Whether blinded by thirst or talent, I took dozens upon dozens of screenshots, so here are a few that caught my eye:ĭon't you love the petulant aggression with which he licks that poor innocent ice cream? Also, why am I suddenly jealous of frozen desserts? That last piece of casting is distractingly perfect, and it was difficult not to dedicate this Hit Me With Your Best Shot write-up entirely to Ricamora. For his part, Conrad Ricamora is spot-on as a proud modern-day Mr. The Elizabeth Bennet analog (Noah), played by Booster, is far from idealized, embodying the titular prejudices. Moreover, the writer understands that Pride & Prejudice revolves around the courting dynamic of two deeply flawed people. The results aren't perfect, and I sometimes wish Booster had gone further still, but the strive for satirical comedy is appreciated. Sure, he makes the audience laugh, but there's also a clear purpose to the cutting jabs, an attempt at using narrative as a scalpel to dissect the status quo. There's an evident exploration of racism within the community, but Booster goes further, focusing on such ideas as non-consensual porn, painful beauty standards, self-image issues, and more. Sure, there are no corsets and dowries to consider, but this milieu is rich with its own nonsensical rules and skewed values. Booster takes this concept and runs with it, trading Regency England for 21st-century American gay culture. Far above being romantic tales, her novels were scathing social commentary, observational comedies that pointed accusatory fingers at the absurdities of polite society. Joel Kim Booster's script is well aware of a truth that should be universally acknowledged about Austen's writings, though it rarely gets mentioned. Instead, the picture is a sincere adaptation. However, what surprised me most about Fire Island was how it didn't just wink in the classic novel's general direction, only flirting with its ideas and never engaging with them. After all, other movies have done it well, and many common romantic comedy archetypes and mechanisms can be traced to Austen's oeuvre in general, Pride & Prejudice in particular. Though the trailer didn't seem all that promising, the prospect of an updated take on Pride & Prejudice felt like a brilliant idea. It succeeds where others have stumbled, and even if it doesn't revive the romcom's Golden Age, it's pleasant summer entertainment…Īs a Jane Austen aficionado, I came into the film with high expectations. Or else it's too focused on justifying its existence, wanting to appear cool and hip with such alarming vehemence it ends up forgetting the basics that make these movies work.īy centering identities rarely depicted in mainstream cinema, appealing to classic literature tropes, and getting a director with a strong point of view, Fire Island avoids most of these pitfalls. Maybe that's why the modern romcom refuses to stick, as it often comes off as a retrospective homage rather than its own thing. Nowadays, every such exercise feels like an exception to the rule, a precious rarity, and a throwback. Still, there's plenty of nostalgia for those days gone by when mid-budget projects of this ilk were a mainstay of any studio's output. And yet, it seems that the romcom's heyday will never return. You still have time to participate! In the meantime, here's Cláudio's entry:įor the past decade or so, numerous filmmakers have tried to revive the romantic comedy with varying degrees of success. This week's film is Andrew Ahn's Fire Island, which recently premiered on Hulu. The next episode in our series, 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot,' arrives Thursday night.
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