Change Your Image
pipsquacky
Reviews
From Scratch (2022)
I Can't Stop Thinking About This Series
Zoë Saldana has such incredible range! Her main character is surrounded by multicultural relationships that are richly written and performed. There's so much I'm tempted to say but I don't want to give away all of the things we have the pleasure witnessing as the story unfolds. By the end I felt like I knew these folks through the eyes of Amy. And, I have to say that I couldn't help but get some "Ratatouille" vibes with the cooking scenes. This is not your standard "boy meets girl" love story. The relationships that Amy forges in all aspects of her life weave the fabric that is her story. What a joy to watch! I raced through it.
I Am a Killer: The Mockingbird (2018)
Best Episode of the Entire Series
I have written very few reviews on this platform. I felt like I needed to say some thing about this episode after I watched it. I really think they did an excellent, excellent job of portraying the many complexities of the lives involved in this single, terrible act. I am a practicing mental health counselor with 20+ years of experience reading body language and gauging human emotion. In some ways, I find myself binge watching the three available seasons of this show because I'm interested in better understanding why these things happen...why people kill another human being. (For some reason Netflix started me on season 3 and has worked me backwards through the seasons, so I've seen the majority of them.) I'm interested in seeing if people are capable of growth after having committed murder. I also want to hear the voices of the people who's lives have been forever changed.
With this episode, the only person who hasn't grown or changed is Dallas. He's a pretty smooth liar, but there are things he does that leaves me convinced that he was indeed lying. And I felt that way even before Martha backed up Justin's story. Gosh, how much work Martha has had to do to get to where she is today. She is capable of empathy, of owning her role in the events, of saying things that don't cast her in a positive light. Where she works tells me that she has surrounded herself with people who get her and support her, which speaks to her resilience.
I also think that the daughter, Christi Carter-Boyd, of the victim, Allen Carter, is incredible too. Not because she said she forgave Justin, but because she was able to do what she needed to do to find some peace in her own grief. I hope that she will see Justin's responses to the audio of her that was played back to him. I believe that his responses would bring her some measure of validation. A crime victim hearing genuine remorse and validation of the victim's feelings can go a long way. This is clearly evident in this episode, in my opinion, by how her tone gets edgier as she very clearly recounts the moment in court when Justin had selfishly expressed zero remorse when given the opportunity to address the family. That, understandably, left such an impression on her that it flavored everything she said in the interview, "I know that he (Justin) won't care..." And I believe that she's right. Back then I don't think Justin cared. With all of the emotional wounds in his childhood, exacerbated by substance abuse, I don't think he was capable of caring. But his ability to sit now and listen to what Ms. Carter-Boyd had to say and to just own it...it shows growth. To say that he had no excuse and show empathy, that he could imagine that it was cruel to her, and how sorry he was, I believe that it will allow her to let go of some of the anger she still carries with her about that moment. Validation. It's just so powerful. She still doesn't have to like him or want to be his pen pal, but she hopefully won't have to carry that anger because he heard her and basically said she was right. Some of the other convicts featured in this series would not have been able to emphasize with her at all. Would have narcissistically talked more about how hard it was for them. Justin doesn't do that. He is humble. I'm not saying that he's a saint. But he's grown.
And, man Justin must have had so many emotions to process after hearing all of the audio clips from the different people. He had some pretty significant validation moments too, between Martha and Mr. Jacobs. Not to mention the gift of forgiveness. I deeply hope that he had access to therapy after that day. So much more potential growth moments could come from that for him. Things that would not only better his life but make him a better person when he returns to society one day.
The other thing that really struck me was the prosecutor's adamant commitment to his frame of the events that day. It made me realize how much the criminal justice system, while certainly necessary, still is a sucky thing to go through. I would be willing to bet that most people who have committed a serious crime are people who have had lots of trauma in their lives and that they have often felt like an outsider because of it. Not seen, not understood. How enraging it probably feels to them to have a prosecutor relay a story of events that, to the perpetrator, is not factually correct. From their perspective, it becomes the system screwing them over just like so many other people have. Not that it's the system's job to validate a perpetrator, it isn't. But the reality is that it's one more wound that these folks add to the pile. So much hurt and pain. It's all just so sad.
Phew. I know this is long but my head was just buzzing after this episode and I needed to get it all out.
TLDR: Watch this episode.
Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (2020)
In Depth and Respectful
Documentary about the way the media has represented transgender people over the years. Wonderfully done!
Tallulah (2016)
Wonderfully Done Movie That Will Stir Your Heart
The actors bring these characters to life and you remarkably wind up falling in love with all of them. They became people for me and I will probably think about them for days. I would like to give a special nod to Allison Janney, whom I remember fondly from her "West Wing" days. She is an actress to be treasured. I love seeing real women having real, complex feelings. Her presence in this movie is a gift.
Without rehashing the plot summary, I will simply say that "Tallulah," is an incredibly well written, acted, and directed story about love and connection that I had the pleasure of immersing myself in this afternoon. Not many movies do that for me these days. That is why, after years of using IMDb, before there was such a thing as "an app for that," I have been inspired to write my first ever review here.