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What’s the Buzz: Corporate, Greyson Chance, and Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

ChristopherCan You Ever Forgive Me? is one of those films that I had been meaning to watch for months, but just never quite got round to it. I was drawn to it because of the openly homosexual lead characters (played by Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant) but other than that I had no idea what to expect. When I finally sat down to watch it, I was delighted by the thrill of adventurous criminality, and the poignant reflections of a fellow writer.

The film is based on the true story of Lee Israel, a 51-year-old author, who struggled in her career to find her own voice, and, finding she had a skill for copying other peoples’, engaged in a life of crime to pay her bills. Seeing Melissa McCarthy in this role was a pleasant surprise, as I had previously only known her for her rather tired brand of comedy. In this film, however, she delivers a nuanced, emotional, and yes, funny, performance.

For me, the biggest charm of Can You Ever Forgive Me? was the unlikely and fraught friendship between the equally unpleasant yet compelling leads. Though never directly mentioned, the AIDS crisis casts a melancholy shadow over the 1991 setting; the kinship between two gay strangers, adrift and alone in New York, was immediately endearing to me, as I’m sure it would be to other queer viewers.

Also recognisable is the longing of an ambitious writer, who loves her work, but finds she has no place in the sell-out world of publishing. What makes this story different, though, is that it is not told from the perspective of a peppy young graduate who has just moved to the city and is oh so excited about her new life…no, Lee Israel is middle-aged and disillusioned. Thus, the film is also a story about aging, and the invisible deadlines placed upon success, happiness, and love.

Lee Israel’s partner-in-crime, Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant) swans in, all sunglasses and cigarette-holders, to be less of a friend and more of a trouble-maker. And he’s just so much fun, especially in contrast to the muted colours and softly-spoken tones of bookshop clerks. Grant is wonderful, and he and McCarthy clearly have good chemistry.

I wonder how this film would have affected me a year ago. Fundamentally it is a film about loneliness—the specific isolation of an aging writer. Despite having come out in 2018, it seems like a film that was made to be watched during lockdown. Or maybe, as I suspect, it will be one of those films that will come to mean even more to me when I am older.

Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!

Written by TV Obsessive

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