Month: October 2022

Luckiest Girl Alive is the most talked about and most watched movie onNetflix right now. Everyone is watching, and many people have the samecriticism of the film starring Mila Kunis (39) in the lead role. According tomany viewers, there should be a warning because of that one erotic scene,which leads to abuse without warning.

Where Netflix was previously quite chaste, the streaming service has shed allhesitation in that area. Erotic thrillers like 365 Days score like a crazy,the movie blonde about Marilyn Monroe is ‘too spicy’ and we could go on andon. Now it is mainly one specific scene that catches the eye.

Luckiest Girl Alive is the most watched movie right now

Luckiest Girl Alive is a Netflix film about a New York writer, played byMila Kunis (and the younger version by Chiara Aurelia). Her perfect lifebegins to explode when she is confronted with her school past through a true-crime documentary.

Worldwide is Luckiest Girl Alive the most watched movie on Netflix rightnow, according to data from Flixpatrol. The psychological thriller is alsonumber one in the Netherlands. However, critics are less enthusiastic. Forexample, the film starring Mila Kunis on Rotten Tomatoes only scores a 43%score among critics and 75% among the audience. On IMDb, the rating is 6.4 outof 10.

Netflix under fire for erotic scene with Mila Kunis

Nevertheless, the Netflix film is watched en masse. And when something islooked at a lot, it is also talked about a lot. And when the ball startsrolling over an erotic scene, the turnips are done. Viewers find that anerotic scene with Ani goes very far and contains gross sexual violence. Theclip from the film is, according to viewers, “too long” and “too realistic”.Many viewers are therefore asking for an official warning for Luckiest GirlAlive. “It is a beautiful film with very strong acting by Mila Kunis, amongothers. But Netflix, please give a warning next time.”

TW sexual abuse/rape>> If you’ve ever experienced rape or sexual abuse, know that “Luckiest Girl> Alive” on Netflix is ​​about this. Doesn’t appear from the description, I’ve> been knocked off my path for a while.>> — Dominika Tulip (@DominikaTulp) October 10,> 2022

If someone is thinking about watching> #LuckiestGirlAlive> on Netflix then please make sure to read all the warnings!! The story is> about a real woman anc it’s absolutely phenomenal but at the same time> REALLY triggering>> — • 국진 (@Dev_jinkook) October 7,> 2022

#LuckiestGirlAlive> broke my heart all over again. Mostly for the younger version of myself; the> woman who somehow climbed her way out from the darkness of domestic violence> and sexual assault.>> For next time> @netflixtrigger warnings.>> I’m still climbing>> — Anna Patricia (@apatriciapear) Oct 9,> 2022

#LuckiestGirlAlive> fucked me up. Please read the warnings on the rating before you dive in.> That being said, it’s important, well made, and a true story of a woman with> the kind of courage I aspire to have one day. Mila Kunis + Chiara Aurelia> are excellent>> — Kendall 🦢👑 (@Kendall_Claire) October 7,> 2022

#LuckiestGirlAlive > This was a beautiful movie but it comes with a lot of triggers shame🥺 it has> rape scenes, it also shows what rape victims go through and the things they> have to do deal with afterwards 🥺so before watching be warned you’ll> definitely cry pic.twitter.com/QA0m52qP6K>> — Nonhlanhla Mfengwana (@mfengwanan1) Oct 9,> 2022

be careful watching> #LuckiestGirlAlive> it’s very triggering and may have shown too much of the rape scenes but has> an amazing performance by everyone involved. Ani is so strong and i hate the> mother sm>> — lai🍑 (@angefkcnllene) October 7,> 2022

yeah um luckiest girl alive needs a massive trigger warning on it i am so> sick to my stomach right now watching this wtf>> — ally (@divinekarmaaa) Oct 9,> 2022

TW/sa>> the> #LuckiestGirlAlive> assault scene is so jarring and long and realistic and does NOT have the> TWs to warn you. My heart rate spiked immediately bc of how relatable it> was. I’ve always been able to sit through them in movies/shows but this was> another level. just fyi>> — reb (@rebmasel) October 10,> 2022

In addition to the violent erotic scene in Luckiest Girl Alive there is alsoa lot of criticism of a school shooting. The film, which was also produced byMila Kuns, is now available on Netflix.

Although the first reactions after a film premiere are almost alwayspositive (with a few exceptions), it usually gives a reasonable idea of ​​whatthe audience can expect. So now it’s the turn of DC’s latest project BlackAdam. In fact, it was more years the passion project of Dwayne ‘The Rock’Johnson, who is executive producer and takes the lead.

The journalists who took the trouble to travel to social media afterwards seemto really love the film. Johnson gets a lot of praise for his performance ofthe character that is made for him.

The epic non-stop action and blazingly fast pace are further seen as the bestfeatures in addition to an excellent story construction and the functionalplacement of building blocks for a grand universe.

As expected, the city council approved a comprehensive crisis package onWednesday afternoon to absorb the consequences of rising prices. However,there are concerns.

During the debate, almost all political groups complimented the municipalcouncil and the civil service for putting together this package in a shortperiod of time. But there are also concerns among many groups. For example,regarding students and residential groups and other forms of living that areactually excluded from this package.

Alderman Mirjam Wijnja (GroenLinks): “We do this for society” Alderman Mirjam Wijnja (GroenLinks) of Finance: “The package we are nowpresenting is based on what we know now. As you know, geopolitics is all overthe place, and every day something changes in that situation. The startingpoint for this package is that we want to do something as quickly as possible.Propping up problems in society is not the primary responsibility of theCollege, but we do this for society. It is not possible to put together such apackage every year. The financial situation of the municipality is uncertain.”

