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Page 16 Shelton-Mason Journal Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023
Review: Director Rian Johnson tips hat to influences
continued from page
character as a man, because
he’s Hugh Laurie as Dr.
Gregory House and Peter Falk
as LAPD Lt. Colombo. Their
brilliant insights were offset
by their rumpled clothes and
five-o’clock-shadowed faces,
and the many people they
managed to infuriate by being
impolitic.
While House was openly,
confrontationally offensive,
Columbo passively aggres—
sively employed his attempts
at manners to irritate his ‘sus-
pects into committing distract-
ed errors. ‘
Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie
Cale ,— the starring charac-
ter of the new “Poker Face”
streaming series on Peacock,
created by “Knives Out” and
“Glass Onion” writer—director
Rian Johnson — qualifies as
the same sort of “clever mess” '
as House and Columbo, but
she’s also far more transgres-
sive, in her own casually unaf-
fected way.
Whereas a previous genera-
tion of self~espoused “femi—
nist” storytellers, like Joss
Whedon of “Buffy the Vampire
Slayer,” had focused on creat—
ing “strong female characters,”
recent years have seen gals
like Phoebe Waller-Bridge and
Rachel Bloom make the case,
through sitcoms like “Fleabag”
and “Crazy Ex—Girlfriend,”
that audiences should sympa—
thize with female characters
even if their personal lives
and relationships are disaster
zones.
Lyonne is well-suited to
carry this standard forward in
Johnson’s “Poker Face.”
Her face is a young enough
40 to retain hints of her teen
years (she’s 43 in real life), but
her raspy honk of a voice re-
calls the chain-smoking Selma
Diamond as the original old
lady bailiff on “Night Court,”
back in the early ’80s.
Lyonne’s character, Char-
lie, is an unhygienic slob who
lives in destitute conditions
even before a catastrophic
misstep against a terrifyineg
powerful person forces her to
go off the grid and live out of
her car, forever heading down
the highway, like if Bill
Bixby’s Dr. David Banner
didn’t need to hitchhike to his
next destination in “The In-
credible Hulk.”
Charlie’s sole exceptional
talent is her ability to tell
whether anyone’s direct state-
ments are true or false, but
she’s frequently determined
and resourceful enough to
piece together the rest of the
facts of a given situation after
that.
We’re told that, for a while,
Charlie’s talent earned her
a comfortable living through
low-stakes card games, since
she was smart enough to want
to avoid attention, but too
aimless to succeed at stay-
ing off the radar of people
ENTER in wiNAr THE
HEAD-thorns,
COMPETITION
PRESENTED 3':
34% I’m,“ ©Ltwmm. “8%”
powerful enough to eventually
get her banned from gambling
places.
What makes Charlie most
fascinating is how fallible
the narrative allows her to
be, not only when it comes to
common-sense considerations
— in spite of her flawless abil—
ity to spot an intentional lie,
Charlie is remarkably bad at
reading people’s true natures
otherwise — but also morally.
/ In the pilot episode of
“Poker Face,” we see Charlie
railing on social media against
the larger injustices of the
world, but when faced with
two competing evils, she’s
willing to cut a deal with the
greater evil, simply because
the lesser evil was responsible
for the death of someone she
was close to.
This is not a criticism of the
show, because it’s both shock-
ing and refreshing to have a
murder-mystery show be hon-
est about its protagonist being
motivated not by the grand
desire to see broader justicee, ~
but by the need to settle scores
against those who have hurt
her and those she cares about.
What’s most compelling
about “Poker Face” is that like
“Columbo,” it has the confi-
dence to allow Charlie to be
the least interesting character
in her own show.
As with “Columbo,” the
opening of each episode is de-
voted to ourguest murderers
and victims, but they exist in
Ignaz:
GRAB THAT
‘ from your wall.
garage or attic and bring it to me
Washington Spmsmen's Show at
the Washington State Fair Events
Center. Official Record Book
scorers will ineasure it and prizes
‘will be awarded.
YOU COULD WIN
GREAT PRIZES .
inducing a brand new Fort
Knox Spartan Sale Model 6041.
