was mostly about headology, I could see where the sports was just a mechanic for one man's ambition, and not being able to do it properly without – well – love
not romantic love, not loyalty
the big love that makes people really think about the best interest of, say, a football club
I have discovered my inner aziraphale because the highlight of the day has been a a new kettle arriving, meaning I can finally get a fresh cup of tea (doing a decent parallel park being a distant second)
also because I have a bookshelf where, to my delight, I have discovered space for MORE BOOKS.