drivingsideways - Tumblr blog

drivingsideways · 5 days

Photo

STEVE MCQUEEN and FAYE DUNAWAY in THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968) dir. Norman Jewison

#the thomas crown affair (1968 #norman jewison #faye dunaway #steve mcqueen

1K notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 7 days

Text

CHARADE (1963) Dir. Stanley Donen

#charade (1963)#every line is a banger #god people have have just forgotten how to do this #both writers and actors

954 notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 7 days

Text

Audrey Hepurn's Wardrobe in Charade (1963)

Costume Design by Hubert de Givenchy

#charade (1963)#audrey hepburn #her LOOK in this film #serving only cunt #Givenchy

1K notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 8 days

Photo

Arthur Edward Pillsbury, Footage of Roses, 1925

#art

3K notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 8 days

Photo

Back then, I was never sincere toward you, even for a moment.

#sbs hyena #this SCENE

190 notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 9 days

Text

blood free v secret forest, a quick and dirty comparison:-

As someone who fell for Kdrama through Stranger, my take is this: SF appeared seamless, grounded and weaved all these systems and levels of privilege very elegantly. Most of all it seemed morally urgent, even if it was at its core a detective mystery. (Which, to be fair, Blood Free is as well.)

Secret Forest’s first success was that it held nuance for everyone in the middle of the road; LSY afforded so much thoughtful shading to those men. I often think they will never look as beautiful as they do on SF, and that’s only partly because of whoever did the lighting etc, but they’re not Kdrama glossy perfect; they’re real people trying to reckon with themselves and the moral calculus they have agreed to, and their dignity comes from the reckoning. Lee Chang-joon, Kang Won-chul, Lee Yeon-jae, even Seo Dong-jae for that matter, all have that advantage. LSY managed this for Jung Sung-il in the scant few minutes of screen time he had.

The second success was Cho Seung-woo and Bae Doona. If Secret Forest was a universe they were its gravitational field; it was their fierce sense of honour and morality that drives both seasons. And their moral decency is hard-won; it is tested constantly, and it’s burnished at each opportunity, which is why they are respected. It is a dream that people like that can influence or impact those around them, but you don’t question that they do, by the end of each season, and that’s the victory of writing, casting and the charisma of both leads.

That’s why that funeral scene in season 1 is so important (to me); it shows the gravity shifting. The prosecutors rely on their forest of secrets to keep the centre together, but Hwang Si-mok demonstrates how untenable this has become, how the roots must be pulled out so the weeds die; so new healthy things can grow. The chaebols are at the periphery, and they continue to be there because, most audaciously of all, they don’t matter if enough people shift their moral calculus. I think this gravitational pull happens to Lee Chang-joon in season 1 thanks to Hwang Si-mok and it happens to Choi Bit in season 2 thanks to Han Yeo-jin. They are easily some of the most powerful parts of the show.

On the other hand, we have Blood Free. I’m not sure who the moral gravitational field of this show is meant to be. Maybe it’s Yun Ja-yu and/or Woo Chae-woon. Maybe it’s Lee Mu-saeng. Maybe it’s about the ethical dilemma of experimentation and whether that’s a worthwhile price to pay for the scientific advancements in cultured meat and seafood. Perhaps we need more time to really see the middle of the road characters, but four episodes in there’s not much to go on: there’s Lee Mu-saeng, there’s Queen Dowager as a VP, here’s Jeon Seok-ho. There are three chaebols, all of whom seem like one-note characters to me. (Why ask a talented sketch artist to produce cartoons like these? Unless they’re not, but nothing seems to suggest otherwise.)

The most interesting insight from episode 4 was about Yun Jayu - when offered 72 trillion won for her company, she actually considers it because it means she doesn’t have to face investors and can focus on research. She has influence and money but these are means to an end, for her. I wish we could see more of that, and not necessarily through exposition alone.

When she gives deft, cool answers to reporters, did that come naturally to her or did she work at it? Is she the face of the company because she hated it a little less than Lee Mu-saeng did? If so, why? What comparative advantage did they determine she had? When she wears Chanel tweed skirts and smiles her way through presentations, is that a natural extension of her work or is that a mask she wears? Give me process, guys! Give us the backstory, the way the markets work, the environment for cutting-edge bio research in Korea, the reaction of Big Meat, the interplay of new rich and old rich, some indication of her actual influence (which must be considerably more than what we see on the show, although what little we see, while uncomfortable, is frankly not that inconceivable in a world where you’re constantly connected.) I am so interested in her, and yet I feel I am made to watch the story of her reacting to chaebols and to the mystery of corporate sabotage rather than her being the fulcrum of her own universe. And at no point does the mystery seem morally urgent to me, and it’s because 1) why does it matter if all this is is a giant M&A negotiation 2) why should we care if it doesn’t feel real to us? So what if there’s sabotage? Why on earth isn’t this company guarded like fucking Fort Knox? Why is this company ostensibly so influential, so powerful and yet capable of unusually amateurish errors that are the centre of the show so far and not on the periphery of it? Where is the moral quandary that is meant to grab us by the throat?

Is it a question of the writing? Have her interests shifted and did she want to do a show without having to do too much character work? If anyone has earned a vibes-only moment it’s Lee Soo-yeon, and I respect that for her. I hope the direction isn’t stifling the writing, because that means there is an arresting, politically trenchant drama underneath this dry procedural, and that’s upsetting to consider. We still have a ways to go and I think there is potential, but I have to remind myself not to expect something like SF, that maybe you can’t bottle that formula. That it’s the gold standard for a reason. But honestly, Disney, in the words of TikTok star imo_unusual, you’ve made this show like God was dozing off when the angels were working, now RELEASE US (and LSY writernim)

#thanks bb gin #this isn't even lsy lite if that makes sense #this is the enshittification ( disneyfication) of lsy drama

15 notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 10 days

Photo

It seems the world is the summation of others. And yet, we neither know nor are told that we fulfill each other. We lead our scattered lives, perfectly unaware of each other.

AIR DOLL (2009, Hirokazu Kore-eda)

#air doll (2009)#hirokazu kore-eda #bae doona #is absolutely marvelous in this

108 notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 17 days

Text

mr sandman

man me a sand

#tumblr (affectionate)#congratulations on changing the world

562K notes · View notes

drivingsideways · 17 days

Text

#it's so obviously gay-org #what are the rest of you DOING?????