Liars and Saints

 I tried to get lost in "Frankenstein," but the story seemed dry. Yes, Guillermo del Toro has an artistic gift; it's fun to see the polar ice caps, the flowy Mia Goth gowns, the Victorian mansion. But I never "felt for" Victor Frankenstein; Lorrie Moore says you need to "bake life" into a work of art, and del Toro's movie seems to have overlooked the "life" part of the recipe. But this is an occasion to "nominate" some worthy overlooked performances. If I could control the Oscars, I would make room for Harry Meling, but I'd also make room for the following: Liam Neeson, "The Naked Gun" Eva Victor, "Sorry, Baby" Josh O'Connor, "Rebuilding" Jack Quaid, "Novocaine" Jai Courtney, "Dangerous Animals" Lest we forget. These were examples of great work.

 My town is made up of Manhattan and Brooklyn transplants, and most of us are just a bit self-centered. For example, when my spouse and I moved into our house, one of our neighbors--whose lawn touched ours--made no effort to say hello. The neighbor had our phone numbers, our names, our email addresses--all of these bits get shared on "the back road." There was total silence. However, Marc and I had received misinformation about a parking question. One morning, we walked out to our car to discover a typed document explaining (with a veiled threat) that we had encroached on the neighbor's parking terrain. The letter included a copy of the neighbor's most recent land survey. This was how the neighbor (ultimately) introduced himself to us. By contrast, a woman who was not actually our neighbor--but who lived nearby--baked cookies and greeted us with a handwritten letter; the letter shared a brief story about her many years in Maplewood. I grew fond of this woman. I didn...

  For a long while, I believed that my neighbor had ghosted me. This was the neighbor who recently vacationed on "Pig Island." We had a stretch where we regularly dined together--then the text messages became terse and un-encouraging. As a conspiracy theorist, I imagined that I had done something outrageous and offensive (and I'd never learn the truth). But my neighbor *does* continue to narrate his life for me. The narration remains breathless (and it happens whenever we pass each other on the sidewalk). "I'm hosting 25 guests for a Golden Globes watch party and sleepover--then I'm off to Manila for a month." "I said that my boss runs a toxic workplace, and he retaliated by reporting me to Child Protective Services." "My meeting with CPS caused me to have a heart attack--I was briefly, officially dead--but now I'm back on track and working full-time in a Kindergarten classroom." Once, I tried to rehearse for a brief encounter. I ...

  This has been a dream season of SVU, and March 5th gave us another standout episode. Granted, SVU is so predictable that you can anticipate--with certainty--exactly when the "false starts" will end and the third act will begin. Last night, my spouse turned to me at the thirty-five minute mark and said, "This is the bad guy. It's THAT time in the storyline...." But--within that framework--you can still improvise. I really liked the opening scene, in which a tired person tries to find creative reasons to skip marital sex. The little exchange between Rollins and a nervous child-patient--"I'm here for New York's best lollipops!"--was also interesting. Finally, the observations about ASD--about stimming, loud noises, and nonverbal communication--lifted this script above the "average-effort" level. The villain was not a top-tier monster--so I'm subtracting a few points. Still: four stars.

 A dom/sub arrangement can seem like pageantry. Part of the fun of "Pillion" is learning the codes: an expression of affection can be "Lick my boot," or "Make my dinner," or "Follow my schedule." Colin, the protagonist in "Pillion," seems to enjoy the clarity in his new arrangements--and who could fail to understand? Ambiguity can be so tiresome. But ambiguity creeps in. It just always creeps in. Sometimes, Colin wants to drop the act; he wants to read his book past the "lights out" signal, or he wants to hang out at a pub. It's not oppressive for Ray to say no; for Ray, the possibility of a hangout has never been "on the table." But it's possible that Ray and Colin just can't come to terms with each other. Harry Meling and Alexander Skarsgard have great charisma; we *want* a satisfying resolution for these characters, because the performers are charming. It's especially fun to look for signs of Ray...

  "American Classic" seems to be designed for me; it's set in my town, Maplewood, and it's packed with theater titans (Kevin Kline, Laura Linney, Len Cariou, Jessica Hecht, Aaron Tveit). Kevin Kline has a public meltdown after the failure of his revival of "King Lear." (He mistakenly thought, for a while, that the reviews were positive. But there is a difference between saying  He is a fine anchor  and saying  He is an anchor, dragging the entire production down, down, down .) Kline is lectured by a weirdly nasty Aaron Tveit; having lost touch with his own humanity, Kline can no longer give an effective performance. At the same time, conveniently, Kline's mother dies--which means that he needs to return to Maplewood, to his roots. I don't think I would continue watching this without Kevin Kline. The script is cliched. But it's a pleasure to see Kline in a crowded bar, screaming, "No, you unnatural hags!" He also does nice work with Len ...