A Sea of Ink

Ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE SEASON TWO. More specifically, we’ve had season two since August, but I binged the first eleven episodes in a week and then couldn’t bring myself to watch the last one. (I didn’t want it to be over!) So I procrastinated watching the season finale until the end of October. Because, let’s be real— it took three years to get season two out there; who knows how long we’ll have to wait for season three? The show has definitely changed since the first episode, in both good ways and not-so-good. Some brief thoughts: The “scratchy”? cinematography for the first couple (?) of episodes was distracting and didn’t lend much to the overall experience. I mostly was wondering what the heck was wrong with their camera. I miss the simplicity of season one; this season is much darker and more intense. The simplicity was part of what made season one so light-hearted, witty, and fun. I disliked how the main plot line changed; it became too complex and soap ope...

I don't know what it is about Demy and Legrand, but their opening scenes always have me grinning like crazy (I always find myself saying, "wow, this is fun"). They know how to start off with a bang. The opening number of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort  (in English, The Young Girls of Rochefort) , bursts with sunny jazz happiness and choreography that made me want to dance along. So the performers (specifically the ensemble) might not be the best dancers, or the most synchronized--so what? To me, the choreography was more of an unbridled celebration of movement, of what dance should feel like, of freedom. It made me happy, and that's what musicals should do. I had more problems with the plot of this movie than I did with Demy's previous Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose, but the storyline was sloppily cliche and predictable to the point of being ridiculous. In the end, everything was suddenly and miraculously, all at o...

"I want to make people cry," said French New Wave director Jacques Demy, and so he made the film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964). Titled The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in English, this is the movie which inspired and heavily influenced Damien Chazelle's 2016 film La La Land. It is the story, told entirely in song, of teenage Geneviève who works in her mother's struggling umbrella boutique, and her garage mechanic boyfriend Guy, who is drafted into the French military to fight in the Algerian War. Teenage pregnancy, love triangles, betrayal, angst--seems like a typical, possibly meh plot line. Wrong. Right away, as the opening credits begin to roll across a scene, filmed from above, of walkers with brightly colored umbrellas, I know this is something special. Immediately, the viewer can tell he or she is in for a treat, that they are about to watch something beautiful--artistic--extraordinary. The first number begins to play--an instantly engaging jazz introductio...

So, I've discovered French rock opera. Sounds like a lot of chaos, doesn't it? You'd be correct in that assumption. However, the French can wrangle that chaos and turn it into something beautiful like no other. We think Hamilton is original? I love Lin-Manuel Miranda and his work [kind of on an obsessive level, actually] but, man, are we Americans behind the times. The French have been doing jamming history musicals [ les comédies musicales ] for years! For example: "Mozart, L'Opéra Rock." I watched the entire 2010 production on YouTube (with English subtitles) and the music and costuming are both FABULOUS. [Plus: it's already helping me improve my French!] The production first premiered in 2009 in Paris. With music by Dove Attia, Jean-Pierre Pilot, Olivier Schultheis, William Rousseau, Nicolas Luciani, Rodrigue Janois, and Françoise Castello, lyrics by Vincent Baguian and Patrice Guirao, and a book by Dove Attia and François Chouquet, the musical is...