Valuable prizes an; awarded and
provided by Blodr 73 u, Dormer,
Hm Knox, Berber. lasso, meoid,
Muzzy, Rage, Rocky Mountain Elk
foundalian and Savage.
TROPHY EATEGDRIES=
Black Bear - Mule Deer (Typical
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(Typical Non-Typical) Pronghorn
Cougar 0 Bighorn Sheep Moose
a high-tech yet low-rent world
where the fashions, music and
other aesthetics are straight
out of the 1970s, even as the
internet access, smartphones,
streaming media, online file-
sharing, and digital audiovi-
sual recording and playback
equipment are all state-of-
the-art, regardless of how iso-
lated the rural locales are that
Charlie finds herself in.
Johnson tips his hat to his
influences by recreating what
appear to be the exact same
title sequence fonts as the
original “Columbo,” then goes
one better by following much
the same nonsequential
storytelling formula as
“Knives Out”-and “Glass On-
ion,” flashing back to reveal
how Charlie was already in-
volved in each episode’s story,
but simply operating outside
the focus of those episodes’
openings. ,
Because of Charlie’s need
to earn quick cash with no
strings attached, she winds up
working at a number of entry-
level positions that few people
pay attention to, which allows
her to see what each episode’s
murderers seek to conceal
from those whom they’re actu-
ally worried about.
Whereas “Columbo” often
made the mind games be-
tween its disheveled detective
and his affluent suspects into
coded commentaries on class,
the three episodes of “Poker
Face” after its pilot have
pitted the vagabond Charlie
against a succession of equally
desperate graspers with all—
too-modest dreams, from auto
shop mechanics and barbecue
chefs, to has—been metal bands
‘ looking to make unlikely
comebacks.
Charlie retains her under-
dog status against such work-
ing-class foes not only by not
being a cop, but also because
she’s hiding out from the law
herself, and all it takes is for
herto withdraw some money
from an ATM, or get caught on
camera in a viral Video, for her
ill-intentioned pursuers to ar-
rive at her location four hours.
later. .
With Charlie’s demon-
strated lack of long-term plan-
ning skills, I have no idea
how “Poker Face” will sustain
that chase in a world that’s
much smaller than when the‘
protagonists of “The Fugitive”
or “The A—Team” eluded the
authorities;
What I do expect is that
Johnson, a filmmaker who ex-
“ cels at unexpected and satisfy-
ing conclusions, will continue
to employ episode writers who
share this strong suit, because
in 2023, the twist ending of
a murder-mystery episode
hinged on a passing
familiarity with the 1980s sit-
com “Benson,” }and no, I’m not
spoiling anything with that
reveal, because I guarantee
you still won’t figure out how
that episode ends.
,Shelbie ‘
Kitten Rescue
We have many sweet and loving adult and young cats available for adoption,
ready to
bring love and joy into your life! Indoor only and a warm lap to sit on are
ours and the
kitties’ only request.
Shelbie is a sweet kitty who loves to play, run around, and explore. if you
move slowly
while approaching her, she can be patted. She is looking for a furrever
home with a fam-
ily who will continue to work with her and bring her out of her shell.
an 32 OFF For more information, please go to our website at or call us at
(360)
427-3167. ‘ '
nmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmm adieu-lies. visit thesportshows.com
Thank you Shelton for voting
us #1 Septic Service SIX
y’ars in a row! And thank
you Belfalr for votlng us
r “*1 Septic Service FOUR
years in a rowl w
We are proud to be a part ,
of this community! H
We have created a .
low-stress, healthy
environment
’ with sofl‘lighiing,
music, a regular .
exercise program,
and frequent,
' individualized
oh‘eniion. We treat
every pel wilh
affection, respect,
and kindness.
I Joar ‘ I
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gas/AA; 1E1 or:
360-42?.61 an
' ORTABLE TOILET RENTAlS
SEWAINWNANC
‘ inmaamn --
WNW mmmwum: “4‘9”an
Wm murm.ma¢mmnmmekma
(360) 426-3052
270 SE Spring Place
Shelton, Washington 98584
Email: sylvan@hctc.com