Abbott Elementary, A Hero, and Sundance dispatch
How much are good intentions worth, plus the joys of a virtual film festival
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Abbott Elementary and A Hero, a sitcom and a film about people trying to do good in a complicated world.
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03:42 Abbott Elementary, streaming on Hulu, is a solid new workplace sitcom to add to your weekly rotation.
This reminds me of classic NBC workplace comedies like The Office, Parks and Rec, and — most recently and most saliently — Superstore (previously discussed here), a really great sitcom that centered the lives of people beyond the white-collar office workers who are typically depicted in these shows. Abbott Elementary similarly picks a setting that offers plenty of fodder for tension, conflict, and hijinks: an underfunded Philadelphia public school.
While the show doesn’t stray too far from the formula of the workplace comedy, it does handle its material both competently and confidently, which makes it an easy and entertaining watch. Welcome back to our weekly TV diet, 22-minute sitcom, we missed you!
18:00 A Hero, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is a profound film about morality, honesty, and honor.
About halfway through A Hero, you might pause and notice that, despite everything seemingly coming together for the protagonist, there is still a whole hour left of the movie. That is when this movie truly proves its mastery, with such careful plotting and unraveling of every seemingly minute decision made in the first half that it is as anxiety-inducing as a thriller.
There are several dualities at play in A Hero: right and wrong, truth and lies, naiveté and cunning, online and off, public and private, honor and disgrace, trust and doubt. The sweet spot that this film mines is the in-between, that gray area where ambiguities and contradictions bloom. It digs into that core and ends up with something fascinating to say about our world.
36:58 Plus, culture notes about Pelin’s virtual Sundance Film Festival experience.
Keep an eye out for some of the standouts in the future:
You Won’t Be Alone
Watcher
Bonus links
I love every single Euphoria meme:
First look at Pachinko!!!!
Ezra Miller reappears for this:
I wrote about conflict and underdogs.
A lovely essay about parenthood.
The Drift is a great magazine to read. Brought to you by my love of magazines and desire to see them survive.
That’s it for now! See you next week.
— Jenny
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Inquiries, complaints, and recs for what to watch can go to criticismisdead@gmail.com.
Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu