Highbrow/Lowbrow: Past Lives & All of Us Strangers / The Traitors

Welcome to Highbrow/Lowbrow, where Rachel S. talks about all the culture she's consuming, from the thoughtful to the trashy and all things in between.

This Week's High: Past Lives & All of Us Strangers

Two of the best films I've watched lately are Celine Song's Past Lives and Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers. Both films wrestle with trying to cope with your past when it makes an unexpected visit to your present, and how we grieve letting go of the life we never got to have. It sounds dreary, I know. However, Past Lives lets in a lot more light than AoUS. 

I'll dive into the light in a moment, but I also want to touch on a few of the other similarities both films hold: delicate tenderness and vulnerability and bringing singular small stories to a wider audience. With the juggernaut of "Barbenheimer" this summer, it seemed like filmmaking in 2023 was here to say "Go big or go home."

But that's not the case with either of these films, both of which have sat with me and stayed in my gut long after first watch. Both filmmakers bring you into uncomfortably intimate spaces where you, the viewer, feel almost voyeuristic in taking part. Whether it's a personal conversation between two childhood soulmates and one left out husband, or a postcoital exchange of more than sweat and hot breath. 

Both films also tackle identity: being a Korean American and switching between two cultures; and a gay man pushing 50 whose young lover never understood the fear of the AIDS epidemic in the '80s and '90s. 

With all their thematic ties, the films' greatest departures are in their tone. Though both are quite dreamy, AoUS veers more into the nightmare territory. Which frankly surprised me when I got about ⅓ into the film. The marketing had me believe that yes, there was a sad story about a man who lost his parents as a child, but it would be padded by a lush love story. That's not exactly the case. The whole film is quite eerie and unsettling, where even the most tender of moments are cast with an ominous cloud. You never really know what's real, what's madness, or what's pure desperation.

Despite its deep, deep sadness, I simply can't say enough about Andrew Scott’s performance. It's a small film with only four actors (including Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell), and he is the sun around which they all orbit. The slightest gesture or movement of his eyes really tell a whole sea of emotion. As a member of the Dead Parent Club, the film and its metaphysical depictions of grief hit almost too close to home. How I wish I could tell my dad all the things he hasn't known in the years since he left. Oof. The last times I've felt as haunted by a film and a performance were Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal and, interestingly enough, Paul Mescal in Aftersun. 

Past Lives is just as small of a cast, with the vast majority of the film focusing on the exquisite Greta Lee alongside her love triangle partners, the charismatic Teo Yoo and the deeply warm John Magaro. What I loved most about Celine Song's and the actors' choices is that they never seem to judge these characters, caught in a complicated but beautiful place. I too have mourned the person I used to be, the life I used to have when I lived in London. But what the movie teaches you is that's okay. You're allowed to cherish your past life, your past loves, and who you got to be and it doesn't dishonor the person you are today and the people you love. 

Either way you go here, bring the tissues and let it out.

This Week's Low: The Traitors

Someone at Peacock deserves a big ol' smooch on the lips, because The Traitors Season 2 is here, and it is DELIVERING!!!! For those uninitiated, The Traitors is a reality competition series much like the game Werewolf. There are traitors, who "murder" a competitor each night, and "faithfuls" who are trying to sniff them out before they meet their doom. To up the ante, there's a big pot of money to win at the end, and each week there are Challenge/Survivor-like games to add money to the pot. Plenty of mischief and twists and turns along the way. Backstabbing afoot! 

But here's where Rachel's Television Dream Journal really comes into play:

It is hosted by Alan Cumming, who gives high camp drama and impeccable fashion each and every week. The competitors are all reality TV stars! We're talking Housewives, Survivor, Big Brother, Love Island, Drag Race, The Challenge, and beyond! This is a huge improvement from last season, when half of the cast were reality TV stars and half were normal people. And they are BIG ones. We're talking THEE Phaedra Parks, Parvati, CT, Johnny Bananas, She by Sheree, and Peppermint, people!!! It's filmed in a Scottish castle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE'S A GROUNDSKEEPER CALLED FERGUS!!!!!!

It's just an absolute blast to watch. It's a show that knows exactly what it's doing and having the absolute most fun with it. I simply can't recommend The Traitors enough if you're looking to turn your brain off. Let go and let Alan Cumming.