A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
I finished rereading LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE just in time for its premiere on Netflix on October 7th.
I was a little apprehensive as to how some of the scenes would play out and how it would convey on screen. I thought they could have done better in some areas and had an appreciation for how certain things were handled.
Let’s talk about it.
LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE is a movie adaptation based on the novel by the same name. The book was published in 2016 and I first read it in 2017.
I appreciated the concept more than the execution. I thought the writing was intentionally abrasive but it felt worth withstanding to get the overall message. I gave the book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I decided to reread it with my adaptations book club to see how they sifted through the material. Would the abrasiveness in the writing turn them off or would they be able to set that aside?
I was also curious how the material would be modernized to reflect current times. The climate is different now than it was in 2016.
And given the subject matter of certain aspects of the plot, including very traumatic events, I wanted to see if they blunted the effects for television viewers.
I thought they did an ok job on certain aspects. And definitely changed the details of the plot to better suit the screen. But I felt the takeaway message was lost somewhere along the way.
I thought Mila Kunis did a fantastic job with what she was given. Both she and the actor that played a younger version of Ani, Chiara Aurelia, were the highlights of the film.
At the end of the movie, I felt the book was better…at least by half of a star.
LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE…⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Now on Netflix!
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
If you didn’t watch Blonde this past weekend then you were probably watching DAHMER.
I excuse you and your misdirection but let’s course correct and talk about the striking new movie adaptation titled BLONDE.
Based on the book by Joyce Carol Oates, Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced in part by Brad Pitt. Streaming on Netflix.
I can’t help but think of the point the movie is making about exploitation. And wonder if I am an integral part of that very exploitation and if this film is just one in a long line of many such exploits.
If there is a lesson here, that is it.
It is both in spectacle and in sadness that I watch Blonde. Bouncing between the two, sometimes reveling in both.
Norma Jeane begins her life in less fortunate circumstances. A child born to a single mother who not only despised her but loathed her existence.
Gladys Pearl Baker, a woman afflicted by unknown mental health conditions, at some point was hospitalized, leaving Norma Jeane to fend for herself. An orphan-but much of that time in foster care is skipped over.
Sometimes the beginning is where it starts.
The movie continues on to her early years awakening in front of the camera to her very early days acting in small up-and-coming roles. We watch as a slow dissociation happens-as you, the viewer witnesses her separating her alias of Marilyn Monroe from her tattered self-Ms. Norma Jeane.
That dissociation is hard to watch.
It goes on to follow her through tumultuous times and we watch an escalation of deterioration. It ends as her life did. The only end to the story there will ever be.
There were times that I was drawn out of the experience by a fumbling line or two by Ana de Armas, But overall I was captivated by Armas’ presence and on-screen malleability. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it with a warning:
The story is sad and your participation in the exploitation as a viewer of the movie is sadder.
Rating…⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
