Seth Harris

Movie Review – The Chambermaid

The Chambermaid (2018)
Written by Lila Avilés and Juan Márquez
Directed by Lila Avilés

I was profoundly impressed by Lila Avilés’s Totem, which will be on my list of favorite films in 2024. Her previous feature, The Chambermaid, was mentioned in an interview I came across about Totem. I put that on my To Be Watched list, and with this December film series, A Christmas Gift to Myself, I had the perfect opportunity to watch it. The film is not focused on a plot, much like Totem; it is a character study about a pivotal moment in a person’s life. They are not someone most of us would likely notice, yet their life is complicated and full of powerful moments of connection.

Movie Review – Luz

Luz (2018)
Written and directed by Tilman Singer

I decided to do a different kind of film series for December. There were several films that I had been adding to my Watchlist based on either enjoying more recent work by the filmmakers or simply curiosity. So, for the first half of December 2024, I will give myself a Christmas present, watch through nine of these pictures, and write up reviews. The last week and a half of the month will be focused on my Favorites of 2024 lists. This first film ended up on the list due to enjoying this year’s Cuckoo, filmmaker Tilman Singer’s sophomore effort. We reviewed that film over on the podcast, and while it didn’t blow me away, I enjoyed the point of view and style and wanted to see what Luz was like.

December 2024 Posting Schedule

Film Series/End of the Year Series

[My Gift To Myself – Random Movies I’ve Been Wanting to Watch – 3 Dec thru 19 Dec]
Luz, The Chambermaid, The Battle of Algiers, Cure, Celine and Julie Go Boating, Happy as Lazzaro, Johnny Guitar, The Spirit of the Beehive, The Double Life of Veronique

[My Favorites of 2024 – 23 Dec thru 30 Dec]
My Favorite Solo Tabletop RPGs, My Favorite Books Read, My Favorite Television, My Favorite Film Discoveries, My Favorite Films

TV Reviews
8 Dec – My Brilliant Friend Season Four
15 Dec – Disclaimer
16 Dec – The Prisoner
22 Dec – The Penguin

Comic Book Reviews
7 Dec – X-Men Forever Volume One & Two
14 Dec – X-Men Forever Volume Three & Four
21 Dec – X-Men Forever Volume Five

Solo Tabletop RPG Reviews & Actual Plays
7 Dec, 14 Dec, 21, Dec – The Electric State Solo
8 Dec, 15 Dec, 22 Dec, 28 Dec – Starforged: Messiahs

Podcast Episodes
8 Dec – Smile 2/Rumors
15 Dec – Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point/Juror #2
22 Dec – Xmas Special (Scrooged/Edward Scissorhands/Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence)
26 Dec – Favorites of 2024 Special

Movie Review – Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights (1974)
Written by Dacia Maraini and Pier Paolo Pasolini
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini would be dead a year after Arabian Nights’ release. It was the final film in his Trilogy of Life, preceded by The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales. Of all his work, it was the first to fully embrace queerness. Pasolini was a homosexual who existed in a strange tension with the Catholicism in which he had been raised. His work often looked to the past to comment on or understand some aspect of the future. Instead of focusing on the misery of the peasant class, Pasolini sought to display the joy experienced by those people the wealthier parts of society often dismissed. These classic stories that had shaped so many people’s imaginations were the perfect soil from which to grow that seed.

Movie Review – The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales (1972)
Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

The Canterbury Tales is a text I have some history with. As an undergrad, I was an English major after toying with a Mass Comm degree for too many semesters. One of the classes I took was Chaucer and Medieval Literature, not because I necessarily loved that era, but because it was either a requirement for the degree and/or a bunch of my friends were taking it. I don’t remember which now. The class was taught by the head of the English Department, one of the best teachers at the university, and by the end, he had me interested in it all. One of the requirements to pass was that by the end of the term, you had to stand in front of the class and recite the General Prologue (the first 18 lines) of the Canterbury Tales.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – The Electric State Part Four

Read the previous part here

Scene One
Six months ago
Crystal went out the night she got the eviction notice. She needed to drink until she couldn’t remember anything. Losing her apartment. Catching her boyfriend cheating on her. It needed to drown and die. And that’s how she met Randy James. At first, Crystal saw him like any other shitkicker who wandered into Victorville on a Saturday night. But that wasn’t Randy James at all. He said he was a professional philosopher. She rolled her eyes. But damn, if he wasn’t charming as hell. RJ had many thoughts on neuronics; he said he worked in R&D for Sentre, developing new interfacing for the neurocasters. That’s what led to them having sex in his truck with their neurocasters on. It was unlike anything Crystal had ever experienced. She was enamored.

Movie Review – The Decameron

The Decameron (1971)
Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

While Pier Paolo Pasolini was fond of adapting classic pieces of literature, he wasn’t keen on making them period-accurate. Instead, he sought to use these foundational texts of Western civilization as critiques of the contemporary world. Changes to details like locales were commonplace to get his point across. This is why he transplanted Salo from revolutionary France to the era of Mussolini in Italy. The Decameron doesn’t see a shift in time; it’s still set in 14th-century Italy, but in the southern region where characters speak with a prominent Neapolitan dialect. Pasolini saw this as a commentary on southern Italy’s exploitation at the hands of the wealthier north.

Movie Review – Medea

Medea (1969)
Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

You hear about Medea’s homeland long before you see her. The film opens with the usurping of King Aeson and Jason, his son, being put in the care of the centaur Chiron. Chiron knows that one day, Jason will travel too far away from Colchis and steal the golden fleece. The film shifts to an almost documentary-like portrayal of an event on Colchis. We observe that the king’s own son is sacrificed, and Princess Medea, whose chief role is as a priestess, oversees the whole affair. It’s disturbing and portends trouble for Jason when he embarks on his eventual mission.

Movie Review – Theorem

Theorem (1968)
Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A visitor (Terence Stamp) appears in the lives of a bourgeois Italian family. This stranger goes about having sexual relationships with every member of the household. That’s the shy daughter, the repressed mother, the deeply disturbed father, the sensitive son, and the devoutly religious maid. The stranger barely speaks a word but seems to provide each person with the type of care & attention they are in desperate need of.

Patron Pick – Pootie Tang

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Pootie Tang (2001)
Written and directed by Louis C.K.

Let’s talk about Louis C.K. For a few years in the 2010s, this stand-up comedian had hit the big time. He had a hit TV series on FX that allowed him to play creatively with the format and even push the line between comedy, drama, and absurdism. After about a decade of success, the allegations came out. Multiple women accused C.K. of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior over many years in several different settings. His main proclivity seemed to be pleasuring himself in front of women without their consent. These women were either comedians trying to break out or crew on the set of shows C.K. worked on. His career has never quite recovered, though he still has plenty of celebrity comedian buddies backing him up. Before all of that, he created the character of Pootie Tang for the Chris Rock Show.