Lenze Hofstee: “People will already be on the street this autumn” Various groups emphasized that the problems in society are great. But alsoseveral speakers who were given the floor. For example, a spokesperson for theold RKZ in Helpman: “In 1979 the building was squatted and later it waslegalized as a residential group. We are not the owner, that is Nijestee. Weare not entitled to housing benefit, because bathrooms, for example, arecollective property.” Jeroen Hoekstra of the Biotoop: “180 people live in ourbuilding and many companies are located there. The property is equipped withan old heating system which causes the costs to explode. There is a threat ofidleness, residents are accepting payment arrears because they are not coveredby the existing arrangements.” Lenze Hofstee of Carex: “We house one percentof the population living in the city. These are large buildings that arepoorly insulated and have outdated installations. They are high in energyconsumption. Last year we already had to raise the rates, which was alreadyvery hard for people. What people now have to choose will mean that peoplewill already be on the streets this autumn.”

Alderman Eelco Eikenaar (SP): “We cannot help everyone” Alderman Eelco Eikenaar (SP) of Poverty is clear and clear in his speech: “Theneeds outlined by the respondents are very clear. You’re in big trouble.People in the Biotoop, in the old RKZ, can apply for the scheme if they meetthe income requirements. But the fact is that we cannot help everyone. I tellyou we’re going to look into it, but I can’t promise. The inequality is toogreat for that.”

Jalt de Haan (CDA): “There are children in my class who don ‘t have theheating on at home” The geopolitical situation that has turned people’s lives upside down. Partychairman Jalt de Haan of the CDA summed it up: “In Europe we are dealing withthe largest war after the Second World War, with all its consequences. Beforethis situation arose, we already lived in a municipality with a lot ofpoverty. In my own school class (De Haan is a primary school teacher, red. )I hear stories from children that the heating at home is not on because thereis no money for energy. So we ended up in that extreme situation. There is nowa nice package on the table. But it still hurts. Students do not receive anymoney for an energy allowance. How do you explain this?”

Steven Bosch (Student & City): “Measuring this with two standards” Steven Bosch of Student & City: “With the regulations that are now in place,it means that as a student you have to get deeply into debt before you areentitled to compensation. This does not apply to other residents. Thatdistinction, measuring with two standards. Segregation arises. Student & Citywas founded to bring two groups together, to reduce the distance betweenstudents and Stadjers. But this package actually widens the gap. This is_student washing_.”

Extra legal control Alderman Eikenaar acknowledges that it is also a problem for the ExecutiveBoard: “We encourage students to borrow and that is strange. However, we mustinclude the maximum loan before we can pay out the special assistance.” Still,the students are not left completely empty-handed, because the city councilagreed to an extra legal check. This will investigate whether the maximumstudent grant is really necessary to receive support.

Jimmy Dijk (SP): “Class struggle” The fact that Groningen presents the crisis package and picks up the gauntletis reason for the SP to point to the class struggle. Jimmy Dijk: “Wherefamilies are in poverty, multinationals in the Netherlands receive billions inprofits. The cabinet must intervene in this regard”, with which Dijkspecifically points to Mark Rutte and Sigrid Kaag.

Mirjam Gietema (D66): “Reducing from 140 to 130 percent” Mirjam Gietema of D66 proposes in her spokesperson to reduce the bandwidth ofpeople who receive an allowance from 140 to 130 percent. Alderman Eikenaarresponds to this by saying that the group that is around 140% of the socialminimum is also having a hard time. Gietema has announced that it will work onan amendment to make this possible. D66 is also concerned whether all measurescan be implemented.

In May 1957 Marilyn Monroe became photographed by Richard Avedon. For fourhours, the actress danced around his New York studio, singing songs andflirting with the camera. Later Avedon would put it this way: ‘She _did_Marilyn Monroe.” But when the evening was over, and the wine finished, thesame Monroe sat in the corner of the room, staring blankly ahead, “like achild.” Avedon crept up to her with his camera and pressed. It was that photo,the portrait of a lost child, that would become world famous. The photo showedwhat would later become abundantly clear after her death in 1962: that therewas something chafing between the laughter and the suffering, between thepersona and the woman behind it.

blonde, Directed by Australian Andrew Dominik and produced for Netflix, itis not a true biopic of Monroe’s life, but an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’fictionalized 2000 biography, which blonde is called. What attracted him toMonroe, Dominik is asked interview after interview, and he always replies thathe was not attracted by Monroe, but by that book. Oates’ blonde isambitious, experimental and thick as a brick. It is a book full of bravado,just like Dominik’s film is. The story that Oates in blonde tells, is abouta woman who only existed in the gaze of the other – a woman who was entirelymade up of fiction and would perish under fiction. Dominik made an almostthree-hour horror fairy tale about this woman. This is not the woman we knowfrom the glamor photos, who seduces, flirts, plays and laughs, but the womanwhose life was like a downward spiral, which started with neglect and endedwith suicide, which revolved around men, daddy issues and an unfulfilleddesire to have children. The lost child in the corner of the room staringblankly ahead.

