nantieszen Reviews

Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea (2019 TV Movie)

Insightful Exploration of White Privilege

[10/10 · 14 October 2019]

Bravo to Chelsea for honestly and humbly addressing an issue that might make her group - whites - not look too good. Chelsea shows her huge elaborate home and people of color working for her. She is aware of her privilege. How many Hollywood stars admit to this?. In the documentary Handler talks to a wide variety of people and even ventures into an open mike at a college where the participants were not very sympathetic to her project. They stressed that action is needed. That point and the idea that this issue is best addressed among white people themselves instead of thrusting the responsibility on people of color to sort it out, confront white people and direct them makes this documentary worthwhile. The segment in which she visits her old boyfriend and his family I found particularly compelling. What was the grudge that the boyfriend's mother had against her own mother? That she was born black. That is a really sad commentary on the state of race relations in this country. I applaud Chelsea for taking this issue on. Second Bravo.

My Husband Won't Fit (2019– )

Improbable Plot Still Reveals Cultural Tendencies

[10/10 · 16 April 2019]

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the passivity around the couple's sexual problem is hard to accept in today's society. There was, in fact, much about the show that seemed from another era. The internet didn't figure in the show hardly at all. Kumiko kept an old fashioned scrapbook. Traditional books were used as well as flip phones so this series might have been made originally 10 years ago. There was almost total lack of communication around the sexual problem which we Americans find hard to believe. It does reflect in perhaps an exaggerated fashion the tendency in Japanese society for acceptance of the status quo and not to complain esp on the part of the woman. Note that Kenichi never apologized for going to a brothel regularly but he felt incensed by the mere fact that Kumiko wasn't a virgin. That double standard was realistic. I loved seeing how the characters lived day to day. The pacing of the show seemed to come to a grinding halt around episode 7. A scene when Kumiko was eating alone and there was a voiceover of her thoughts was excruciatingly slow. The involvement of the parents at the end was very revelatory of cultural norms. All in all even though the plot was weak and strained credibility, the show was well acted and gave viewers an insiders view of modern Japanese life.

Losers (2019– )

What's with the Juvenile Animations?

[3/10 · 3 March 2019]

This is a review only for the Surya Bonaly episode. It is ruined by the inclusion of animations that illustrate what occurred instead of prime source footage that seemingly inspired the animations. Why the producers thought that animations are superior to actual footage is highly puzzling. Disappointing.

Youth in Oregon (2016)

A Film Primarily about Family Dynamics

[10/10 · 9 January 2019]

Sensitive depiction of an aging and ailing family patriarch whose wish to choose when he will die brings troubled family relationships to a head. The film is deftly propelled by the tension created around whether the old man will get his wish and be euthanized in Oregon. During the cross country road trip Ray, the old guy, sees his troubled family and small pleasures with new eyes. Painful, riveting, true to life, brilliant.