The Curse

[brundlefly]

Trailer for A24/Showtime's Nathan Fielder-Benny Safdie-Emma Stone series The Curse.

[therewillbeblus]

Trailer for A24/Showtime's Nathan Fielder-Benny Safdie-Emma Stone series The Curse.

Wow, looks fantastic

[therewillbeblus]

Trailer for A24/Showtime's Nathan Fielder-Benny Safdie-Emma Stone series The Curse.

I'm really curious to see how this series develops, but right out of the gate it's a bizarre art project fusing the approaches of three auteurs that complement each other in ways I wouldn't have anticipated independently. It doesn't take very long to see how Safdie is a fitting collaborator for Fielder's transition into long-form narrative fiction, as the zealous interest in locking into raw, forced discomfort, and stylistic diversity in long and close shots complement Fielder's own curiosity in generously exploring the organic paradoxes of human behavior in social environments. Both artists can be or have been accused of exploitative habits - though I believe they've actually communicated worldviews of eccentric humanism in recent projects. They both hold absurdities and objective insignificance hand in hand with a validation for the earnest stress and emotional tolls an individual takes when trying to vie with the undertow of strong feelings and existential provocations demanding their engagement with supreme urgency. And so Emma Stone -an actress who slyly exudes an authentic vulnerability under her protective shell of Sassy Cool Girl or general Star Persona in nearly every role- provides her own stamp here, and is perfectly suited as the central figure for these artists to more deeply explore their interests with (which are so clearly Stone's own interests, given the roles she chooses and the places she takes parts she might not've sought). Stone's involvement opens a lot of potential for an even greater 'Empathy-Scathing' range of what these creators usually reach with their projects, and I'm excited to see where this goes.

[therewillbeblus]

The Curse is way weirder and arrhythmic as we get into episodes two and three and I have no idea what to make of it yet.. but my god, if you’ve been following Nathan Fielder’s career for a while, there’s so much catharsis in

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how emotionally explosive he gets during the fight at the end of ep 3 - and such an authentic bit of expressive acting too.

I feel like I just got a pitch at the end of a 15-year windup

[therewillbeblus]

Emma Stone's key role in The Curse seems to be to effectively produce hyper-realistic cringe comedy through a mesh of her good-naturedness, semi-consciousness of privilege, and no consciousness of vanity. Similarly to how Fielder's 'character' remains half-aware of his social deficits but defensively deludes himself (with enough aloofness that we really can't tell where he's at on that spectrum), Stone's character operates as a reflection of the elite liberal white saviors. It's expressed in a way that acknowledges value in positive intent through the same mechanism used to lampoon it, as the selfish acts always in contention with good will. That intervention is the awkwardly elongated stewing with the target in question, just as Fielder has escalated using primarily himself over the last few projects. Stone's an inspired choice for a new subject because she's accessible; her persona feels like we know her personality in real life. Fielder is ambitiously extending these nebulous existential themes beyond the reach of his usual alienating shtick, bleeding the barriers between a medium's narrative and our neighbors' banal activity - at the cost of not being clearly-defined or inclusive, which can admittedly be repelling at times. This is a dryyyy dramatic satire, painfully ambiguous as to its tone - though I swear, there's so much empathy for Stone's position: being tragically unable to recognize the behavioral qualities she possesses to change them, and tragically aware enough of the demographical ones she cannot change at all but that still prevent her from accessing the world on the passionate terms she feels inside. Is her selfishness a resilient way to funnel this passion - into the possible channels of social media, TV, etc. - given the world on its terms and the tools she was born with? This distorted kind of empathy can only be accomplished with a certain artistic restraint and engagement, and the Safdies are arguably the strongest active composers of urgently holding this tonal diversity in tension for any duration, compelled by very-warty subjects, warts-and-all.

I'm not convinced that the show is cohesively brilliant because it's so loose and obscure, I still don't know exactly all it's doing. But I do think it's accumulating a tone and energy that's fascinating when placed in the respective contexts of each artist's own oeuvre, for very different reasons, and that alone is gripping my attention. So far the show's been at its most interesting when tightening in on Stone or when Fielder deviates from his monotonous temperament

[Red Screamer]

I agree, Stone is very good here. She’s deadpan and polished in a way that stands out from the looser, casual-grotesque atmosphere, and that also sets up the particular alienation of her character — a dilettante flipping between the worlds of art, business, entertainment, and nonprofits, never fitting in but convinced that she should succeed because, in charm and control, she stands out so much.

