Rap Sh!t, Yi Yi, and worrying about Don't Worry Darling
Possibilities and inevitabilities, plus breaking down an absolute mess
Hello!
On this week’s episode of Criticism Is Dead, we discuss Rap Sh!t and Yi Yi, a series and a film about life’s choices and how they shape you as a person.
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02:34 Rap Sh!t, streaming on HBO Max, is a solid sophomore series from Issa Rae that portrays the tireless hustle that go into pursuing one’s dream.
If Insecure was about the aimlessness and serendipity of finding your place in life in your 20s and 30s, then Rap Sh!t is almost the opposite: It’s about characters who also feel stuck, but who actually know where they want to end up — and they’ll do whatever it takes to get there. As Alison Herman writes for the Ringer, “If Atlanta is largely interested in the effects of fame, Rap Sh!t explores the grit and grind that can be its cause” — in other words, Rap Sh!t is about all the shit that goes into trying to get anywhere in the modern music industry: not just the songwriting, but trying to get noticed on social media, achieving virality, turning that brief flash of attention into connections and small-time gigs and Spotify playlist placements. It’s unrelenting movement, which is sort of how this show feels, at times: crammed tight with characters and storylines that jostle for our attention and sympathy. Still, a fun watch that has some moments of good acting and an even better soundtrack.
20:02 Yi Yi, available on Criterion, is a meditative, bittersweet, stunning work of cinema about the currents of life.
Yi Yi is not a new movie — but, more than two decades after its release, it still holds up as a truly exceptional work of cinema. Written and directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang, who died seven years after this last film of his, Yi Yi is about a family. More specifically, it’s about the lives that make up that family, and the choices and paths that make up those lives. Interspersed between the milestones of marriage, birth, and death, there’s disappointment, heartbreak, joy, mischief, and love. Yi Yi is serious and funny and profound, all at once. (And it looks so beautiful, too.)
38:12 Plus, culture notes about the trials and tribulations of Don’t Worry Darling, which — reminder — won’t be out for another three weeks!!!
Absolutely cursed promo cycle.
Bonus links
Honestly… hyped for The White Lotus s2.
ALSO this:
And lol:
PSA:
Finally, some listener love:
(Mad Men/30 Rock episode here.)
That’s it for now — and we are off next week, so see you the week after that. Bye!
— Jenny
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Some credits:
Music: REEKAH
Artwork and design: Sara Macias and Andrew Liu