eatinglovepies

Had to check it out for myself after listening to Revenge of the Tipping Point, a fantastic audiobook production, which offered constructive criticism on the movie's representation of gay people. Clips from the movie were played in the book so I knew I was in for a trip.

This movie is similar to The Great Santini with melodrama dialed up to 11. Many aspects of it are laughable by today's standards, the dialogue, acting, direction, I could not take this movie more seriously than an episode of a sitcom. While it didn't pack the punch it should've, I still find it valuable in terms of its dissent on authoritarian style parenting. In the three decades since, society has largely learned to stop projecting our ideologies onto gay people, maybe one day we will learn to stop projecting them onto our children too.

While the final episode USS Callister is the most epic, entertaining, appealing to younger audiences, this one is the episode that defines Black Mirror for what it is, a tangible, horrible, ugly reflection of our living reality. If you have lived long enough that words like "capitalism" "inequality" "loss" have visceral meaning to you, if you have ever been confronted with the value of a human life, maybe even your own, you will resonate with this episode.

The actors were perfectly cast in their perspective roles and dark as it was there were moments of hilarity. Similar themes have been brilliantly explored by Don Hertzfeldt's World of Tomorrow Episode Three which I highly recommend.

I can only assume most people who rated this episode are younger and haven't been exposed to this neolithic older-than-Jesus corny plot before. If you grew up watching soap operas you will correctly guess the plot within five minutes. (I would say it doesn't belong in Black Mirror because the sci-fi elements are not integral to the story.)

Other than corny it's a strong method acting exercise/off-Broadway play vibe. Paul Giamatti was reliably riveting and this episode would've been unwatchable without him. Finally, it's unsettling that the entertainment industry keeps selecting for actresses with tuberculosis traits (see John Green's Everything is Tuberculosis).