Media Watch
TV and movies that have been entertaining me lately, in no particular order

Dying for Sex: A mini-series based on the true story of a woman diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer who makes the most of her life in a quest for sexual pleasure and emotional connection. Starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate, as the best friend you can only hope to have.

Funny, honest, uplifting.

Sorry, Baby: Eva Victor–writer, director, actor–does it all in a feature debut. Sorry, Baby tackles the trauma plot (sexual assault in a college setting) in a way that suggests trauma is not totalizing; it can be overcome with meaningful work, kind acquaintances, and a supportive best friend (played by Naomi Ackie).

Intelligent, sensitive, validating.

Love Lies Bleeding: The antithesis of Sorry, Baby, LLB is a genre flick about domestic violence and retribution starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brien as lovers who meet at the gym and take control of their lives by visiting violence on men who deserve it.

Revenge fantasy fulfilled.

Reservation Dogs: Co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, this series revolves around the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma. With humor and heart, it addresses the legacy of discrimination and generational trauma while showing the traditions and beliefs that give strength to this particular community, both youth and elders. With episodes directly addressing residential school trauma and the satisfying revenge achieved by a character named Deer Lady.

Moving and imaginative.

Will Trent: An entertaining if fanciful police show featuring law enforcement officers who wear their traumas like badges of honor; protect, rather than destroy, vulnerable individuals and communities; and where most of the bosses, administrators, and executives are people of color.

If only!

The Pitt: An entertaining if fanciful medical show where ER doctors and nurses exhaust themselves with caring, treat even unhoused patients with dignity, draw attention to economic and other inequities in US healthcare, and where professionals are willing to do anything “to help people on the worst day of their lives.” Honors the experience of healthcare workers.

To patients who’ve gone to an actual ER lately, a surreal fantasy.

KIMI: A satisfying Steven Soderbergh film in which Zoe Kravitz plays an agoraphobic tech worker who must leave her apartment and her panic to get justice for a murdered woman. A reminder of Covid isolation and its consequences. The triumphant ending made me want to go out and buy a nail gun immediately.

What one motivated woman can do!