godinho-1

Apart from being one of the best films about NYC struggling and still fresh in 2025, more than 20 years later, what struck me was how old fashion technology and the sense of reality this film brings make it so hard to reproduce nowadays.

It was shot on mini DV. Those camera had small sensors. One of its many downsides is the flat no blurry background image. Blurry background is "cinematic". But in Take Out, things have to be in focus, they look much better non cinematic. All the textures, objects, messy kitchen, the labour. We see everything, it's all in focus. It's a very important piece of the narrative. The camera limitations, as times passes, proved to be the best approach possible for a film like this.

This unique look is kind of lost in time. Much more than shooting film, because people are actually shooting film a lot these days. Those mini DV camera movements are almost impossible to be achieved with modern cameras - iPhones included - on a one man band system. How ironic is the fact that this digital cheap look is more unique than celluloid.

Almost as interesting as the show itself is the wave of bad reviews. Someone should study it. This is a perfect showcase of how the talk about something can go in a chaotic path these days.

So, fantastic writing and fantastic performances. That Deliverance joke LOL. This show and Swarm were the best weird/smart stuff I've watched recently and somehow they have a lot of things in common, but from different perspectives. Maybe in the future people will aknowlegde that The Idol is like a 2023 Basic Instinct.

The Weeknd is so funny. Love the way he is praising Prince through the episodes, as if he's trying to tell us that somehow all we are watching is because of him.

Inside a TV comedy series language comes the new Assayas portrait of the cultural industry of this early decade. It's so light and cool to watch I assume he had fun doing it. And Gottfried should have his spin off.