This spring, I watched When Life Gives You Tangerines, and I honestly didn’t expect to be so fully transposed. Even though my own experience is tied to French Polynesia and the series is set in South Korea (Jeju), the depiction of island life - the good and the bad - the dream of escaping to the big city (in my case, the “Métropole”; in the series’ case, the mainland), and the struggles of adapting to that big city once you get there as an “exotic” person, all felt so familiar and well done that I cried during every episode. I’m curious - have you ever experienced something like this with a movie or series?
Not my all time favorited but truly an unforgettable gem:
The Good Place.
Not only does it tackle the toughest questions in life, its the perfect thought experiment: okay, let’s say you have a heaven, what then?
I got really into Six Feet Under 20 years ago. I kind of feel like The Good Place was like it’s surreal, light-hearted successor in some way. Life, death. One is messy and chaotic and dramatic and awful. Then death happens and everything gets really weird.
I was not okay when that show ended. I caught myself zoning off and staring into the distance a lot that month. It really reframed things.
Season 1 of The Last of Us. I was very close to my dad, and my real dad isn’t my biological dad. I miss him and I’m often in !dadforaminute@lemmy.world
Watching a daddy daughter relationship develop was really powerful for me, I have NEVER connected with a show or film so much. They weren’t biological and started as strangers just like me and my real dad, but they fiercely were at the end. I couldn’t watch s2 because s1 is perfect for me and I don’t want to change that.
Good call on not watching season 2. You’re not missing out
Yeah I just finished season 2 and was super meh compared to the first. It did get a bit better the last couple episodes but the first half of the season was a melodramatic snooze fest.
Yep so I gather! I got spoiled about The Event in the 2nd game when I looked into the plot, it’s just not for me. S2 just doesn’t seem to be any good as well
They didn’t make me a manager until I had been on the job for over a decade.
One day I look at an old favorite, “The Dirty Dozen.”
Early on, the Major is ordered to meet with the General, who tells him he has to train twelve condemned prisoners for a suicide mission behind the German lines. The Major obeys the orders, but opines that whoever came up with the plan must be insane. The General tells him to shut up and go; then the General tells his staff that the idea is insane.
Then the Major has to meet the troops and convince each man that it’s in his best interests to join the mission.
Being given stupid orders and then having to lead a bunch of psychos and idiots to achieve the goal is the essence of being a middle manager.
The Good Place - Excellent characters, excellent humor, brilliant commentary, and one of the most thoughtful endings I’ve ever watched.
Ted Lasso - Excellent characters, people who hate sports can still love this show, unexpectedly hilarious (not funny, not humorous, I almost died laughing a few times), the worst character becomes one of the best characters, the nicest character becomes the most tragic characters.
Pachinko - Absolutely perfect in design and execution, the best period piece I’ve ever watched (covers multiple periods, as well), biting (almost damning) commentary on Imperial & Post War Japan, characters you either side with out of the gate or grow to understand and empathize with.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The hardest part of life is the problems you can’t just decapitate with a sword.
This one is really good, we watched it also.
One of my favourite pieces of media of all time, hands down.
Our Blues is also very similar.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Back when I was single and living alone, I did my share of nature photography, mainly landscapes and wildlife. Sitting for hours, waiting for the perfect moment, was my meditation. And yes, there were times where I just lived for the moment, rather than taking the pucture.
I saw the movie a few years after I settled down, and it triggered my only occasion where I questioned my life choices and wondered what might have been if I remained alone and unattached.
Northern Exposure, I think it captures something universal about living in a small town.
I haven’t revisited it in some time, but I loved Northern Exposure as a teen. Shit, I even applied to (but didn’t attend) The University of Alaska Fairbanks from Florida. They called to make sure I wasn’t just fucking with them, but I don’t think the admissions person had it in them to put on the hard sell.
500 Days of Summer. Had no idea what I was about to do to my relationship. In a way, it just sped up the inevitable, but damn. I was not ready to see our relationship resonated down my throat that hard. Still hurts.
Oofh. I sorry friend, it’s a fantastic movie but also a rough watch. Hope things are better now! 🤗
If you haven’t seen it, “Don Jon” (also staring Levitt!) approached the same flawed relationship story from a totally different angle but in a quite fuflling way.
Farscape and Fight Club. I love the slow decline in mental stability shown by the main characters. John Crichton (Ben Browder) Farscape does it so well, trying to keep it together when thrown so completely out of his comfort zone. Unnamed Narrator/Tyler Durden, just a complete nut bar that doesn’t even know who they are. Would love to see this from an outside view see how he did some of the things he did, it all made a weird kind of sense til the end then I was just confused.
edit: would love suggestions for similar themed shows/movies
I’ll never forgive whatever TV business entities were involved for not having Ben Browder and Claudia Black play their Farscape characters when they both joined the cast of Stargate. Because that would have been an awesome and perfectly plausible way to connect the two shows.
Wasn’t Ed Norton’s character name Jack? I still quote
I am jack’s complete lack of surprise
pretty regularly
It’s been a decade or so since I watched it so went to the wiki to ensure I got things accurate. In the wiki it calls the starting half of Tyler unnamed narrator. Tylers original name is never disclosed in either the book or the movie, check this basically was reading a readers digest story - “Reader’s Digest article about the first person view of internal organs, called “I Am Jack’s ____”.” tho it should be Joe and Jill
Thanks for the link, but it also says that the main character’s name is Jack in the script, and there’s a very brief shot of a paycheck showing his name as Jack as well:
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Yeah life is rigged. What’re you gonna do, cry about it? Or get all your buddies together and turn to face life, and say “Who the hell do you think I am?”. Row row, flight the power.
“Mythic Quest”. It very much mirrored the work place dynamics at the creative place I worked at for a decade. It made me question whether I was too broken and far gone to function outside of it. Time will tell.
“The Studio” is another one. I actually had to stop watching the show, because of how much anxiety it was causing me. It’s really well done.
The Station Agent
Details?
Quiet reclusive train enthusiast played by Peter Dinklage loses his only friend. The friend leaves him a small property which he moves into to live in isolation. The isolation part proves more challenging than anticipated and despite his efforts he gradually begins making new connections with the people around him.
I’ll have to give that a watch. Dinklage is always a joy to watch.
Why did it mean a lot to you? If you don’t mind sharing.
I think I just relate to the loneliness and the competing desires for solitude and connection. It’s always nice to see a character heal from something you’re personally struggling with.
This is us is so wholesome it made me cry almost at every episode. So many good vibes, it came out at the right time for me: needed it.
Firefly. Perfect combination of space and wild west.
