I’m over 30 years late to the party, but I finally caught up with the excellent first season of the original Prime Suspect, with Helen Mirren (who is fantastic). All 7 seasons are on Amazon Prime. I’m looking forward to watching the other seasons. I also started watching the American remake on Peacock, with Maria Bello. It’s not bad, but there is no comparison to the original.
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I would not ever call David Lynch slow cinema even though his pacing I guess challenges some. Slow cinema tends to veer into the hyper realist and process driven. Indeed, invoking Lynch as like Akerman suggests we’re still discussing very different types of film. Similarly, I don’t think Last Man on Earth: I don’t think it followed slow principles even if it was ostensibly “slower”; it explored what community could be but it was so focussed on the main character and his comically bad behaviour.
Slow cinema for me Is more along the lines of Kelly Reinhardt (who is genius and who made the brilliant The Mastermind which was released this year), Jia Zhangke, Cristi Puiu (whose The Death of Mr Lazarescu is one of my all time favourites) , Cristian Mungiu, and Lisandro Alonso— which also aligns with the scholarship. That doesn’t mean you’re wrong to find Lynch an endurance test, but he’s not really typical of the global cinema phenomenon.
Meanwhile I’ll tag @linguafood because If I Had Legs I Would Kick You is an example of immersive endurance viewing. It was gruelling in ways that are necessary but hard to take.
(I’m also reminded of the endurance test that is Takahi Miike’s Audition that raised questions about torture and spectatorship.)
Sorry for going on. As you’ve noticed from other conversations, this is my field of interest (professional and amateur) so the discussion is the pleasure. I’m not trying to convince you so much as articulate my enjoyment and its reasons.
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Yes. I wish they had addressed nonhuman animals more. It also opens questions of harm (especially given the kid’s and other pets’ distress). Also: how do you experiment on cells without harming “life” when they’ve already shown a questionable blanket appreciation for all of it.
I mean, how could one even use a jet?
If you like Taskmaster, have finished Champion of Champions and are waiting for New Year’s Treat, I recommend Clash of the Comics. It isn’t as perfect as TM but it was good fun. At least watch Acaster.
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I don’t! Well, maybe Lost Highway. But not Twin Peaks S3, which was what I was specifically referring to in my earlier post, and even more specifically, the static shot of a guy watching a glass box.
If that’s how we’re defining it, then I don’t think Pluribus qualifies. I don’t find anything hyper-realist about it (although I’m not sure exactly how we’re defining THAT either), in the way that, say, Blue is the Warmest Color seems to be, or the work of Mike Leigh or (as you mention) Kelly Reichardt. Nor is it non-narrative, which is part of Wikipedia’s definition of slow cinema. Pluribus is less “busy” than a typical American series, but it ain’t Stranger Than Paradise or Stray Dogs. It moves logically from point to point.
PS: Discussions like this are part of my job, too, so have at it. Also, I know next to nothing about Chantal Akerman, so you could tell me anything and I’d believe it!
We’ve not watched Champion of Champions (in fact, I have no idea what it is), but will check it out. Clash of the Comics sounds promising by title alone 
Taskmaster Champion of Champions comes every five series to allow the champion of each one to compete. This is series four of Champion of Champions and everyone speaks of the excitement around the possibility of doing a Champion of Champion of Champions after the next five (once series 25 of TM and series 5 of Champion of Champions is done).
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Ooooh! I had no idear. Thanks for alerting me to its existence!
Great first episode of Karen Pirie on BritBox. A cold case from 1984 comes back and they weave events from that time with contemporary case really well.
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We have a brand-new thread here
17 posts were merged into an existing topic: What are you watching? (2026)
