Trombone, testimonies, and more.
The Invisible Hook by Peter T. Leeson might be one of the strangest books I’ve recently read, mainly because it focuses on the unlikely relationship between two highly disparate subjects: pirates and economic principles.
I’ll get this out of the way first: The Odyssey isn’t my favourite Christopher Nolan film (that honour goes to Interstellar). However, with how it interprets its source material of Homer’s millennia-old epic, along with the discussion said interpretation has generated, I’m more than willing to make the claim that The Odyssey is Nolan’s most culturally-relevant film since the Dark Knight trilogy.
Since its original mythology has already been well-trod through a large number of adaptations, the summary I’ll provide of its plot here will just be to outline key details that’ll be relevant to my later points. Following the end of the Trojan War, its hero Odysseus (played by Matt Damon) seeks to return home to Ithaca with his surviving subordinates after 20 years, encountering various tribulations along the way. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope (played by Anne Hathaway) fends off potential suitors for her hand in marriage and Ithaca’s throne with the help of her son Telemachus (played by Tom Holland).
Despite the criticisms of its faded and unsaturated colour palette (which I wholeheartedly agree with), The Odyssey compensates for this ‘realism’ through its practical visual effects, which give the entire movie a truly epic and grandiose feeling. In particular, the monsters Polyphemus (the cyclops) and Scylla look genuinely unsettling, almost as if they didn’t belong in this world in spite of their realistic textures. With fewer filmmakers turning to practical effects and CGI studios unable to deliver high-quality results due to chronically being overworked, achieving this level of uncanniness is something that I feel is getting harder and harder to do these days.
However, aside from being directed by Christopher Nolan, what garnered The Odyssey the most attention in today’s media-saturated day and age is the cultural discourse it generated. The clearest example of this is through some of its casting choices, namely Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Sinon. With their appearances going against ‘conventional’ depictions of their characters (Nyong’o’s Helen of Troy and Page’s Sinon), Nyong’o and Page certainly had no shortage of trouble in getting audiences to accept their depictions. However, I’d argue this works in their characters’ favour and even enhances the narrative. Since Helen of Troy was the beauty that sparked the Trojan War (or in Nolan’s interpretation, gave the excuse
(Nyongo and Page?, focus on cultural discourse, Sea Peoples, Bronze Age collapse)
In this section, I’ll be discussing films I watched lately (spoiler-free).
As teased a couple of weeks ago, here’s my thoughts on the film Remarkably Bright Creatures, directed by Olivia Newman and starring Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Alfred Molina. The film centres around Tova (Field), a woman near retirement who works as a small-town aquarium janitor trying to navigate life after the death of her son. When struggling wannabe musician Cameron (Pullman) ends up in town following an accident, the two of them begin gradually bonding over the loss of their family members, aided by the aquarium’s octopus Marcellus (Molina).
Aside from being an excellent film overall, and almost certainly in the running for my favourite film of the year, one of the main reasons Remarkably Bright Creatures caught my attention is because it was mainly filmed in Deep Cove, a North Vancouver neighbourhood that quickly became one of my favourites to visit. While it is surprisingly well-connected to the rest of the Vancouver area by public transport, Deep Cove’s small size and remote location within the Burrard Inlet gives it a cosy vibe, all with a great view of the mountains and sea that make Vancouver so spectacular to live in. For that reason, it’s the perfect locale to set a feel-good film like Remarkably Bright Creatures.
Despite the film’s main hook being Marcellus the octopus, an intelligent, snarky, and proud cephalopod who constantly points out the flaws in human behaviour through his deadpan narration, the plot of Remarkably Bright Creatures doesn’t really revolve around or involve him aside from a couple pivotal moments. Instead, the film focuses entirely on the shifting dynamic between Tova and Cameron, who are already interesting enough from their circumstances as mentioned above, and how they help and support each other through challenging times in their lives.
Grief and moving on are central themes throughout this movie, as both Tova and Cameron struggle to deal with the loss of their loved ones, all while trying to find something or someone else to fill the gaps they left behind. This all comes to a head during what I consider to be the movie’s most emotional moment, though the most I can say about it without going into spoiler territory is that it involves Marcellus. Combined with the scene’s context, Field’s acting as Tova was so true-to-life that I nearly forgot her co-star was a (CGI) octopus, and it won’t be an exchange I’ll forget anytime soon.
Still, Remarkably Bright Creatures is ultimately a film with an optimistic outlook on life, which permeates throughout its narrative. Despite the heavy subjects it touches on, there weren’t any moments where I felt unsettled or uncomfortable watching it. On the contrary, the warm and supportive atmosphere it created not only made Remarkably Bright Creatures really enjoyable to watch, but reinforces its themes of finding new hope in life even when all seems lost. After all, if an octopus can do it, why can’t us humans?