I’m also not sold on the show overall yet. It’s relentless, but I’m not sure its blunt effects always have a convincing purpose. The satire of white liberal vanity and corporate dogooderism is on the money, but the critiques are so on the nose and largely jokeless that it must be building up to some greater purpose (e.g. the ball drops right away about the couple’s gross larger purpose for doing nonprofit work—and the unsavory source where the money to do it came from. So where do you go from there?). When the show tries cringe comedy, it’s effective, but you can only go so far in that direction with characters we have such distance from and that we know are always going to say the wrong thing. Sometimes it seems to be creeping into horror territory, like Get Out set in the real world, and from the perspective of the parents. The Safdie elements might actually be the stronger thread here, as Fielder’s escalating embarrassments and lies pull the trap around him tighter, as for Sandler in Uncut Gems, and an unbearably uncomfortable car ride with the Safdie character is one of the show’s highlights so far, close to something out of one of the brothers’ thrillers.

Aside from a few strong directorial choices, the thing I was most impressed with was the world building, if that’s the right word, done by the set design, location shooting, and more atmospheric writing. The show has a strong sense of life in 2020s America, capturing a lot of its textures, looks, and eerie feelings. I just hope it finds its stride.

[therewillbeblus]

With only one episode left in The Curse, I'm starting to feel like the entire show is a sneaky kind of reflexive joke part-condemning the audience for perhaps wanting more artificial action, by frustrating us with loose, unstructured, banal, awkward 'naturalism'; or for stressing to be socially safe with progressivism out of a kind of anxious self-preservation as much or more than good will... it's asking us to consider what drives us - the moral of the cause, the societal norms of the zeitgeist creating collective motivation or pressure, the fear of standing out amongst the pack in a negative way, etc. And that doesn't stop at Emma Stone's show, but how seriously we treat marriage as an institution - specifically the willingness of people to put their partner first, or even second depending on where the 'self' is circumstantially, and yet how this can stem from genuine sadness from a lack of felt connection or purpose, or fear of being alone in an overwhelming world. These are just stray thoughts and I'm sure much more (and much less) could fairly be extrapolated from that, but I don't know if the show goes far enough or really works.. If the entire idea is to challenge us, we probably need to be more engaged. And I think I really like this. My partner bailed early on but I'm into what it's doing, the wavelength, the banal rhythms interrupted by the occasional shocks of banal conflict. But I do think it's obfuscations are diverse and sporadically applied and that confusion alone is disinviting.

I like that its coercive approach at satire isn't interested in patronizing, but sobering us to a human experience we frequently suppress for self-preservation of identity and emotional stability - and this works since the real target is that communities, while necessary, are insane and destined to produce new and weird character traits and problems that have no intrinsic value- as we all experience every day. But the show also validates the very-real and felt emotional value we place on things simultaneously. It's unobstrusive and provocative, mocking and empathetic, funny and sad. Its distance from its subjects is the primary weapon and communication tool, and its so eclectic and looming but pronounced.. I bet you could teach a class on it

Episode 9Show

It was pretty wild to see Emma Stone finally become her most honest in the fakest context, with the most dishonest montages and cues around it to fit squarely in the beats of most Reality TV. And then Fielder's anxious-attachment suffocating Stone with horror tones as we're finally being gripped by the camera and.. over. That was brilliantly done.

[swo17]

I wasn't really liking this until around Ep 5 I think, which is notably when Fielder started directing all the episodes. So I finally started to gel with the show's unnerving awkward vibe, but then the finale comes along and it's just this wonderful standalone thing in somewhat the same way that Finding Frances was. Definitely worth seeing through to the end, or perhaps even just skipping straight to it

[therewillbeblus]

I do think the end bookends a lot of things nicely:

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The egocentricity of Safdie taking on all the responsibility for death of those around him, coupled with his inability to really engage in a full, meaningful relationship not protected by bro jokes, just being so sad and funny at once - documenting the pathetic nature of us to assume all responsibility for what we cannot understand, and yet empathically depressing in our limited resources as we become less and less connected to a sense of spirituality as we have more corporeal stimuli to keep us rooted on concern for self coming forth “right” in all instances, as emphasized by Stone’s internal conflict yielding complacency in the places it counts (vulnerable ones) and action in ones that don’t (all the flashy-level chic-woke professional stuff). Fielder is just trying to hang on desperately to a marriage wanted for stability, for a sense of identity and purpose, and an antidote for loneliness - and that just doesn’t work when even God can smell the lie.

I also like how life is already absurd when banal, but here when absurd it’s just the same shit. What’s going to really shock or disrupt the other, boring yet ubiquitously-provocative influences in our world already?

