Top Five Imprints: Victor (Dollhouse)

Half the fun of Dollhouse is scrutinizing the performances by the actors playing the Dolls, and as Victor, Enver Gjokaj is tremendous.  He quickly became one of my biggest incentives to watch, and ever since, I get excited when I notice his name in the credits for a film or a show.  Of the many characters he brought quite specifically to life on Dollhouse, these are my favorites.

Anton Lubov

We first meet Victor as Lubov, a low-level mobster meant to throw Paul off the Dollhouse scent.  Lubov thinks he’s harder, more suave, and more important than he really is, and he’s a lot of fun as Paul’s unwilling informant.  Plus, I love imprints discussing the Dollhouse without knowing they’re Actives – nice dramatic irony (retroactively here, since it’s after Lubov describes the Dollhouse as an “alligators in the sewers” conspiracy theory that we learn he’s a Doll.)

Agent Tom Voran

This imprint isn’t as flashy as many of Gjokaj’s roles – there’s no accent, and it’s not a dead-on impression of a castmate – but I like it.  Tom is 100% sleek NSA efficiency, buttoned-up and highly tactical.  After jittery Lubov and innocent Doll-state Victor, Tom’s low-key, self-assured authority is a big change.  Plus, we get tons of interaction with Dominic, who barely bothers to hide his contempt for Actives and visibly rankles when he finds he’s been outranked by a Doll.

Drew Chilton

This is a small role in a middling episode, but I’m sort of stunned by it.  Though the part itself isn’t much – an intelligent horse-breeder – Gjokaj’s physicality is the major take-away here.  Despite having the exact same 20-something body that he does with every other imprint, you’d swear Chilton’s in his 40s, at least.  His measured walk and careful, deliberating thoughtfulness suggest someone much older, and I have no idea how he does it, but his body seems more gone-to-seed.  It’s not, clearly, but it feels like it is, just from his posture and his gait.  So impressive.

Topher Brink

No-brainer here.  When I first saw the slow pan up to Victor as Topher in “The Left Hand,” the voice was so perfect that I was convinced I was watching Fran Kranz in a flashback.  The writing is maybe a bit more forced-jokey than it usually is for Topher, but Gjokaj has the Dollhouse programmer down flat.  The voice, the energy, the easy distractedness, the anxiety, the probing intellect – it’s all there, to the letter.  One of the best things the series ever did, no question.

Dr. Golson

Another small role I like.  As the in-house psychologist with a strong Jewish vibe and Freudian views on sex, it’s broadly drawn, but Gjokaj does it well.  I like his drive-by assessment of Sierra and his on-the-nose lecture to Adele; though he’s been imprinted to examine Echo, he shifts to “diagnosing” Adele’s issue with her, like he just can’t help himself from psychoanalyzing.

Favorite Characters: Rapunzel (Tangled)

If you didn’t gather it in my review of the film, I’ll say it again:  I was really impressed with how much I like this character.  Traditionally, Rapunzel is one of the more passive fairytale princess, and that’s a subset with quite a bit of competition.  And then, when you throw in all the hair stuff, you have a stagnant damsel whose beauty is literally objectified – as in, her hair is used as an object by those around her.  Not exactly sterling source material.  Tangled, though, weaves magic with its delightful heroine.

First, I like that the film addresses, in its very light, kid-friendly way, some of the effects of growing up in a tower, being left completely alone for long stretches of time, and knowing only one other human being (coincidently, her abductor/pseudo-mother.)  She’s ravenously curious about the world outside, but it also fills her with fears and anxieties created largely by Mother Gothel’s tales of the horrors lurking around every corner below.  While the image of her bare foot touching the grass for the first time is a stirring one, it’s immediately followed a montage of hard cuts between elation, panic, wonder, and despondency.  Her notions of the world are as fanciful as they are incomplete – I don’t think she quite has an understanding of what a man is until Flynn shows up in her tower – and she can sometimes get defensive about this, feigning much greater awareness than she actually has.

Granted, a young woman who was raised high above the rest of the world with only her kidnapper for company would in fact be a lot more messed up than Rapunzel really is.  But that would also be seriously dark for Disney, and let’s face it – their heroines are usually much better-adjusted than they have any right to be (Cinderella, anyone?)  So, Rapunzel’s neuroses and naiveté are mostly charming, mixed in with sweetness, grit, and ingenuity.  I would imagine knowing her to be a pretty novel experience, so it’s no wonder she manages to win so many people over so thoroughly and so quickly.

