The two streaming options today both have women as the central character of their respective storylines. One is a Crime novel adaptation that’s been turned into a Netflix Limited Series, while the second is a sequel of sorts to a film about an aspiring female movie director.
Pieces of Her (Netflix U.S.A) - This Limited series just dropped on Netflix last Friday, and it’s an adaptation of the 2018 Crime-mystery novel written by Karin Slaughter. Starring the always interesting Toni Collette as Laura Oliver, and supported by Bella Heathcote as her daughter Andy; it takes on themes of identity, running away from your past, and how the past will one day catch up with you. Slaughter is a celebrated writer of Crime Fiction, and it’s actually surprising to note that having written 21 novels, this is actually the very first time a TV adaptation has been made. Depending on how well-received this will be, you can bet that if it clicks with a global audience, we’ll soon see more of her novels optioned by Hollywood and the streaming services - just like how Harlan Coben seems to have been an extremely popular choice over the last four years or so.
There are echoes of the Patty Hearst saga in this shifting narrative; but fortunately for us, it does go the extra mile in giving us different perspectives, and allowing both Laura and Andy to take over the narrative strands. And of course, it’s Laura’s story, that spans decades, that’s the far more interesting and intriguing strand. In fact, once the story gets underway, after the scene in the sunny restaurant that we’d have viewed in the trailer, there will be times that you’ll be so frustrated with Andy’s actions - but of course, that’s all intentional, as she’s definitely the fish out of water in the plot, the one who’s an ‘innocent’ - the one who has to piece the different clues and ‘pathways’ together to understand better her provenance and why her mother is giving her such tough love. There are times it seems to have been stretched too much, but it’s a generally satisfying binge.
The Souvenir Part 2 (Video on Demand) - If you recall The Souvenir of 2019, it was an artistic, semi-autobiographical film, directed and written by Joanna Hogg. It centered on the life experiences and aspirations of a budding female film director named Julie, as portrayed by the enigmatic Honor Swinton-Byrne, with her real life mother Tilda, taking on the role of Julie’s Mum. There was this manipulative, semi-abusive boyfriend, who died at the end of the film. This Part 2 basically picks up right from the end of that first film, and we watch Julie pick up the pieces of her life, and continue her pursuit of becoming a film director, while dealing with the pressures and traumas of what so far, has been her life. There’s a very measured pace throughout the film, and one sees how Hogg is as much about visuals, as she is about narrative.
What is refreshing about Part 2 is that there’s also a lot of sly humor going around, as Hogg takes potshots at the artistic community that surrounds film-making. It’s also deeper and more imaginative a film. It’s still an art film at its core, with some sequences played out with a static camera angle, and actors flitting in and out of the camera’s position, and even talking off-cam. Richard Ayoade as a more established film director is a hoot, and the bright young boys of British Cinema, such as Charlie Heaton, Joe Alwyn, and Harris Dickinson are in the cast. There’s one precious scene when the cast and crew of the autobiographical short film that Julie is creating for her thesis, are flummoxed by her directions and are genuinely stumped on what to do....