The two reviews here include one of Emergency on Amazon Prime, a smart, contemporary social satire that speaks of the African-American experience at university ‘today’. Our ‘yesterday’ comes in the form of a 6-episode retelling of the much loved novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, on HBO Go.
Emergency (Amazon Prime) - If ever you were wondering what it would be like if a film about the African-American experience today, like Jordan Peele’s Get Out, was to take place in an American university, Emergency provides one succinct answer. Set in a generic campus, the film starts out strongly to set its parameters by introducing us to our two African-American protagonists - one could be described as your typical street-smart student - Sean (RJ Cyler), while the other is a science nerd, who wears preppy clothes - Kunle (Donald Watkins). They attend a class and while there was a Trigger Warning in the syllabus, the topic is about the power of the word Nigger. Off campus, the two share a house with Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), a student of Mexican descent.
Driving the action of the film is what happens when they discover there’s a barely conscious young white girl passed out on the living room floor of their house. By custom, they don’t lock the front door, but there’s a conversation that revolves around the idea that calling 911 would not work, as there’ll obviously be questions raised about a white girl unconscious in a house of three boys of non-white ethnic persuasion. The film then becomes a satirical comedy of how trying to do the right thing can end up in disaster and put a strain on the friendship forged by the three. To make matters worse, when semi-conscious, the girl let’s out that while she’s been drinking, she’s a minor. Funny, yet very direct in its social commentary, this is a smart film, with a strong young cast. Should be watched.
The Time Traveler’s Wife (HBO Go) - Ever since the novel of Audrey Niffenegger came out in 2004, The Time Traveler’s Wife has been regarded as one of the best literary romance novels of its day. It’s been hailed as touching and sad on its meditations about Fate, star-crossed love, and about the plight of the woman who perpetually waits and may never find true resolution in her relationship when the man she loves. A film adaptation starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana came out in 2009, and was generally derided for simplifying the novel, and leaving out so much of the good bits that made the book such a favorite. Now HBO offers a six episode treatment, and while it allows us to delve into the book deeper, there are still some unsettling questions left unresolved.
Clare Abshire is portrayed by Rose Leslie (a favorite from Game of Thrones, and the real life girlfriend of Kit Harrington), and the role of time-jumping Henry de Tamble is taken on by Theo James. Playing Annette, the opera singer/mother of Henry is Kate Siegel. Other characters flit in and out of the lives of Clare and Henry, but it’s really only Henry’s mother who has a pivotal role in the lives of the two. As the book promised back then, it’s the love story of Clare, who marries Henry when she’s 22 and he’s 30; but also how she first meets Henry when she’s 10 years old and he’s 30. And it’s this premise that almost felt romantic when being read,that ferls so wrong when depicted on screen - it’s almost like he’s grooming her, even if nothing happens. Three episodes are available for viewing as I write this review.