I love that, despite her fear at leaving her gilded cage, she pushes herself past it to keep pursuing her goal, which is to solve a beautiful mystery that she’s sure has something to do with her.  Even when Flynn is deliberately trying to scare her into cutting her excursion short, she doesn’t turn back.  I also love that her chief motivator is her longing to know.  It’s a very personal quest (in fact, she doesn’t realize how personal until much later in the film,) and really, it’s something just for her.  For a lot of Disney princesses, they’re incited to action by others, be it for romance (Ariel,) survival (Snow White,) or family (Belle, Mulan, Anna.)  Nothing’s wrong with any of the above, of course, but it makes a nice change to see one who’s mainly going after something she truly wants.  And that that something is understanding?  Even better.

In my review, I already talked about my adoration for the various ways Rapunzel uses her hair, but it bears repeating.  Like I said, it takes this magnified aspect of her appearance, one that’s instrumental in maintaining her captivity, and makes it a tool in her hands.  She uses it, of course, to climb, but also to swing, to tie up intruders, to lasso, and to light up dark places (the magic helps in that last instance.)  It’s one thing to animate her with insanely long hair and say it’s never been cut, but her relationship with it really feels like it’s never been cut.  She’s had it long enough to learn endless ways of using it to her advantage, and she’s developed quite the talent for dreaming up inventive new uses for it in a pinch.

Relationship Spotlight: The Clones (Orphan Black)

Even if I just focus on the main players, today’s posts definitely highlights more characters than I ever have in a single Relationship Spotlight before.  If you’re wondering what spurs me to attempt such an undertaking, I refer you to the picture above.  I’m pretty sure there are few problems which can’t be solved with “clone dance party.”  (Some spoilers ahead.)

There’s a lot to love about Orphan Black, but without a doubt, my favorite part of the show is the assortment of ever-growing relationships between the sestras.  For most of them, their lives were only recently upended by the realization of what they are.  They used to glide heedlessly through what they assumed was an ordinary existence:  soccer moms and students, convicts and cops.  Then, each of them experienced a total paradigm shift when they discovered that they’re parts of a top-secret, highly-unsanctioned human cloning experiment.  Shadowy eyes are watching them, nefarious groups wish them harm, their DNA is augmented by a synthesized patent sequence, and they find a mysterious illness worming its way through their genes.  That’s far too much for any one person to process and carry alone – no wonder they turn to the only people who can understand what they’re going through.

Forged together in the fire of what must seem like an insane sci-fi story, the sisters cling to one another.  The frequent meet-ups, phone calls, and Skype sessions go beyond their shared goal of sorting through the many questions that surround them.  Sure, Sarah is good at sneaking around and unearthing secrets, Helena can hold her own in any fight, and Cosima knows her way around a laboratory, but it’s so much more than that.  Sarah will pose as Alison to get her out of a bind of her own doing, who will in turn shoo her husband and kids out of the house so she’s ready to fight alongside Sarah if she’s needed.  When Cosima starts succumbing to the illness that threatens them, the others will do whatever’s needed to help her.  There are plenty of characters who will go to extreme lengths for one another, of course – the clones aren’t alone in that regard.  What makes their relationships stand out more is their depth coupled with the relative youth of their associations.  Less than a year out, and their concern for each other trumps basically anything else.  Their sisters come before romantic partners, before old allegiances, before work, and before personal safety.  Sarah falls out hard with Mrs. S when it comes out that S sold out Helena, and Cosima makes it clear to Delphine that if she puts Dyad ahead of Cosima’s sisters, they’re done.

The fact that they’re not just sisters but clones makes their bonds go deeper even aside from all the sci-fi craziness happening to them.  Although each woman is so different, to some extent, she regards all of the others on some level as extensions of herself.  It’s why Helena, Alison, Cosima, and Rachel almost feel like Kira is, not just Sarah’s daughter, but theirs, too.  It’s why Felix and Mrs. S. have taken them all in as something of a surrogate family.  It’s why, despite Helena and Rachel’s sins against their own, none of the others can bring themselves to take either out.  Helena is being brought closer and closer to the fold, and her tentative relationships with her sestras is helping to cut through her destructive programming at the hands of the Prolethians.  And while Rachel has wreaked all kinds of detached havoc on their lives, I think there’s a part of her, somewhere (very deeply buried,) that longs for the same, to have the kind of family that the other clones have found in each other.  The show can get bogged down in its ever-evolving mythology, but when it focuses on the women at the heart of the series, it hits home every time.

