TV REVIEW: GLEE

Following Cory Monteith’s tragic death in July from drug overdose, Glee writers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck were faced with the monumental task of writing a tribute episode to the well-loved actor and his character, Finn Hudson.

Aptly titled, The Quarterback, the episode opens with the cast’s rendition of ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent, a Broadway production which centres on death at a young age. This initially seemed a little cheesy but it worked fairly well as an opening number. Controversially there is no explanation given for the cause of Finn’s death. In a voice over by Finn’s stepbrother and glee club counterpart, we were told that this information was irrelevant in a tone that suggested that we shouldn’t even be asking: “Everyone wants to talk about how he died, but who cares?” Perhaps this was to prevent Finn’s death from descending into the mere role of a plot point but even so, anyone who has loyally watched the show for the past few years deserves to know how Finn died.

At one point, Sue notes that the best tribute would be “not making a self-serving spectacle of our own sadness”- this is one of the few lines Glee has got right since it premiered four years ago. The Quarterback follows the same formula of every other Glee episode: Mr Schuester writes a task on the board and the New Directions have to sing songs relating to that. This time he writes “Finn” and the characters sing a range of songs that remind them of the late quarterback , including James Taylor’s ‘Fire and Rain’, The Pretenders’ ‘I’ll Stand By You’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’ll Surrender.’

One thing Glee got right this time was its exploration of individual grief. The scenes with Finn’s mother (Romy Rosemont) sorting through her son’s belongings are heart breaking. This was the episode’s most poignant non-musical scene. With reference to musical scenes, Lea Michele, Montieth’s on and off-screen girlfriend is the star of the show. She doesn’t make an appearance until halfway through the episode but her cover of Make You Feel My Love, the first song she and Finn sang together in the car, is beautifully done and almost uncomfortable to watch.

For the most part, the writers handled Finn’s death (and by extension, Monteith’s) well. However, Quarterback served more as a flawed tribute to the life, but not the death, of Cory Montieth and it is unlikely that Glee will survive much longer without its leading male character.

Previously published here  

FILM REVIEW: LE WEEK-END

Roger Michell’s Le Week-End dwells on a difficult issue without descending into sentimentality or despair. The third collaboration between Michell and writer Hanif Kureishi, of Notting Hill fame, the film was bound to be a success from the outset.

Le Week-End follows the story of a middle-aged English couple who decide to rekindle their long-failed marriage on a romantic anniversary trip to Paris. Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play the charming ­­­­­­­Nick and Mag. She’s a biology teacher, wanting more excitement from life than their marriage has given her, while he’s a recently fired philosophy lecturer with self-esteem issues.

The couple’s return to Paris stems out of a sense of obligation, to see how it has changed since their last visit but, inevitably, they are the ones who have changed. As a result, we begin to question whether it is love or habit that has kept them together for thirty years. They irritate each other endlessly from arguing over who should keep the euros to Nick’s failed romantic gesture in booking them a hotel which has changed beyond recognition since their last visit. Examining the room, Mag complains, “It’s…uh…beige” and she quickly whisks them off to a ridiculously expensive but more upmarket hotel. While the camera pans over beautiful shots of Parisian scenery, we get the impression that this is where their marriage has come to rot.

One night in Paris, the couple bump into Morgan (Jeff Goldblum), a well-off American writer and an old friend of Nick’s. Morgan has everything Nick could wish for – an attractive French wife, money, success and status – but still seems envious of their marriage. This leads to Nick making a self-depreciating and somewhat awkward speech at Morgan’s dinner party, revealing that Michell and Kureishi’s characters are not only witty and honest but also have an underlying vulnerability.

The romantic drama is bound to spark comparisons to the Before Sunset trilogy due to the extensive amount of dialogue. It is a surprisingly honest tale of a crumbling marriage but humorous moments, such as when they run away instead of paying their bill in an expensive seafood restaurant, stop it from turning into a miserable affair.

The film climaxes on the ideas of love, both sacred and cruel and its ability to transform and reinvent, and our need to hold onto hope in unfortunate circumstances.

Previously published here