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Through a Mic (Updated)

One of the most humiliating moments of my life was in high school. It's a vivid nightmare I look back on when I think of public speaking. A crowd of my teammates and their families. Two hundred people. I had prepared a speech, but lost my confidence in the words I had written down. Fifteen-year-old me decided the best decision was to throw the paper away and riff. I opened the ceremony with, “I forgot my paper,” followed by “Give it up to the coaches,” and started the applause. I must have given out ten different moments of applause, all the way down to the cheerleaders, who weren’t even present. I was the captain. The leader of the team. I was clutch in big game moments, in front of thousands of people. But I choked during a simple end-of-year banquet speech. In college, I remedied this by taking a public speaking class. Bashing on the injustices of political discourse and failures of the justice system. When I was passionate, I prevailed. I rehearsed. Delivered. When I held frate...
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Film Review: Parthenope


I hate that I connected with this one. I shouldn’t have understood it. The message felt too personal to the writer.

And yet, the one who spends his days wanting more — when there’s already so much to be thankful for — understands.

What are you thinking about?

The writer asks this because no one ever asked them.

This film. The premise. The story. The aesthetic. The theme. That’s what they were thinking about. But no one cared until they wrote it down and shared it with the world.

I could go on.

There’s some weird shit in this film. Unnecessary stuff. Jarring, even. You’d think the giant baby-man would be the issue. Or maybe the snot rocket dripping from her nose.

Nope.

My issue was the landscape pan. A wide shot of the city filmed in a frame rate so high it looked choppy and unnatural. It physically hurt to watch. Maybe that was the point. But a visual that makes the viewer look away defeats the purpose of being seen.

Draw me in. Don’t push me out.

Also, Celeste (Parthenope) alone makes me want to write an entire script just for her. She is a timeless woman. Regal, yet so real you can feel her.

Parthenope is a beautiful and historic Greek myth. Why contort it with the extremes of modern filmmaking? Maybe it’s a necessary mess. Or maybe I’m just American. Maybe I’m immature.

There is a beauty in this film that you may never see again. It could have been unforgettable if it weren’t for the strange, unnecessary oddities that distracted more than they deepened.

Still, I recommend it. Especially to those who have made overthinking part of their personal identity.

Acta est fabula. 4/5