The long opening scene of The Beloved plays out almost exactly like a similar early scene in Sentimental Value . An acclaimed and accomplished film director is meeting for lunch with his estranged daughter, who is an actress, hoping to persuade her to star in his next movie. There is even a beat where he compliments her recent television work whilst dismissing the medium itself. They are practically the same scene. But director Rodrigo Sorogoyen has different intentions than Joachim Trier -he lets the scene drag out longer, shoots it only in close-up parallel shots of the actors partly obscured by the head of whoever the shoulder angle is attached to. And it is bristling with a very different kind of tension, more hostile than wounded in the trauma of the relationship. Sentimental Value , as its title implied, was deeply heartfelt and emotional. There is no sentiment to The Beloved . Where Trier set his drama in the world of filmmaking as a way of commenting on and emphasizing the art...
“What we see, what we feel, what we observe. That is all that is truly real.” Occasionally in “Lord Nibbler in the Nothingverse” an emphasis is placed on the physiological importance of observation -and yes there is a Schrodinger’s Cat reference. It is a thematic tenet of the episode as well in the relationship between Leela and Nibbler, particularly on Nibbler’s end of how different he is when not recognizing Leela -the meaning of that recognition is reinforced heavily by the end. It is a strong centrepiece to an episode that I wish had matched it in substance -in spite of a heartfelt core this is the first mediocre outing this season since “Beef” . Nibbler is the primary character though, and we see that his relationship with Leela is showing a little more sign of wear. He’s still her “schnookums” but he can get on her nerves by scratching up her boot or eating a whole massive can of food before it lands in his dish. He is contacted though by his people who give him a new final missi...