Since quarantine and continued through this past week, I have been watching relatively less movies than I used to. I was better at planning out my days with physical school and since deadlines are constantly floating around my head I can’t justify watching the amount of movies and tv shows I used to. I saved my media consumption for the weekends and we are seemingly in a purgatory-esque Sunday evening.
I do spend a lot of time on the internet, though, streaming youtube links that I am recommended by friends and family (Connor O’malley, Tim Heidecker) and browsing social media. I have been watching a lot of comedy on Youtube and Twitter since quarantine. Since last Monday I haven’t seen any new movies or tv shows except the tiny clips I find in the film facebook groups I frequent and Film Twitter. Besides, of course, the two first episodes of Babylon Berlin which I watched today. Before this class I discussed this TV show with Dr. Bodek and watched the first two episodes and nothing more. I plan to finish the season this time.
I did memorize the “I am your mother” monologue from Hereditary (2018) from watching it on repeat one restless afternoon. I also heavily discussed Funny Games with my highschool friends. They watched the original Heneke version (1997) and I have seen the, shot-for-shot remake from 2007 starring my treasured Naomi Watts a couple years ago so basically the same movie. They discussed the cleverness of making a movie so blatantly in the control of the character yet still terrifying an audience since they are witnessing it happen. This movie makes fun of you for your empathy creating a psychological thriller that sticks with you, in the comfort of your home. I kept thinking back about our discussion of the use of showing sexual assault in film. In the case of this movie it really is just there for the horror-factor, which does feel cheap to me.