Mare of Easttown, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and crumbs of excitement

Dysfunctional families, plus Succession and Selling Sunset developments

and

May 11, 2021

Hello!

On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss the limited series Mare of Easttown and the film The Mitchells vs. the Machines, two works that are basically as far apart as you can get in color palette, among other things!!!

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03:53 On Mare of Easttown — streaming weekly on HBO Max — the drama of community entanglements is as compelling as its murder mystery.

Note: At the time we recorded this, only episodes 1-3 were out, so that’s the context in which we’re discussing this!

This limited series fits well within creator Brad Ingelsby’s wheelhouses of troubled protagonists in Pennsylvania and tight-knit communities. As Pelin observes, it sort of follows the British murder mystery format: gray-toned, cold, hapless characters, a murder, and a whole lots of ensuing mess.

Here, crime/mystery is interwoven with personal demons and drama, just as Mare’s private life shares very blurry boundaries with her work life. It’s a portrait of a place, a community, an opioid crisis, and most of all, of Mare. She’s a great main character, vaping and hoagie stuffing and all. The hard-boiled detective is definitely a trope, but the detailed character work and Winslet’s performance elevate this cliche into a flesh-and-blood lead worthy of both sympathy and appall.

As for the murder mystery part, anything goes at this point. There are plenty of red herrings to distract us. Who’s your guess?

P.S. Here’s the video we mentioned:

Carey O'Donnell @ecareyo

One of Mare of Easttown’s long suffering childhood friends saying “Don’t do it” to Mare

23:12 The Mitchells vs. the Machines, new to Netflix, is a family film with enough action, jokes, and texture to hold adults’ attention, too.

Come for the dynamic animation and rollicking PG-rated action, stay for the thinly veiled jabs at Silicon Valley and tech monopolies!

This movie is a lot of funny, despite the corniness of some of the dialogue and the broadness of some of the characterization. It’s cleverer than the genre might suggest; for example, the climax/resolution doesn’t go the easy, predictable route that had been suggested early on in the story.