Blonde opens in Hollywood, where Marilyn Monroe grows up as Norma JeaneMortensen, in the 1920s and 1930s. Raging forest fires are the backdrop of ahellish childhood with a cruel, psychologically unstable mother. Her father isonly present in her mother’s frustrated desire, who blames Norma Jeane for hisdeparture. blonde works towards a gruesome climax, after which Norma Jeaneis taken away from her mother. She ends up with the neighbors, and then in anorphanage. That’s how she is born: the child no one wanted, who would cravefor a lifetime just to be seen. Almost twenty years of flushes blonde aheadin time. In the early 1950s, Norma Jeane has a new haircut, a new face and anew name: Marilyn Monroe. The child has turned into a persona. As she tries toshape her career, we see her searching for an identity. Everyone turns aroundas Marilyn Monroe walks by, but no one understands who she is. Nobody reallywants to know.

In blonde the American Dream is a nightmare and that is how Dominik portrayshis story: like a Lynchian fever dream. Here the emotional traumas are sogreat that they barely fit on your TV screen. Here good and bad stand againsteach other as black against white. Here we see how Monroe is betrayed andbelittled, how success is always followed by disappointment. How she firstmarries a jealous and violent man, and then a contemptuous intellectual.Trauma piles on trauma, addiction piles on addiction. The problematic extendsto the pathological. Dominik seeks the extreme in everything: in the technicalingenuity, the aesthetic boast, the crude urge to experiment. He flexes hismuscles. From Monroe’s life he distills a world like a haunted house, a darkuniverse into which not even a ray of light manages to penetrate. Here he letshis protagonist wander – blind, helpless, lost.

The extreme stretches to the reactions that blonde calls. In reviews and onsocial media, the film is just as often slammed as it is praised, Dominik isalternately incensed and reviled. In her review of blonde in de Volkskrant_Pauline Kleijer writes that Dominik is accused of having exploited Monroe ‘byshowing her in all her vulnerability’. Rather than looking at a victim,Kleijer writes, Dominik’s critics would rather look at ‘a feminist heroine whoradiates power, for example, or just something more cheerful’. And Coen vanZwol also writes, in the _NRC, that female characters today must be ‘strong,active and formidable’ – ‘Marilyn Monroe as portrayed by Madonna’.

Andrew Dominik revels in Monroe’s suffering, stretches it as far as he can,loves it

This is not the Monroe that Dominik shows. Dominiks Monroe is not strong andactive, but weak and passive. Dominiks Monroe is not a feminist heroine. Butshe’s also not the woman Norman Mailer once met ‘ angel of sex’ mentioned:the cheerful sex bomb with the blowing dress. ‘I believe’, Dominik said to deVolkskrant, ‘that most of us (…) relate not so much to everyday reality as tostories. We make a story about ourselves: that’s what we experience.’ This isthe Monroe Dominik wants us to see: the story she made of herself, a storybigger than life itself. But to show that story, he also has to show somethingof what was hidden behind it. He has to walk the line between the allegoricaland the factual, between fiction and reality. So he meticulously copies thephotos we know so well of Monroe and brings them to life, as if to say: Thisis the reality in which those photos were taken. But at the same time, heabstracts reality by magnifying or smoothing it out. Characters are reducednot only to their profession (Monroe’s exes are called the ‘Ex-Athlete’, the’Playwright’ or the ‘President’), but also to their betrayal, their violence,their abuse. They are one-dimensional bogeymen; Big Bad Wolves next toMonroe’s Little Red Riding Hood.

Is it true what Kleijer says, that we would rather see Marilyn Monroeportrayed as a ‘feminist heroine’? In recent years, Monroe’s life and careerhave been viewed through all sorts of new lenses. Suddenly we saw Marilyn-Monroe-the-proto-feminist and Marilyn-Monroe-the- girl boss. Suddenly wesaw, in photos in which she with a frown Ulysses reading, Marilyn-Monroedeintellectual. Is that feminism – or is it marketing? In de Volkskrant writesHerien Wensink about the Monroe that is being placed in blonde, which shecalls ‘revolutionary’. This “fragile” Monroe, she writes, is “a Marilyn forthe MeToo era.” But shouldn’t a feminist heroine be strong? And is it reallyMonroe’s vulnerability that Dominik in blonde shows – or is it somethingelse?

In blonde the broad outlines of Monroe’s life are correct, but the sideroads are made up. To arrive at a clear story, Joyce Carol Oates writes in thepreface to her book, she has simplified or otherwise adapted some events. Butthe worst things that Monroe in blonde happened—rapes, plots, abortions, andattempted murder—simply never happened. Dominik himself calls his film a’rescue fantasy’, but the fetishism that blonde It’s not about saving – it’sabout suffering. Dominik revels in that suffering, stretching it as far aspossible. He fantasizes about it and adores it. He lifts Monroe’s mask, butfinds another mask behind it. He exchanges one abstraction for another, thesex symbol for the martyr.

As simple as feminism seemed at the time of #MeToo, that’s how complex itturned out to be in the period after. You read it in the pieces that deVolkskrant published about blonde, in which first the strong and then thevulnerable woman are bombarded as a feminist example. Is it true that in thepost #MeToo era we only want to see “strong” female characters? Or are wetalking about the film studios and streaming services that ‘ strong femalecharacter’ elevated to a movie category? The question we ask ourselves after#MeToo is this: if a woman identifies as a victim, is she strong orvulnerable?