[Matt]

Regarding the finale, I don't think I've ever seen anything as simultaneously terrifying and funny. "25...26...I think I might need the crevice attachment...27...28..."

[barryconvex]

There's plenty of humor in The Curse (with the most overtly satiric moment being Cara's art opening in episode 2 - skewering contemporary art in general and Marina Abromovich in particular) but mostly it seemed like whatever the show was satirizing the creators didn't find particularly funny. But I'm also not sure I ever entirely got what was happening here. There were whole episodes I found pointless but overall I liked it and whatever misgivings I had at the beginning about the production teeing off on low hanging fruit were quickly put to bed. Wow, what an amazingly unlikeable couple Stone & Fielder inhabit here. The word "dilettante" was used earlier in the thread and it's so right on the money there should be a picture of these two in Webster's. And what an appropriate title as every last character is cursed in one way or another. I really was kind of in awe watching Safdie's creation, Dougie - one of the most original and warped characters I can think of. He's every inch the slick, Hollywood type go-getter but he's spent so much time twisting reality to fit into a network's idea of it that he's incapable of anything else. I initially thought the tragedy with his ex wife kept him somewhat tethered but eventually even that seems more like some bullshit he made up to give himself more gravitas as the Dougie" character than an actual human being. His absurd infatuation with the tragedy itself and his even more ridiculous promoting of it to anyone within earshot mimicking the absurdity of the finale and Asher's fate. One last thought about the finale:

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I thought that once Dougie showed up with the camera the reverse gravity effect on Asher might be broken. That was my first thought but Fielder and Sadie are operating on a much more complex level here, one that admittedly exceeded my grasp at times.

[therewillbeblus]

They're tackling a complex experience, but also through a simpler route than something like The Rehearsal - and I think that's where the challenge came in for audiences. The restraint and push to never flinch away from the banalities inherent in our own psychosocial chaos inhibits comic cut-aways with deadpan punchlines from Fielder (the kind he might implement in editing his previous work) and this both frustrates by disallowing a rhythm filled with predictable, consistent, and defined moments of comic relief, and enthuses us when we do get those moments that hit and we're fully involved -uncomfortably so, but still- by what they're doing.. Even if that means I'm laughing at something nobody else in the room is, them laughing at something I'm puzzled by, you at home laughing or connecting with something - yet something unpronounced so you self-consciously cannot be sure it was intended, or that your neighbor you're trying to connect with would also find funny. In a way you're like Fielder's character here - constantly anxious and unskilled in when to know something is funny - or just like every other character who wants to feel connected but also feels the pain of not knowing if we truly 'are' connected. That's pretty powerful reflexive work - perhaps complicated, but simplistically crafted.

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The finale reminded me of that Marc Maron joke from just after Trump's election circa 2016, where he listed absurd things that if you heard it today, you'd shrug it off believing it whereas hearing it just a few years earlier would've sparked a huge reaction of outrage or disbelief... I think the ending's strength is the opposite of 'complex': its simplicity is what is giving us the complex experience. These are corporeal creatures trying to hold their calm in an absurd event for the sake of constructed conventions (that by now have smothered our insides and are what we see as holding our identities together) superseding self-preservation. Fielder promises he'll be at the hospital because he desperately wants Stone to see him as a worthy masculine partner, not because he actually has a plan or hope that he'll get down beyond blindly clutching to this internal demand of himself. He just needs this to 'be'. And other people do their 'thing' too. Pedestrians pull out their smartphones, Safdie goofs around and films Fielder like always, because what else is he going to do? The firemen chop the tree arm, because of course this guy's crazy, right? We're all disconnected from the other, from the possibility of something spiritual entering our mist, not listening or hearing or really capable of contending with a problem collectively. But when Fielder dies, Safdie will still turn that anger inward and blame himself, etc. We're using meager tools to contend with everything, and either not taking problems seriously enough or becoming too intense about prescribing them to our inner worth, like chickens running around with our heads cut off.

[cdnchris]

Regarding the finale, I don't think I've ever seen anything as simultaneously terrifying and funny

The episode was wild and absurd and funny, but the whole sequence where

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he's hanging from the tree and begging them not to cut

gave me insane amounts of anxiety.

[Matt]

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On my second watch I kept wondering why he didn’t hold on from the bottom of the branch. If gravity was inverted for him, wouldn’t straddling the branch have been much easier than “hanging” sloth-style? And then he might have fallen with the branch when it was cut. But I can imagine he probably wasn’t thinking entirely clearly in that situation.

[therewillbeblus]

The whole idea seemed to be that we’ve devolved to apocalyptically illogical places