Writer/director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology is another 2020 release that doesn’t fit neatly into a box.
First, is Small Axe film or television?
The series was released on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on Amazon Prime in the United States. Four of its five segments clock in at around an hour, with one (opener Mangrove) lasting two hours. Amazon decided to submit the series to the Emmys rather than the Oscars. I guess that makes it TV?
2020 was a film year of asterisks, where the question “what constitutes a 2020 movie?” collided with the more existential question, “what constitutes a movie, period?”
Two of my favorite “movie” experiences last year were filmed versions of Broadway productions, released on streaming platforms.
Should Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton count as a movie? Would it count if it had been released in theaters, as was the plan pre-pandemic? What about David Byrne’s American Utopia, filmed by no less a screen titan than Spike Lee, but inherently a faithful depiction of his stage show?
Ordinarily, by now I’d be posting my favorite movies of the year and writing about Oscar predictions. But 2020 was no ordinary year, for movies or anything else.
The Oscars were pushed back to April, and as a result plenty of “2020” films have yet to be released anywhere I can see them. So my official list will have to wait awhile.
In the meantime, I’ll spend this week writing about a few different aspects of my moviegoing in 2020.
When today’s song popped up as my Random Weekend selection, my first thought was to write about Sara Bareilles’ Little Voice as a great debut album. I’ve been meaning to do a series of posts on my favorite debuts, and this one would certainly make the cut.
But when I called up Bareilles’ discography, I learned that while 2007’s Little Voice was the singer-songwriter’s major label debut, it is actually her second album.
Lyle Lovett’s 1994 album I Love Everybody has come up on the blog a few times before, and I always say the same thing.
To wit, this collection of odds and ends written before Lovett landed his first album deal was a let-down following the genius run of Pontiac, …and His Large Band and Joshua Judges Ruth, but as let-downs go it contains its fair share of memorable songs.
Today’s track isn’t one of those.
Meet Me In Montauk 