Marilyn Monroe was not a feminist heroine. She was neither an intellectual noran activist businesswoman. But she was outspoken. She was witty, witty and alittle strange. In blonde we jump from the 1930s to the 1950s, from Monroe’schildhood to her first Hollywood success. It is precisely in that gap in timethat we could find the answer to the question of why she chose acting in thefirst place. It is precisely in that hole that her willpower and passion arehidden. The Monroe that Dominik us in blonde shows, was a woman who happenedto anything, but the real Monroe made choices, had opinions, known color. Thereal Monroe was ambitious and eager to learn, pouring all her heart into hercraft. The real Monroe was indeed a victim, but victimhood, as we now knowbetter than ever, is complicated. It cannot be captured in a story that seeksextremes. The Monroe Dominik shows us is a bare-breasted wandering soul, avictim viewed with the male gaze. This Monroe must suffer so that she can besaved by Dominik. The real Monroe was smart and stupid, lively and lost. Bothvictim and heroine. The real Monroe was paradoxical, complicated, interesting.The real Monroe was human.

For four hours, Richard Avedon took pictures of Marilyn Monroe. Photos whereshe jokes and laughs, takes different poses and makes different faces, likethe professional she was. Of all those photos we chose only one, only onebecame world famous: the one in which she looks lost. This Monroe, we say toeach other, is the real Monroe. Is that the story she told about herself? Oris it the story we made of her?

In the ambitious Netflix series Human Playground 24 sports are covered, fromreindeer racing in Finland to capoeira war dance in Brazil to stick fighting(‘donga’) in Ethiopia. But ask Idris Elba, the British actor of Luther and_The Wire_ who is invariably referred to as the new – and first black – JamesBond, which of those sports he would most like to do, and he talks about anold tradition from Friesland. ‘I’d love to have a blast. Climbing the polelooks fun and tough. And I like the history of it, of the farmers having tocross ditches.’

Elba (50) gives a telephone interview the Volkskran t because of hisinvolvement with Human Playground. It is the first documentary produced inthe Netherlands that can be seen worldwide on Netflix. Elba is the voice-overand executive producer of the six-part series, which was filmed in 25countries. How did he get involved in the Dutch initiative? “I was invited tosee the first episode and immediately loved it. I wanted to participate insuch a series, which shows stories that we have not seen before. I havelearned so much about cultures.’

Human Playground depicts the universal need for sport and play. In the firstepisode it is about the Paris-Roubaix cycling race and the camera follows theDutch Ellen van Dijk. She starts out as one of the favorites, but goes downhard twice. The footage showing her tires slipping and her helmeted headbouncing off the cobblestones are horribly detailed. Later another Dutchmanpasses by: in the fierljeppen dairy farmer Ysbrand Galama – ‘If you have theDutch record, you are also a world record holder’ – does not fulfill hisfavorite role either.

Human Playground on Netflix

Many of the sports in Human Playground passing have been practiced by localcommunities for centuries. Much attention is paid to traditions and rituals.You can see how a screeching bumblebee of the Betsileo, an ethnic group fromMadagascar, is circumcised, after which his grandfather puts the foreskin inhis mouth and, with the help of a banana, swallows it. This is followed by aceremonial week of sports, such as savika, a perilous mixture of bullfightingand rodeo, captured with beautiful drone footage. “I found it fascinating tosee how much risk they take,” says Elba. “Instead of avoiding the bull, theycling to it.”

The sports that Elba takes part in are also not without danger. Besidesfootball – he is a big Arsenal fan – he does kickboxing. Five years ago, whenhe was 44, he made his professional debut. After a year of preparation, duringwhich he was followed for the documentary Idris Elba: Fighter , he took onthe more than ten years younger Dutchman Lionel Graves. “He fought at Mike’sGym, a respected kickboxing gym,” Elba says. “Because of that documentary, Ihad so much to lose that I wasn’t willing to lose.” He knocked out Graves inthe first round.

Elba, who grew up in Hackney, a poor neighborhood in London, has his ownboxing gym, which can be seen in the NPO 3 broadcast Idris Elba ‘s FightSchool. Eight young people from deprived areas receive three months oftraining. This is not his only demonstration of social commitment: he supportscancer research, is committed to the fight against AIDS and, together with hiswife, is UN ambassador for the International Fund for AgriculturalDevelopment. In that capacity, he met last year with French President EmmanuelMacron.

The versatile Elba is an actor above all else. In the crime drama The Wire_he played the cold-blooded drug lord Stringer Bell between 2002 and 2004,according to _Esquir e ‘the best character in the best TV show ever’. Anothermemorable role was that of the tormented detective John Luther in the series_Luther_ (2010-2019). In the movie Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) heplayed Nelson Mandela – the South African freedom fighter died on the night ofthe gala premiere.

Human Playground started as a photo book by the Flemish photographerHannelore Vandenbussche. When she wanted to turn it into a multimedia project,she teamed up with the Dutchman Isidoor Roebers of the producer Scenery.Together they went to Netflix, which responded positively. Wealthyentrepreneur Marcel Boekhoorn got involved as an executive producer.

Elba liked working with Dutch people. “The director, Tomas Kaan, is incrediblyinnovative,” he says. “Many subjects in the series are culturally delicate,and he handled them very skillfully.” He came to Amsterdam a number of timesto record the voice-over. ‘I sailed through the canals for the first time.Considering my height (1.89 meters, red. ) I was quite nervous as weapproached bridges, but it turned out okay.’

Human Playground is available on Netflix.

