The Curse

MOVIE #1,342 •🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿• 02.01.24 I just finished this 10-episode limited series from the genius combined talents of Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie (and Emma Stone) and I’m still wrapping my brain around it frankly. My gut says this is a landmark effort for both auteurs and yes I just called Nathan Fielder an auteur. There’s so much going on here that it at times feels like a Choose Your Own Adventure of themes clearly geared to all skewer contemporary culture in some no holds barred way. But at its heart, if one had to best summarize it, The Curse feels like the ultimate takedown of the rich, white liberal. The 1,000-ton weight of passive-aggressiveness never lets us glean the true intentions of any of these characters and that’s the point. What does it mean to truly be a good person? Is being a good person really the only thing that matters in life?

Seeing Nathan act the big emotional closing scene of the penultimate episode was almost too much. I don't think he's necessarily a bad actor, but I couldn't help fixating on the question of how did we get here? This twisted reality TV host and comic genius was face to face with Emma Stone, tears streaming down her face. It's not played for laughs but you might giggle as a warped reaction to the discomfort. The best of Fielder's non-scripted work always brought you to these places, but the form and format were geared for it. I would have never thought it could be translated this well via a fictional narrative.

The finale is too weird to spoil right now, but suffice to say, perhaps it is possible to be so insignificant that you literally evaporate, even when you lead a life solely devoted to being significant, to making a change. What happens is insane but goddammit if this didn’t feel like the most sane thing I watched all year.

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⫷ MOVIE #1,341 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,343 ⫸

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The Curse is an American satirical dark comedy thriller television series created and written by Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie, and starring Emma Stone, Fielder, and Safdie. It was filmed from June to October 2022 and premiered on streaming and on-demand for all Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers before making its on-air debut on Showtime on November 12. Its first three episodes premiered at the New York Film Festival, receiving critical acclaim. It was released on October 12, 2023.