Essays on TV and film — exploring stories, characters, and the choices behind them.
Lizzie Borden was acquitted because the prosecution did not persuade a jury that she had murdered her father and stepmother beyond a reasonable doubt. The case had gaps in its physical evidence, important testimony was excluded, and her defense benefited from ideas about what a respectable woman could do. On June 20, 1893, the jury … Read more
Yes. Netflix’s The Doll is based on Lalka, the Polish novel by Bolesław Prus that appeared in book form in 1890. The six-part series keeps the central pair: Stanisław Wokulski, a merchant who has forced his way into wealthy Warsaw society, and Izabela Łęcka, the aristocratic woman he wants. But “based on” needs an asterisk … Read more
The mug is a good place to start. In a publicity photograph for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, a bearded man stands beside a breakfast table on a boat, with calm blue water behind him. His gun stays at his waist while he holds his drink. It is an inviting image for a movie about … Read more
The Seemingly Perfect Family arrives on Netflix with an irresistible label: “inspired by true events.” It also reached No. 1 on Netflix’s US movie chart on September 20. But the label answers less than it appears to. Lifetime’s official page does not name a case, a victim, or even the event that supposedly inspired the … Read more
No, not in the usual sense. The longer answer is more useful. Netflix’s Best of the Best is not presented as the biography of one dance team. Maya and Anjali are characters, and UCLA Agni is not the name of UCLA’s real Bollywood-fusion team. The national contest they chase, however, was not invented for the … Read more
Jo Koy’s new Netflix special is called Blue in the Face, and the obvious material is right there in the official description: a dental disaster, a McDonald’s firing, and stories about his veteran stepdad. Those are the bits Netflix is selling. The more revealing choice may be where he recorded the hour. This is … Read more
Crew Girl is the No. 1 TV show on Netflix in the United States right now, five days after it arrived. That is a better reason to look at it than to pretend a show about prep-school rowing has suddenly made America curious about regattas. Netflix has put out all eight episodes at once. … Read more
The first two Why Did I Get Married? movies were about couples trying to clean up trouble they had made for themselves. The third movie has a more interesting reason to bring this group back: their children are adults now. A wedding in Lake Como puts the people who grew up around Marcus, Angela, … Read more
Mr. T’s pastor sat for two days of interviews. About thirty seconds of that ended up in the finished film. That number comes from Mr. T. He was telling reporters it was garbage before it had even come out. Untold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool arrived on September 8, runs forty-eight minutes, and … Read more
I keep going back to one number on this movie. Not the Netflix chart, where Those Who Wish Me Dead has now spent sixteen days and sits at number two on the American film side. The other one. When Warner Bros. put it in 3,188 theaters in May 2021, it took $880,000 on its … Read more