Describing classical music composer and conductor Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) as an overachiever is an understatement.  Having already achieved EGOT, she is also the lead conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic, a guest lecturer at Juilliard and the head of a foundation that provides opportunities for female conductors.  She’s also working on an autobiography and has begun practice for a live recording of Mahler’s Fifth symphony.  When the latter is complete, Lydia will have recorded all nine of Mahler’s symphonies with the same orchestra, equaling an achievement by her mentor Leonard Bernstein.

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Whenever I see shots of a beautiful part of the world, I think to myself, “How amazing would it be to live there!  It wouldn’t matter what I was doing, so long as I had this incredible landscape to look at and appreciate every day.”  The Irish countryside, as depicted in Banshees, would definitely be one of those places where a person could see themselves living without a care in the world.  Pádraic (Colin Farrell), the anti-hero of the story, certainly fits that description.  He’s a happy-go-lucky sort who spends each day enjoying what life has given him and wanting nothing more.  He cares for the animals on his farm, which he loves very much.  He shares a quaint cottage with his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), who also loves him.  Every day at 2:00 PM he gathers his best friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) for a drink and a smoke at the pub.  Until one day Colm refuses to open his door to Pádraic or even acknowledge him.  When the two later cross paths, Colm states that he doesn’t like Pádraic anymore and doesn’t want to be friends with him.

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Sympathy for the Fat Man

Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is a pathetic figure.  How pathetic is he?  Initially, only his voice is heard on a web conference with his students, who see him as a black square.  (He claims that his webcam is broken.)  Immediately afterwards, Charlie is revealed to be a morbidly obese man, sitting alone in a drab apartment, masturbating to a pornographic video on his laptop.  The activity is too strenuous for him, and he starts coughing violently.  He grabs a printed essay from an end table and tries to read it, but cannot because he is having trouble breathing.  (As you may have guessed, The Whale is a love it or hate it experience.)

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To paraphrase the late Charles Bukowski, nobody suffers like the working poor.  Emily (Aubrey Plaza), the eponymous character of Emily the Criminal, is a perfect example of that truism.  She works for a food delivery service, making just enough to afford her car and room in someone else’s apartment.  Emily is a heads-down, hard-working type, and needs a better-paying job to do more than exist.  Unfortunately, an old felony conviction for aggravated assault keeps her shackled in place.  That incident ended her college career and left her on the hook for $70k in student loans.  Basically, Emily is trapped.  She can’t get an office job because of the felony on her record, and without a better paying job she can’t pay off her debt.

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