To the six songs of My Love Story by Jacob Lusk from 2018 has been listenedto about two thousand times on Spotify. The EP sounds flat and boring, like ahundred others. Why is that important? Because the same Jacob Lusk releasessongs a few years later that completely turn your emotional household upsidedown. Because his voice, coupled with the orchestral work of two producers,channels a hundred years of music history and can switch between opera andfunk and everything in between.

Lusk (35) is the lead singer of the Gabriels trio. They conquered halls andfestival meadows last year. In the Netherlands, for example, there wereimpressive gospel shows on Le Guess Who? and Down the Rabbit Hole. Those whosaw them will especially remember Lusk’s voice and grotesque performance. Alsoon the stunning debut album _Angels & Queens_which was released this month,naturally revolves around his gospel voice: sometimes a provoked falsetto,sometimes an intimate bluesy.

Yet that little tidbit from 2018 shows once again that just a monumental voiceis not enough. Violinist Ari Balouzian and keyboardist Ryan Hope draw on thewarm seventies soul and the theatrical grand gestures that unleash Lusk’s fullpower.

Compton

The album cover features a photo of Lusk being baptized in a river, a BaptistChurch rebirth ritual. That church protected him from the gang violence ofCompton, the hard part of Los Angeles where he grew up. Compton’s place inmusic history is especially marked by rappers like Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.Although not a word is rapped at Gabriels, that intensity can be heard. Forthe production of Angels & Queens joined fellow townsman Sounwave, Lamar’sregular producer.

Lusk took a long time to fully unleash his unique voice. He took part in TVsinging competition in 2011 American Idol and placed fifth. The experiencewas not purely positive, he says in an interview with American pop cultureplatform dazed. “I was the only black participant.” Online he was reviledfor “my skin color, my tone, the way I looked, the way I sounded”. Itdiscouraged him. He toiled on, but initially got no further than that flat EPfrom 2018.

It’s hard to imagine seeing Gabriels on stage now. Lusk’s large body seems allstrength and self-assurance. He likes to wear capes, robes and extravaganthats. He sounds like he personally swallowed Bessie Smith, Curtis Mayfield andMahalia Jackson in one gulp.

Prada

The turning point came with a commercial song for Prada. On that production,he met Balouzian and Hope and formed Gabriels. For the first time you can hearthe slow tempo, the tension and the lingering, horrifying depth of Lusk’svoice. Record companies also noticed and in 2020 there was suddenly the single’Love and Hate in a Different Time’, which raised expectations aroundGabriels.

The song was accompanied by a remarkable short film. The first half consistsof a compilation of dance recordings from all cultures and times, from a Siouxghost dance from 1894 to TikTok films, mounted under the firmly turned retrosoul. But after five minutes, the viewer is suddenly caught up in a grittyvideo of a Black Lives Matter protest where Lusk plays a ghostly version of”Strange Fruit” through a megaphone.

The ability to conjure up major themes and music history in sound and image isalso a sign Angels & Queens. The album has an undeniably cinematic feel toit. You could sign Gabriels for a new James Bond song in no time.

On the opening song ‘Angels & Queens’ Lusk still seems light, but the song hasan angry undertone and on the central track ‘Taboo’ the orchestration ofBalouzian and Hope can be heard, while Lusk’s throat keeps the disruptive timesignature in check. The heavy ‘If You Only Knew’ is of the same restrainedgospel class. It’s only seven songs, just under half an hour. The best news isthat this is only part I. Angels & Queens – Part II is scheduled for March.

The killer’s monotonous panting behind his emotionless white mask. A point ofview shot from his perspective, so that the viewer is forced to watch as theunsuspecting victims are attacked. The Puritan message that teens survive notindulging in drink or sex, while promiscuous peers are laced to a knife ormachete almost instantly. In 2022 they are all horror film clichés.

But that wasn’t the case in 1978, when thirty-year-old director John Carpenterand his young crew single-handedly rewrote the conventions of the genre. To be_Halloween_ , shot in less than three weeks for just under $300,000, stunnedcritics and audiences. Thirteen sequels and reboots followed, each moresuccessful than the other.

The original film was added to the library of the United States Congress as asignificant masterpiece in 2006. The minute-long opening shot still impresses– a tribute to Touch of Evil by Orson Welles – the minimalistic repetitivepiano music and the universally recognizable heroine Laurie, who at the timeproved to be stronger and more resourceful than her attacker.

Halloween: Timelines and Reboots

The Halloween franchise started in 1978, followed by twelve more sequels andreboots. Jamie Lee Curtis played her Laurie Strode in seven of them. Theseries has chosen to erase sequels from its timeline several times. This ishow the new trilogy ignores all inferior sequels Halloween II (1981) to getStrode back. In previous sequels, Curtis’s character has died several times:in Halloween 4 (1988) she died in a car accident, in Halloween:Resurrection (2002) killer Michael Myers throws her off a roof. Director RobZombie made two remakes in 2007 and 2009 that are separate from the ‘Curtisseries’ and in which Strode is played by another actress.

The best parts:

3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) The idea for this successful’reboot’ after twenty years came from screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who_scream_ wrote. Strikingly nice cast, including Michelle Williams, JoshHartnett and Janet Leigh (with a nice Psycho -Wink).

2. Halloween (2018) Strode is weighed down by PTSD after forty years andwaits for the moment when she can deal with her taciturn assailant, whoembodies patriarchy. In the MeToo era, the gray Strode finds her daughter andgranddaughter by her side.