Daredevil (2015-Present)

After a shaky start with the first episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel has definitely gotten the hang of this TV business.  For Marvel shows, I still prefer Agent Carter, because awesomeness, but Daredevil, the first of several Marvel properties to debut on Netflix this year, is another knockout for the brand.  (It’s also worlds better than the 2003 pre-MCU movie, but it wouldn’t have taken much to manage that.)

In a universe with super serums and gods from other planets, Matt Murdock got his powers the old-fashioned way:  being exposed to nuclear waste during a childhood accident.  The incident blinded him, but it boosted his other senses to superhuman levels.  He can eavesdrop on conversations blocks away and hear a lie in someone’s changing heartbeat, he knows how recently someone fired a gun from the smell of the residue on their hands, and put together, his abilities create a pretty thorough impression of the world around him.  Fueled by his laundry list of issues, which range from Catholic guilt to an inability to block out the suffering he hears all over Hell’s Kitchen, Matt begins to head down the vigilante route.  By day, he’s an ethical lawyer in a fledgling practice, and by night, he serves beat-downs to gangsters and lowlifes.

Is it a little eye-rolling that a blind man’s power is super-heightened senses?  Of course – when are we going to get a disabled superhero whose power in no way cancels out their disability?  (I vote for pyrokinesis.  That’s always a good one.)  Still, I like the inventive ways the show uses Matt’s abilities.  It’s far more varied and interesting than the 2003 movie, which spends most of its time showing us how Matt “sees” echolocation-style.  The show also really demonstrates how Matt’s abilities do more than just put him on a level playing field with his sighted adversaries; like any superhero, able-bodied or otherwise, he’s legitimately “super.”

Additionally, Matt more than earns his moniker.  I love the way we see how reckless he is, how he barrels into hugely dangerous situations without any sort of armor or protection, and how much punishment he lets his body take before retreating.  The action is both impressive and brutal, a lot grittier than the typical Marvel fare.  Likewise, the story goes to some pretty dark places, in the plot as well as in Matt’s personal journey as a character. 

Charlie Cox, who I saw earlier this year in The Theory of Everything, does a nice job as Matt, skillfully driving home the “lone wolf with a death wish” angle.  Vincent D’Onofrio joins the proceedings as Matt’s chief antagonist, and Rosario Dawson has a decent recurring role.  The real revelation for me, though, is Elden Henson as Matt’s legal partner Foggy.  That’s right, the former Bash Brother from The Mighty Ducks is just fantastic.  Right from the pilot, when he’s not-so-subtly trying to turn Matt off of the pretty woman Foggy is after, his delivery of, “And she kinda told me she thinks blind people are ‘God’s mistake?’” makes me love him forever. 

Nitpick, though – why does no one mention the fact that Daredevil’s mask doesn’t have eyeholes?  We know why, obviously, but nobody wonders what’s up with that?

Warnings

Some fairly serious violence, dark themes, swearing, drinking and drug use, and sexual content.

When the Poem I Was Writing (2012)

When the Poem I Was Writing

 

When the poem I was writing caught fire,

I wondered which line to save.

I narrowed my smoke-stung eyes

And pored over the piece,

But even as I deliberated,

I was choked by the smell

Of burning alliteration.

No time to choose –

Soon, the whole page would come down.

I crawled across the bottom margin,

Which they say is the safest place to be

Within a burning poem,

And clutched wildly

For any clause

Not yet hot enough

To sear my tongue when uttered.

Buster Keaton’s Single-Line Pitches: Independent Features

This is just something silly that I’ve been playing around with.  I’ll probably do it with other categories of Buster Keaton’s work, and it could be fun to apply elsewhere, too.  Anyway, the following is a list of Excellent Incentives to watch each of Buster’s independent featuresSome would argue that The Saphead isn’t technically part of this group, but, as it doesn’t really fit anywhere else, I’m including it.)

The Saphead – in which Buster buys half a dozen wedding rings and still makes it to the altar with empty pockets

Three Ages – in which Buster gets around on a brontosaurus

Our Hospitality – in which Buster disguises a horse as him disguised as a woman

Sherlock, Jr. – in which Buster dives through someone’s stomach

The Navigator – in which Buster goes underwater and takes a bucket so he can wash his hands

Seven Chances – in which Buster proposes a woman up a tree

Go West – in which Buster offers a cow a stool before milking it

Battling Butler – in which Buster takes a bed, a dresser, and a rug on a camping trip

The General – in which Buster vaults onto a penny farthing bicycle

College – in which Buster attaches a rudder to the seat of his pants

Steamboat Bill, Jr. – in which Buster does a handstand while his pants are caught in a locked door