Pride Month 1 film a day challenge:
#2
Where do I even start with this film.................................................... Gosh it's so lovely, it's making me want to cry.
I'm gonna have to do bullet-points cus there's so much i want to talk about.
The fact that this film is based on a novel written by a woman, it's written for screen by two women, directed by a woman, and has two incredible female leads.
The way it gets w|w love so perfectly right (probably due to reasons explained in point 1). It's shown through subtle looks and growing tension, through friendship, understanding and romance. The characters fit so well together. Each of them is a complex, multifaceted, well built character with their own struggles and strength, and they each bring out the best in one another. Jean helps Lydia see her worth, helps her see she can stand on her own. Lydia helps Jean let herself go, conquer her past and breathe out.
Charlie and the bee subplot - honestly amazing. This film said gay rights and bee rights and literally that's all we, the human race, should care about too. The recurring idea of a beehive being composed of mostly females, living in perfect harmony. The recurring theme of bees listening to you, and keeping your secrets. The way Charlie finds purpose in keeping them. The way the bees freaking save the day!!!!!!!!! Oh my god... a dream literally a dream.
Still on Charlie: the way the film destroys toxic masculinity with the figure of his absent father and the way he tells Charlie he needs to be a man, just because he cares about nature.
Annie's subplot: telling yet another woman's story, and adding a interracial relationship too. The scene where they force her miscarriage is haunting and really drives the point of how little women could dictate their own lives then home.
The photography!!!!!! Rural Scotland's a breathtakingly beautiful scenery, but there are countless gorgeous shots all around (when Jean's watching Lydia take a bath........................................... and she looks back......................... poetic cinema).
The only reason I'm not giving this a 10 is, whilst i understand the ending, i still don't think there was a big enough reason for them to end up apart. Just let them be together for god's sake.
9/10
[6.8/10] I didn’t really care for the major story featuring Moira and Johnny each wanting to run for town council. There’s some mild commentary in the idea that Johnny doesn't really want to do it until he hears Moira’s named being bandied about for the open seat, and that Moira doesn’t want to do it until she hears that Jocelyn, her imagined rival and local measuring stick, is doing it. But very little of it generated any laughs for me, and this show picks up and drops storylines like this one so willy nilly that it’s hard to be too invested.
I was also, for once, pretty nonplussed by the David/Stevie story. The prospect of the two of them going out to a random bar to be one another’ swingman is a solid premise. But it doesn’t really amount to much. There’s something intriguing when they give each other the look and try kissing, only to realize that it doesn't yet feel right. But still, another undercooked subplot.
But it’s topsy-turvy day because, once again, I really liked Alexis’s story. Her not knowing how to deal with a bad break-up, and reaching out for solace to the closest things to girlfriends she knows -- Twyla and Stevie -- is an interesting look for her. She’s not shy about trying to manufacture these relationships, but I like her inadvertent honesty when she basically admits she wants to be admired and complimented.
Stevie teaching her about the importance of “me time” in a roundabout way is the episode’s most interesting scene, and I like the fact that Alexis takes it to heart. It’s hard, but her choosing not to go out even though she’s on the rebound, and cleaning up her room instead, is a sign of unexpected growth and maturity. Happy to see more of it.
Overall, this is the weirdest of episodes because the stories involving Johnny, Moira, and David didn’t do much for me, but Alexis saved the day.