1. Halloween (1978) Director John Carpenter created a slasher withminimal resources in which evil is incomprehensible and lurking everywhere.Smart Laurie sees all the less virtuous friends die. Numerous clones and spin-offs followed.

scream queen

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis laughs during an online interview about the honorarytitle ‘scream queen’ that the role as Laurie in the Halloween films earnedher. The daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (who became world famous forthe shower scene from Psycho ) turns in Halloween Ends back as primalvictim Laurie Strode, now a spry sixties who wants to leave all the traumaticexperiences from the previous films behind. “Of course I’m proud of such aterm,” Curtis nods eagerly. “It is a sign of ultimate appreciation by thefans. But it’s not like I look in the mirror every day and say: You ‘relooking good, queen!”

The now 63-year-old actress plays Laurie Strode, the woman pursued by theserial killer Michael Myers, for the seventh time. “It’s special to watch acharacter grow with you as you get older,” she explains. Her character’scharacter is clearly marked by the horror in Halloween part 1 (1978) andpart 2 (1981). in part 7, H20 which came out in 1998 and which featuredactress Jamie Lee Curtis for the first time, also saw the elderly Lauriesuffer from PTSD.

Curtis: “I don’t write the movies, so I’m only partly responsible for Laurie’sjourney. But she does fit into my oeuvre. I’ve always tried to choose rolesthat show how strong, brave and smart women are.”

unfathomable psychopath

The first 1978 film owed its iconic status not only to Carpenter’s technicalbrilliance, but also to the raw panic that the unfathomable psychopath MichaelMyers evoked in both his victims and the public. Myers has no deeper motives,the viewer actually knows nothing about him. He kills imperturbably and neverquickens his drawstring. The tension that arises under the skin appeals to abasic, almost childlike fear that there is no way of escaping the greatdanger.

The strength of the most effective scenes in the series lies in theirsimplicity – Strode hiding in the corner of a wardrobe while Michael hacks hisway through the wardrobe door ( Halloween 1 ).

The Halloween franchise has thirteen parts (so far). Jamie Lee Curtis thinksthe series has remained successful for so long because the creators dared totake risks. For example, according to the actress, the last three partscontain social criticism that is unusual for horror films.

Slasher films, for example, are often criticized for portraying women aswillless creatures, but in three Halloween films that came out since 2018, wesee women who take matters into their own hands, no longer wait and choose theattack. Curtis: “The first part of this trilogy came out when the MeToomovement peaked, but the film was written and developed before the hashtagdidn’t exist.”

Halloween Kills (2021) came out the year of the Capitol siege by supportersof Donald Trump. Here too, director David Gordon Green sensed the zeitgeist,with a story about ‘mob violence’ and citizens taking the law into their ownhands. The final section explores how deeply Michael Myers’ hatred andtoxicity has permeated the small town of Haddonfield. That also fits perfectlywith the world in which we unfortunately live now.”

‘Death’ is a very flexible concept for psychopaths in horror films

Stabbed and beheaded

‘Death’ is a very flexible concept for psychopaths in horror films. MichaelMyers – just like superhuman colleagues like Freddy ‘A Nightmare on ElmStreet’ Krueger and Jason ‘Friday the 13th’ Voorhees – has been shot, stabbed,burned and even beheaded in previous installments. Yet he managed to returnevery time on All Saints’ Day. Curtis’ character also died several times insequels and remakes. “I have said goodbye to the series several times in mylife,” says the actress. She decided to participate in the reboot of thefranchise in 2018, in which her character is alive again, because she felt thefilms were telling more than the “scary-man-with-mask-assaults-teen story”.

The success of the most recent reboot __also brought the actress back toHollywood ‘s attention. The successful return followed a decade in which shehardly stood in front of the camera and mainly focused on raising herdaughters. In recent years, Curtis has again played important supporting rolesin hit films such as Knives Out (2019) and Everything Everywhere All atOnce (2022).

„Everything I have been allowed and able to do in my life as an actress hasarisen from Halloween and the fact that director John Carpenter chose me tostar in the original half a century ago,” Curtis realizes. “It has provided mewith a platform I could never have dreamed of: I ‘m a fucking boss now! ButI think with this movie the book is really closed. I can’t imagine that in thefuture another director or producer will come knocking with an idea that Iwant Laurie to come back for again.”

We danced, sang, ran back and forth between stages, waved fists and wavedhair. For many, the summer of 2022 became an unbroken chain of celebrations,festivals and celebrations, finally again.

And now it is October. For the first time since 2019, a music season with afamiliar rhythm seems to be approaching: this month dance festival ADE inAmsterdam and rock festival Left Of The Dial in Rotterdam, in November gourmetmarathon Le Guess Who will follow in Utrecht. There are again performances byforeign artists, such as the hit group Swedish House Mafia, who arecelebrating their three-year ‘reunion tour’ in Ziggo Dome, and De Dijk willsell out Paradiso three times in December as usual.

You might think we’re continuing where it left off in 2020. Yet the musicworld looks different, there are wrinkles that have not yet been ironed out.How is the autumn going, what can we expect musically?

A few autumn trends in a row.

1 The future is Dutch

Because although the situation in the Dutch concert halls is now unconcerned,many American artists are still holding back. They do not organize overseastours – because of corona, or due to the consequences of the war in Ukraineand rising energy prices: a series of concerts in Europe is then financiallynot feasible.

This already had consequences for the program of, for example, the Lowlandsfestival. Eventually every canceled American was replaced by a Dutchman. Andwith success: the rapture during the concerts was no less.

