Liars and Saints

 Here's how I understand the "meta" casting of Gwyneth Paltrow in "Marty Supreme." Paltrow is a tough cookie. She endured Harvey Weinstein's harassment, and, when the ugliness of Hollywood became intolerable, she invented her own high-profile career away from the movie cameras. Yes, Paltrow is a child of privilege, and she sometimes makes dumb remarks. But she is also a fighter. That's the subtextual story in "Marty Supreme." Paltrow's Kay Stone sort of likes Marty Mauser--sort of but not really. Marty's true value is as a pawn in a psychosexual war between Kay and her husband. Kay can use Marty--his phone calls, his aggressive "restaurant behavior"--to make her husband uncomfortable. Marty misreads Kay's behavior; he thinks his best option with Kay is to feign "emotional authenticity." But Kay sees through this. She likes Marty as his actual self, a scrappy egomaniacal schemer. "Marty," she says, ...

Situational irony is when *the exact opposite of the expected* occurs. The cobbler's child has no shoes. The baker's child has no bread. These are examples of situational irony. One of the greatest cases in film history comes from Soderbergh's "Contagion": Beth is proud of her job, a spot in a major international corporation, a job that affords her great benefits. But, in the final scene of the movie, a flashback, we learn that the hand the feeds Beth is also the hand that kills her. Corporate dealings created a major contagion--the subject of the movie--through deforestation. The international corporation--the great breast you can suck at--is a corporation that commits murder. The power broker's child has no power. Irony! Black humor: When a scenario is so absurdly distressing, it becomes funny. Beth, ending a bleak phone call about the possible end of the world, says: "Merry Christmas." Matt Damon's character--worried that a nice b...