4.40 - WIDOWS (2018) & Loss

The final film in our mini-season of heist film’s is Steve McQueen’s 2018 movie WIDOWS. After (ultimately, to be expected) differing reviews, we talk about ways in which this film deals with a number of different manifestations of loss — doing so even through the cinematography — and ultimately shows a certain amount of escape or relief in the endings of some of the characters.

Next Time
Our next mini-season will be looking at Disney animations and their recent live-action adaptations, and we begin with the 1967 classic THE JUNGLE BOOK (‘I wanna be like yoo-oo-oou…’).

Recent Media
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (2003): Peter Weir, Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany
GET DUKED! (2019): Ninian Doff, Eddie Izzard, Kate Dickie
THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (2020): Walter Tevis, Scott Frank, Anya Taylor-Joy

Recommendations
12 YEARS A SLAVE (2013): Solomon Northrup, Steve McQueen, Chiwetel Ejiofor
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (2015): Guy Ritchie, Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer
GET OUT (2017): Jordan Peele, Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams
S.W.A.T. (2003): Clark Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell
BAD TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE (2018): Drew Goddard, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo

Footnotes This is a good place to start, for facts about the director of this film: www.britannica.com/biography/Steve-McQueen-British-director-screenwriter-and-artist. Rob talks about the 7 stages of grief, and this is a good primer: www.medicinenet.com/loss_grief_and_bereavement/article.htm#:~:text=The%20seven%20emotional%20stages%20of%20grief%20are%20usually,be%20emotional%2C%20physical%2C%20social%2C%20or%20religious%20in%20nature. We don’t dwell on the awfulness of the killing of Marcus much, but this is a powerful interactive tool on police killings in the US: interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html. Looking for articles about 'moving on’ in cinema, as all the women have to do, I came across this list (not quite relevant, but it was interesting enough to include!): www.pajiba.com/guides/15-movies-about-moving-and-moving-on.php. Finally, here’s a link to our episode about a film which — as Sam discussed — shares a number of similarities with WIDOWS: www.kaiju.fm/prestige/3-17-21-grams-change-and-grief.

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