This fall, performances by English and American artists are still beingcanceled for a variety of reasons (Brexit, visa, personal circumstances),including those of Rex Orange County, The Weeknd, Obongjayar, Years & Yearsand Anne-Marie.

Perhaps that offers an advantage for Dutch musicians. With a smaller share ofthe Anglo-Saxon countries, more Dutch people can show their talent. If that isconvincing, the interest can shift, so that Dutch artists acquire betterpositions in concert halls, at festivals, as headliners.

ckay Chukwuma Ekweani.

Photo MOHAMED MESSARA/ANP/EPA

2 The future is West African

More artists fill the space. Musicians from hitherto unexplored areas conquerthe Netherlands. This trend was already underway before the pandemic, and isnow gaining extra momentum. Acts from South America, Korea, African countriesappear to be able to compete with America and England. It also speaks from thelistening behavior. Spotify announced early this year that rapper Bad Bunny,from Puerto Rico, was the most streamed artist of 2021 (and 2020), Korean boyband BTS was in third place. The self-evident hegemony of the American popmusician is over.

The Dutch public is looking south these days. French music fills the halls,that of the disco group L’Impératrice, of psych rock band La Femme, or of thetropical house duo Polo & Pan.

Further south, in Nigeria, came the beautiful songs of singer Rema, the R&B ofCKay and the brooding hip-hop of WizKid. The now popular trend Amapiano(lounge dance with piano) started in South Africa.

The dyke Huub van der Lubbe

Photo Andreas Terlaak

3 The future is interrupted

A number of artists started their careers during the lockdown. After a calmstart in a stagnant world, the newcomers have been on the carousel of thesummer festivals in recent months: they traveled from hot to here to showthemselves to fans on all continents. Rock group Wet Leg, founded by two womenon the Isle of Wight, was embraced by an international audience to theirsurprise during the pandemic. Since February, the group has performed almostdaily, somewhere in the world. Recently, the two singers, who emphasize ininterviews that they make music ‘for fun’, became too much and canceled a fewAmerican concerts (the performances in Groningen and Amsterdam, in November,will continue for the time being).

Sometimes the collaboration ends permanently. After seeing a spate of reuniontours at the beginning of this century (The Police, Fleetwood Mac, SpiceGirls), the farewell tour is now in vogue. Kiss and Slayer came to saygoodbye, Elton John waved off. Dutch musicians also celebrate the farewellwith a series of performances. It often becomes the most successful phase intheir career. Kensington played six nights in a sold-out Ziggo Dome. Of thesix ‘farewell concerts’ that Nick & Simon will give in April in Ahoy,Rotterdam, four are sold out. De Dijk, who announced their farewell last June,is now busy with a three-month, sold-out series of farewell concerts. Thenit’s over, the musicians hug each other and each goes his way. Until thereunion tour is announced.

gold band

Photo ANP/Paul Bergen

4 The future is funny

And what do the Dutch artists that will present themselves this autumn soundlike? There is a need for humor and bouncing rhythms, as is apparent from somenew techno producers who adorn themselves with names like Natte Visstick orVieze Ashbak and make rattling tracks, with a nod to the old ‘gabber’.

Also at Goldband, one of the most popular groups of the moment, you can laughand jump. As the main act at Lowlands, the trio, supplemented by a fewmusicians, overwhelmed the audience with choral singing and moshpits. Theformer plasterers from The Hague, who present themselves as anti-heroes, singabout laundry (‘Witte Was’) and about being rejected (‘Ja Ja Nee Nee’).Actually, the lyrics are quite melancholy, but because of their bravado it isnot noticeable, as is apparent on the new single ‘Psycho’, with its shrillbeats and excited singing voice.

For a number of newcomers, the emotion is supercooled. This applies to the duoDe Witte Kunst from Amsterdam, and Don Melody Club, a solo project by DonaldMadjid, also from Amsterdam. Old-fashioned-sounding drum machines and hazynoises figure in his dreamy songs, Madjid declaims in drawling talk. De WitteKunst also frames the surrealistic observations through primitive electronicswith elegant accents. Both sound romantic in an ironic way.

Bente

Photo ANP/Hollandse Hoogte/Harold Versteeg

5 The future is bleak

Behind the rough rhythms and comic style of some, however, another sound canbe heard. And that sounds wavering and sensitive. It sounds like the sense ofalienation that – sometimes – comes with adolescence has been exacerbated bythe effects of the lockdown. You can hear that double dose with a new batch ofyoung – mostly – female musicians, with only one first name. After Meau andFroukje, Nienke and Bente now also name their powerlessness or gloomy,unvarnished and well articulated. One with a full band, the other with just anacoustic guitar, but all tough in their honesty. Bente wrote a campaign song,’Stil Bij Mij’, to encourage young people to talk about emotional problems.She sings about doubts and fears and says ‘When you talk about your worries/It’s never too late’.

The approach is not exclusively feminine. Joost Klein, alias Joost, also seemsto fit in with the trend of frankness. The former court jester of Dutch-language hip-hop, known at performances for his physical effort and great urgeto conquer the public, processed the events of his youth into painful songs,on the new album Friesland. As eager as he used to use humor as a crowbar,he is so forthright now. For example in the opening track ‘Life Story’: ‘Callmy father every day, but that man is dead’.

Her trophy cabinet did not lie. Over the course of a career that has spannedover seventy years, Angela Lansbury has been awarded many times. As a filmactress, with an honorary Oscar as the final piece, as the shining centerpiecein theater musicals and as the versatile voice in all kinds of animationfilms. But international audiences mostly knew her as the astute JessicaFletcher, who spent 12 years solving one crime after another in the AmericanTV series. Murder, She Wrote. “There’s not a crime I haven’t solved,” shesaid, when she retired from that role in 1996.

