I just got back from seeing Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's film Cabin in the Woods, which has received tons of hype and enthusiasm since it premiered at SXSW. The type of furor this film elicited is similar to another popular cultural product that premiered at the same festival--Lena Dunham's Girls. I watched the first episode of that show last night (I love my TIVO).
I'm not going to say too much about Cabin just yet, because it's the type of film that spoilers could seriously affect. I loved this film, and immediately looked forward to seeing it again. I'll write a more detailed discussion once the film is a little less fresh. I had held off on reading Entertainment Weekly's review of the film, but I did notice that Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a stinging "B-" grade. On returning home, I grabbed the review, read her take, and felt it was equivalent to a "those damn kids better get off my lawn" fist shake. I felt the same way when I read her review of Steven Soderbergh's Haywire a few months ago. I have no idea how old Ms. Schwarzbaum is, and I likely may be her age or older, but I believe that her take on both of these films is a bit curmudgeonly. My perception is all the more ironic given my take on the first episode of Dunham's new series Girls.
" I want a Lake House! I want to sit by a lake!" This mournful cry comes from Hannah's mother when Hannah good-naturedly requests a $1100 per month "stipend" from her parents to subsidize her life in NYC while she finishes her memoir. For the next two years. Hannah considers this proposal pretty thrifty considering, and she's partially right--no one can live on that little money in the City anymore. Still, her parents are college professors, and just cannot afford to bankroll her anymore without giving up on some of their dreams (aka Lake House). Dad's the softy here, not being able to bear seeing his little girl suffer, even though she's really laying on the floor because she's high off tea laced with opium pods. I do admire Hannah's gumption here, and clearly Dunham's making fun of kids of privilege like herself (she plays Hannah), but the most horrible part of this scene is that I found myself IDENTIFYING WITH HER PARENTS. Yep. I felt like a complete old fart after seeing this first episode, and I'm not too happy about it. Am I too old to really get Girls?
I hope not. I teach a Women Directors class, and I am looking forward to spending a week on her and talking about her work with students that are around her age. I think she might really resonate with them. I've only seen one episode, and after perusing some of the reviews of the show, I get the sense that everyone else has seen at least three episodes before formulating an opinion. I'm cautiously optimistic that these four young women will grow on me over time, but my first encounter with them left me a bit disappointed. Still, some things I really liked:
- Loved the scene with Hannah's boss at the publishing company. I haven't seen Chris Eigeman in anything remotely meaty since The Gilmore Girls and I've sorely missed him. He's a worthy adversary to Hannah's tart intelligence, and does not give her a paid internship just because she wants one. Still, internships that exploit young people's labor is a pretty big problem, and I'm glad the show addresses it, albeit humorously.
- Marnie's ambivalence toward her solicitous boyfriend. Sometimes "love" is just not enough to make it worth staying with someone.
- Hannah's beau, Adam, is clearly a complete loser, and he is represented very realistically. Some people are a bit up in arms over the sex scene in the pilot. This scene is awkward and horrible, and I think it is meant to be. Sex on television does not have to be all rainbows and unicorns, damn it. Dunham emphasizes how confusing sex can be. I hope in future episodes Hannah gets to explore what she likes.
- Hannah has a normal looking body. She's not some overly made up, model-thin beauty. Jessa seems to be fulfilling the gorgeous, hipper-than-thou role, accent and all. But...
- Jessa's pregnant. Good. I'd like to see a television show handle abortion intelligently. The previews for next week suggested that Hannah's concerned about Adam's cavalier attitude toward condoms. I look forward to seeing where things go...
I realize that this over-hyped show had an uphill battle due to massive over exposure (see earlier post). The problem is, I just do not care about these "girls." Yet. I want to, I really do. A half-hour is not a long time to get acquainted, so I haven't given up yet. And I learned what G-chat is, based on an interesting discussion of Dunham's show on The Huffington Post here.
Oh, and Cabin in the Woods is one Lake House I can definitely get behind!
More to come.
