Popular foreshadowed the entire resolution of the musical and its vacuous statement about how power can only be achieved with the right kind of popularity (being pretty, being a good flirt, how to dress to please everyone, etc,) is depressing to contemplate.

And my substack: margaretrasberry.substack.com/p/wicked-for...

Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/mbrasberry/f...

Watching the second act being recreated with a budget of 150 million reminds me why Avenue Q won best musical back in 2004. Wicked presents a shallow cloying narrative that starts out strong in the first act but squanders much of it by the second act leading to a disappointing finale.

Which is not the approach Oliver Laxe builds tension much like Henri-Georges Clouzot does for Wages, and the desperation comes out though the characters occupying the unlimited desert of Morocco seeking something greater than themselves.

All this to say that Godard would rightfully despise Nouvelle Vague as a facile facsimile of the making of Breathless (1960) clouded by capitalist drive (considering Netflix bought it for 4 million it’s not surprising). Whether you would agree with Godard will determine your enjoyment of it.

It really does. It reminded me of the letter the gamergate boyfriend wrote who accused Zoe Quinn of cheating on him with a gaming journalist. Which is not a compliment to Ryan’s writing.

Comparing Olivia’s affair to the bamboo he can’t fully cut down made me roll my eyes into the back of my skull with how obtuse it was.

John Lithgow is 80 and he’s playing Dumbledore for 10 seasons. He’s not going to be doing that.