But she continued to work after that, into old age. She was not ready to stopyet, she already said a few years ago: “I will probably die with a script inmy hands.” She passed away on October 11, five days before her 97th birthday.

Angela Lansbury was born in London in 1925. Her grandfather was a Labor Partyleader in the 1930s, her father was also a Labor politician and her mother wasan Irish actress. In 1940 she and her parents evacuated to America to escapethe German bombing of London. She studied theater in New York and ended up inHollywood through her mother’s contacts.

In 1944, at the age of nineteen, she made her film debut in the thriller_gaslight_ , starring Ingrid Bergman. Lansbury played a maid who was notnearly as innocent as her poppy little face suggested. She was promptlynominated for Best Supporting Actress – as a result of which film company MGMlanded her a seven-year contract. Also for her performance in The Picture ofDorian Gray (1945) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962) she was able toreceive such a supporting role nomination.

But despite that rapid success, the glamor of stardom was not yet for her. Sheusually got to play character roles, who often faced the protagonists withvillainous intentions. Icy, dominating ladies, or snippy types. And all thosecharacters were usually older than Angela Lansbury herself. That only changedwhen she started to combine her film career from the 1950s with stage andmusical roles.

After a number of small-scale theater productions, her breakthrough followedin 1966 as the extravagant aunt who was the main character in the musical_Mame_. That colorful role made her a star, at least in America. But then_Mame_ was made into a film in 1974, the producers preferred to have LucilleBall in the lead role – who was more famous. “That was one of the bitterestdisappointments of my life,” Lansbury said later. There was, however, littleconsolation: the film was a resounding flop. And then Lansbury’s greatestBroadway triumph was yet to come: the morbid, yet sensitive role of thenineteenth-century pastry chef in the horror musical. Sweeney Todd (1979) byStephen Sondheim.

The TV series began in 1984 Murder, She Wrote who made her world famous asthe retired school teacher Jessica Fletcher, who started writing detectivebooks after her husband’s death and was also confronted with real-lifemurders. Lansbury was committed to playing an authentic, aging woman whom manyviewers would identify with – rather than the somewhat caricatured Miss Marplewho solved the murders in much of Agatha Christie’s work. Gradually, the leadactress also attracted more and more power. But after twelve years, the seriesstopped because, according to the advertisers, it attracted too few youngerviewers.

Meanwhile, Angela Lansbury also found new ground as a voice actress inanimated films, such as the maternal teapot Mrs. Potts in the Disney movie_Beauty and the Beast_ (1991). In that role she also sang the charming titlesong. She also remained active in films and TV series. And in addition, shewas increasingly honored – for a career that was exceptionally versatile.

In the film El Houb, actor Fahd Larhzaoui plays the role of Karim, a man whohas decided to come out to his Moroccan-Dutch parents. El Houb’s story ispartly based on his own experiences, about which he previously made a play.The drama is the feature film debut of director Nasr, who previously earnedhis spurs with short films and as a screenwriter.

Problematic

Illusionist Hans Klok watched the trailer shortly before the premiere anddefinitely wanted to attend. ‘I expect a lot from it. I found that (trailer -ed.) very impressive.’ He continues: ‘It is very accepted in our country ifyou come out, but in this case – with a Moroccan family – it is of courseoften problematic, as a result of which people do not come out and startliving a kind of double life’, explains Clock.

‘Not amused’

Hans is also candid about his own coming out on the red carpet. “When I cameout – I come out every night,” the illusionist interrupts with a laugh. ‘Iwent out with my first boyfriend then – Frank’, Hans begins his story. Hisbrother Wouter used to work in a club next to Royal Theater Tuschinski inAmsterdam. When he spotted Hans and Frank there, Wouter called his brother.’He asked: ‘Is that it?’, says Hans. ‘I say, Yes, that’s it.’ Brother Wouterwas immediately enthusiastic and had an idea. ‘Then we’ll go buy cake, I’llcome home by train and then we’ll tell Mom and Dad.’ Hans did, but his parentsweren’t too happy about the news and the cake. ‘But my parents were notamused , initial. That took a week.’

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normal life

Klok knows why his parents were not thrilled. “But it’s because you want yourkids to be as normal as possible, to go through life as easily as possiblewithout being prejudiced. So I can imagine that. And then my parents tookFrank in their arms’, Hans says lovingly. “I’ve had the best parents I couldhave wished for.”

No choice

The illusionist approves that a film has been made on this subject. ‘It isstill a thing for many people to come out. You don’t choose it. No one choosesto be gay, lesbian, transgender or whatever. That is in you and that thendevelops and at a certain point you want to live in the open. But still a lotof people who don’t. So I think this film contributes to that.”

Wedding postponed

Hans Klok has been happy with friend Dann van Ling for quite a few years now.The two are even getting married! But, not this year anymore – as theillusionist exclaimed earlier. A few months ago, Hans Klok knew for sure: hewanted to marry his great love Dann van Ling on the beach next to his circustent in August. “That wedding isn’t going to happen, though,” Hans told Story.”We are too busy and we are also going to house hunt for two weeks inValencia, because we want to buy something there. In order to get married atall, you have to have a two-week ban, and Dann and I haven’t arranged thatyet. So we can’t even get married!