Episode 79: THE USUAL SUSPECTS

[Episode 79: THE USUAL SUSPECTS]

To me, that is not "fun", it is lazy filmmaking. There is nothing in the film that suggests this sort of choose-your-own-adventure interpretation, either. Narrative "facts" are either true or not in a story, and having a vague miasma of possible truths is even worse than saying "it was all a dream".

 

Head Spin already basically said everything I was going to say, but both the ending reveal as well as all the cop scenes set up basic facts of the story. Certain events definitely occurred. How much/little is up for interpretation, which I don't think is lazy.

[Episode 79: THE USUAL SUSPECTS]

The twist renders it all meaningless. You can't have a film told ENTIRELY from POV if unreliable narrator and have the twist be that the unreliable narrator was lying!

 

One way i've reconciled this is that we are seeing the story play out from both the narrators falsified perspective and what is arguably the "true events." It's left up to the viewer to discern what is actually true and what is false and that is part of the fun of the story. It weaves in and out of both narratives but I don't think it's intention is to say that everything is a lie.

[Episode 78: BOYZ N THE HOOD]

Yes.

 

Boyz N The Hood is relentlessly on the nose, extremely melodramatic, and does not age well from a technical standpoint, but it's cultural significance is extraordinary. The cast is great, and at the end of the day, I don't think it's melodrama or technical deficiencies get in the way of really interesting characters.

 

A lot of people have talked about how great Ice Cube and Laurence Fishburne are, but I'll defend Cuba Gooding Jr and say he has immense screen presence and there's a reason why he's worked steadily for the past 25 years.

 

I will say John Singleton is a garbage filmmaker and he really lucked out with this movie being half as good as it is. Higher Learning is one of the most heavy-handed, stereotypical movies I've ever seen.